Werewolf by Night Marvel Comic Book Series- When It Was Cool Remembers the Monster Series.
By: Karl Stern (@WIWCNetwork)
Please donate to help keep our website open. Thank you! Any amount helps!
The Comics Code Authority relaxed it rules on monsters in 1971 as we discussed in our Tomb of Dracula article and it finally became possible to publish comics code-approved comic books with werewolves once again. The Werewolf by Night character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight issue 2 in February 1972. The lead character's name was Jack Russell leading to the obvious dog jokes.
After the try out run in Marvel Spotlight issues 2-4, Werewolf by Night got its own solo series beginning in September 1972. Gerry Conway described working on the series as "a lot of fun" because the horror genre was a refreshing change from the superhero stories that had been the staple of mainstream comics for years. Werewolf by Night was published for 43 issues and ran until March 1977.
While most of the run of Werewolf by Night was standard monster fare for the era, the series took a superhero turn with issue #32 in August 1975 which saw the first appearance of a cult favorite character who would have numerous solo series over the year even to the current day- Moon Knight. Moon Knight was originally created with his silver attire and silver crescent darts to be a werewolf hunter before finally turning against the shadowy organization which hired him and becoming a hero.
Werewolf by Night was dormant for most of the 1980s. The character's appearance was radically revamped in Moon Knight issue 29 in March 1983 (pictured below).
Werewolf by Night was later revived in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents anthology series, where he appeared occasionally from 1991-1993.
Werewolf by Night actually had a short lived second series in 1998 which ran for six issues. That series was written by Paul Jenkins and penciled by Leonardo Manco. After the book's cancellation, the story was continued in the pages of Strange Tales, which also featured the Man-Thing. That volume of Strange Tales was canceled after only two issues due to low sales.
In 2007, Marvel published a one-shot entitled Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night, with art by Greg Land.
In January 2009, Jack Russell was featured in the four-issue limited series Dead of Night Featuring Werewolf by Night, from Marvel's MAX imprint. The series was written by Duane Swierczynski, with art by Mico Suayan.
Werewolf by Night returned in a big way in 2022, being brought to life by the Disney Plus streaming channel. Werewolf by Night is set to be a television special directed by Michael Giacchino and written by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron. It is intended to be the first Marvel Studios Special Presentation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the MCU franchise. The special is produced by Marvel Studios, and follows a secret group of monster hunters as they compete for a powerful relic while going up against a dangerous monster.
Gael García Bernal stars in the special as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night, along with Laura Donnelly and Harriet Sansom Harris. Development of the special had begun by August 2021 ahead of the start of filming later that month at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, which concluded by late April.
Werewolf by Night is scheduled to be released on Disney+ on October 7, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.
If you found this article interesting consider becoming a Patreon supporter. That is how When It Was Cool keeps our website and podcasts online, plus you get lots of bonus content including extra and extended podcasts, articles, digital comics, ebooks, and much more. Check out our Patreon Page to see what's up!
If you don't want to use Patreon but still want to support When It Was Cool then how about a one time $5 PayPal donation? Thank you!
