Werewolf by Night #1 (2020)

April 22, 2022 GenFlagg

“Werewolf by Night” and the whole Marvel horror genre have never intrigued me. I’m not being grumpy or trying to be the Cool Kid in the Room, they’ve just never did it for me and a were a big “meh”. I think this was because the basic concepts of werewolves, vampires and zombies weren’t exclusive to the Marvel Universe. Exclusive in the way a dude with radioactive spider-blood, a frozen soldier from WII, an ancient Norse god, or even a talking duck were. The horror characters and concepts had been done before, outside of Marvel. So adding them into Marvel seemed like tacking on, just for the sake of having them. Had they existed in a vacuum, outside of the usual Marvel Super Hero shenanigans, they might’ve worked for me. If I could have all the unique craziness of Marvel, why would I want the seemingly “normal” adventures of horror characters that had been in countless other media outlets? Been there, done that.

That may explain why I was surprised to find this copy of 2020’s all-new/all-different “Werewolf by Night” FIRST ISSUE in my Comixology/Amazon app. I have absolutely no idea where it came from. Apparently it was a free download, at some time. Always a sucker for something that’s FREE (just see my closet and the gaggle of free crappy t-shirts I still own), I probably downloaded it, then immediately forgot about it and was distracted by something else on my iPad– like my Weekly Screentime Report, a baseball scoring update, or the fact that yet another version of iOs was available. And just for the record, an iPad is the only Apple product I’m comfortable using, as I’m still scarred by my awful experiences with a “Macintosh Performa” in the 90’s and the ongoing/unecessary compatiblity issues and inconsitencies between fonts. Did you know that, despite what your local Machead will swear by, there are significant differences between Arial and Helvetica? Even special versions of Mac or PC Helevetica will still display subtle differences in the kerning and vertical spacing. Add this up over 200 pages of text flow and it sucks. Yeah, something that’s been plaguing me since 1996 and when I was in college, listening to Soundgarden, Sublime and 311. BTW, did I ever tell you about the time I met Sublime’s Bradley Nowell (and his girlfriend/future wife) in a beer line at a festival concert? Someday I will…but I get distracted easily.

Wait…what in the great googley-goo was I talking about? Oh yeah: the new Werewolf By Night.

We’re introduced to Jake Gomez, a 17 year old kid who lives on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona and works as a janitor at the mysterious “Life Corporation”. Along with his girlfriend, Molly, and his granny, Rora, he’s figuring out how to live with being a Werewolf. It apparently happened when he was 13, and it’s part of a curse, passed down by his father. Who the father is, we’re not told, just yet.

Jake doesn’t need a full moon to transform a night, he just seems to need a lot of emotion: whether it be anger, sadness, or what have you. Molly’s also found out that they can control his werewolf episodes with the help pf music and wireless earbuds. They’ve also found out a few other things, like the fact that he eats small animals and has to continually buy Dran-o to help with his shedding in the shower tub. Also, when he transforms into a werewolf, he keeps his braided hairstyle.

Y’know, the only sort of “hairstyle” I ever had was a mullet from 1988 to 1994. I finally ditched it when I went to Great Clips one day, which was staffed by a buncha’ cute chicks who told me I should ditch the mullet and just let my naturally curly hair take over. Before then, I not only had the mullet, but would wear a winter cap, for an hour after I got out of the shower, so my curly hair would straighten out. I remember I had a Denver Broncos wool cap that I would routinely wear. This was back in the days when John Elway was the QB and losing Super Bowls. I was one of the few clowns who thought they had a chance in Super Bowl 24, if they ran Bobby Humphrey more and threw to Michael Young. I wonder whatever happened to that guy…. wait, where was I? Got distracted again.

Oh yeah…this story doesn’t involve Jake Gomez, exclusively. There’s also Red Wolf, who’s working for the U.S. Government as he investigates some weird abductions on the reservation. This leads him to the Life Corporation’s complex, where some…. kid… is trying to absorb all the data of “The Pathmind”.

Nice to see Red Wolf make an appearance. Sorta’ along the lines of what we talked about in the old Marvel Spotlight and Hawkman FIRST ISSUE reviews, it’s nice that Jake is being billed as a “Werewolf by Night” and not “RED Werewolf by Night”. This seems to be another instance where a superhero just happens to be a Native American, and it’s not necessarily reflected in his name.

As this issue wraps up, Jake and Molly are also investigating the weirdness at the Life Corporation, and they stop a truck full of abductees. Suddenly, Jake is acosted by… a buncha’ characters from 1990’s Image Comics:

I’m guessing their 90’s/Image names are Razorsteel, Slash Grinder and Kill-Wolf.

As a guy who’s not familiar with the “Werewolf by Night” character, I was able to pick up that Jake is a brand-new (or “all-new, all-different” per Marvel tradition) version of the Werewolf. His un-seen “dad” isn’t mentioned by name, yet Jake mentions that his dad was/is Native American. This would possibly eliminate the original “Werewolf”, Jack Russell from a paternity suit. By the way, this is an old “joke” of mine, but with a name like Jack Russell, wouldn’t be a were-TERRIER by night? Hey-oh! Call me a softie, but I’ve always loved terriers. Every dog I’ve picked out, in my life, has been a terrier. Just something about the cute face, cuddly demeanor and overall adorableness. In fact…. wait, stay on target, Porkins! Back to this comic!

Yeah. Anyways, one of my first notices of this book was the name “Taboo” as the writer. I thought: “did some comic writer nickname themself ‘Taboo’? Like the guy from Black-Eyed Peas”? Turns out, it IS the guy from Black-Eyed Peas. Y’know, I’m not a huge fan of the BEPs, but you can’t dislike them. I like how “Let’s Get it Started” used to be played whenever a lead-off man got aboard at baseball games. Plus, I remember “I Got a Feeling” was played at my wedding, Fergie did a song with Slash and…

Right. Focus. So to wrap this up, there are enough fresh ideas in this story, that I’m willing to check out the remaining 3 issues of this limited series. There’s even an informative two-page eidtorial from the creative team that shows they’re enthused about this and tackling it with seriousness and authenticity. Yes, I’m goofing on the “Image Characters”, but this might work as a self-contained, satisfying, tidy, little 4-issue story. The Hopi Reservation is a locale that isn’t explored too much in comics, so it’s nice to see Marvel visiting this corner of the world. Of course, if a future issue has them in a big Western city (like, say, Tucson), and it’s rendered like Marvel’s traditional New York City, yet with mountains in the background, I’ll face-palm myself.

Honestly, if this wasn’t a digital download, I probably would NOT have picked it up, “off-the-rack”, at a comic store. In that regard, this book was a success, as it turned me on to something I wouldn’t have read, normally. I’m not blown away by what’s going on, here, but I am intrigued enough to track down the next 3 issues. Yet with Marvel’s current fascination with the multiverse, re-boots, ret-cons, and other wide-sweeping concepts, a “quiet” story set in Arizona might be enough for me. This doesn’t seem “tacked on” to Marvel, as I mentioned above, but something that lives and breathes in the Marvel U.

As long as I stay on it and don’t get distracted. Yeah, lemme’ find those 3 issues, now. Didja’ know that “3” is considered a lucky number, espcially in sports. There’s a 3-point field goal, a 3-pointer in basketball, 3 strikes and outs in baseball. Plus iconic guys who’ve worn “3” like Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey, Jr., Russell Wilson, Daryle Lamonica, and Harmon Killebrew. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I met Killebrew at a hot tub store, on my lunch break? Maybe someday I will…