Werewolf By Night: Red Band #1 - Marvel Comics

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT: RED BAND No. 1, October 2024

Billed by “Marvel Worldwide” as so intense that it requires both a Parental Advisory and polybag “to keep those weak of heart from experiencing it”, Jason Loo’s script for Issue One of “Werewolf By Night: Red Band” probably didn’t strike its audience as being anywhere near as vicious or gruesome as its New York City-based publisher had hoped. In fact, arguably this thirty-page periodical’s greatest horror is found in the comic’s pacing, as the author abruptly breaks up a somewhat charming insight into Jack Russel’s life as a low-key ferryman with what turns out to be an ill-fitting advertisement for the now finished “Blood Hunt” mini-series.

This clunky double-splash genuinely must have been overlooked by a many a reader as it literally leaps out of nowhere with a close-up of the Moon God Khonshu, before widening its scope to show Captain Marvel and some other human mutates, seriously cleaning the clocks of a horde of understandably disgruntled vampires. Resultantly some bibliophiles were probably wondering just why the titular character is one minute stoically trying to safely dock his boat due to day suddenly becoming night, and in the next lying semi-naked near to a hole in his castle’s wall which was previously seen when Mike Ploog’s co-creation encountered a trespassing ‘YouTuber’.

Of course, for those bibliophiles willing to persevere with the publication – either by repeated re-reads or luckily spying a few pieces of text which ineffectively point at the passage of time, the sequence of events does eventually become a little clearer. However, the damage has debatably already been done to the point where few will properly enjoy this comic’s highlight of Elsa Bloodstone paying her old friend a visit, only to find him unable to control his savage hunger; “You’ve been a busy wolf. And not in the nicest way. There’s a trail of maulings that led me right back here.”

This book’s sole success can surely therefore only be found in the lavish layouts of Sergio Davila, who appears to be at the very top of his game when pencilling the likes of Ghost Ryoshi foolishly disturbing Jack whilst he’s busy cleaning up his high-walled home in the Rockies, Colorado. Furthermore, even during this comic’s more sedentary scenes, such as Russell transporting his passengers up river, or The Hood acquiring Count Dracula's "old crib", there is always plenty of detail in every panel to momentarily hold the eye and add a little bit more interest to what is going on.

The regular cover art to "WEREWOLF BY NIGHT: RED BAND" #1 by E.M. Gist