When you’re Rick Baker even your “unfinished sketch” of a werewolf makes fans like me lose their minds

Yesterday creature effects legend Rick Baker tweeted what he referred to as an “unfinished sketch” of a werewolf rendered in a style reminiscent of his 2010 Wolfman lycanthropes. Is this Larry Talbot posing with his own tombstone? I like dapper snarly werewolves and this fellow wrecked my damn shop.

Then today Rick followed the sketch up with a self-effacing note expressing surprise at the positive response it got. He “almost didn’t post it because it is so un dynamic”, he wrote.

The person who’s taken home two (2) Academy Awards for his Werewolf Work is sandbagging his own artwork online. The dude responsible for some of the most iconic werewolves of the past 35 years is surprised that fans like me want more. MORE! Your modesty becomes you, Rick, but come on – I could write an entire blog post about that gnarly badass clawed hand alone! RICK. You don’t elongate a palm like that by accident!

Rick’s tweets are embedded below. Follow him on Twitter at @TheRickBaker just in case he posts more of these “unfinished sketches” and you want to get your brain’s werewolf zone obliterated directly by the man himself.

https://twitter.com/TheRickBaker/status/719698309518987266

https://twitter.com/TheRickBaker/status/720025654226333696

Apr. 12th 2016

Inhabit a werewolf in illustrated musical game “Wailing Heights” from Outsider Games

A few days ago I put out a call for submissions to a music-themed issue of the werewolf magazine I edit, and in a pleasant coincidence, I received links from readers to two music-related werewolf projects that are definitely worth your time.

First up, a game. Reader Jake Underwood alerted me to the upcoming Windows / OS X Outsider Games release Wailing Heights, a “body-hopping, musical adventure set in a horrific hamlet of monsters”, “home to the likes of vegan werewolves, hipster vampires, soulful zombies” with “glorious 2D artwork from a host of illustrious comic book talent” and a story by Hector: Badge of Carnage writer Kevin Beimers.

The game features an “original soundtrack of indie, pop, soul and country tunes” but I couldn’t find much on which band(s) are handling the music. According to the game’s development blog, The Aos Sí are “providing the jazzy, soulful music of Ada Z and the Zom Bs”, a band that performs in one of the town’s bars. The music in the trailer sounds interesting and period-appropriate.

This is a game about music but it looks incredible. The in-game art and cut scenes are rendered in feverish comic book detail by artists like John McFarlane (The Revenants), Glenn Fabry (Preacher), John McCrea (Hitman), PJ Holden (Judge Dredd) and Ruairí Coleman (Turok: Dinosaur Hunter). This interview with Coleman hints at a lot of unlockable in-game comics that explore the backstories of Wailing Heights’ resident zombies, vampires and werewolves. There’s a lot to explore in Wailing Heights, but I would be happy to just chill out in this werewolf bar.

wailing-heights-werewolf-bar

With a release date of “Spring 2016”, Wailing Heights should be available to play sometime in the next two months. You can follow its development on Steam, the development blog, or the Outsider Games Facebook or Twitter accounts.

I have another music-related item to share, but I have to watch it first!

Apr. 12th 2016

Sonja Langskjaer animates a stylish, skin-shredding werewolf transformation

Via @Somnilux comes this dress- and skin-shredding werewolf transformation by animator Sonja Langskjaer (YouTube – Instagram). It’s “only 8 seconds” long but it’s animated so well that you’ll probably end up watching it five or six (or a dozen) times to catch all the details.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sonja Langskjaer (@panimated)

 

This nameless lady is a pharmaceutical executive who’s gone from hosting a high-rise penthouse cocktail party celebrating her company’s successful Q2 to preparing to annihilate the Treadstone-style assassins who are enacting some espionage shenanigans in the sub-level laboratories.

Okay, I made that up. But what’s undeniably true is that when she’s done transforming, this werewolf is still wearing her own skin as a stylish belt. You don’t mess with that.

Apr. 7th 2016

You got werewolves in my creepypasta: “Bite of the Werewolf”

Creepypasta (essentially, spooky stories passed around on the Internet like urban legends) is a huge sub-genre of horror, with web sites, wikis and Reddit forums dedicated to its creation, dissemination and discussion.

