Tuesday, September 13, 2016

As is often the case, I don't think that's a real doctor.


I know I've watched more than a few werewolf movies in my life, and by and large I can't recall a lot of the makeup effects holding together especially well. There are exceptions, of course, but it's a tough one to get right, and really easy to get wrong. So werewolf comics should have the advantage: unlimited by budget or technology, able to deliver whatever the creators can imagine. And then cover up with captions. Lots of captions. From 1975, Werewolf by Night #27, "The Amazing Doctor Glitternight" Written by Doug Moench, art by Don Perlin.

I tease, but Moench has to use a good chunk of narration for this book, since the Werewolf isn't the chattiest monster on the block. Jack Russell narrates events happening to him yet as he's watching them, as the Werewolf; and this month he's stumbled across the titular Dr. Glitternight, a somewhat generic wizard type, who's managed to create a pretty gruesome monster from the stolen soul of Topaz. Glitternight had been an associate and teacher of her stepfather; and when her psychic powers were lost, Topaz had gone to him for help, against her better judgment. He stole her soul, or at least some of it, and was corrupting it for his own use.

Glitternight captures Jack, his friend Buck, and Topaz; but apparently didn't realize Jack had been the Werewolf that fought his first creature, and the Werewolf returns on the second night of the full moon. While the Werewolf fights a second creature, Topaz tries to use her powers to control him, but that only hampers his effectiveness and she has to go the other way, making the Werewolf more feral and deadly than before. The creature is destroyed, although I don't think Topaz recovers her soul here, and Glitternight wasn't through yet.

No comments: