Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—Hell on Wheels by various artists and writers

 

(oversized pb; 1972—1975, 2022. Collects Marvel Spotlight #5-12, Ghost Rider #1-11, and Marvel Team-Up #15.)

From the back cover

“In 1972, one of the most iconic characters in comic book history, the flame-skulled Ghost Rider, burned his demonic presence into readers’ minds. Forevermore, a legion of fans were addicted to the Rider’s combination of hell-on-wheels drama and action-horror adventure. And it begins here when Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil to save his friend’s life. The payment due? Transformation into the Ghost Rider. The stories that follow will take the horror hero to Hell to battle Satan, pit him against the tempting Witch Woman and team him with Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan. Written by Gary Friedrich and Tony Isabella and gloriously illustrated by Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton and Jim Mooney.”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review of these fifty-year-old comics.

GR = Ghost Rider

JB = Johnny Blaze

These opening issues of GR are fun, sometimes above-average reads, especially toward the later issues shown in this collection. Initially, there’s a lot of repetitive framing in consecutive issues (Satan, having made a crooked deal with a naïve, curiously childlike JB, seeks to reap JB’s soul via different, malefic operatives). Then there’s the issue of why JB sells his soul, his reasoning—beyond his short-sightedness and masochistic personality—reading as paper-thin. If you can get past that (I eventually did), GR, at least in these issues, is entertaining, with more plot variation and character deepening. Good tween-to-teen-mindset stuff, for the most part, with consistent, stellar artwork.

Followed by Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—The Salvation Run.

 

Review, issue by issue

Marvel Spotlight: “Ghost Rider” (#5): A desperate situation leads an adolescent, stunt-motorcyclist Johnny Blaze to make a dumb decision: he sells his soul to Satan, who cheats Johnny via a sly loophole. Johnny now turns into a flaming-skull, nighttime demon (Ghost Rider), even though Satan has yet to fully claim Johnny’s soul.

This origin-story issue works if Johnny is a sixteen-year-old; such is the adolescent emotionalism that drives him to sell his soul. . . for what? That an emotionally abusive old man and supposed friend (Crash Simpson) has a few more years of life? Both Crash and his daughter, Roxanne—also Johnny’s potential girlfriend—treat Johnny like crap over a misunderstanding, one he doesn’t bother correcting them on. This is all too plot-convenient dumb, even for a comic book. While this doesn’t entirely ruin the issue, it makes for an at-times badly written read with two key emotionally schizophrenic characters (the Simpsons) who are wildly inconsistent in their mood swings.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Angels from Hell” (#6): Johnny Blaze tangles with a biker gang, led by the temperamental, ginger-Afro’d Curly Samuels. When it’s revealed that Curly worships Satan, who seeks to claim His bounty on Johnny’s soul, things get worse for Johnny.

This is an interesting, okay issue story-wise, as Curly’s character (and his true identity) ring strange, when one considers that he’s eager to sacrifice Roxanne “Roxie” Simpson (Johnny’s emotionally schizophrenic romantic interest) to Satan.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Die, Die, My Darling!” (#7): Curly Samuels, Satanic biker—revealed to be the angry soul vessel of Crash Simpson (Roxanne’s father)—is commanded by Satan to sacrifice Roxanne, something Samuels/Simpsons struggles with.

Meanwhile, Blaze/Ghost Rider, looking for his kidnapped girlfriend (again, Roxanne) evades motorcycle cops and maintains his stuntman roadshow while his surly road manager (Bart Slade) plots against Blaze.

Fun, slightly ridiculous issue: Why would Simpson sell his soul to Satan to right a minor-at-worst slight against Johnny? Still, the artwork is appropriately dramatic, as is the dialogue and overall writing.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Hordes of Hell” (#8): At the end of the last issue, GR and Crash Simpson/Curly Samuels were about to fight in front of the altar where Simpson’s daughter (Roxanne) was soon to be taken by Satan. Simpson’s strange revenge on Johnny (over an imagined “cowardice”) is reiterated by the frustrated Simpson.

Melodrama takes a downturn as a bigger threat to Crash and GR appears—a threat that Simpson/Samuels might have to fight too. This situation gets a curious, just-as-shifty-dangerous resolution.

Johnny Blaze/GR finds himself in further (possible) danger when he preps for a stunt, a motorcycle jump across Copperhead Canyon (part of the Grand Canyon). This section of canyon is a hotly contested territory, once part of Apache/Native American land: seems the Apache want it back, and they’re willing to fight for it anew, led by a fierce-minded shaman (Snake Dance), who has an intense dislike of Blaze/GR—as do Snake Dance’s followers.

Another cliffhanger finish to this action-packed, uneven but ultimately entertaining issue.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Snakes Crawl at Night. . .” (#9): Blaze/GR has a thought-to-be-fatal encounter with his Copperhead Canyon motorcycle jump.

Meanwhile, Bart Slade (Blaze’s surly road manager) tries to take over his Blaze’s traveling roadshow. Not only that, Snake Dance, the Apache shaman, with help from an ambivalent fellow tribesman (Sam Silvercloud, introduced in issue 8) mean to sacrifice Roxanne Simpson to their fiery snake god!

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Coming of Witch-Woman!” (#10): GR rushes to get Roxanne Simpson to the hospital before she succumbs to the snakebite she received during Snake Dance’s sacrificial ritual.

