It’s been a few weeks since my last celebration of Werewolf Wednesday, but when I woke up in my Boston hotel room this morning, I had this inspirational image by Tandye in my inbox, so I knew the time was right. Being married to a talented artist who loves werewolves as much as I do is what you might call “an optimal scenario” (and she’s available for commissions on DA & FA). Now that Tandye’s set things in motion, let’s do this.

I’m playing MacGuffin’s Curse (a game you might remember from a prior post) by Brawsome. I’ll wait until I’m a few more hours into it before I do a review post about it, but it’s the most fun I’ve had in a point & click game since Quest For Glory. The artwork and music are delightful, and the writing has me laughing out loud. It’s available for iOS, OS X and Windows for $5, I think you should go buy it.

Artist Robert DiFiore has created an 11-page journal comic about the results of an unexpected encounter in the woods. It’s called There Wolf, which will make Mel Brooks fans smile. Lovely Prismacolor artwork, and I like the Wolfman-influenced werewolf design.

Among the main characters of Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania is a werewolf named Wayne, voiced by Steve Buscemi. Here’s the trailer, in which Wayne is visible for 0.75 seconds (in the sauna). Apparently he’s at the hotel with his whole family. “Werewolf family with Steve Buscemi as the dad” is a sentence that just about balances out the misery implied by “Adam Sandler as Dracula”.

Anathema. Lunatic Fringe. Jack and Diane. Lesbian werewolves are A Thing, but maybe Jack and Diane isn’t the best thing – at least, not for people who’ve been led to expect actual werewolves in the movie, lesbian or otherwise. Bradley Rust Gray’s film screened at the Tribeca Film Festival to mixed reviews, at least from “professional” reviewers. I haven’t seen the film myself, but the reviews make it seem like it’s short on werewolves and long on kludgey romance and ruined Japanese food. Then again, it currently has an audience rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, so WHO KNOWS. If you saw it, I’d love to know what you thought.

Scooby-Doo and the Werewolf is a new Scooby-Doo iPad app that will delight you while your child clamours to play Angry Birds Space. It’s no Reluctant Werewolf (if that wasn’t a childhood favourite of yours, get out), but 1) werewolves, 2) Velma Dinkley, and 3) Velma Dinkley. Yessssss.

My pal Jason sent me a nifty Listverse article about 10 Real Life Werewolves. All your old favourites are there, but there are few I’d never heard of before, too. A well-curated and nicely illustrated list. Thanks, Jason!

And last but not least, The Foxloft has got three exclusive werewolf t-shirt designs you may want to check out – two by Kyhot, and one by Cara Mitten. All three are terrific, but Cara’s “White Werewolf” has an especially classic design that will appeal to fans of horror werewolves and those that prefer a more tribal aesthetic.

This concludes Werewolf Wednesday! I’m going to go look at pictures of Velma now.

David Fuller has an excellent interview with Rachel Deering, writer / creator of that Anathema comic I’ve been crowing about lately. I’m always interested in hearing what creative werewolf fans have to say, especially those that can actually deliver on their creative vision. Rachel’s one of those.

Here are two nice lookin’ shirts on RedBubble, designed by HeartJack: Sons of Lycanthropy and Memorial Werewolf Hunt. Love the designs, although I can’t condone the second one.

I’ve only watched the first five minutes of RED MOON, a very silly but highly agreeable little film by Sirocco Research Labs. When I get a minute I’ll watch the rest for sure – I’m compelled by four words: Soviet werewolf submarine captain.

Want some more compelling words? Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space. This sounds like a Rob Zombie concept album, but it’s actually a graphic novel by Simon Sanchez and Dean Juliette. That’s literally all I know about it – Simon emailed me about it, but the email just said “‘Check out my new comic. It’s called “Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space.’ I have a fan page for it on Facebook.” No links or anything. So, maybe it’s good? If you read it, let me know.

Hannah Kate, proprietor of the She-Wolf blog and organizer of the upcoming Manchester Monster Conference, has just posted a delicious essay comparing the portrayal of werewolves and teenage girls in tween-targeted fiction. Monster High vs. Sweet Valley High was an excellent (if ultimately dispiriting) lunchtime read, especially if you’re familiar with either of the franchises.

Lastly, Werewolf News has a Pinterest account, which I hope will replace the now-defunct Fuzzy Camera. If you thought Pinterest was the domain of picky brides-to-be, amateur home decorators and fashionistas… you’d probably be right. But I aim to get some monstrous werewolf stuff in there! All up ins, to paraphrase Jerry Holkins.

