Man-Wolf

In the 1970’s Marvel started putting in more of the macabre. Books like “Tomb of Dracula” and “Werewolf by Night” were big hits with comic book fans. Even there old western title “Ghost Rider” was a hit. It was changed from a man who dressed as a ghost and rode a white horse to a man who changed into a demon with a flaming skull and rode a modern day motorcycle. Almost all of them were anti-heroes who tried to find a cure for what they had become. With them being hits it was only a matter of time before they tried to bring that success to their superhero line of books. Two new creatures of the night came from the “Amazing Spider-man.” They were Morbius the Living Vampire and Man-Wolf. Once again they were both anti-heroes searching to cure themselves. Both were popular enough that they were spun off into their own series. Morbius was in “Vampire Tales” and Man-Wolf was the feature story in the bi-monthly comic book “Creatures On The Loose.” He took over with issue # 30 and was with it till the end of its run. Col. John Jameson had been to the moon and found a shiny red rock there that he liked. He kept it and made a necklace out of it that he wore. However, became grafted to his throat, courtesy of Morbius when he wanted to control Man-Wolf, when it was exposed to the light of the moon John became Man-Wolf. As Man-Wolf he tried to destroy everything that John Jameson loved. He was always worried that he would hurt or kill his father J. Jonah Jameson or his fiancée Kristine if he changed when they were around. I always thought it was odd that they chose to debut these two characters in a Spider-man book. Hulk or Fantastic Four seemed a better fit for them to me. However, over the years I have come to realize that most of Spidey’s enemies are more animalistic in nature like Rhino, Vulture, Doc Ock, The Lizard etc. So why not add a Vampire Bat and a Wolf into the mix. You don’t hear much from Man-Wolf lately. Perhaps he was cured. I always wondered why he never had it surgically removed from his throat. Maybe he did and found that it was on him so long that he now changed without the rock on him. If not it would make a good story today.
I only read one issue of “Creatures On The Loose” when it first came out. Maybe I will get back issues from my local comic book store and read the entire series.