Meanwhile, Sam Silvercloud and other Apaches challenge the gone-wild Snake Dance—just as Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman), Snake Dance’s twenty-something daughter, shows up. Can she provide the anti-venom snake serum that Roxanne desperately needs.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Season of the Witch-Woman” (#11): Linda Little-Tree, aka Witch-Woman—in the employ of Satan—recounts her life journey to Johnny Blaze/GR thus far while holding him prisoner in a metaphysical realm. (Is there anyone in this comic book who isn’t somehow under Satan’s sway?) She means to give him over to the dark overlord, but GR manages to escape, rushing to make his scheduled/roadshow jump across Copperhead Canyon.

 

Ghost Rider: “A Man Possessed!” (#1): Johnny Blaze, shot by police—unlike his GR alter-ego, he isn’t bulletproof—rides to protect Roxanne Simpson and winds up in a hospital.

“Several miles away” from Blaze’s “crash site,” Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance (the latter no longer under malevolent influence) grapple with how to waken Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) from her Satan-induced coma. To do so, Sam contacts a helpful Daimon Hellstrom, also known as a “Son of Satan.”

At Copperhead Canyon, Blaze’s treacherous road manager (Bart Slade) prepares to make the jump that Blaze can’t make (given Blaze’s injuries and hospital stay). Few, it seems, believe Slade can make that jump.

 

Ghost Rider: “Shake Hands with Satan” (#2): GR confronts Satan, who’s possessed Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) in the netherworld while a biker gang (Ruthless Riders), led by Big Daddy Dawson—a huge, intimidating man—threaten Roxanne Simpson, Blaze’s girlfriend.

Daimon Hellstrom, rebellious “Son of Satan,” arrives at Snake Dance’s house, only to find Linda/Witch-Woman gone. But there’s a greater danger Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance must face, one even Hellstrom can’t save them from.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Son of Satan!” (#12): Daimon Hellstrom, now under the nighttime influence of his aggressive alter ego, seeks Satan to usurp his power.

Elsewhere, Big Daddy Dawson and his bike gang menace Roxanne Simpson; Dawson claims the cowering young woman as his property.

This is an entertaining, good issue that brings together GR’s multiple characters and plotlines from previous Marvel Spotlight – GR issues. Unlike issues 5-11 of Spotlight, this issue ends on a less dire cliffhanger note. There’s still danger and imminent death situations for its lead characters but it’s relatively less melodramatic.

 

Ghost Rider: “Wheels on Fire” (#3): Daimon Hellstrom leaves GR and Linda Little-Tree (now free of Satanic possession) in the desert—thing is, when GR reverts to his Johnny Blaze alter ego, the wounds he sustains while GR (when he’s impervious to bullets, broken bones, etc.) afflict him when he’s no longer his flaming-head self. . . this is important, because in recent issues, GR/Blaze has accrued some physical damage. Can GR maintain his relative invulnerability to natural wounding until he and an unconscious Little-Tree escape the deep desert?

Meanwhile, Hellstrom has more pressing issues. One aspect of his alter (“night”) ego is that he wants to rule Hell as an innovative head—this means he must depose Satan first, while he’s still in his “night” self, and not in his “day” (more chill, humble) self. And since he’s in “night” mode.

GR finds a way to try and rescue Roxanne Simpson from Big Daddy Dawson, lead biker of his gang; when that rescue goes awry, Blaze (now the predominant alter ego) winds up in the hospital. Can he recover in time to track the on-the-run Dawson, who’s kidnapped Roxanne Simpson, Blaze/GR’s love? And is GR willing to commit murder to protect her?

This is one of the best GR issues I’ve read. It’s consistently solid, good, with no melodrama and it reveals a latent power GR didn’t know he had: he can create an on-fire motorcycle, one that exists while he’s in his GR persona.

 

Ghost Rider: “Death Stalks the Demolition Derby” (#4): After running afoul of a police roadblock—Blaze/GR is wanted for some of his supposed actions in previous issues—he’s arrested and hospitalized anew, his wounds still fresh. A new employer (the shady Duke Jensen) hires Blaze after he’s cleared of charges, and two months later, Blaze, as GR, rides in Jensen’s destruction derby, one that might kill GR.

Roxanne Simpson works undercover for the local Attorney General in Jensen’s office, to catch crooked operator Jensen. When she overhears a conversation she wasn’t supposed to, she’s in immediate danger again.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “And Vegas Writhes in Flame!” (#5): As cops bust into Duke Jensen’s derby-arena office, he reveals his true form; he’s Roulette, a reptile-faced demon! Alongside him, his right-hand man (Slifer) also transforms into his demonic self before they vanish into a ring of fire—Roxanne Simpson is safe from the demons, but the fire enveloping the office may claim her life.

Roulette, slinging fire bolts at GR, give him a choice: save the tied-to-a-chair-in-the-burning-office Roxanne, or save Las Vegas, NV, which is being set aflame with Roulette’s fire bolts. This is Roulette’s revenge, getting back at the crooks who ruined his life when he was a mere mortal. Can GR save Roxanne and Las Vegas, or will one, or both, be torched out of existence?

Good issue, with a villain whose backstory is interesting, and who (of course) is in the employ of Satan.

 

 

Marvel Team-Up: “If An Eye Offend Thee. . .” (#15): During one of Johnny Blaze/GR’s roadshows (poster-advertised as “Ghost Rider’s Motorcycle Extravaganza”), a new villain—The Orb, with his round eyeball-shaped helmet/mask—hypnotizes most of the packed arena while kidnapping Roxanne Simpson. Seems The Orb wants Blaze/GR to sign over ownership of his roadshow to him; years ago, he was merely Drake Shannon, Crash Simpson’s original/former partner, from decades ago, before an accident disfigured his face and nearly killed him. Now The Orb wants what should’ve been his!

