"Morbius the Living Vampire" Omnibus by various artists and writers (Part 2 of 2)

 

(oversized hb; 2019; graphic novel)

Overall review

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

Morbius is a fun, distinctive (he’s a living vampire!), and overall good read, although the artwork, between its various illustrators, varies in quality (mostly it’s good). Its main characters (despite the era-familiar/sexist damsel-in-distress female players) are mostly consistent and generally interesting—in this second half of original-run Morbius-featuring issues, the living vampire is (for the most part) a more consistently humane (relatable) character, making for better overall writing, between the adult-oriented Fear and Vampire Tales magazines and kid-friendly mainstream comics. Worth reading and owning, this sometimes-melodramatic omnibus.

The original run of the Morbius stories ran from October 1971 and January 1981.

 

Review, issue by issue

Fear: “Night of the Vampire Stalker” (#27): While Martine and Morbius hole in up the supposedly haunted Mason Mansion near Boston, Massachusetts, an ex-CIA agent and monster hunter (Simon Stroud) looks for Morbius, thinking the living vampire is responsible for a string of bloodletting.

 

Fear: “The Doorway Screaming into Hell!” (#28): Boston, Massachusetts. While Morbius recovers from the events of the previous Fear issue, Police Chief Warner (introduced in the previous issue) tells Martine and Simon Stroud about Letitia Mason, former owner of the Mason Mansion, who told the police about strange supernatural happenings at her residence. This information compels Stroud to interview Letitia.

Later, Morbius and Stroud are thrust into a bizarre realm where furry eyeball, fanged creatures torment Morbius while they say the name of their master (Helleyes).

 

Fear: “Through a Helleyes Darkly” (#29): Escaping an ocean of blood they were cast into, Morbius and Simon Stroud—still at violent odds—try to survive bizarre-world oddities like singing, pinching crabs and the eyeball-covered Helleyes.

 

Fear: “The Vampires of Mason Manor!” (#30): Returned to Mason Mansion, Simon Stroud and Morbius wage war on a mini-army of undead vampires (as opposed to the science-experiment vampire Morbius is). Stroud and Morbius’s battle takes them to the Boston Police station, where Martine might be in danger as well.

 

Fear: “The End of a Vampire!” (#31): Martine, now a vampire, fights Morbius and Simon Stroud, even as the latter two try to give her a shot to cure her unnatural vampirism.

 

Vampire Tales: “A Taste of Crimson Life!” (#10): Painesville, Pennsylvania (Pop. 93). In a separate-from-Fear storyline, Morbius takes revenge on this mining town after his kind boardinghouse landlady (Alicia Twain) is attacked.

Again, it’s worth noting that many of the Vampire Tales stories are more complex, darker, and for mature audiences.

 

Vampire Tales: “Death Kiss” (#11): With help from a mysterious wealthy woman (Morgana), Morbius confronts the London-based upper class Brotherhood of Judas, who seek to fill the political and religious seats of power with bloodsuckers like themselves. Morbius being who he is, he makes melodramatic declarations at key moments.

 

Marvel Preview – The Legion of Monsters: “The Madman of Mansion Slade” (#8): In this Hound of the Baskervilles-esque story, Morbius visits Cupar Fife, Scotland, to see an old scientist friend (Ronson Slade), again to find a cure for Morbius’s unique vampirism. Ronson is distracted by problems of his own, though—specifically his “insane” son (Jeremiah), who might have something to do with recent grisly deaths in the nearby Fenwick Moor.

The events of this relatively gory, black-and-white read aren’t shocking, but it’s effectively atmospheric, solid.

 

Marvel Premiere: “There’s a Mountain on Sunset Boulevard!” (#28): After a mountain rips through Sunset Boulevard, Jack Russell (moon-transformed, from the Werewolf By Night comics), Ghost Rider, Morbius,  and the 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 excellent issue.

 

Marvel Two-in-One: “The Return of the Living Eraser!” (#15):  The Living Eraser, last seen in Tales to Astonish #49 (where he battled Henry Pym, aka Giant Man, and the Wasp) returns to Earth to conquer it by making more people vanish into thin air. Fortunately, Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) and Morbius are there to stop him.

