It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of John Allison’s work. His long-running comic Scary Go Round sustained me for years, and his new (and even better) comic Bad Machinery was what finally convinced me to start using Google Reader– I require an immediate alert when the newest one is posted. John also managed to eat a chocolate bar and shake my hand at the exact same time, which just goes to show the industrious spirit that helped the British to colonize so much of the world.

If you like werewolves and you like comics, John’s just started taking pre-orders for a limited-edition print that you can probably add to your list of likable things. At £10 + £2.50 international shipping, there’s no reasonable excuse to refrain from buying one, especially considering that each purchase helps support a fellow who’s been giving away amazingly entertaining material for years. Here are the details:

A2 poster (420 x 594 mm — 16,5 x 23,4 in). Giclee prints on heavy glossy 200gsm stock.

McGinty (werewolf) and Hughes (small monkey) present “Red Riding Hood”. Signed and numbered run of 100. You can see a larger version of the poster here.

Here’s an assortment of items that have hit my inbox over the course of October, but that I’ve been too busy or distracted to post.

• The Yorkshire Post has an interview with Jenny Agutter, who played nurse Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London. She discusses her role in AWIL and talks about how the audience reacted to the initial screening of the film.
• The Grosse Pointe Farms Department of Public Works in Michigan is home to a boulder that bears the footprint of Le Loup Garou, the werewolf of Grosse Pointe. Hooray for urban legends!
• Here’s a printable 3D werewolf paper craft, in case you’re locked in a room with a colour printer and 15 minutes to kill. I may have crafted one of these for my office desk.
• pjstar.com has an interview with Professor Leslie Sconduto, author of “Metamorphoses of the Werewolf: A Literary Study from Antiquity through the Renaissance”. Choice quote: “There’s a werewolf for everyone. Each to its own. One to suit each taste.”
• Champions Online is running a game event called “Blood Moon“, wherein the game’s world is overrun with werewolves, vampires and other monstrous creatures. Players can battle (and become) these monsters, and of course there’s a number of werewolf-related items to be had. There’s a free trial available for anyone who wants to try the game out, but it expires at 10 AM Pacific on November 2nd. That’s in, like, 10 hours. Hurry! HURRY!
• The BSC Beat has an interview with Mark Chadbourn, author of the recently-released Hellboy novel Hellboy: The Ice Wolves. You can read a preview of The Ice Wolves at the Dark Horse web site.
• Scribblenauts is an interesting game that’s just come out for the Nintendo DS. The idea is to solve puzzles by typing in the name of virtually any object you can think of that might help. That object then appears in the game and does its thing, whether it’s a ball, a chainsaw or a platypus. You can probably guess where I’m going with this… yes, you can summon werewolves. Here’s a Youtube video of two garlic and stake-infused werewolves scaring a vampire to death. I want this game just so I can do that, over and over.
• Cinematical explains why it’s worth it to replace your DVD copy of An American Werewolf in London with the recently released Full Moon Edition on Blu-ray. Apparently the new bonus content alone is worth the cost! I wish I had a Blu-ray player.
• I also wish I had an Xbox 360. The LIVE Marketplace has got werewolf costumes for your Xbox 360 Avatar.

Many thanks to people who submitted these items!

Dark Horse Comics has put the entire first issue of Werewolves on the Moon: Versus Vampires online so you can read it for free. Go and read it. Now. Go on. I’ll wait.

Now, how many of you would have been happy to have been on that shuttle from Earth? Yeah, I thought so.

Werewolves on the Moon is now up to issue three, and if your local comic shop doesn’t carry them, you can order them online from Things From Another World.

Have another helping of Tatopoulos werewolf character design! Earlier today it was the Lycan costume from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and now I’m pleased to share a concept illustration of the Werewolf character from the forthcoming film version of Kevin Grevioux’s I, Frankenstein comic. This artwork was originally sent to Bloody Disgusting, so props to them for posting it!

The film is to be directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, who designed the werewolves in the first two Underworld films, then went on to direct Rise of the Lycans. Grevioux and Tatopoulus have worked together before: Grevioux developed the story for the first Underworld and was heavily involved in script-writing and co-producing throughout the series. Oh yeah, and he played the lycan Raze. So basically these guys know werewolves.

