53 werewolves from #Inktober’s first week

Now that the 10th month of the year is upon us, it’s time for Inktober, the self-directed month-long art jam that illustrators, painters, doodlers and artists of all types undertake as a daily practice. There’s an official site, but no one in my Twitter feed adheres to its seasonally agnostic list of prompts.

Every participant I know uses Inktober as an excuse to get even deeper into the spirit of Halloween and seems to be referencing one of multiple shared spooky daily prompt guides. It’s like Draw A Werewolf Day, every day!

Collected here in one place are 53 pieces of werewolf art I found on Twitter and Instagram, selected from this Inktober’s first seven days. Enjoy, and make sure you let the artists know you like their work!

The feature image on this post is a cropped segment of a piece by Camille Alaras.

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A post shared by GameDev + Bizarre Art (@titanium_melon)


https://twitter.com/Riversaur/status/782296449409163264
https://twitter.com/rpinchera/status/782352618450456576
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLDrPs_AIpq/
https://twitter.com/Rohnsonillu/status/782613877179637762


https://twitter.com/fourbeasts1313/status/783108502298374144
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLIlVXpD_Zb/

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A post shared by Daniel HDR (@danielhdr)

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A post shared by Baron von Pupi (@baronvonpupi)

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A post shared by NoDiceMike – Commissions OPEN (@nodicemike)


https://twitter.com/ericafustero/status/783627539747078145


https://twitter.com/JJENIAC/status/783732931521028096
https://twitter.com/jordibuixos/status/783767511686930433


https://twitter.com/Jakkarrott/status/783812245776203776

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A post shared by Camille Alaras (@camillekaze)

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A post shared by Dianna Cheng (@girlgeek)

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A post shared by illustrator Denny Pako (@pako__art)


https://twitter.com/NvmWhoCares/status/784006682581970944


https://www.instagram.com/p/BLNcI-mAQHv/

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A post shared by Mica Angela Hendricks (@busymockingbird)


https://twitter.com/_VectorInk/status/784165482387603456

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A post shared by Andrew Schmandrew (He/Him) (@schmandrewart)

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A post shared by Chris Kawagiwa (@sketchboy01)

Oct. 7th 2016

They made a comic called “Werewolves Vs. Dinosaurs” and it’s a lot of fun

It might sound like the punchline of a “can you believe what kids are reading these days” joke, but Werewolves Vs. Dinosaurs is a real thing – a 32-page one-shot comic from American Mythology that you can buy with less than four dollars of your money and read on your screen. It’s written by mystery author Eric Dobson and painted by artist Chris Scalf (Star Wars, Godzilla). And it actually did originate from a story that started as a goof between a kid and his father.

Scalf explains in the press release posted by Horror Society’s Comic Crypt:

My son is a big rail fan and loves going on trips to distant towns to visit rail lines. I myself am a comic/sci-fi fan, I would always wonder out loud if there were in any comic shops in any of these towns… We kidded around about the need for my sci fi/monster interests to coincide with his train hobby in a comic book— something like “Werewolves in a train.” This led me to doing a mock pulp cover for said comic. Eric Dobson, a friend who is also a great writer, saw it, and wanted to write a story around it.

The story is not complicated, nor does it use the titular creatures to any particular effect – any two fearsome monsters would do, I think – but to expect more from it is to overlook its whimsical origins. Werewolves Vs. Dinosaurs is the ultimate “let’s pretend” bed time story for kids: the bad guys are literal men in black, the deaths are scary but bloodless, the Saturday morning cartoon mythology tops itself on every page, and the monsters are rendered in twice the details of their human prey.

Look. In this comic a werewolf puts a velociraptor in a headlock. If you can’t meet something like this halfway, you’re probably reading the wrong web site.

Oct. 5th 2016

PCS Collectibles announces killer 1:4 “The Howling” werewolf statue

Here’s a first look at the upcoming 1:4 “The Howling” werewolf statue from PCS Collectibles, fresh out of their email newsletter (which I almost deleted out-of-hand because it led with another Street Fighter II statue instead of this beauty).

