So What Do We Do With Another Werewolf?

Man-Wolf and She-Hulk may have been David Anthony Kraft’s favorite Marvel Comics characters to write back in the 1970s, even though the hirsute hero bore the burden of being the second werewolf in the Marvel universe.

A loosening of the Comics Code had inspired a sudden four-color flurry of werewolves, zombies and vampires. To differentiate his character from the cutely named Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night, DAK took him in the direction of planet-hopping science fantasy.

As I recall, there was some discussion at Marvel about whether the Creatures on the Loose cover image at lower right included sufficient peril, what with the protagonist plunging hundreds of feet into a ravine, followed by a plummeting freight train that also happened to be on fire. Subtlety was a hallmark of 1970s comics. Unlike the better-known She-Hulk, Man-Wolf has the distinction of already having appeared in a Marvel movie, albeit in his other form — John Jameson, the son of blowhard Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson.