If you missed the last one…
The opening years of the 1950s did not feature any new werewolf movie classics. This gap allowed the comics to use classic themes from the 1940s films. In these comics the werewolves sometimes proved to be fakes at this time. This may have been the influence of funny monster movies, but the false monster tradition dates back to the beginning of the Gothic novels of 1790s. So not really new. I have included the real and the unreal because the fake werewolf is part of the over-all tradition. My preference is always for real lycanthropes but as Scooby-Doo will prove twenty years later, the fake stuff has fans.
As with most Golden Age comics, the authors are rarely known. Artists can be traced by their drawing or inking style, but the men and women who pen these “masterpieces” are not as easily detected. It is too bad really. It is a historical element that is lost to us.
1950
“Franz Bartos, Werewolf” (Airboy #81, November 1950) was written and drawn by Ernest Schroeder. World War I pilot, Franz Bartos, helps in the hunting of a werewolf before the war. He gets bitten and takes his curse with him into the aerial battles over France. The lycanthrope encounters the Heap who is immune to his supernatural powers. In April-May 1974, Len Wein and Berni Wrightson would pit their swamp monster against a werewolf. Shades of Schroeder!
1951
“The Werewolf Must Kill!” (Black Cat Comics #30, August 1951) begins with Robert Lupine turning into a wolf and killing his first victim. Meanwhile back in the city, Robert’s brother, Ches, and his fiancee, Helen, decide to go to the country to see Robert. After several attempts at killing Helen, Robert is thrown him off a balcony and impaled on a stone fence. Unfortunately, Ches got bit and becomes the wolf, attacking Helen. No happy endings.
“The Terror of the Werewolves” (Harvey Hits #53, December 1951) originally a comic strip in October 24-November 1, 1947. It was written by Lee Falk. This is Mandrake’s second encounter but this time the werewolves prove to be fake.
“Wanda Was a Werewolf!” (The House of Mystery #1, December 1951-January 1952) was DC’s big premiere for The House of Mystery, a comic that would run into the 1980s. Being early days, Wanda’s werewolfery turns out to be a fake, with a savage wolf and a devious villain behind the attempts to frame her for being a werewolf. The plot of the story reminds me of Weird Tales stories like Manly Banister’s “Lupa”.
1952
“The Werewolf of Marsham Manor!” (Eerie #1, 1952) has spendthrift Robert Warsham inheriting his uncle’s estate. He also inherits a werewolf problem, the beast hunting him wherever he goes. For the rest of his life Warsham is on the run until as an old man he finally meets his wolfy destiny.
“Curse of the Werewolf” (Worlds of Fear #2, January 1952) has zoologist Emil Sonsh becoming a werewolf then learning his fiancee, Ruth, is having an affair. Silver bullets are Emil’s fate but he finally succeeds in finding a cure to lycanthropy. Moldoff’s art is very 1940’s The Wolf Man.
“The Werewolf” (Voodoo #1, May 1952) has Chuck Ayers and his beautiful assistant, Vicki, in Walpurgis Hollow. Investigating leads to Chuck punching out the werewolf, who proves to be a fake. Blah!
“The Werewolf Lurks” (Journey Into Fear #7, May 1952) a werewolf is killing pretty girls. Two cops chase him down until he falls off a building. The culprit proves to be their expert witness on lycanthropy, the perfect cover for a werewolf.
“The Werewolves Howl” (Weird Horrors #1, June 1952) is a reprint of “Lady Satan” from Red Seal Comics #17, July 1946. The re-writing of the comic makes it very odd. Lady Satan becomes Nurse Le Blanc who wears dog repellent on her shoes. She is in the backwoods to stamp out superstition. The desire to remove the supernatural elements from the story make it twice as bizarre.
“Cagliostro Cursed Thee” (Jumbo Comics #162, September 1962) was written by Drew Murdoch (house name). Murdoch is hired to help a twin who has seen her sister in a vision. Later a phantom werewolf attacks her. The trail leads to an old mansion and a stage magician who calls himself Calgiostro. The performer is actually transferring werewolf spirits into people using a machine right out of a Pulp magazine. When the house burns down a clod looking like a wolf appears.
“Horror Hour” (Haunted Thrills #3, October 1952) has Tom Hunter and his girl wander into a clock shop. Hunter is struck dead and Bolton Baker is on the case. The culprit proves to be the clock store owner, who is a werewolf and kills with an evil essense radiating from the beast. (This is a strange way to avoid having to draw blood and violence.) Silver bullets and all is well.
“Moon Madness” (The Unseen #7, November 1952) has Emil Jankow attacked by a dog before becoming a werewolf. The town hunts for a killer but the werewolf puts the suspicion onto a missing hunting dog. All the while, Kirk Lamarr has wicked designs on the beautiful June. Jankow takes out Lamarr but dies alongside him. Werewolves aren’t all bad.
“The Man Who Cried Werewolf!” (Sensation Mystery #112, November-December 1952) begins with three students at the occult school, The Academy of Supernatural Sciences. They are close for top grades: Dale Scott, Hilton Tryce and Monica Burton. Dale, in a joking mood, prepares a formula that turns you into a werewolf. Nothing happens after he drinks it. Later, he wakes in the night, to find he has become a werewolf. Monica rushes into to save him. He is wearing a mask! In the next room is Hilton Tryce. Monica figured out that Hilton blew a narcotic powder through the keyhole after putting the mask on Dale. The plan was to drive him insane and become the top student. The use of “Mystery” in the title suggests the solutions to these sensational stories will be logical. That’s if you can buy the idea of a wizard school…
“Mark of the Werewolf” (Frankenstein #22, December 1952-January 1953) was written and drawn by Dick Briefer. This is the third and final episode with a werewolf. Briefer had abandoned the cute cartoony monster for a more serious beast. A band of fire-throwing locals chase the monster while a werewolf preys on them. Frankie throws the shapeshifting culprit over a cliff before getting burned up. The monster will heal and be back for more.
On to Part 3…1953-1954
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