If there was a “Mount Rushmore” of cinematic werewolves, three portraits would be carved into it: Larry Talbot by Jack Pierce, David Kessler by Rick Baker and Eddie Quist by Rob Bottin. The first two have been merchandised in the past, but now, for the first time ever, PCS Collectibles is proud to present a 1:4 scale statue of Bottin’s seminal creature work from The Howling.

This gorgeous 24″ polystone statue captures Eddie Quist at his best, and will be available for pre-order at 3PM PST on Monday, October 10th. It’ll come in two versions, both priced at $474.99 USD:

  • the retail version, which will be limited to an unknown quantity, available through channels like Diamond and Sideshow Collectibles.
  • the PCS exclusive, limited to 300 pieces, available only through the PCS web site, and apparently exactly the same as the retail version except for the addition of a second, swappable head.

Here’s a (weirdly composited?) image from PCS showing the statue’s scale. Bloody Disgusting has an “exclusive” photo from an alternate angle, too. This thing looks incredible!

Sep. 28th 2016

WolfCop sequel “Another WolfCop” cast photos & screening this Sunday

The fact that he deputized me as an official WolfCop officer (with a badge and everything) is the only reason I’ll ever forgive writer/director Lowell Dean for not calling the WolfCop sequel “WolfCopier”. I will admit the actual title, Another WolfCop, is apropos, especially when rendered in the style of a hard-boiled cop thriller. God knows the original had enough schlocky 80’s cops & crooks satire to own that look. However, like its predecessor, this Canadian horror-comedy doesn’t take itself too seriously.

After saving Woodhaven from a gang of evil reptilian shapeshifters, alcoholic werewolf cop Lou Garou is finding it hard to keep a low profile. Instead, he roams the street at night, gleefully and violently disposing of criminals and stealing boxes of Liquor Donuts causing all sorts of problems for his former-partner-turned-chief Tina.

There’s no release date yet, but according to Horror Society, the film will be screening at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas this Sunday, September 25th.

Horror Society also got the scoop on the first official photos from the production, revealing an armed and dangerous Tina, Lou and Willie. I was surprised (and delighted) to see this particular lineup back for the sequel, considering the events of the first film, and when it comes out, I’ll be excited to watch it in a theatre that will sell me a beer to drink at the same time.

Hit up Horror Society for the rest of the photos, including an uncomfortably close close-up banner of Lou.

another-wolfcop

Sep. 23rd 2016

Werewolf and serial killer square off in short film “Prey”

Elizabeth Ho and Alastair Duncan star in Prey, a short horror movie by Matt Yang King and top 15 semi-finalist in the You Offend Me You Offend My Family channel’s “Interpretations 2.0” contest. The two main rules of the contest seem to be “maximum 3 minute length” and “interpret this tiny four-line script we’ve given you”.

You probably don’t need all that context to enjoy the great practical werewolf transformation makeup and effects! I particularly like the close-ups on the hands and the fur growth.

Thanks to Somnilux for the link.

Sep. 22nd 2016

Azzarello & Risso bring prohibition werewolf horror “Moonshine” to Image

A great new Image comic written by Brian Azzarello and drawn & coloured by Eduardo Risso comes out in two weeks. You might recognize those names from a little work they did for Vertigo a while back – the legendary, multiple-award-winning 100 Bullets. Not satisfied with defining a genre for a decade, these two Crime Boys are back with Moonshine, a comic that should interest fans of werewolves, backwoods hooch and pinstriped suits.

From Image:

Set during Prohibition, and deep in the backwoods of Appalachia, MOONSHINE #1 tells the story of Lou Pirlo, a city-slick “torpedo” sent from New York City to negotiate a deal with the best moonshiner in West Virginia, one Hiram Holt. What Lou doesn’t figure on is that Holt is just as cunning and ruthless as any NYC crime boss. Because not only will Holt do anything to protect his illicit booze operation, he’ll stop at nothing to protect a much darker family secret…a bloody, supernatural secret that must never see the light of day… or better still, the light of the full moon.