Also, Morbius meets a green-skinned princess from The Living Eraser’s homeworld—a princess grateful and attracted to Morbius, who is drawn to her too. This is a curious development, as there’s no mention of Martine (Morbius’s fiancée), last seen in the final issue of Fear (#31), and still engaged to the living vampire.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “Cry Mayhem—Cry Morbius!” (#7): Morbius, under the control of The Empathoid, kidnaps Glory Grant (Peter Parker’s co-worker and friend), compelling Spider-Man to rescue her—sans the ability to shoot webbing.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “. . . And Only One Will Survive!” (#8): The Empathoid, a bodiless parasite, attaches himself to Spider-Man, with surprising results. Meanwhile, Flash Thompson (a returned-home Vietnam vet) gets a rude shock when he tries to rescue Shan-Shan, a woman he loved during the war, from a seemingly cruel man.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “Curse of the Living Vampire!” (#38): A stressed-out Peter Parker attends a big party hosted by one of Peter’s fellow college students (Chip Martin, who manifests alarming powers), and more importantly, a party crashed by a blood-thirst-crazed Morbius, headed for a big life-change.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “The Power of the Word” (#9): Jen Walters, struggling more than usual to control her She-Hulk rage-transformations, infiltrates a Los Angeles-based cult run by The Word (an assertive ex-editor of dictionaries) and his jealous, superhuman-strength daughter (Ultima).

Jen tries to help Randolph Harrison, a young ex-hippie, escape from the cult, at her clients’ request (Randolph’s parents).

Meanwhile, Jen’s friend (Zapper, crushing on her) consults Michael Morbius, humanized after being struck by lightning in The Spectacular Spider-Man (#38), about Jen’s bloodwork, possibly the source of her rage/She-Hulk health issues.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “The War—of the Word!” (#10): Jen, addled by her life-threatening, mysterious bloodborne illness, is railroaded by The Word into an immediate, day-after-last-issue’s-events legal trial, for which she is ill-prepared. Later, She-Hulk fights a violently jealous superhuman Ultima, The Word’s daughter, who mistakenly thinks Jen is trying to steal a brainwashed Chip Harrison from her.

Dr. Michael Morbius is mentioned but not shown in this issue.

Bearing in mind that this is a children’s mainstream comic book (not a lot of nuance in this genre) and The Word has strong manipulation/persuasion power (he gets an immediate, per his behest, legal trial), this issue might read as too comic book-y, unrealistic in writing/editorial and real-world ways. (Younger readers probably wouldn’t notice, but reading it as an adult, with writing/editing experience, I couldn’t help noticing this.)

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “In the Shadow of Death!” (#11):  Post-court debacle (see previous issue), a seriously ill She-Hulk is arrested by and imprisoned by LAPD, where her alter-ego’s father (Sheriff Morris Walters, unaware of Jen’s dual nature) rails at She-Hulk.

Meanwhile, at a UCLA “neuro-radiology center”, a pre-legal trial Dr. Michael Morbius creates a cure for himself and She-Hulk while students protest the former vampire’s presence. They’re not the only ones angry at Morbius—he’s stalked by a vengeance-seeking father of one of Morbius’s “dozens of” victims. Worsening these situations, can Morbius resist the urge to drink the small beaker of serum that can save She-Hulk’s exponentially declining life (and turn him fully human)?

This especially exciting, rings-realistic (within its genre) issue is excellent, a great entry in the She-Hulk series, a well-written turning point for its titular character.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “Reason and Rage” (#12): Jen Walters, recovered from her life-threatening sickness, defends Michael Morbius, in serious need of the “stabilization serum” of the one he made for Jen, in legal court even as many around her revile her and her “mass murderer” client. 

Post-trial, the parents of one of Morbius’s “dozens of” victims (Helen LeClerc, his attack/her death not shown in the series), go Paul Kersey/Death Wish (1974) after Gemini (an identity-cognizant/dual-natured android)** accidentally gets pulled into Angela and Thomas LeClerc’s retribution-seeking. During this tripartite deliberation/conflict, Jen struggles to learn how to transform into She-Hulk (something that was impulse-instant prior to her drinking the serum; now that it takes conscious effort, it’s a challenge).

[** = Created by Scorpio, a foe of The Defenders (The Defenders, issues #48—50), he was later “almost deactivated” by Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Scorpio recounts this in She-Hulk #12, continuing with “But it wasn’t that easy. . . I was alive! The good guy all put in a kind word for me. . . I was finally released on my own recognizance.”)]

#

This issue is a satisfying wrap-up to the original-run, almost-forty-issue Morbius storyline, one that doesn’t white-wash the living vampire and his unchronicled fate (he is suitably but humanely punished for his actions and hubris)—and it’s as close to a realistic happy ending as one might get, and one that rings true, character- and otherwise.

