Category: Books & Comics

Werewolves set in type and inked in panels.

Wolverton, where werewolves “hang out and have pizza just like everyone else”

Author and artist Peter Von Brown wrote in to share his new comic, about a place that I would like to live.

I’m an author and artist who recently started up a webcomic called WOLVERTON, about [a] town of werewolves. It’s unconventional in that these are gentle werewolves, interested in hanging out like regular people in wolf form.

There are eight pages up so far, mostly depicting the discrimination that Talbot the 24/7 werewolf faces in his everyday life, despite just wanting to chill on his front lawn and eat chips. He’s eventually driven out of his home, but with some guidance from a magic 8-ball, discovers some clues about a place where his kind can pick up a pizza without getting hassled by the man.

The cute, colourful art and underlying gentleness contrast effectively with the reality that all kinds of people face exactly this sort of treatment every day. Wolverton updates on Wednesday. I’ve subscribed – check it out for yourself!

Jan. 29th 2016

Comic Review: Captain America Sam Wilson Issue #4

Sam-Cap-Wolf continues onward in the new chapter of this marvellous series by Nick Spencer, teaming up for this issue with guest artist Paul Renaud.

Having been transformed by the wicked Dr. Malus into a flying lycanthrope last month, Sam Wilson is slowly adapting to his new form with only a few rage issues, some howling at the moon, and the occasional rummage through trash cans. Meanwhile, the jobber squad known as the Serpent Society have re-invented themselves as an evil corporate think-tank called Serpent Solutions and have hit Wall Street with a plan to control America where it matters: the executive boardroom. Sam consults with former member of the team (and former Steve Rogers flame) Diamondback to find out exactly what the serpentine gang is planning. Unfortunately, it turns into a setup, and Sam is captured and taken to a boardroom which contains… every single past member of the Serpent Squad!

Cap-Wolf 4 CoverThe humor continues in this issue, coming particularly from Sam in his wolf form– for example, in a throwaway panel in which he’s licking from a plate at a restaurant. A few panels of Viper in a full set of golf knickers and vest laughing with executives on a course is also absurdly perfect. It was also pleasing to see the appearance of Claire Temple, a fan favorite character you might recognize from the Marvel Netflix shows, as a new member of Cap’s team. There’s also a tease of who the next Falcon will be in a Hispanic bird-man named Joaquin Torres who was introduced last issue. If there’s a fault with the story this week it’s that there really doesn’t seem to be much for Misty Knight to do (D-Man doesn’t appear at all!). It would be great if she could accompany Cap on some missions as well. Maybe we could even have Misty Wolf-Knight!

The art by Renaud is also sometimes inconsistent panel-to-panel, but the appearance of Cap’s wolf head is especially realistic, showing lots of teeth and animalistic qualities. The design of Diamondback is very much in line with her original neon purple 80s design but also doesn’t sexualize her as much as past appearances. She even has a great line about how women can finally breathe in their costumes again. All things considered, it’s a really fun book and uses its premise to the full extent, instead of just having it run for one issue. In turn, the book is the right blend of humor and relevancy in its portrayal of corporate America being literally run by a group of racist snake people. The Serpent Society have been forever known as a bunch of goons in the Cap mythology so it is awesome to see them here as a viable threat. Still, it’s nothing our Sam-Wolf can’t overcome!

Dec. 30th 2015

Here are your “WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Romance” contributors!

The werewolf-centric ‘zine I edit, WEREWOLVES VERSUS, is coming out with a second issue in early 2016. The theme this time is “romance”, a subject so broad and cliché that it’s just begging to get fucked up by monsters. That’s the point of WV! Check out the first issue, The 1990s, for an 80+ page demonstration.

To be notified when issue 2 is available for download, follow Argyle Werewolf on Gumroad, follow the Werewolves Versus Tumblr, or keep reading Werewolf News here or on Twitter.

Below is a handy index of issue 2 contributors, each of whom has whispered in my ear an excellent idea for a story, comic or illustration on the theme of “WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Romance”.

http://werewolvesversus.tumblr.com/post/132942197291/werewolves-versus-romance-contributors

Nov. 24th 2015

Comic Review: Captain America Sam Wilson Issue #3

Captain America Sam Wilson continues to be the most fun I’ve had reading a comic book series since I was a small child. Only three issues in, it’s already managed to piss off most of conservative America with a plotline that centers on militant anti-immigrant white supremacists called the Sons of the Serpent. Issue #3 takes a back-step from the main plot to bring a pack a perennial fav favorite. That’s right! As Misty Knight exclaims, Cap-Wolf (or should I say Cap-Sam-Wolf) makes a howling return after Wilson’s encounter with the fiendish Dr. Malus.