Moonshine #1 hits shelves on October 5th, but there’s already a glowing review from Benjamin Bailey on Nerdist:

The setup of Moonshine is a crossover of two genres. On one hand, you have a prohibition-era gangster tale and on the other. you have a werewolf horror story. Set in backwoods of West Virginia, Moonshine captures the creepiness of a backwards small town perfectly. The story feels small and intimate, but the landscape is vast and the lore is even bigger. By the end of this first issue, you’ll be hooked into this world hard. Nothing is what it seems and death is awaiting around every corner.

I’m sold! Thanks to TallyDude on Twitter for the heads-up. You can read the first four pages of Moonshine #1 below.

moonshine-cover

moonshine-01

moonshine-02

moonshine-03

moonshine-04

Sep. 21st 2016

Full Moon Features: Curse of the Wolf (2006)

In all the years I’ve been watching werewolf movies, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a sorrier example of the genre than the 2006 schlocker Curse of the Wolf, which went direct to video ten years ago this month. In fact, it may very well be the worst werewolf film I’ve ever seen, eclipsing even the amateur-hour likes of Night Shadow and Werewolf: The Devil’s Hound, which I didn’t think was possible. Like the latter, Curse of the Wolf was shot on cruddy-looking video and used cheap-ass werewolf makeup, and like the former, it was built around the skills of a martial artist. In this case, though, there are multiple martial artists in the cast, and one of them was also the writer, director, and fight choreographer, which explains the preponderance of hand-to-claw combat scenes.

When it isn’t focused on the fisticuffs, the action revolves around Dakota (Renee Porada), the most reluctant member of a sad little five-person wolf pack who breaks away when she figures out how to medically suppress her transformation. This doesn’t sit well with her would-be mate James (Alex Bolla, who wears shiny shirts so he can be readily identified even in wolf form), but pack leader Michael (Todd Humes, who overacts something fierce) decides to let her go for the time being. And offered up as a study in contrasts are the other two members of the pack: sexpot Harley (Katie Russell, who owns the film’s first gratuitous nude scene) and repulsive, blue-haired fat slob Franklin (Brian “Blue Meanie” Heffron, who spends an entire scene clad only in a pair of pee-stained and skidmarked briefs, which makes the fart sounds laid over top of it superfluous).

Jumping forward six months, the story finds Dakota working at a veterinary clinic, which gives her access to the drugs she needs, and palling around with co-worker Sam (Kylie Deneen), whom she rescues from a gang of would-be rapists who are subsequently slaughtered by Franklin while he’s out following Dakota’s scent. Per the homicide detective interviewed on the news about it the next day, “One victim suffered gash wounds over 50% of his body. Looks like he was mauled by a bear, for God sakes. There were chunks of these potato heads all over the place, and drugs everywhere. What could have done that in this area? No idea, but one thing’s for sure: We’ll get the bastards.” This turns out to be a load of hot air, though, since we never see this cop again, or any other police officer for that matter.

Instead, we’re plunged into a lopsided conflict between Michael’s pack and magnanimous club owner Logan (top-billed Lanny Poffo), who offers Dakota his protection. This extends to the services of his long-haired right-hand man Stick (writer/director Len Kabasinski, credited as Leon South) and clothing-averse weapons experts Ivy (Darian Caine) and Star (Pamela Sutch), who go with Dakota to stake out the house where the pack is holding Dan (Dennis Carver), whose relationship to her is rather nebulous. Even so, it’s more explicable than the scene where Ivy takes a bath while listening to a song called “Teetah the Cat Lady” which I swear I’m not making up. I’m also not lying when I say this film has one of the most deliriously incoherent final melees ever committed to magnetic tape, which is topped only by the credits for Kabasinski’s “spiritual advisor” and “snack guru,” who shockingly enough aren’t one and the same person.

Editor’s note: the cover art for Curse of the Wolf is so discomfitingly gross / bad /  that I’m too embarrassed to display it directly on the site. You can see it here if you think you want to, but you don’t want to.

