Essential Werewolf by Night, Vol. 1 by Gerry Conway

Hulk, Thor, Magneto, Doctor Strange and many others all got notional starts as throwaways before being re-imagined as major charactersâ€¦

Marvel had a long-time tradition of using old (and presumably already copyrighted) names and titles when creating new series and characters. It had been preceded by masked western hero Red Wolf in #1 and followed by the afore-hinted Ghost Rider, but this hairy hero was destined to stick around for a while. With its title cribbed from a classic short thriller from pre-Code horror anthology Marvel Tales #116 (July 1953), Werewolf By Night debuted in Marvel Spotlight #2. When proto-monster Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of scary superstars – beginning with a werewolf and traditional vampire – before chancing something new via a haunted biker who could tap into both Easy Riderâ€™s freewheeling motorcycling chic and the supernatural zeitgeist. The move was handily expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.Īlmost overnight nasty monsters (plus narcotics and bent coppers – but thatâ€™s another story) became acceptable fare within four-colour pages and whilst a parade of 1950s pre-code reprints made sound business sense (so they repackaged a bunch of those too) the creative aspect of the contemporary fascination in supernatural themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public.Īs always, the watch-word was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics was to be incorporated into the mix as soon as possible.

The only real exception to this was a mass release of horror titles rapidly devised in response to an industry-wide down-turn in superhero sales. By Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich, Tony Isabella, Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, Don Perlin, Pat Broderick, Vigilio Redondo, Yong Monta Ã±o & various (Marvel)Īs Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in 1970, in the wake of losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators – Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby – they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties.

Essential Werewolf by Night, Vol. 1 by Gerry Conway