Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone must put aside their differences in a preview of Werewolf by Night #1

Art from Werewolf By Night #1
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The original Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell, returns for a new adventure in an oversized one-shot written by Derek Landy and drawn by Fran Galán.

Presented in color and in black and white, the issue sees Jack join forces with monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone to tackle a deadly new threat. Here's Marvel's official synopsis.

"AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE! In the shadows of black-and-white night, Jack Russell races to halt the sacrifice of a young girl at the hands of monsters. Elsa Bloodstone, in all her colorful monster-hunting glory, isn't far behind. But can they put their differences aside long enough to save the day? And what would such a partnership even look like?"

Check out an exclusive gallery of pages from the new book below:

Werewolf by Night has had a long - if slightly haphazard - publishing history that spans 70 years. The very first iteration was a five-page short story published in July 1953's Marvel Tales #116, though it has little to do with the character as we know it today other than being the origin of the title. 

Thanks to the formation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954, it would be a while before mainstream comics went anywhere near horror-tinged stories. When the CCA rules were somewhat relaxed in the early '70s, however, Werewolf by Night's time finally arrived. 

The first character to bear the title was Jack Russell, created by Gerry Conway and Mike Ploog, working from a plot by Roy and Jeanie Thomas for the first issue. He debuted in 1972's Marvel Spotlight #2 and was granted his own comic in September 1972. The series ran for 43 issues and notably marked the first appearance of another Marvel hero: Moon Knight, who debuted in Werewolf by Night #32.

Art from Werewolf By Night #1

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The character returned in Marvel Comics Presents in the early '90s and would occasionally feature in Morbius: The Living Vampire after that, but it wasn't until 1998 that Jack Russell was granted another book of his own. That run, written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Leonardo Manco, lasted just six issues.

Since then Jack's appearances have been more sporadic - a guest spot here, a limited series there, with a new character taking the name for a four-issue miniseries in 2020. 

The second Werewolf by Night was Jake Gomez, created by Taboo, Benjamin Jackendoff and Scot Eaton. He's still around, most recently showing up in last year's Crypt of Shadows #1. Jack Russell returned in October 2022's Moon Knight Annual #1, which was timed to come out alongside the Werewolf by Night MCU TV movie.

Werewolf By Night #1 is published by Marvel Comics on September 13.


Discover everything you need to know about Werewolf By Night right here.

Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.

Read more
The Lycan #1 cover by Tim Bradstreet
Writer Mike Carey brings The Lycan to life by embracing the primal nature of werewolves: "The civilized version of us is only skin deep"
The Lycan #1 cover by Tim Bradstreet
Punisher actor Thomas Jane returns to comics with The Lycan, a horror love story he’s been waiting over 10 years to tell: "It's sexy, and it moves"
Close-up on Hell Hulk's face
Marvel says what the hell, adds a Hell Hulk to Hellverine #6
Deadpool and Wolverine fight.
Deadpool and Wolverine reunite for a bloodthirsty tour of Madripoor in the print edition of the Marvel Unlimited Infinity Comic Slash 'em Up!
Ultimate Wolverine #1
The new Ultimate Wolverine just debuted and he's already murdered two of the most popular X-Men
Gold Tiger battles a hoard of zombies.
New Wakandan hero Gold Tiger is the latest to join Marvel's New Champions
Latest in Comics
King Kong wrestling a giant squid monster
The Monsterverse expands with Return to Skull Island, a comic tying into Netflix's King Kong-centric animated series
Close up on Emma Frost's face as she sits on a throne on the cover of Emma Frost: White Queen #1
"Bow down to the White Queen" as Emma Frost gets her own X-Men solo comic that flashes back to her time as a villain
The Biker Mice From Mars.
Oni Press's new Biker Mice From Mars comic will take a "hard-hitting approach to the stories" and "definitely won't pull any punches"
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #12
Gwen Stacy and Loki team-up for a cosmic adventure in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #12
An alien attacks.
Xenomorphs have taken the island as Alien: Paradiso nears its endgame
Cover art from Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1.
13 years after his New 52 series ended, cult DC hero Resurrection Man is back in Quantum Karma
Latest in News
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip
A misty, forested mountainside in Prologue: Go Wayback!
PUBG creator's wilderness survival game actually draws inspiration from an unexpected place - a whole raft of zombie games like DayZ, Project Zomboid, and Left 4 Dead
The Blood of Dawnwalker: A screenshot of the vampire Brencis holding up a crown during the trailer for the upcoming game.
The Witcher 3 devs created a Jekyll & Hyde-style character for their new vampire RPG "because nobody yet has done that"
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil fans are wondering if Born Again season 2 will set up a darker comic book arc for Matt Murdock