"Morbius the Living Vampire" Omnibus by various artists and writers (Part 1 of 2)

 

(oversized hb; 2019; graphic novel)

Overall review

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

Morbius is a fun, distinctive (he’s a living vampire!), and overall good read, although the artwork, between its various illustrators, varies in quality (mostly it’s good though). Its main characters (despite the era-familiar/sexist damsel-in-distress female players) are mostly consistent and generally interesting—bearing in mind that, depending on the title, situations and the writers, Morbius veers sometimes from bloodthirsty maniacal to sympathetic anti-hero. Worth reading and owning, this.

These are the first twenty issues of the forty-one original issue run. 

 

Review, issue by issue

The Amazing Spider-Man: “A Monster Called. . . Morbius!” (#101): While hiding out in Dr. Curtis Connors’s (aka the Lizard) summer house (so Peter Parker/Spider-Man can undo an unsuccessful experiment), Spider-Man is thrust into combat with Morbius the Living Vampire for the first time, a situation that compounds into something worse when another unexpected guest shows up.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man: “Vampire at Large!” (#102): Spider-Man, caught between the Lizard (a transformed Dr. Curtis Connors) and Morbius, tries to fend them off, secure a serum for his additional four spider-arms, and transform Connors back into his human self, while subduing (but not seriously harming) Morbius.

 

Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch: “The Power to Purge” (#3): Martine (Dr. Michael Morbius’s distressed fiancée) contacts the Fantastic Four, seeking help in locating her transformed, missing fiancé. One of the four, Johnny Blaze (aka the Human Torch), with help from a combative Spider-Man, locates Morbius and tries to subdue the desperate, blood-deprived vampire—who’s also created another bloodsucker (Jefferson, a political radical, brother of the more even-tempered Jacob).

As one might expect, Blaze and Spider-Man’s efforts are thwarted by unforeseen complications.

 

Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men (#4): Morbius kidnaps Hans Jorgensen, his former scientific partner, and kills some people. Spider-Man, suffering from the effects of the Morbius-based cure for his extra four arms (The Amazing Spider-Man #101-102), tries to stop Morbius, but runs afoul of the X-Men while doing so. Especially cram-packed with characters and action, this issue.

 

Vampire Tales: “Morbius” (#1): This black-and-white illustrated magazine chapter-story shows a guilt-tormented Morbius—recently escaped from the X-men—in Los Angeles, looking for his erstwhile love (Martine). After making accidental friends with a “Children of Satan” cultist “or just a carnie” (Carolyn), she takes him to Madame Laera, a no-frills spiritualist, who also tries to help him locate Martine. While with Madame Laera, they’re attacked by a kill-happy demon (Nilrac).

Especially fun Morbius micro-tale chapter, more bloodthirsty and fearsome than its color-cousin/younger audience mainstream run.

 

Giant-Size Superheroes: “Man-Wolf at Midnight” (#1): In another effort to procure a cure for his vampirism, Michael Morbius—less maniacal than usual—takes control of the Man-Wolf (John Jameson’s lycanthropic self) with the Moon-Stone, recovered from the East River in New York.

Morbius’s plan also includes Dr. Harold Ward, a hematologist working on an experimental cure for leukemia, and only Spider-Man can save Ward and possibly, Jameson/Man Wolf. This simple clever, self-contained story is fun, above average in its written and visual execution.

 

Fear: “Morbius the Living Vampire” (#20): The titular bloodsucker is strangely calmed by two men religious faith and science (Rabbi Krause, Reverend Daemond) is again experimented upon to see if Michael Morbius can be cured of his need for blood. Unfortunately, the situation goes awry (as it often does), and Morbius, cognizant of his humane aspects, is forced to stalk a new victim.

 

Fear: “Project: Second Genesis” (#21): After Morbius’s reluctant attack on Tara (a child who is more than she appears to be), the “man-bat” and the girl are drawn to the Caretakers, ancient, science-smart beings who compel Morbius to confront the traitorous, satanic Daemond, his mysterious female companion and a supernatural “jungle cat” (Balkatar). Another cliffhanger finish, with at least one shocking (for Morbius) twist.

This issue, like the previous Fear issue, casts Morbius in a consistent, well-meaning anti-hero light. This shift (also hinted at Marvel Tearm-Up #3 and 4 as well as Vampire Tales #1) is  a promising character- and series-expansive take on Morbius, a sea-change for the character.

 

Fear: “—This Vampire Must Die!” (#22): Morbius’s slashing fisticuffs with Balkatar, the intelligent and English-speaking jungle cat, are interrupted by a summoning by Balkatar’s also-biped/feline king (Gerark). Gerark has a terrible but seemingly necessary mission for Morbius, one that means life or death for Gerark’s subjects inside the mysterious land-prison of “within”—a place Gerark and his people are unable to escape.