Fortunately for GR, Peter Parker/Spider-man happens to be in the audience. Of course, having encountered GR in the past in a cooperative manner, he helps “flame-head” (as Spider-Man calls him) take down The Orb and his motorcycle thugs while GR tries to rescue Roxanne (again).

Good, entertaining issue, one that seeds GR with an interesting/recurring villain (The Orb).

 

Ghost Rider: “Zodiac II” (#6): In San Francisco, California, a quartet of costumed villains (Leo, Libra, Gemini and Sagittarius)—former members of Cornelius Van Lunt’s Zodiac gang—heist money from their ex-boss’s transport trucks. Their thieving tracks, character-wise, except all of them are also physically in prison!

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Johnny Blaze/GR tries to rescue Roxanne Simpson from gone-mad kidnapper Dave Barnett. Dave is the son of Vegas Attorney General Barnett (also a former FBI agent). It seems Dave was incensed by Blaze/GR’s reluctance to travel to San Francisco to stop the ex-Zodiac gang doppelgängers.

This is a fun set-up issue for GR’s next showdown with Zodiac (next issue), though Dave Barnett’s motivation is especially irrational and short-sighted (even for a comic book character), resulting in a paper-thin plot for this issue (#6)—it’s almost as paper-thin as Blaze’s teen-dumb reasoning for making a deal with Satan at the start of GR’s original run: Satan, as anyone who’s Christian-biased might guess, is almost certainly going to cheat his deal-partners, especially in a Marvel universe work!

 

Ghost Rider: “. . . And Lose his Own Soul!” (#7): GR and The Stunt-Master (making an impromptu decision to aid GR) pursue former Zodiac supervillain Taurus on motorbikes. Can they stop him before his full powers—and true identity (“Aquarius. . . the one man Zodiac!”)—are revealed, and the one who makes them possible (duplicitous demon Slifer, from GR #5) succeed in their plans?

This is another fun read, a solid wrap-up to the Zodiac II storyline (began in issue 6), with a clever, character- and GR-true twist, making this is one of my favorite GR issue-endings.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “Satan Himself!” (#8): Satan works against JB/GR on two fronts: first, he torments Roxanne Simpson with  visions of her father (Crash) in Hell—he does this because Roxanne is Blaze’s pure-soul key to staying out of the Devil’s clutches. Second, Satan transforms diminutive sized demon Slifer (GR, issues #5-7) into a kaiju eiga-sized, Cyclopean hell-beast, “Inferno the Fear-Monger.” With his terror-causing hand rays, Inferno creates widespread panic in San Francisco, CA.

Meanwhile, Satan reveals to Roxanne that he was actually the robed, seemingly benevolent “Messenger” who told JB that he’d take Crash Simpson’s soul out of Hell (Marvel Spotlight #8)—a promise that wasn’t kept!

This is an exciting, firing-on-all-creative-cylinders issue, one of their best thus far.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “The Hell-Bound Hero!” (#9): GR, still warring against Inferno in San Francisco, CA, seems doomed. Satan has him dead to rights when an unexpected, but-not-entirely-egregious divine being blocks Satan’s intentions, reframing the elements, relationships and limits of JB’s life and powers: as GR, he’s no longer invulnerable to bullets and other weapons, but he’s also no longer beholden to Satan for the crooked deal he made with the giant, horned demon king.

Not only that, Slifer—no longer in his Inferno manifestation—gets a new physical form and more powers, to further bedevil JB/GR.

While the last-minute divine intervention element/character feels cheesy, bordering on writerly, this shift and its repercussions also ushers in a new, possibly more varied and exciting period for GR and those around him. . . a mixed-bag issue, it’s still above average for most of its visual and plotted delivery.

 

Ghost Rider (#10): This issue is a reprint of the August 1972 issue of Marvel Spotlight (#5), where GR battles The Incredible Hulk. See that issue review for details (it’s the first listed issue in this collection).

 

Ghost Rider: “Desolation Run!” (#11): During a desert motorcycle race—JB was told about it by The Stunt-Master (GR, #8 and 9)—GR and his fellow bikers are forced to contend with The Incredible Hulk, who’s been tricked into thinking that GR attacked him earlier that day. The trickster in question is Slifer, shape-shifting demon, and recurring GR villain (issues #5-9).

The writers included the following “Note”: . . . these events “occur between page 6, panel 2, of Hulk #184 and page 10, panel 3 of that same issue.”

Fun, solid issue, one that is “respectfully dedicated to the memory of [Batman co-creator] Bill Finger, giant motorcycle and all.”

"Werewolf By Night" Omnibus by various writers and artists (Part 2 of 2)

 

(over-sized hb; 2015: graphic novel)

From the inside flap

“From the streets of Los Angeles, across Europe and into unnamed worlds, Transylvanian-American Jack Russell turned his curse into a blessing for others. During his quest for control or cure, he met many of Marvel’s mightiest monsters as allies, enemies or either—including John Blaze, Brother Voodoo, the Man-Thing, Morbius the Living Vampire, and even Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster! His clashes with two very different vigilantes made him an opponent of the heinous Hangman and a friend with ex-mercenary Moon Knight, commissioned by the cryptic Committee to tame him!

“Bound body and soul to the gruesome grimoire called the Darkhold, the Werewolf and his friends—mortal and otherwise—found themselves at the center of sorcery spanning the centuries: Aelfric the Mad Monk, Marcosa the Soul-Eater, the terrible Taboo and the modern era’s Moondark the Magician! Threats ranging from such mortal monstrosities as Half-man and DePrayve to the all-but-omnipotent forces of Doctor Glitternight and the Starseed harried the hairy hero, who inevitably rose—triumphant—even more steadily than the full moon!

