MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #2-4/WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #1-2 (1972):1st Werewolf, 1st Book of Darkhold

This is another one of those early 1970s monster books that weren’t bad, but also usually weren’t ostensibly part of the Marvel Universe.  Tomb of Dracula was another one.  I mean, they kind of were–when it was convenient or they wanted to sell books, they’d have a guest shot by Iron Man or something–but it was more that the characters became folded into the MU at later dates, after their own series got cancelled.

The stories themselves don’t matter much, and I don’t intend to cover them too deeply, but the books were pretty good.

Marvel Spotlight #2 is the origin of Jack Russell (great name for a lycanthrope, huh?).  Turns out, being a werewolf is in his blood.

In MS#3 and 4, we learn that Jack’s father had a mystical book called The Darkhold.  It gets stolen by a would-be black magician, but in attempting to use it, it kills her.  Jack Russell moves into his fathers old castle and decides he will protect the Darkhold from thieves.

The Darkhold, of course, will become the thread that unifies much of the 1990s Marvel Monsterverse/extended Ghost Rider universe.

The Marvel Spotlight issues feature Jack Russell being attacked repeatedly by people who want the Darkhold.

By the end of issue #2, Werewolf is in California.  Action in U.S. cities should be more interesting, right?

The book is finding its feet–trying to figure out what a werewolf comic is even about in a superhero universe.

At least there’s shark punching.

The stories are fine, like I said, they just don’t matter much.

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