In one of the bloodiest hunts yet, Jake Gomez finds himself ensnared in two types of undead villainy — can Werewolf By Night tame his savage beast, save his friends, and defeat a villain you don’t remember from 1973?
Werewolf by Night: Blood Hunt #1
Jason Loo (writer), Adam Gorham (artist), Alex Sinclair (Colorist), VC’s Joe Sabino (letterer)
Marvel
July 2, 2024
First off, Apologies to Jake Gomez but I had no recollection of his existence as a Werewolf by Night, so this was already a new and exciting ride for me. Debuting in October 2020 in a four-issue Werewolf By Night miniseries by writers Taboo (of the Black Eyed Peas) and B. Earl/Benjamin Jackendoff and artist Scot Eaton, Jake Gomez is a teenage boy who is dealing with lycanthropy while living on a Hopi reservation in Arizona.
Since this is his first appearance since his debut series, we get a quick rundown of his deal in the first few pages, then it’s time to jump into the supernatural.
We start with Jake wolfing around in an abandoned amusement park when he runs into some old middle school friends, doing what bullied nerds do best — summoning the dead uncle of one of their buds. They succeed — but their friend’s uncle turns out to be Roulette, a one-shot Ghost Rider villain from 1973’s Ghost Rider, issues #4 and #5 (thank you for this editorial note, Marvel!). Things spiral downhill from there.
There’s not a ton of connective tissue between this book and the other Blood Hunt #1s, other than, you know, the blood, the vampires, and the eventual endless blackout of the sky. I’m not sure if it’s because Jake is pivoting immediately into his own EXPLICIT CONTENT REDBAND series (for real) and not participating in the rest of the vampire saga, or if this is just looping him into the story. It could go either way. But it’s a good teaser for readers who want the guts and gory from their antiheroes — there’s plenty of blood here, especially once a bad moon rises.
Adam Gorham’s leans into some heavier inks during the séance and a few other scenes, giving them a classic horror comic feel that complements Roulette’s ‘70s design, though sometimes combined with the gray-heavy palette from colorist Alex Sinclair it leads to some muddiness. Gorham and Sinclair excel elsewhere, though, working together to give the vampire fatalities some extra juice. The vampires here aren’t pitiable (but killable) wretches like in Jubilee’s or even Psylocke’s tie-in — they’re shitty cops harassing the local kids, which is a nice and nasty touch.
And Jason Loo’s tale is trying to be nasty here, in that EC Comics way. Roulette is a skull-faced ghoul in a pink cloak who flies around an amusement park, but it’s definitely meaner than your average Scooby-Doo tale, and I don’t know if this teen wolf is going to join the gang at Avengers Academy. I’ll admit, I was surprised at some kills here! It’s not your usual Marvel beat ‘em up in horror clothing, which is refreshing even if I don’t think it quite nailed the emotional hooks needed here.
Joe Sabino does some cute things with the word balloons for Roulette, jumping on the sharp lighting effects. A heavier hand on the lettering could have taken the spooky vibe here to the next level — there are some good effects but surely he’s not speaking in the same font as the vampires, yeah?
This is an intriguing hook, though a well-trodden one — a kid with violent powers must learn to control the monster within — but it’s a tougher lesson than you might expect. I’m curious to see what level the action is cranked to for his solo, if he’s going to join forces with the other young heroes, or if we’ll just see him in the background of some crowded action panels in the main title. Only time will tell!