 

Fear: “Alone Against Arcticus” (#23): In a land bordering the “within”, Morbius meets the denizens of Arcturus, a mix of cyborgs, a mutated super-race, and occasional humans—all of whom were subjugated by Gerark the wild-cat king and his ilk long ago, and all of whom seek to free themselves.

 

Fear: “Return to Terror!” (#24): Lord I (eye-faced, telepathic “potentate of Arcturus”) and Morbius return to our terrestrial realm where, surreptitiously espied by the Caretakers, the living vampire tangles with a bewildered Blade the Vampire Slayer.

 

Vampire Tales: “The Blood Sacrifice of Amanda Saint” (#2): In the more adult-oriented Vampire Tales chapter-tale, Morbius confronts another satanic cult, that of Demon-Fire, led by high priestess Poison Lark and her monstrous lieutenant (Katabolik), so that Morbius might save the virginal Amanda Saint from their “Triad of Solomon” sacrifice that would leave Saint dead. Cliffhanger finish to this fun, fast-moving (if stock-Morbius) microtale.

 

Vampire Tales: “Demon-Fire” (#3): Morbius interrupts Poison Lark (Amanda Saint’s murderous sister Catherine) and Katabolik’s mausoleum sacrifice of Amanda Saint to the spider demon Arachne, while “sweet, silly Justin”—Amanda’s love interest—reveals hidden depths. Also mentioned by Poison Lark: “the arcane text of Lemegeton”.

 

Vampire Tales: “Lighthouse of the Possessed” (#4): Amanda Saint and Morbius, having dismembered the San Francisco-based cult of Demon-Fire, head to Lovecraftian eerie Malevolence, Maine, to find Amanda’s mother and father, the former of whom (like Catherine/Poison Lark) joined Demon-Fire’s cult.

Shortly after their arrival in Malevolence, Morbius and Amanda are attacked by its citizens, most of whom are possessed by a skeletal-clawed hell fiend (Bloodtide), summoned by Amanda’s mother. At least one Scooby-Doo-esque end-twist makes this Vampire Tale especially fun.

 

Vampire Tales: “Blood Tide” (#5): Morbius and Amanda Saint continue to fend off attacks by the Bloodtide-possessed citizens of Malevolence, Maine—this time with help from locals Brock Killbride (a naïve political optimist) and the more cynical Arlene Randolph, while Monte Harris, a shady political consultant for Mayor Duke Mannery, skulks around the eerie town. Then Bloodtide shows up! Mayhem ensues.

Multi-POV storytelling issue highlights this issue, cutting between the story’s core characters.

 

Vampire Tales: “Where is Gallows Bend” (#7): In Gallows Bend, Nevada, Amanda Saint and Morbius, continue looking for Saint’s long-disappeared father. More minions of the Demonfire cult—notably Death-Flame—torture Morbius and Amanda with hallucinatory horrors in the Old West-style town. Appropriately melodramatic, crazy story with jarring POV shifts, something that highlights the rest of the Demonfire storyline.

 

Vampire Tales: “High Midnight” (#8): Howie Rivers (owner of the Old West town Gallows Bend, Nevada), his caretaker (Sagebrush Robbins), Morbius and Amanda Saint face off against Apocalypse and his hench-creatures (griffins, Reaper, Phineas T. Coroner, others) in the mostly satisfying conclusion to Morbius’s Demonfire story arc.

Like the previous six Vampire Tales entries, the characters and atmosphere are laid on thick, the writing’s locquacious  and for “mature audiences”, and there’s multiple POVs throughout (this time these POVs effectively gel).

Amanda Saint, self-aware heroine, gets short-shrifted in the Demonfire arc, often little more than a damsel in distress (especially by today’s standards) despite her intelligence and willingness to fight villainy.

 

Fear: “And What of a Vampire’s Blood. . .?” (#25): Picking up from Fear #24, separate from the Vampire Tales storyline: Caught between the 10,000-year-old Caretakers and the demon-priest Daemond, whose long war threatens all, Morbius and the psychically powerful girl-child Tara confront Daemond anew—a conflict Daemond seems likely to win.

 

Fear: “A Stillborn Genesis!” (#26): Character-based twists abound as the war between Daemond and the Caretakers comes to a head. Fun, wild wrap-up to the Caretakers/Daemond storyline.

 

Werewolf By Night: “Giant-Size Werewolf” (#4) – “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.

"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).