My favourite web comic, Scary Go Round, is coming to an end. Its creator John Allison intends to begin a new comic in its stead this September. He won’t divulge the new comic’s title or subject, and has been teasing his readers about it via his blog. Yesterday he posted this, along with the message “Without further ado, here for the first time I reveal: THE NEW COMIC. Oh hang on that isn’t it. Not at ALL.”

John, why you got to play me like that?

Strangeways: Murder Moon writer Matt Maxwell posts full pages from his werewolves & cowboys comic on CBR’s Robot 6 blog, then provides a “director’s commentary” on the writing and Luis Guaragna’s art. If you still haven’t read Murder Moon, seeing it one page at a time with insight from the creator is a great way to take it in. Matt posted page 16 yesterday– check it out.

[click for full version]

Jason Howard does the killer artwork for The Astounding Wolf-Man, which you need to be reading if you’re not already doing so. I’m not going to talk about why this picture is awesome, or why dragoniaKMP submitted it as a suggested Weekly Werewolf image. I mean, just look at it. Jason Howard knows how to draw bad-ass werewolves, and if you need further proof, check out his DeviantArt gallery or pick up a copy of the lastest Astounding Wolf-Man.

Most people, if they read, get off on books that incarnate into movies, video games, Fruit Roll-Ups, and toothpaste. Of course, the little demon of intellectual affirmative action sits on my shoulder and says “Don’t over-generalize; they’re not all as bad as you’re implying!” Sure, I want to let my South Park conservativism kick into gear by shoving his pitchfork up his ass. However, I really can’t help the camera from dramatically zooming up to my eyes as I whisper, “Such is true. Touche, my dear man.” After all, the bad-assity of Indiana Jones will never be tainted by all the cereal toys they’ve made of him. But in spite of this, I’m still pretty pissed off at humanity’s tendency to read cheap things and then cheapen them further. And to me, “At least they’re reading” has lost its power as an excuse.

Don’t worry; I have indeed chilled out and have gotten off my literary high horse. However, I’m not going any lower than the pony I’m on now. While I’ll always be an Indy fan, I’m also a fan of D.H. Lawrence and Jorge Luis Borges. And although those two gentlemen cannot steal Sankara Stones and liberate all the children of an entire third world country, they also have produced great writing that is booby-trapped against being incarnated into Saturday morning cartoons or granola bars. This is commendable, although I can’t help but ask, “Why can’t there be some kind of balance between Indiana Jones and John mother-fucking Milton? Between Teen Wolf and… you know… something that’s kind of not stupid?”

Well, you’re in luck if you’re reading this, because I’m going to introduce you to some werewolf / monster stories that have not only achieved this balance, but have done so while avoiding anything remotely Twilight-esque in nature. This means that the protagonists won’t sparkle inexplicably, faint or fall down when aroused, or generally act like Hot Topic employees.

Read more…

Today’s Penny Arcade! comic proves once again that when it comes to marketability and positive brand association, werewolf beats vampire every time. Having said that, I would probably skill be reluctant to buy a new DS game from either of these guys.

MTV Splash Page has posted a short interview with Ben Templesmith, writer, artist and creator of “werewolf prison romance” comic Welcome to Hoxford. Templesmith talks about what a Hoxford film would look like if he was calling the shots.

“Well if it were me — and let’s be clear it’s definitely not up to me — you’d need someone who can really play with visuals and would be willing to use a lot less CGI and a lot more prosthetics/puppetry,” said Templesmith of the type of director he’d like to see on the film.

“I was heavily influenced on the creature side by the bad critters from ‘The Dark Crystal’” he continued. “But the book is pretty dark with a little nasty humour thrown in, so if they can keep that tone, I’d be happy.”

He also mentions the names of a few actors he’s imagined in various Hoxford roles, including Vin Diesel, Winona Ryder and Lance Henrikson. Werewolf prosthetics and puppetry instead of CGI? Lance Henrikson? Here’s hoping Chris Columbus is paying attention!