My experience with creepypasta begins and ends with Kris Straub, who wrote the legendary, often-ripped-off story Candle Cove, and whose work in prose, comics and criticism has had more influence on me than any other creator in the horror space.

There are even YouTube channels dedicated to creepypasta, like Don’t Turn Around, created by Paul (writer) and Eddie (narrator). Paul and Eddie recently emailed me about their narrated story video “Bite of the Werewolf“, which I’m happy to share. The gist:

Jake lives in a castle in the middle of nowhere. He has been told to keep all the doors locked at night, especially on a full moon.

I wouldn’t call “Bite of the Werewolf” a great story, but from what little I know about creepypasta, it seems like a great example of the genre – simple set-up, something scary happens, then a twist ending. I posted a mini-review of it on Twitter last week:

More werewolves in all media, please, including broad, not-too-deep Internet-centric areas like creepypasta.

Apr. 5th 2016

“Arya Stark” actress Maisie Williams to portray “Wolfsbane” in New Mutants film

As reported by AV Club and other news sources last week, Maisie Williams – widely known for her portrayal of Arya Stark on Game of Thrones – has been signed to portray Rahne “Wolfsbane” Sinclair in the upcoming X-Men spin-off film The New Mutants.

Writes William Hughes for AV Club:

As her name suggests, Wolfsbane’s mutant power is basically that she’s a werewolf, something Williams should be accustomed to after several years as the frequently feral Arya Stark.

Williams made her acting debut on Game of Thrones and her work has made Arya my favourite character on the show so far (I’ve only seen up to the end of season 4, no spoilers).

According to Marvel canon, Wolfsbane isn’t an actual werewolf, but only because her lycanthropy comes from “being a mutant” instead of “being magically cursed”. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, as far as this description of her abilities goes:

Wolfsbane is a mutant with the ability to transform herself into a wolf at will, while retaining her human intelligence, or into a transitional form which combines human and lupine aspects; while this ability is lycanthropy, it is not magical in nature, but a complex biological function involving the mutant X-gene. She can change into a humanoid lupine form resembling a werewolf, or become an actual red wolf.

Friends, I’ll take it.

It’s still early days in the production schedule for The New Mutants, so there’s no release date yet, but this might be one I go see in theatres when it comes out. Thanks to Joseph M. Santi for the link!

Apr. 4th 2016

Alexis Ramirez’s “Wolf Mother: Hunted”

New York filmmaker Alexis Ramirez has emailed me every year since 2012 with a link to one of his new werewolf-related video projects. I’ve never posted about any of his work before, but today I’m sharing a trailer, synopsis and link to rent or purchase his latest project, a 14-minute short called Wolf Mother: Hunted.

Here’s the synopsis:

With her strong leadership style, Luperca, a transformed werewolf, is honored the title of Wolf Mother among her family of mutated werewolves. With a family of her own, and away from the human world, everything seems fine. But things takes a turn when a werewolf hunter, from a generation that spans way back of hunting these creatures, wants to kill Luperca and her pack. This demanding, controlling, madwoman, contracts a hunter to hunt down Luperca and her pack. Ironically the hunter becomes the hunted. The wolf hunter, now takes matters in her own hands, to try and get her success and to uphold her family tradition.

I haven’t seen anything except the trailer so I’m not going to attempt a review, although I suspect my opinions and conclusions would be similar to those I had with Angelic Wolves. Personally, I liked the music and the enthusiasm, but not enough to pay $5 to rent or $10 to purchase the whole thing. My poor judgement and taste are on the public record, though, and you may feel differently about Wolf Mother: Hunted.

You can see some behind-the-scenes material and share your comments and opinions on the Wolf Mother Facebook page.

Apr. 1st 2016

COO MODEL’s incredible “THE WERE WOLF” is available now

The most amazing werewolf model I have ever seen finally came out of “pre-order” status and is now available for purchase.

COO MODEL’s 1/6th scale model “THE WERE WOLF” has 31 swappable parts that facilitate his transformation from “grouchy dude in hoodie” to “furious killing machine”. It can be purchased in America from BigBadToyStore for $214.99 and various international retailers for about the same price, subject to currency exchange and shipping rates. Hobby Galaxy had it too, and for $35 less, but it’s sold out at the moment.