“Featuring the Army of Terror, the Brotherhood of Baal, the Hellrunners and the hordes of Hydra! Demons and androids, Hollywood vampires and zombie police officers, mad scientists, madder monsters, and more! Guest-starring Spider-Man and Iron Man, and featuring the origin of Tigra of the Avengers!”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review. Part 1 of the review is here.

Werewolf is a fun, well-written and excellently illustrated comic book, with main characters that, within the comic book genre, are relatively smart and consistent in their characterizations—though Jack Russell’s occasional young-man-oblivious sexism and verbal cultural appropriation (when dealing with people of color), e.g., “speaking through his Afro” and “hand-jive,” might upset some modern-day readers unable to process that those in the past weren’t sensitive to some future readers’ outrage-archeologist sensibilities. That minor quibble aside, Werewolf is mostly a slice-of-1970s-monster blast-read, an Old School joy ride down memory lane for those who thrill to such things. Worth owning, this.

 

Review, issue by issue

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Size Werewolf By Night” (#2) – “The Frankenstein Monster Meets Werewolf By Night”: Frankenstein’s Monster, trying to have his soul migrated into a less monster-iconic body, seeks out a Los Angeles-based cult (Brotherhood of Baal, led by Danton Vayla), who, coincidentally, has kidnapped Lissa, Jack’s Russell’s sister. The Brotherhood of Baal intend to sacrifice her to bring Satan’s spirit into Frankenstein’s Monster’s body.

This issue is especially cartoon-cheesy with otherwise smart characters (e.g., Lissa) putting themselves and others into easily avoided dodgy situations. Yes, it’s a comic book, but it’s even-for-comics-cheesy. Buck Cowan, Los Angeles reporter and friend of the Russells, makes an appearance in this issue.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Face of the Fiend!” (#22): Jack Russell finds himself—in his fanged, furry-furious form—fighting a murderous muscleman in Greek attire (Atlas, a.k.a. Steve Rand) who’s killing Hollywood-types responsible for his facial disfiguration. . . and now he’s trying to kill Jack!

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Murderer is a Maniac!” (#23): Buck Cowan fills Jack Russell in about Atlas/Steve Rand’s history, one connected to Cowan’s screenwriting past. Jack and Atlas have a rematch in Mann’s Chinese Theater.

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Dark Side of Evil!” (#24): Winston Redditch, a mild-mannered scientist, might have a cure for Jack Russell’s lycanthropy—unfortunately, Redditch, after a beaker mix-up, transforms into Deprayve, a Mr. Hyde-esque mad man, intent on murder and evil. Jack discovers this in a hard-fought way.

Meanwhile, Vic Northrup, fellow cop and friend of LAPD Lieutenant Lou Hackett, gets a big lead in his werewolf-related investigation of Hackett’s death. (Hackett, a “cop-turned-werewolf,” died in issue 21.)

Also: Jack is evicted from the Colden House apartment complex by his landlady, Sandy. Seems there’s been too many supernatural attacks against Jack and his neighbors, and too much property damage resulting from them. Because of this, Jack moves into Buck Cowan’s house.

 

Werewolf By Night: “An Eclipse of Evil!” (#25): Jack Russell and Winston Redditch (who’d chemically pursued his “Jekyll-Hyde Theory”) recover from their public scrap-up (in the previous issue), reverting  back to his non-Deprayve self.

LAPD Detective Northrup continues hounding Jack about his lycanthropy (which Northrup has gleaned) and Lou Hackett’s death (Werewolf By Night issue 21). A surprise villain makes a shocking appearance!

 

Werewolf By Night: “A Crusade of Murder” (#26): The Hangman (last seen in issues 11 and 12) tries to kill Jack Russell, then kidnaps a bed-ridden Winston Redditch (who inevitably becomes his alter-ego, Deprayve). A three-way battle ensues.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Size Werewolf (#3) – “Castle Curse!”: Jack Russell, his sister Lissa, and Buck Cowan return to Transylvania (the last time was there was Tomb of Dracula #18 and Werewolf By Night #15) to rescue Topaz from a “band of gypsies” who ransacked the Russells’ family home (Gregory Russoff’s Manor) while looking for a copy of the Darkhold (Gregory’s warlock spellbook).

Also: a spate of murders is taking place in his family’s in ancestral village. Jack, in lycanthropic form, deals with vigilante villagers and a gypsy woman with a mysterious grudge against Jack and the villagers.

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Amazing Dr. Glitternight” (#27): A month after returning from Transylvania, a malevolent sorcerer (Glitternight) and his tentacled “yecch-monster” stalk Topaz from a nearby cave.

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Darkness from Glitternight” (#28): Dr. Glitternight—not believing that Taboo, Topaz’s stepfather, is dead (Werewolf By Night #14)—torments her, Jack Russell, his sister Lissa, and Buck Cowan in order to discover the dead sorcerer’s whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Lissa’s eighteenth birthday, the night of her first lycanthropic shift, rapidly approaches, worsening the Taboo situation.

 

Werewolf By Night: “A Sister of Hell” (#29): Lissa Russell, transformed into a weredemon by Dr. Glitternight, engages in a fierce battle with her lycanthropic sibling, Jack, in their “ancestral castle, reconstructed on an island off the coast of Malibu”. Meanwhile, Topaz, her stepfather (“a solidification of Taboo’s dead soul”) and Buck Cowan try to stop Glitternight from completely killing Taboo, who wronged the malevolent magic-wielder in the past.