Sep. 15th 2016

Ubisoft announces “Werewolves Within”, a virtual reality “Werewolf” game

On December 6th, Red Storm Entertainment is releasing Werewolves Within for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. It’s a virtual reality version of the social engineering / social ostracization game Werewolf.

Werewolves Within is a fast-paced game of hidden roles and social deduction for five to eight players. In one game, a player might be a villager trying their hardest to cleanse the town of werewolves, while minutes later they could be the werewolf, lying and betraying friends in order to survive the vote.

I got excited at the potential, then watched the reveal trailer and remembered that Werewolf is mostly a game about sitting in a chair and pointing at people. If I’m going to play a virtual reality werewolf, the only furniture I want involved in the experience is the stack of overturned tables and bookshelves my victims use to try and barricade me out.

Thanks to Somnilux for the link!

Sep. 15th 2016

Meet Lugarugan, the werewolf from Pokémon Sun and Moon

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about Pokémon. I like Rowlet because the character design is basically “AQ in bird form”, and I’m watching Griffin McElroy’s Nuzlocke Challenge because I’ll watch or listen to anything Griffin does, but that’s the extent of my exposure. Anything that’s accurate here came from knowledgable friends, Bulbapedia or Serebii.net, and anything that’s incorrect is my fault.

corocoro10162-lugarugan-nightAccording to enthusiastic reports from online (thank you Sahoni, dog with glasses & nodnash, among others), we now have a Werewolf Pokémon Situation. Here’s what I’ve been able to put together, step-by-step, for Poké-nitwits like me.

  1. The upcoming 3DS games Pokémon Sun and Moon – out on November 18th – are debuting a ton of new Pokémon, including a canine-like Rock-type called Rockruff. According to ComicBook.com, a preview of Sun and Moon characters from a few months ago “hinted that Rockruff’s evolved form had a ‘secret’ separating it from other types of Pokémon”.
  2. Serebii.net got ahold of the October issue of CoroCoro, a Japanese children’s magazine which has exclusive rights to release little Pokémon sneak peeks. The magazine reveals that Rockruff evolves into a wolf-like Pokémon called Lugarugan – a name sure to set off alarm bells in any werewolf fan’s head.
  3. Lugarugan’s aforementioned “secret” seems to be that its appearance depends on whether it evolved during the game’s Day or Night periods. As depicted in Serebii’s scans of CoroCoro, Day-evolved Lugarugan looks like a quadrupedal wolf, but those that evolved at night look like a bipedal humanoid wolf – e.g. a werewolf. No further details about the difference between forms were given.

So there you have it – everything I’ve been given to know about Lugarugan, the werewolf Pokémon that’s blowing up Twitter, Tumblr and seemingly every other corner of the Internet. For a closer look at the CoroCoro scans and an English translation, visit these two Serebii.net posts. It would be disingenuous of me to say that I’m going to get into Pokémon because of Lugarugan, but I can’t deny feeling a twinge of FOMO at this news.

Sep. 13th 2016

“Interview with a Werewolf” talks to A. Quinton (that’s me)

I’m honoured to have been interviewed by author Stacey Leah Mewse as part of her ongoing “Interview with a Werewolf” series. The interview was conducted question-by-question over email and it took me the better part of the summer to complete, because I had (maybe too much) fun expounding on what I like, love and hate about werewolves.

It’s a long read, and definitely worth perusing if you’ve ever wondered what informs the Werewolf News / AQ “house style” of werewolf fandom. This bit about self-image and identity touches on something I’ve been fascinated by since I was a kid:

Are you still you if your hands are a different shape? If the scar you got at 14 by sliding into third base wrong is obscured by fur, or erased entirely by new skin? What if the temperament that informs your personality was merely a function of hormones that are now completely out of whack because the brain controlling their production decides that “eat ten pounds of living flesh ASAP” is more important than “re-write this buggy code so I can get a promotion”?

For more like this, plus a bunch of text-based hollering on the order of “I like werewolves because they’re fuckin’ nasty-ass monsters“, check out the interview. Thanks very much to Stacey for the opportunity, and for her patience over the summer!

Sep. 12th 2016