Werewolves of the Golden Age: 1954-1955

If you missed the last one…

This finishes our general Golden Age Werewolf posts. I say that because we still have the Werewolves of EC Comics left. Also remember I didn’t include ACG or Ace Comics because they have their own posts. It would be interesting to count just how many werewolf pieces appeared between 1948 and 1955. (I’ll do that after I’ve posted the last of them.) Werewolves and vampires were two of the most recognizable monsters in early comics. Universal Pictures had been at it since the 1930s and comic readers of the 1950s knew these creatures well. It’s rare to see them behaving outside the Hollywood perimeters though some writers try to spice things up. The locale of these hairy monster attacks always seems to be Europe, with Germany, the Alps and Hungary in this bunch.

1954

“The Werewolf of Paris” (The Unseen #13, February 1954) was a fact-filled half-pager based on Guy Endore’s novel.

“Werewolves!” (Mysterious Adventures #19, April 1954) has Hilda henpecking her husband, Hans, to approach his rich uncle in Europe. The two go to Ausfritz. There they find a werewolf is killing people in the neighborhood. Hans meets with his uncle and the old man agrees to change his will so Hans will inherit when he dies. Hilda gets impatient for that to happen and badgers Hans into a plot to kill the old man. Too bad, he’s the werewolf.

“Trick Or Treat” (Weird Mysteries #10, May 1954) begins with Harold Lindsay being invited to Pam’s Halloween party. She warns his outfit had better be good or they are finished. Harold buys a werewolf costume from a creepy old guy only to find the wolfskin has turned him into a real werewolf. He goes to kill Pam but she has been to the same vendor, and is dressed as a vampire. The final line is “Now now you two. Don’t be pigs. There’s plenty for everyone.” This one reminds me of Robert Bloch’s “The Cloak”.

“Tomb For a Werewolf” (Strange Mysteries #18, July 1954) has Peter Cook, a gravestone carver, killing people as a werewolf then making his money on selling the victim’s headstone. He kills Mary Andrews, then gets discovered by a cop, who he also kills. More cops look into it and eventually chase the werewolf into Cook’s shop. The werewolf dies in a fire. Cook carved his own headstone knowing someday…

“The Werewolf of the Alps” (Horror From the Tomb #1, September 1954) we learn that Franz Klepp, the best mountain guide, is a werewolf. Next we meet the Englishman Burne-Smith and beautiful blond wife, Leona. The couple hire Klepp for a climb. That night he kills a servant girl while thinking about the Englishman’s wife. During the climb, Franz sends Burne-Smith falling. He isn’t quite dead so he turns into a werewolf and finishes him. The guide has a surprise waiting for him in Leona. She turns into a lion and kills him. She is a were-lion.

“Werewolf” (Out of the Shadows #14, August 1954) is set on the Devon moors. Weston and the other townsfolk are up in arms over a werewolf. The townsfolk get together a hunting party but the wolf kills several of the hunters. Weston and Marion follow an old legend to the Winshire estate. Legend has it that some of the Winshires were werewolves. They confront the present Lord of the manor but Weston turns into the werewolf. He is shot and killed. Weston never knew he was chasing his own trail.

“Fangs of the Wolf-Woman!” (Strange Mysteries #20, November 1954) begins with Major Cranston in Washington telling about what happened in Hungary. On a mission to stops the Reds, he parachuted in secretly before meeting the resistance fighter Vilya Kovaks and her men. They use a wolf call as their signal. There is a fight with the Communists. Cranston wakes from an injury to find himself being nursed by Penny Fulton. She and her brother, Stanley, hid the Major from the Reds. Stanley tells the American that Vilya is a werewolf. The Major falls for Penny. There are more raids and Cranston even kisses Vilya. The jealousy between the two women sends Vilya into wolf form. Cranston shoots her. We go back to Washington where Cranston’s superior calls the whole thing a fairy tale. Penny enters and warns the man against saying anything against her husband. She offers to show him the werewolf scratches on her neck.

“Werewolf Castle” (Voodoo #18, November-December 1954) Mark and Joyce Hanson decide to take their honeymoon in Germany. They drive to the aptly named “Werewolf Castle”. The place is creepy with a deformed servant. There they meet the owners, the Baron and Baroness Gotha. The baroness turns into a vampire and bites the husband. The Baron becomes a werewolf and bites the wife. In the morning, both are fine but learn that they are the new inhabitants of the castle. They are doomed to stay there until two new victims wander in.

1955

“Man or Wolf?” (The House of Mystery #34, January 1955) is our last entry is a short half page filler about changing into a werewolf by autosuggestion. This was only the third werewolf to appear in The House of Mystery.

Conclusion

The Golden Age ended after Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wertham fueled a court case that resulted in the Comics’ Code. Most fans use the date of January 1956 as the cut off. The Silver Age that follows is a wasteland for werewolves. The black & white magazines by James Warren are the only real werewolf comics while companies like DC, Archie Comics and Gold Key will use funny hairballs. (More of these pale imitators later.) The werewolf returns in the 1970s with the resurrection of comics like The House of Mystery. For these better werewolves, go here.

The other factor that followed the disappearance of werewolves in comics was the rise in lycanthropes in the B-movies. The Werewolf (1956), The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957) predate Michael Landon’s famous I Was a Teenage Werewolf in 1958. Werewolves may have been prohibited in comic books but they weren’t shunned in Hollywood. All through the Silver Age, werewolves would be found more often on movie and even on television screens.

Next time the last of the Golden Age… Werewolves of EC Comics…