All this happens while LAPD Detective Vic Northrup and a fellow cop (Eddie) go to the Colden House apartment complex, looking for Jack as well as Raymond Coker, who taken a trip to Haiti in order to lift his shapeshifter affliction—he hopes a local voodoo priestess (“Jeessala of de thousand years”), in the heart of the jungle, will help him with this.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Red Slash Across Midnight” (#30): Jack Russell and his sister, Lissa, fight anew on her second-full-moon-night transformation (again, her werewolfery is mutated by Dr. Glitternight’s magickal interference). The stakes are higher this time: Glitternight, watching, has claimed her soul, which he intends to use to further his mass destruction plans.

Topaz, Buck Cowan and Taboo (as a fleshless soul essence) seek a way to save Lissa, and, again, the world. Like the previous issue, this is an especially action-frenetic read.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Size Werewolf” (#4) – “A Meeting of Blood”/”When the Moon Dripped Blood”—

 “A Meeting of Blood”: Michael Morbius (“the living vampire”) is reunited with his amnesiac fiancée, Martine, who may lead him to more than love, when a wolf-mode Jack Russell crosses their path and attacks them, possibly undoing Morbius and Martine’s shot at a sweet new life.

“When the Moon Dripped Blood”: A too-good-to-be-true film shoot with famous stuntman Brad Wrangle leads Jack Russell, his ex-neighbor Clary Winters (a.k.a. Melody Tune), and reporter/screenwriter Buck Cowan into a Lovecraftian, mountainous nightmare. Despite some heavy-handed dialogue, When is a creepy, over-the-top and fun ride.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Size Werewolf By Night” (#5) --“The Plunder of Paingloss”: A satanic priest (Joaquin Zairre) kidnaps Jack Russell so that Jack (in werewolf form) might be sacrificed for an increase in Zairre’s power. Unfortunately for Zairre, Buck Cowan comes along for the ride, and a fanged and furry Jack is cast into an alternate realm (Biphasia), with its 24/7 benighted Shadow-Realm, and 24/7 daylit side, Searland.

Russell is forced to fight in a supernatural war between two insane foes (Delandra, the “yin-yang half-queen of Biphasia,” and Sardanus, a black-armored warlord whose bellicose designs include Russell’s—our—world.

Ambitious, complex (for a comic book) and wild-with-its-ideas-and-creatures issue, one of my favorite Werewolf By Night storylines thus far.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Death in White” (#31): Jack Russell’s ski vacation with his friends, including a newly met widow (Elaine Marston) and her seven-year-old daughter (Buttons), goes horribly awry when Buttons sneaks out while Jack, in fur and fang form, runs wild in a blizzard. Meanwhile, L.A. detective Vic Northrup heads to Haiti to hunt down Raymond Carver, whom he thinks had something to do with his friend’s (Det. Lou Hackett) murder (see issue 21).

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Stalker Called Moon Knight” (#32): While Buck Cowan—seriously hurt in issue 31—fights for his life in a L.A. hospital, Jack Russell, moon-transformed, fights for his life after The Committee hires a mercenary (Marc Spector, a.k.a. Moon Knight) to bring Jack Russell, of course in werewolf form, to them. In Haiti, Raymond Coker (last seen in issue 21) gets bad news from “Jeesal of de thousand years”.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Wolf-Beast s. Moon Knight” (#33):Jack Russell’s full-moon battle with Moon Knight continues. L.A. detective Vic Northrup lands in Haiti, continuing his search for Raymond Coker, who tells “Jeesala of de thousand years” about an undead threat that killed his aunt and uncle “in a small village north of Mirebalais” and terrorized his seven-year-old cousin (Banita).

 

Marvel Premiere featuring: The Legion of Monsters—“There’s a Mountain on Sunset Boulevard!” (#28): After a mountain rips through Sunset Boulevard, Jack Russell (moon-transformed), Ghost Rider, Morbius the Living Vampire, and Man-Thing find themselves fighting for or against a golden alien warrior (Starseed), in a conflict that’ll cost them plenty. Palpable sense of comic book-y heartbreak in this issue. One of my favorite Werewolf By Night issues.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Not All the Shades of Death Nor Evil’s Majesty” (#34): A moon-changed Jack Russell, his sister (Lissa), Topaz and Elaine Marston (introduced in issue 31) investigate the haunted Marcosa House (once owned by evil supernatural enthusiast Belaric Marcosa “nearly a century” before). They do this for multiple reasons, not the least of which is to save Buck Cowan’s life (issues 31-32), find out what happened to Elaine’s fellow paranormal investigators (including her husband Steven).

While effectively heavy on atmospheric dread and horror, the plot that leads them there is thin and forced, even for a comic book. Its storyline recalls Shirley Jackson’s 1959 gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House and Richard Matheson’s 1971 novel Hell House. Still, this issue is a fun, spooky and above-average horror read.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Evil in Every Stone No Longer Hiding” (#35): Wild, malefic hallucinations (or are they?) manifest themselves with Jack Russell (who, in human form, must fend off a lycanthropic attack), Elaine Marston (volatile and kill-crazy), Lissa and Topaz in Belaric Marcosa’s hellish house.

Intense, relentless in its terror scenarios, above average issue, like the issue that preceded it and the two issues that follow it.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Marcosa in Death” (#36): Still trapped in Belarus Marcosa’s malefic, spirit-infested death abode, Jack Russell and his friends try to suss out their (and Elaine Marston’s) escape, a plan that unveils further mysteries and monstrous visions/attacks.

