The Marvel Universe is delightfully filled with weird l’il creeps. Ghouls and goblins, demon queens and haunted criminals, the world is populated with oft-forgotten but narratively promising characters. Every once in a while comes a series that gives those creeps a time to shine.
Werewolf by Night: Red Band – The Howling Tome collects just such a series. Werewolf by Night: Red Band, originally released in 2024, is a semi-gruesome and gory showcase of the underutilized. Hell, Jack Russell’s titular Werewolf is not often in the spotlight, let alone the supporting cast and villainous roster on display.
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The book sees the unholy group of cultists, the Darksiders, desperate to reclaim their unholy tome (which, if you’ve been paying attention, has been turned into a little boy, currently hanging out with Agatha Harkness; neither appears here). Hoping to create a sort of evil second printing, the Darkholders target Jack, one of the few living people who have ever read the original volume and survived. Spotlit on their side of the narrative are the bumbling supernatural crime lord, The Hood, and castaway Ghost Rider baddie Deathwatch. Ultimately, the book sees Lilith, Queen of Demons, presiding over the bad guy shenanigans. It’s a delight to have her in play.
With Jack the target of these attentions, Elsa Bloodstone finds herself in the role of ultra-badass bodyguard and eventual savior of our furry protagonist. Along the way they encounter their own crew of under-utilized heroes like Ka-Zar and Shanna of the Savage Land and Brother Voodoo, one-time Sorcerer Supreme.
Werewolf by Night: Red Band – The Howling Tome does a wonderful job of weaving all these disparate parts together into a roving narrative, taking care to stitch its world-building to the thematic heart of the story. Some of these characters might feel out of place – I’m looking at you, Reptile – but the tone of the piece lies in its occasionally wacky action. The constant turnover of guest stars plays into a sort of supernatural screwball comedy of errors. Missteps and misadventure leads our hero ever closer to falling into the wrong hands.
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The book feels a little like writer Jason Loo and artists Sergio Davila and Ton Lima wrote themselves out a wishlist of subjects to play with, then got busy crossing names off that list. The art is spectacular in that it is, indeed, a spectacle: the Red Band marketing allows for gore and violence, and while it plays into that aspect, it never overstays its welcome.
The Howling Tome is a fast-paced, if inessential, thrill ride. For deep cut fans, it’s a delightful showcase, but even though it very loosely ties into the then-contemporary One World Under Doom crossover, it plays its own game, relying only on the reader’s enjoyment of these characters rather than wider knowledge of the Marvel Universe.
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