When Image and Skybound first announced their slate of comics based on the classic Universal Monsters, I was waiting with bated breath for a series focused on the Wolfman. The werewolf has always been one of my favorite fictional monsters, due to the themes of tragedy that often accompany a lycanthrope’s transformation. Whether it’s the original version of The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney Jr. or modern horror movies like Dog Soldiers, the best werewolf stories tap into that tragedy, and Blood of the Wolf Man #1 is no exception.
Blood of the Wolf Man #1 follows Adam Jaeger, a first year college student in the 1970s. Like most college freshmen, Adam is slowly trying to figure out his place in the world and eventually ends up at a party. Said party goes horribly wrong due to a vicious attack, of which Adam is the sole survivor. Despite doctors not finding a single scratch on him, and his father insisting he’s fine, Adam claims that he is the reason behind the slaughter of his fellow college students…and that he transformed into an inhuman, wolf-like beast when doing it.
Blood of the Wolf Man #1 is penned by Joshua Williamson, one of comics’ most prolific writers in the past few years and a name that’s popped up across most of my reviews. No matter the book, Williamson tends to drill down into a certain theme. His Superman run is exploring the idea of redemption, first through the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, and now through Superboy-Prime. G.I. Joe is about power, particularly how it transforms the people who use it for good or for ill. For Blood of the Wolf Man #1, Williamson returns to a theme that is also fueling his current run on Iron Man: that of legacy. It’s heavily implied that Adam’s father didn’t want him to go to college, mainly due to his “condition” – and judging from some of the dialogue, it might not be the only time the Jaeger family has been haunted by the specter of lycanthropy.
Image/Skybound
Blood of the Wolf Man #1 also marks a reunion between Williamson and artist Leomacs, as the two worked together on DC’s most underrated Black Label book, Rogues. Leomacs has a gift for making his characters feel distinct, as Adam is a wiry, nervous young man who nobody would suspect of being a werewolf. In contrast, his father seems to carry the literal weight of his years, with snowy white hair and beard, a face lined with regret, and eyes that have seen plenty of horrors.
Speaking of horror, I think that Leomacs has one of the most innovative ways of depicting a werewolf transformation, as it’s shown entirely from Adam’s point of view. Readers will literally get to see the fear on Adam’s fellow students’ faces, before witnessing a torrent of bloodshed and the final reveal of his “werewolf” form. (Kudos once again to Leomacs for designing a werewolf that pays tribute to Chaney’s Wolf Man, yet feels like its own beast.)
What makes Blood of the Wolf Man #1 so visually gripping is the color art by Pip Martin. Martin uses a simple palette that perfectly captures the mood: the cold blue of the night sky, the pale white light of the full moon, the softly glowing yellow of a lit house. It’s red that takes over, particularly once the bodies start to hit the floor, and it works in tandem with Leomacs’ artwork to deliver a captivating yet utterly horrifying tableau of gore.
Blood of the Wolf Man #1 launches a tale wrapped in tragedy and terror, while also capturing why the werewolf is the most compelling of all monsters. While Skybound’s Universal Monsters comics have delivered plenty of scares and unique takes on these cinematic icons, this is shaping up to be one of the best.
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