 

Werewolf By Night: [no story title] (#37): The four-issue Marcosa House arc wraps up as Jack Russell and his family (blood kin and extended) mount a desperate, zombie- and hallucination-bashing offensive against the evil manse-master, Belarus Marcosa. Solid, milestone-for-Jack-Russell finish.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Rebirth Also Kills” (#38): A supernatural trio (The Three who Are All)—“the Cowled One, burning snake, and goat child”—appear to various Werewolf By Night characters, including Jack Russell, to bring them together for a pivotal conflict with a common foe. Not a lot happens in this issue, but it’s a set-up for the next issue.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Some Are Born to the Night” (#39): Jack Russell and his friends (including the unexpected Brother Voodoo, a.k.a. Jericho Drumm) battle zuvembies (“dead men who’ve lost their souls. . . and serve the very person  preventing their eternal rest”) in the Devil’s Grotto in Haiti.

 

Werewolf by Night: “Souls in Darkness” (#40): Still battling the zuvembies, Jack Russell and his friends now have to contend with the supposedly dead Dr. Glitternight (last seen in issues 27-30), master of the zuvembies. Also: Dr. Glitternight’s past is revealed, The Three Who Are All make an appearance as does LAPD Detective Vic Northrup.

 

Werewolf By Night: “. . . And Death Shall Be the Change!” (#41): The conflict between Jack Russell (and his friends) and Dr. Glitternight intensifies made more wild by a revelation and a task put out by The Three Who Are All. Conclusion of the story arc begun in issue 38 (“Rebirth Also Kills”).

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Marauder and the Man of Iron” (#42): Jack Russell, now able to control his lycanthropic transformations, interrupts a four-man burglary, led by the Marauder (last seen in Iron Man issues 60 and 61). Iron Man shows up, and after the obligatory mistaken-intentions fight between Russell and Iron Man, they try to stop the Marauder and his henchmen.

Excellent issue! I love that Jack, one issue away from the end of the original run of Werewolf, is finally able to control his familial curse. Also: his interaction with Jarvis, The Avengers’ manservant, are warm and hilarious.

 

Werewolf by Night: “Terrible Threat of the Tri-Animan” (#43): In a warehouse on Houtson and Mottle Streets in LA, Iron Man and Jack Russell (of course in werewolf form) face off against the Marauder’s latest mutation-cyborg, Tri-Animan (who has the “strength of a gorilla, the speed and agility of a cheetah, and the raw savagery of an alligator”). After their building-smashing fisticuffs spill out onto the streets, things spiral further out of control.

This final issue of the original Werewolf By Night run is mostly fun and all-around excellent for an series-ending work, but I’m guessing its writers didn’t get a lot of warning (if any) about Werewolf’s demise because of a dangling Story B thread where Buck Cowan was dramatically kidnapped by a terrifying, mysterious someone (at the end of issue 42). In issue 43, Buck’s still missing, news that has to reach Jack Russell. Still, this is a minor, beyond-the-creators’-control element. I’ve little doubt they probably would’ve tied up that loose end if Marvel had given them the chance. Great finish.

"Werewolf By Night" Omnibus by various writers and artists (Part 1 of 2)

 

(over-sized hb; 2015: graphic novel)

From the inside flap

“From the streets of Los Angeles, across Europe and into unnamed worlds, Transylvanian-American Jack Russell turned his curse into a blessing for others. During his quest for control or cure, he met many of Marvel’s mightiest monsters as allies, enemies or either—including John Blaze, Brother Voodoo, , the Man-Thing, Morbius the Living Vampire, and even Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster! His clashes with two very different vigilantes made him an opponent of the heinous Hangman and a friend with ex-mercenary Moon Knight, commissioned by the cryptic Committee to tame him!

“Bound body and soul to the gruesome grimoire called the Darkhold, the Werewolf and his friends—mortal and otherwise—found themselves at the center of sorcery spanning the centuries: Aelfric the Mad Monk, Marcosa the Soul-Eater, the terrible Taboo and the modern era’s Moondark the Magician! Threats ranging from such mortal monstrosities as Half-man and DePrayve to the all-but-omnipotent forces of Doctor Glitternight and the Starseed harried the hairy hero, who inevitably rose—triumphant—even more steadily than the full moon!

“Featuring the Army of Terror, the Brotherhood of Baal, the Hellrunners and the hordes of Hydra! Demons and androids, Hollywood vampires and zombie police officers, mad scientists, madder monsters, and more! Guest-starring Spider-Man and Iron Man, and featuring the origin of Tigra of the Avengers!”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review. Part 2 of this review is here.

Werewolf is a fun, well-written and excellently illustrated comic book, with main characters that, within the comic book genre, are relatively smart and consistent in their characterizations—though Jack Russell’s constant lack of planning about how to lock himself up (or how to sedate himself) when he’s a werewolf seems comic book convenient, as he doesn’t seem to try too hard to solve the problem. That minor quibble aside, Werewolf is mostly a slice-of-1970s-monster blast-read, an Old School joy ride down memory lane for those who thrill to such things. Worth owning, this.

 

Review, issue by issue

Marvel Spotlight: ‘Werewolf By Night’ – “Night of Full Moon—Night of Fear!” (#2): Jack Russell’s eighteenth birthday is marred by familial betrayal, tragedy, a nightmarish curse, and murder.

