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Marvel Announces “Werewolf by Night” Revamp

By | January 20th, 2020
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Cover by Mike McKone
At ComicBook.com, Marvel have announced a new incarnation of “Werewolf by Night,” created by Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas and co-writer Benjamin Jackendoff (“Masters of the Sun”) with artist Scot Eaton (“Secret Avengers”). The four-issue series will introduce Jake, a 17-year old Hopi American, who becomes the new Werewolf by Night after the Life Foundation begins pharmaceutical experiments on the Hopi Reservation. The book will also involve the veteran Native American superhero Red Wolf, who is tasked with hunting down the werewolf, and Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.

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.


Christopher Chiu-Tabet

Chris is the news manager of Multiversity Comics. A writer from London on the autistic spectrum, he enjoys tweeting and blogging on Medium about his favourite films, TV shows, books, music, and games, plus history and religion. He is Lebanese/Chinese, although he can't speak Cantonese or Arabic.

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