And that concludes the first Werewolf News Werewolf Wednesday!

Nice work by La Pompadour!

Seven years ago, Werewolf’s Guide to Life author Ritch Duncan told a terrific werewolf story via “this is real” blog posts. That was linear story-telling from a single point of view, though. A multi-person story happening in real time on a social network like Facebook sounds much more complicated, and I’m really interested to see how it pans out.

The idea is to see who can come up with the most horrifying and brutal werewolf creation mythos. Entries can either be in writing or art form. We really want to see you guys push the envelope with your imagination for this one.

You must post the image to DeviantART and submit it to our group to enter.

The winner gets a colored pencil portrait of a personal character of their choosing done by me, penningtonbeast, and their artwork featured on the front page of the group and the “Winner’s Circle” folder in the group gallery.

“If you were longing for an HBO series about werewolves, forget that and buy FERALS,” Lapham says. “It’s everything that TV show would be if it existed — which it doesn’t — and more, because we have no rules. This is a solid series full of true horror and violence, and built on strong characters that has no limits in terms of where we take it.  No limits.”

Despite appearances, the creatures in Ferals aren’t strictly werewolves.

…this isn’t a take on the mystical werewolf, full moon and all that. This is about a different kind of person. There are different forms to them but they don’t change back and forth like the Hulk… There are several other tricks up a Feral’s sleeve, and we’ll see that and some other more altered forms of the Feral condition, but we’ll save that for the comics.

The title will be published by Avatar, and issue 1 should be out in January 2012. For more, read the full article at Bleeding Cool. Below are two more issue 1 cover treatments – a wrapper version, and the (NSFW) “gore” cover the wrapper is ostensibly covering. Werewolves or not, Andrade Jr. can draw some mean monsters.

Via Frank Jacobs’ Strange Maps segment of Big Think comes this image of “a relatively rare poster for An American Werewolf in London, arguably the best horror/comic film ever made”. Arguably the best werewolf film ever made, Frank. He posted this under the title of ‘Lycanthropography‘, a very specific word which I nonetheless feel needs to be used more often.

C Wolf is the story of a werewolf who seeks to clean their of corruption and organized crime. Several politicians and mafiosi will go their way, but their power may hide supernatural secrets that only a creature of nightmares such as the C Wolf can fight.

The foreword and first chapter of “The Vices of Power” were released in Spanish, but the foreword has already been translated into English for the convenience of uncultured mono-language types like me. I’m also working my way through the first chapter with Google Translate, which is imperfect but sufficient to let me know that the werewolf is saying something totally bad-ass in the panel to the right.

You can follow the development of The C Wolf at the Paper Brain Comics blog.

Thanks, Josh!

Oh, and go buy his book, seriously.

• Andronica is a three-thousand-year-old female werewolf who has had a number of incarnations and encounters over the years, many of them as or involving significant figures from history.
• She is the current leader of the Sisterhood of the Wolf, the social order under which all female werewolves are united with the goal of preserving the “natural balance” of the world.
• That balance is under constant threat from the Apostates, the violent, ruthless, all-male order of werewolves who serve the Egyptian god Set. They are responsible for most of the world’s wars (battlefields make wonderful banquets).
• Andronica has started blogging in order to increase her profile, making it easier for her to locate (or be located by) her protégé and companion Lysandra, who disappeared during the firebombing of Dresden in 1945.
• Andronica loves The L Word and is the fucking bomb at playing the harpsichord.

In all seriousness, I have no idea who’s writing this blog or where it’s going, but it’s well-researched, well-written (especially the latest post, A Roman Werewolf at Maria Theresia’s Court) and the writer is doing some serious world-building. Take some time to read it through, check out her equally well-crafted Facebook page and follow her on Twitter (if that’s your thing [and it should be]) at @LadyAndronica.

Here’s another crowd-sourced werewolf project I thought was worth sharing: an independently produced short film about werewolves called Lose Your Soul. I’ll let writer/director Ray Fawcett tell you a bit more about it.

This script has been a labor of love for a handful of us, it was written and inspired during a military deployment to Kuwait. We arrive home in August, and want to make this project impact those who have been seeking out a horror film with some depth. It’s a film with issues of separation, letting go and loss much like we have done in the last year of this deployment… Our project is small, but has a lot of heart. We really would like to see it get off the ground, and have its beating heart and passion presented to everyone’s computer screens and local film festivals.

