Werewolf By Night

[destro]

I recently picked up a cheap copy of Werewolf by Night #35 by Doug Moench and Don Perlin and was kind of intrigued. This is one of the few Marvel titles I know almost nothing about.

1st, I never knew that Moench worked on the title. How long was he on the book? The only issue I have ever read of WWBN before this was Moon Knight's 1st appearance, I'm guessing that Moench wrote that as well since he did a lot of work later on the character.

Anyway #35 was much more gory and violent than I would have expected, even for something that came out during the 70s horror boom. The story is pretty damned close to Richard Matheson's Hell House. Belaric Marcosa is the name of the villain here and the novel's villain is named Emeric Belasco... Their origin stories are extremely similar, down to the maimed leg/legs, gathering up a group of people who quickly descended into debauchery, etc..I'm guessing Doug must have just read the book? It's a bit too close actually.

I'm just interested in the quality of the rest of the series and what people have to say about this comic. I hardly ever see anyone talking about it, Tomb of Dracula seems to have had a lot more fans.

[Brian Gravity]

Great run of comics right there. I have around 25 issues and the bulk of them feature quality artwork by the likes of Gil Kane, Don Perlin, Mike Ploog, and John Romita. The earlier stories by Gerry Conway are fantastic, classic 70's camp. Marv Wolfman kicks it into high gear in #11 starting with "Full Moon, Fear Moon" and following with, "Cry Monster". Wolfman continues with the classic Dracula vs. Wolfman arc.

But it is the Doug Moench run (beginning in I believe #20) that takes the series over the top. As you mentioned, the series becomes a darker, bloodier comic under Moench's helm...going down in history as the man to introduce the world to Moon Knight.

Werewolf by Night is one of those comics that fit perfectly for it's decade, much like Man-Thing and Ghost Rider. Oddly enough the issues keep going up in value, and not just the 1st Moon Knight app. either. That's only because it's classic bronze-age Marvel horror at it's very best.

[destro]

Great run of comics right there. I have around 25 issues and the bulk of them feature quality artwork by the likes of Gil Kane, Don Perlin, Mike Ploog, and John Romita. The earlier stories by Gerry Conway are fantastic, classic 70's camp. Marv Wolfman kicks it into high gear in #11 starting with "Full Moon, Fear Moon" and following with, "Cry Monster". Wolfman continues with the classic Dracula vs. Wolfman arc.

But it is the Doug Moench run (beginning in I believe #20) that takes the series over the top. As you mentioned, the series becomes a darker, bloodier comic under Moench's helm...going down in history as the man to introduce the world to Moon Knight.

Werewolf by Night is one of those comics that fit perfectly for it's decade, much like Man-Thing and Ghost Rider. Oddly enough the issues keep going up in value, and not just the 1st Moon Knight app. either. That's only because it's classic bronze-age Marvel horror at it's very best.

Cool, thanks for the info. I think I'm going to pick up the 2nd Marvel Essential collection that starts at #21 because I'm mainly interested in the Moench stuff and want to avoid the Conway stories..not a big Gerry Conway fan.

[berk]

The Conway stories aren't bad, but the main attraction of the series before Moench took over is Mike Ploog's artwork. IIRC, Moench took a few issues to get going, but by the late #20s the writing really started to pick up. Don Perlin's artwork really came into its own around the same time, once he was doing his own inks. It's too bad the series was cancelled so soon, I had the feeling that Moench and Perlin were just getting started.

And yeah, the Belasco haunted house story was a straight lift from Matheson's novel, and I'm sure Moench would acknowledge it as such. I don't recall anyone mentioning it on the letters page. I had no idea myself until I happened to read Hell House years afterwards and of course immediately went, "hey, wait a minute ...". I don't imagine you'd get away with that kind of thing now.

[destro]

The Conway stories aren't bad, but the main attraction of the series before Moench took over is Mike Ploog's artwork. IIRC, Moench took a few issues to get going, but by the late #20s the writing really started to pick up. Don Perlin's artwork really came into its own around the same time, once he was doing his own inks. It's too bad the series was cancelled so soon, I had the feeling that Moench and Perlin were just getting started.

And yeah, the Belasco haunted house story was a straight lift from Matheson's novel, and I'm sure Moench would acknowledge it as such. I don't recall anyone mentioning it on the letters page. I had no idea myself until I happened to read Hell House years afterwards and of course immediately went, "hey, wait a minute ...". I don't imagine you'd get away with that kind of thing now.

I've just made it a rule to avoid EVERYTHING by Gerry Conway, he's one of my all time least favorite writers. But I do like Ploog, hmmm..dammit! I'm still going to start with the 2nd essential collection and depending on how I feel about it I might have to go back and check out the 1st, Conway or no...

Okay thanks, I'm glad it wasn't just me on the Hell House thing. I've been 10 years since I read the novel, but I immediately noticed the similarities there. I suppose if you're going to "borrow" off a story you might as well pick a good one like Hell House.

[berk]

I usually avoid Conway's writing myself as well, but his WbN stories aren't the worst things he ever did and the Ploog art makes them worthwhile IMO. Marv Wolfman did a short stint on the series as well and I believe introduced Topaz there, the character that later appeared in Tomb of Dracula. I just had a look at Lonestar and you can get most of the Werewolf by Night issues pretty cheap, many for only a buck or two. Of course the character's intro in Marvel Spotlight and the two Moon Knight issues are quite expensive, unfortunately.