Taboo (real name Jaime Luis Gomez) said “this story is personal for me because I am half-Hopi, that’s my tribe and the character is based on Hopi and the Hopi reservation. And for us, we always want to be respectful to native folks, especially when it comes to the Marvel Universe.” Jackendoff said that while it is a horror comic, “there’s a levity to the book in a lot of ways too because it is about self-discovery.” It will also reflect issues that affect real Native Americans, like feeling invisible and ignored. “The idea of invisible no more is something Tab says a lot,” Jackendoff said, “where it’s this idea that Native folks have always been here and so often that people, if you ask an average person, sometimes they think like, ‘Oh Native American people? Where would you ever find them? Are they even here? Are they extinct?’ kind of thing. And that’s a big part of the core of this storytelling, is this idea of these invisible folks that are not invisible anymore.”
Created by Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Mike Ploog for February 1972’s “Marvel Spotlight” #2, Werewolf by Night was originally Jack Russell, a man who discovered that he was born with the curse of the werewolf after he underwent his first transformation as a teenager. He was capable of retaining his human intelligence when transformed, although this would be considerably more difficult during a full moon. Like Russell, Jake is described as having his affliction being caused by “a family curse,” as well as “an unholy experiment.”
“Werewolf by Night” #1 releases in April.