If I hadn’t just paid for new tires and brakes on my car, this bad boy would be mine. If you pick one up, share some photos!

Mar. 31st 2016

The person who runs Werewolf News has a little announcement

Art by Tandye

Today, March 31st, is Transgender Day of Visibility, which is why I’m happy (and nervous) to tell you that the person who runs this site is trans. I’m Angela. Hi.

I stopped going by “Andrew” on this site and elsewhere a few years ago – most people in my life know me as “Angela” or “AQ”. I never mentioned it here on Werewolf News before now because it’s not germane to the site’s content, but in light of all the recent anti-trans legislation being passed around the United States, I feel like positive visibility is more important than ever. Things are getting better around the world for LGBT folks, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

visibility infographic update 2015

If you’re LGBTQ and struggling, you’re not alone. If you’re straight and/or cisgender and don’t really care about trans people because you “don’t know a trans person”, well now you do!

It’s nice to be out here, finally – the people I’ve met over the years that I’ve been running this site are some of the best people I know, and it’s a relief to stop maintaining any kind of separation of identity between “person who runs Werewolf News” and literally every other facet of my daily life. I’m @aquinton on Twitter if you want to say hi.

Happy Trans Day of Visibility!

Mar. 31st 2016

The “Criminal” 10th anniversary issue features “Fang the Kung Fu Werewolf”

Here’s another entry on the list of venerable comic institutions I didn’t know about until they stuck a werewolf in it. Criminal is a comic by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips that explores the clichés of the crime genre through a lense of realism. This Eisner-winning series has been running since 2006, and because I’m a comics plebe, I hadn’t heard of it until friend Manny Aguilera alerted me to the upcoming 10th anniversary issue: a 64-page one-shot featuring the series’ most popular characters.

“Teeg and Tracy Lawless are our most popular characters, so I knew this Anniversary Special had to showcase their early days,” said Brubaker. “A big part of Criminal is finding new ways into noir stories, and this time we get to see it all from the point of view of a 12-year-old kid forced to help his father, who is a career thief and murderer.”

Crim_teaser_02This issue also feature a comic-within-a-comic, a “bizarre ‘70s-era KUNG FU magazine starring a werewolf.”

“Once again I get to try out a new style, after the cartooning of The Last Of The Innocent, and the sword and sorcery of last year’s Savage Sword of Criminal,” said Phillips. “This time I get to figure out how to draw a kung-fu werewolf without him looking too silly. Let’s hope I can pull it off! Even if I can’t, it’s great to be back in the Criminal universe again, it’s like we’ve never been away.”

You can pick up the 10th Anniversary Special in stores Wednesday April 13th (or you can use Diamond code NOV158430 to order it), but if you want the variant that has this incredible Fang the Kung Fu Werewolf cover, order it from your local comic store by Monday the 28th with Diamond code NOV158431. Both versions have the Fang story inside, but come on. Come on.

Then there’s the decade of Criminal to catch up on, available on Amazon and Comixology. Better get started!

Mar. 26th 2016

The “Monster Suicide Squad” trailer is great, even if you don’t care about “Suicide Squad”

I’m not interested in the Marvel and DC film franchises, so I wasn’t moved by recent chatter about a new trailer for The Monster Squad, in which the quintessential 80’s kids-vs-monsters movie is recut cut to reference January’s trailer for DC’s Suicide Squad. Most gritty superhero reboots are, kindly stated, “not my thing”. But when enough trusted voices recommend something, who am I to turn it down?

I’m glad I got the stick out of my ass. ThatMattCaronGuy has taken something I love and made it even better by referencing something I don’t give a shit about that just isn’t for me.

From Robot 6:

This edit doesn’t simply drop in “Bohemian Rhapsody” over old movie footage, though. Oh, no: Matt Caron took what we can only presume was a long time to match shots from The Monster Squad with those from the Suicide Squad trailer. He did a bang-up job of it, too.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to see how well Matt matched things up.

Mar. 25th 2016