If you haven’t been following Captain America comics these days, here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed. The original Captain America (Steve Rogers) has stepped down after being trapped in an alternate dimension for decades – aging quite a bit – before returning to his world. He passes on the mantle to Sam Wilson, who served for years as his trusty partner the Falcon. Wilson, along with fellow heroes Misty Knight and D-Man, have teamed up to prevent the world from falling into the clutches of HYDRA and other evil organizations.

In this issue, Misty finds a very wolfish Cap tied to a chair. He has fallen prey to a resurrected Dr. Malus, who had previously been swallowed by Carnage. Malus seems to also possess symbiote-like powers and is using super science to turn victims into animal hybrids, including pigs, turtles, iguanas, and other beasties. Turning Cap into a werewolf ends up being bad move for Dr. Malus, since it makes him stronger, faster, better, and way shaggier. Unfortunately, it appears to be a temporary effect for Cap, so in the next issue he’s restored to his previous form. Darn.

But don’t let that stop you from further reading! This issue in particular is a barrel of laughs and fun, with Misty Knight making jokes at Cap’s expense by referencing werewolf movies. The story reminds me of plots from the Saturday morning cartoons of yesteryear, where an evil scientist turns our hero into a monster… almost always a poor move. There’s even a nice reference to the original Cap-Wolf’s origin, with a mention of the Bloodstone. The political humor of past issues is still at work here with one slack-jawed gawker saying he can’t get behind Captain America being “a flying werewolf AND a communist” as he swoops over the city in search of Malus. Oh yeah. Did I mention this Cap can also fly?

Check out this issue of Captain America Sam Wilson and further issues if you want to read a culturally relevant series packed with humor and amazing art. After all, this werewolf has wings!

Nov. 19th 2015

Sam Wilson: The Falcon, Captain America and werewolf (again)

I’m a dummy when it comes to Marvel and DC comics. I spent my peak comics-collecting years ferreting out all the Predator stuff Dark Horse published, preferring alien big game hunters to capes and superpowers. It takes a lot to get me interested in anything The Big Two are doing, but turning one of your marquee characters into a werewolf (again) definitely qualifies.

Issue 3 of Captain America: Sam Wilson, written by Nick Spencer and with art by Daniel Acuna, comes out in November. I don’t know anything about the previous two issues, but I guess Sam Wilson used to be The Falcon, and now he’s Captain America? And also a werewolf?

Because you demanded it– the return of Cap-Wolf (er, Fal-Cap-Wolf)! What horrors await– IN THE DUNGEON OF DOCTOR MALUS?

I… don’t know! But Acuna’s  cover art alone is enough to make me want to know!

Thanks to Nemo for the link.

Oct. 29th 2015

Deluxe Werewolf 20th Shattered Dreams

Here’s an already-successful Kickstarter campaign for Shattered Dreams, a lavishly-illustrated book for players of Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition looking to bolster their storytelling with canonically accurate history.

W20 Shattered Dreams presents an in-depth look at the pre-history of the Werewolves and the Changing Breeds, both the threats that drove them to war and the War of Rage itself. The book showcases many time periods and many ways in which the War could start, so that players and Storytellers can make prehistory their own.

Writes Amanda “Hyena” Johnson, who submitted this item:

It’s about the various Wars of Rage, so a lot of fighting between the werewolves and the other various shapeshifters (From the Ice Age upwards to the modern era). The art by Ron Specer and Brain LeBlanc is great too and pretty violent.

Also, they are running a campaign where you can post various things to unlock achievements. From posting images of your werewolf tattoos, W20 fanart, or selfies with wolves, mass etc. in the Kickstarter comments.

I’m there to post playlists everyday.

Those playlists are great! Hint: search the comments for “Hyena”. If you’re looking to expand your W:TA library, this looks like a wonderful addition.

Oct. 28th 2015

Call for pitches: WEREWOLVES VERSUS ROMANCE

Back in August, me and some pals put out a little magazine called WEREWOLVES VERSUS: THE 1990s, and it was so fun that we’re doing it again! Issue two, WEREWOLVES VERSUS: ROMANCE comes out in early 2016, and this time I’m opening submissions to anyone who has a good idea.

“But”, I hear you asking, “what kind of ideas are appropriate for a magazine that’s basically just a digest of werewolf mashups?” That’s a very good question, and here is your answer:

…take the idea of a werewolf, and the idea of romance, and whatever (PG-13) messed up thing comes out of combining the two is what we wanna see.

I’m not looking for a bunch of conventional romance stories (or comics, or poems) where one or both partners are lycanthropes. I want to see first dates ruined by overzealous monster hunters on patrol, pickup artists ground into hamburger for trying to neg the wrong person, and polyamorous triads trying to work out pack dynamics.

Got an idea? Good: here’s how to pitch it, and what you’ll get if your idea is accepted:

If you would like to contribute, put your idea for a contribution into this pitch form before October 24th.