 

Marvel Spotlight: ‘Werewolf By Night’ – “The Thing in the Cellar!” (#3): Two months after his mother’s murder, an on-the-run Jack Russell takes on a motorcycle gang to protect his sister Lissa). He’s later kidnapped by a couple, Nathan and Andrea Timly, who want to “learn the secrets of the Darkhold,” somehow connected to his father, killed in the Balkan by villagers.

 

Marvel Spotlight: ‘Werewolf By Night’ – “Island of the Damned!” (#4): Jack Russell meets L.A. reporter (Buck Cowan), a potential ally in Jack’s search for the Darkhold. This leads them to Miles blackgar’s Monterey, CA-adjacent island where Blackgar engages in mysterious scientific experiments.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Eye of the Beholder!” (#1): Buck Cowan helps Jack Russell escape from Miles Blackwell’s Doctor Moreau-esque island, now run by his once-sympathetic-to-Jack, Gorgon-gazed daughter (Marlene, first seen in Marvel Spotlight #4). The wealthy Blackgars and their reluctant, mutant henchman (Strug) pursue them and kidnap Jack’s sister, Lissa.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Hunter—and the Hunted!” (#2): Terri (Jack Russell’s romantic interest) helps Jack interpret his warlock father’s spell book (Darkhold). Another villain, a bald giant named Cephalos, tracks Jack down and tries to transfer Jack’s animal strength and resilience into his villainous body.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Mystery of the Mad Monk!” (#3): While translating the Darkhold (written in twelfth century Latin) for Jack, Father Ramon Jacquez, introduced in the last issue, is now controlled by a fire-scarred, eight-hundred-year-old satanic monk (Aelfric the Mad Monk). Jocquez/Aelfric tells Jack Russell about the source of his lycanthropy (an eighteen-hundred-year-old demon), before trying to kill Jack and Lissa. There’s some excellent witchsploitation flick-worthy artwork in this issue, and this is one of my favorite issues in the series thus far.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Danger Game!” (#4): Twenty-four hours after the events of the previous issue, a boastful big game hunter (Joshua Kane) hunts Jack Russell (in his werewolf form) in an abandoned L.A. western movie set.

Beyond its obvious story lift, this issue sports a nice visual shout-out to Richard Connell’s 1924 story “The Most Dangerous Game,” along with effective poetic karma at the end. Another favorite issue in this series.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Life for a Death!” (#5): Luther Kane, scientist brother of Joshua Kane (last seen in issue 4), offers Jack Russell a cure for his lycanthropy-cursed sister (Lissa) if Jack kills someone for him. Luther’s target: Justin Hemp, a “reclusive millionaire” who negatively altered Luther’s fortunes. Like the two issues before it, this is an above-average-for-the-series issue, one where the storylines and characters begin to gel.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Carnival of Fear” (#6): When Buck Cowan (Jack Russell’s reporter friend), Lissa (Jack’s sister) and Jack visit a traveling carnival, a swami (Rihva) cages Jack, with the intention of turning the reluctant lycanthrope into a sideshow attraction. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Detective Lou Hackett begins looking for Jack, whom he suspects is a night-beast.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Ritual of Blood!” (#7): Lissa Russell and Buck Cowan, investigating Jack Russell’s abrupt disappearance, fall under Rihva’s sway. Seems the swami, introduced in the last issue, needs Jack’s shapeshifter blood for a Bloodstone ritual—a ceremony that will end with Jack’s death.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Lurker Behind the Door!” (#8): After escaping from Caliope’s Carnival and Circus, Jack Russell accidentally frees a cave-bound, fire-breathing demon (Krogg) who intends to make Jack his first post-cave meal.

 

 

Marvel Team-Up Featuring: Spider-Man and the Werewolf—“Wolf at Bay!” (#12): In San Francisco, Peter Parker/Spider-Man—taking on an out-of-town photo assignment to process his grief for the recently murdered Gwen Stacy—encounters Jack Russell in werewolf form. Seems Jack was transformed by a Svengali magician (Moondark) who has the entire bayside city under his hypnotic control.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Terror Beneath the Earth!” (#9): Jack Russell, after a skirmish with a seemingly mutated and rags-clad monster, returns to his stepfather’s (Philip Russell) home where he, Philip, and Lissa are stalked by a freakish mini-army under the command of Sarnak, a mysterious master with a “control flute.” Aside from Jack’s plot-convenient/unlikely memory lapses in one part—any werewolf worth his fangs would surely monitor moon phases—this is a solid comic book read.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Sinister Secret of Sarnak!” (#10): Sarnark, the “Master of Sound,” unleashes his “army of fear” on Los Angeles after Jack Russell escapes from him—with Jack’s sister, Lissa, still in Sarnak’s clutches.