To learn more about Lose Your Soul and help contribute to its production, visit its project page on IndieGoGo.

Did you like it? I liked it. Billy, you’re fucked. I’m looking forward to reading this. Check out Monsterverse for more details on the “Tales from the Grave” series – their site is still showing issue #2, but hopefully they’ll update it soon.

If you’re curious, David Hartman is responsible for this deliciously malevolent cover, and I recommend you check out his site for even more excellent horror art (hint: frequent werewolves).

via Dread Central

Werewolf Love cards by atpalicis

“4 x 6 inches / 10 x 15 cm. Printed on smooth white 300gsm paper using professional Xerox printer.” If you have a lady (or sensitive fellow) in your life who likes werewolves as much as you do, giving them this card will win you some points. If you think this is cute, consider this Red Riding Hood print by the same artist.

Pink She-Wolf by amigurumi

“Pretty in pink, preened and picture perfect — here sits the female of the werewolf species! This crocheted amigurumi doll sits at about 7″ tall and 7.5″ across. She wears a dark pink skirt and bow. Doll is embellished with felt features and embroidered details and stuffed with a polyfill stuffing.” This is basically my wife in doll format.

Teenage Werewolf by Haunted Cove

“Printed on heavy cotton rag archival paper, using professional grade UltraChrome inks. Each print is individually signed by the artist, Justin Parpan.” I have a hard time saying “no” to a rockabilly werewolf.

Werewolf by JCStilesArt

“13×19 giclee print. Fine art reproduction of original watercolor and ink artwork.” Beautiful. I love the classic style of the lines and the vibrant yet melancholic colours.

Wolfington Guten Monster by GutenMonsters

“This dashing lycan with flowing hairs / attracts many looks and longing stares. Handcrafted plush werewolf, approximately 25 inches tall.” He looks like a plush werewolf Vince Noir. This pleases me.

Werewolf Masquerade Mask by Masquefaire

“This Big Bad Wolf has teeth that cannot hurt you–they are soft. The fur is feathers. Suede leather ties for easy on, easy off and firm hold. Light weight paper mache and cooler on the skin than leather or plastic.” Gorgeous! If I was fancy enough to attend masquerades I’d buy this instead of including it here.

Poker Fright by Dave Perillo

“It’s a mad monster poker party… this oiginal illustration created by cartoonist Dave Perillo based off the classic ‘dogs playing poker’ paintings features a royal flush of monsters, including Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolfman & the Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Terrible pun in the title aside, I’m a sucker for cartoon art that looks like it came from the 50′s.

Werewolf Monster Wallet by ShopGhoulieGirls

“He’s tough enough to hold all your stuff! Plenty of pockets to hold all your cards and cash!” Look at him. JUST LOOK AT HIM.

Black and Tan Paper Mache Wolf Mask by sanssoucistudios

“Mask measures 12L x 13W x 8H. Cast in a combination of Celluclay and Paperclay. Painted in acrylics, fitted with adjustable velcro straps and padded inside for comfort. Haired with black Kanekalon hair.” Tribal without being cheesy. Apparently you can wear this, but I’d just mount it as an art object.

“Klonkin Jan” Plush Werewolf by AlyshellsCraftShack

“Klonkin Jan the cuddly plush toy! He measures 11 inches from head to toe. His body is made from super soft, caramel colored faux fur. His underlying structure is squishy upholstery foam. Klonkin comes with a hand sewn pair of swim trucks for those hot summer days at the beach, and a cozy scarf for when it gets a bit chilly!” Go read his backstory on the detail page. It involves radiation and brain soup.

Feeding Ground artist and co-creator Michael Lapinski emailed me with some additional info. He describes the latest issue as one in which

…our myth kicks into gear and we learn much more about this particular interpretation of the werewolf.  You’ll notice that their physiology ranges from more canine to more primate with new candidates retaining their individual characteristics.

I’m really happy with how Michael designed these werewolves- the aesthetic is right up my alley. It’ll be interesting to see the range of physiologies through the next three issues. Michael was also kind enough to send some (exclusive!?) artwork: a page from issue #4, and two images that represent “the first of many werewolf pin-ups we’ll be including in the back of each issue.” The pin-ups are by artists Tom Forget and Juan Doe, respectively.

If you haven’t been reading Feeding Ground, what is wrong with you? Hie thee to one of these online comic stores and pick up issues 1 and 2.