WV02 will be accepting 15 contributors, each of whom will receive a percentage of all sales of this issue, plus a physical copy. For full details on contributor terms, payments and licensing/rights, go here.

Like issue 1, WEREWOLVES VERSUS: ROMANCE will be a pay-what-you-want download from Gumroad, with the possibility of a limited physical print run. Come be a part of it!

Oct. 14th 2015

Cinemax orders pilot script for George R.R. Martin’s “The Skin Trade”

A tip from @Howlitzer and a sudden influx of visitors to my 2013 info-dump post have alerted me to what the rest of the Internet already seems to know: George R.R. Martin’s werewolf novella The Skin Trade might become a TV show. The news was posted by Martin himself on his site yesterday afternoon.

I am very excited to announce the Cinemax (HBO’s sister company) has optioned the television rights to “The Skin Trade,” the offbeat “werewolf noir” novella I penned back in the late 80s. The deal is closed, and Cinemax has ordered the pilot script. This being Hollywood, of course, you never know where things will end… but if they like the script, we’ll shoot a pilot, and if they like that, hey, who knows, maybe we’ll get a series on the air.

The pilot script is being written by Kalinda Vazquez, a writer and producer whose previous work includes Prison Break, Nikita and Once Upon A Time. Martin seems very pleased to have her on board:

She loves the story and the world… and her pitch to Cinemax was one of the most polished and professional I’ve ever heard. I love her enthusiasm, and look forward to working with her.

This is great news, and I hope the show survives the insanity of the pre-production gauntlet. If you haven’t read the novella, check out this post for more detail on the story, and where to get a copy.

Oct. 11th 2015

Explore scuzzy ennui with “Megg, Mogg, and Owl” (plus Werewolf Jones)

Today I learned about a new-to-me comic to binge on. Megg, Mogg, and Owl is a (extremely NSFW) tragi-comic gross-out experience by Australian cartoonist Simon Hanselmann, who has has been publishing it on Vice since 2012.

My introduction to Hanselmann’s work came in the form of this recent interview with The Fader, which describes the comic’s cast as “a stoner witch named Megg, her gross feline partner Mogg, their fucked up party pal Werewolf Jones, and Owl, the pushover they freeload off.”

The presence of Werewolf Jones is what made the Fader interview appear in my news feed, but after reading only a few cartoons, Megg, Mogg, and Owl has already become a work in which the werewolf character is incidental to my enjoyment. As the Fader article observes, there’s something deeply cathartic about its miseries and minor triumphs.

Hanselmann’s comics address the dingiest crevices of the human experience—suburban ennui, body freakouts, and acid trips—but none of his characters are human, which just makes them that more relatable. And for all its absurdist, stoner tendencies, his work aims a magnifying glass at the anxieties, delusions, and often crippling self-doubt we all feel but rarely talk about.

There are nearly 40 comics on Vice and more odds and ends on Hanselmann’s site. I plan to inhale it all much like I inhaled Achewood in 2005.

Oct. 7th 2015

Todd McCullough’s “Who Needs The Moon?”

I’d like to thank Todd McCullough for sponsoring Werewolf News for the entire month of October with his incredible book Who Needs The Moon?, a devastating horror graphic novel about werewolves and vampires, obsession and revenge, and what it takes to really be a monster.

I’ve been raving about WNTM since I read the first two issues back in 2013.

The atmosphere in this book is dense and cold, but it’s alive. The main character, Ethan, is endearing, haunted and terrifying all at the same time. He’s likeable, but it’s also clear that he’s capable of monstrous things. Kingford, the small town setting, feels like a brooding Everytown, and also like a half-dead incarnation of places I have called home. This mournful malevolence is achieved through a combination of effective writing and phenomenal colours on the page.

By the third issue I was calling it the best werewolf comic I’d ever read.

[WNTM] is the work of a truly gifted storyteller and artist, made even more singular by the fact that it’s self-produced and self-published. Honestly, I don’t know what else I can say right now, except please go buy it for whatever price you deem fair, and read it.

Through the ensuing tragedy, carnage and betrayals, Who Needs The Moon? remains the best werewolf graphic novel I’ve come across. The artwork is both painterly and animated, its themes are uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying but never without human connection, and the storytelling is clever enough to warm your heart on one page before tearing it out on the next. If Kingford really existed, it’d be a town known internationally (as readers will come to understand), and it’d be a place I would avoid as adamantly as Silent Hill.

Who Needs The Moon? is available as a name-your-price download on Gumroad. If you’re over 17 and you want to start the scariest month of the year with a truly excellent horror comic experience, I suggest you download it immediately. I’d like to thank Todd again for sponsoring Werewolf News for the month of October!

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Oct. 6th 2015