Meanwhile, Detective Lou Hackett continues his investigation of Jack and his family. Good, character-interesting twist-finish to this issue, although Sarnak’s reasons for working The Committee (a group of gangsters) are thin, too cartoonish/comic book-y, even for a comic book villain.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Comes the Hangman” (#11): The Committee, who kidnapped Philip Russell (Jack Russell’s stepdad) last issue, begin to question him. Jack, in human form, moves out of Buck Cowan’s apartment, and in his lycanthropic form, Jack battles the corruption- and justice-obsessed Hangman, who “rescues” women.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Cry Werewolf!” (#12): Jack Russell’s battle with the scythe- and noose-wielding Hangman intermittently continues. Jack, in human form, goes swimming with his skimpy bathing-suited apartment-building neighbors, Clary Winter (a.k.a. Melody Tune, an actress) and Samantha (“Sam”). While doing so, Jack meets his brusque new neighbor, Mr. Coker, whose intentions toward Jack are uncertain.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “His Name is Taboo” (#13): Jack Russell (in werewolf form) is mind-manipulated by Topaz, a willful, sexy telepath-mind mutant who works for Taboo, a vengeful sorcerer with a grudge against Philip Russell (Jack’s stepfather). Taboo also seeks the Darkhold, “the Book of Sin,” which was destroyed in the third issue of Werewolf By Night, unbeknownst to Taboo and Topaz. Fun, fast twists and characters in this one, a standout issue.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Lo, the Monster Strikes” (#14): Jack/Werewolf fights Algon, Taboo’s lumpy-fleshed monster (with Philip Russell’s mind transposed to it), to escape, with new ally (Taboo) in tow. Revelations about Philip, Gregory Russoff (Jack’s father) and Jack’s mother are revealed.

 

 

The Tomb of Dracula: “Enter: Werewolf By Night” (#18): In this crossover issue, Jack Russell and Taboo travel to Transylvania, where Gregory Russoff’s manor is located—Jack and Topaz seek the details regarding Jack’s father’s life and death. While there, they cross paths with Dracula, dramatic and bloodthirsty as ever.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Death of a Monster!” (#15): Jack Russell and Topaz find Jack’s father’s (Gregory Russoff) diary in Russoff Manor, Jack’s familial Transylvanian estate. Frank Drake and Rachel Van Helsing, the former a descendant of Dracula, also hunt the iconic bloodsucker within the same Balkan village, their endeavor made easier by Dracula, who—like many Werewolf By Night characters—constantly announces his intentions.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Death in the Cathedral!” (#16): Jack Russell battles a Parisian mutant terrorist (Hunchback) in France while Topaz tries to balance Jack’s human/lycanthropic nature.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “The Behemoth!” (#17): After barely escaping their debacle with the Hunchback and Parisian gendarme, Jack Russell and Topaz return to Jack’s Los Angeles home, where the Committee, who’ve not been idle under the leadership of Baron Thunder. Thunder has created the Behemoth, “a veritable mountain of synthetic, clay-like muscle,” and a hard-to-stop enemy of Jack and his family. Meanwhile, Raymond Coker—Jack’s occultist neighbor in the Colden House apartment complex—has advanced in his supernatural plans, yet to be fully revealed.

More concerning is Lissa Russell, Jack’s about-to-turn-eighteen sister, who is likely to inherit their familial lycanthropic curse.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Murder By Moonlight!” (#18): Lieutenant Lou Hackett shows up at Jack Russell’s door talking about werewolves, making Jack nervous—just as an assassin with an axe (Ma Mayhem) attacks Jack. The complicated battle between Jack and Mayhem soon involve occult-ritualizing neighbor Raymond Coker, who becomes an (offscreen) a black-blue-furred lycanthrope himself.

Lots of crazy action in this one—this is especially fun, with plot-convenient weirdness involved. Also: The Committee, who’ve been watching Jack’s stepdad (Philip Russell), kidnap Jack’s sister Lissa.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Vampires on the Moon!” (#19): Raymond Coker and Jack Russell, in werewolf form, fight vampires (Louis Belski and Liza) in a film studio. Later, the lycanthropes discover a book (Libro del Malditos) in Geraldo Kabel’s (Joshua Kane’s estate executor) office. Libro is a book with alarming, possibly fatal news for the two werewolves.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Sized Creatures ‘featuring: Werewolf By Night’” (Special Issue #1): Jack Russell, again in werewolf form, and Tigra the Were-Woman fight green-suited HYDRA agents. Tigra’s superhero/shapeshifter origin story is told.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “Eye of the Wolf!” (#20): A lycanthrope stalks Raymond Coker (whom Lieutenant Lou Hackett suspects is a werewolf) and Jack Russell . A lawyer (Gerald Kabal) accidentally gives Jack an animal-eye ring that allows Jack to think as a rational human while he’s in his cursed furry form. Jack, in said form, battles Baron Thunder, head of the committee and “former client” of Kabal, in Thunder’s manse on Moonrise Hill, “a combination of a haunted house and condemned tenement” (Jack’s description). While there, Jack discovers the true identity of a Ma Mayhem (last seen in Werewolf By Night issue 18). Jack also rescues his sister Lissa from the house on Moonrise Hill.

 

 

Werewolf By Night: “One’s Wolf’s Cure. . . Another’s Poison!” (#21): Lieutenant Lou Hackett interrogates lawyer Geraldo Kabal about the green animal-eyed ring Hackett found at Joshua Kane’s place (Werewolf By Night #4). Hackett, wearing the ring, becomes a werewolf and attacks Jack Russell and his “wolf-brother” Raymond coker while they’re wolfed-out.

 

 

Monsters Unleashed magazine (#6) – first chapter in a two-part Werewolf By Night “prose feature,” (“Panic By Moonlight”) by Gerry Conway: A motorcycle gang takes the occupants of Jack Russell’s apartment building. (This story takes place between issues 17 and 19 of Werewolf By Night.)

 

Monsters Unleashed magazine (#7) – second chapter in a two-part Werewolf By Night “prose feature,” (“Madness Under a Mid-Summer Moon”) by Gerry Conway: Continuation of the story about a biker gang attacking and imprisoning Jack Russell, Raymond Coker and their Colden House neighbors—unfortunately for the bikers, they picked full-moon nights to do this!

Fun, mostly well-written (the bad guys’ reason for doing bad deeds feels underwhelming and forced).