Werewolf by Night was Marvel’s werewolf anti-hero. In stories he was usually just referred to as Werewolf. He debuted in 1972 in Marvel Spotlight #2.
Werewolf by Night’s origin story goes something like this: Jack Russell (like the dog, get it?) begins having strange dreams the weekend of his 18th birthday. He storms out of the house the night of his birthday party when he begins feeling sick and a strange transformation starts to occur. Jack’s mother goes out in the car to look for him during a rain storm. Jack’s mother crashes and, on her deathbed, tells Jack that his real father was a Baron. The males in this Baron’s family happened to be cursed to turn into werewolves. The Baron’s curse was passed on to Jack and began to manifest itself when he turned 18. After dropping this bomb in his lap, Jack’s mother dies, but not before forcing Jack to promise not to harm his abusive stepfather. Jack, of course, says yes then later discovers that his stepfather orchestrated his mother’s car crash in order to inherit the Baron’s fortune. Jack goes out as the wolf and kills the goon his stepfather hired to rig the car’s brakes. When confronted with his stepfather and being unable to kill him because of his mother’s promise, the story ends with Jack having to run away howling in frustration because his werewolf form is so lame that it can’t kill someone his mom said not to.
The character would prove popular and after several more appearances in Marvel Spotlight, Werewolf by Night would get his own self-titled book several months later in late 1972.
Issue #1 is very similar to his Marvel Spotlight stories. In this story, Jack encounters a sorceress who turns his wolf form into stone like Medusa. However, when the sun comes up Jack transforms back into human form which breaks the spell. The rest of the story is Jack tracking down the sorceress and stopping her. An inauspicious start to a VERY ’70s, but very fun, comic book series.
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