Werewolf by Night 13

Werewolf by Night 13

Jan 1974

His Name Is Taboo

by Marv Wolfman, Mike Ploog, Frank Chiaramonte, John Costanza, Petra Goldberg, Roy Thomas

The Werewolf finds himself a prisoner of the wizard Taboo and his protégé, Topaz. Philip Russell, Jack’s stepfather is also there and also a prisoner of Taboo who blames the elder Russell for what happened to Algon, his son.

The Werewolf flashes back to what Jack last remembered doing. He was hanging out with Clary and Sam, his neighbors, in his apartment. He drove Clary to Mallet Studios who hired her to appear in one of their low grade horror films. He later drove out to the Verdugo Mountains by himself. It was there that he transformed into the Werewolf and was knocked out and taken prisoner by Topaz and some of Taboo’s thugs. 

Taboo was hoping to get his hands on the Darkhold, the Book of Sin Itself. He needs it to restore his son who has been dead for 20 years. Taboo orders the Werewolf to kill Philip Russell when he learns that the Darkhold was destroyed. The Werewolf wants to but can’t bring himself to because of an oath that Jack swore to his mother on her death bed. 

Taboo tells the story of how he met Topaz in Punjab. She was just a little girl at the time but already possessed magical powers. He also reveals how he was later forced to flee with his sons body from the castle in the Balkans where he found the Darkhold.

Taboo wants Topaz to kill Jack but she refuses to shed blood. She instead uses her magic to vanish all thoughts of violence from his mind. She then inadvertently transfers Philip Russell’s consciousness into the desiccated body that once belonged to Algon. The issue ends with Taboo ordering Algon/Philip to kill the Werewolf. 

Thoughts

I really like the look of this issue. I especially like the page layouts. There are a number of instances where one scene bleeds over into another without the use of panel borders. I especially like the focus on Topaz’s eyes on the 14th story page and the way Taboo is at the center of the 16th story page where the panels come together. 

Taboo, Topaz, and Algon make their first appearances in this issue. Topaz becomes a recurring character in this series but the same can’t be said of Taboo and his son. 

Mallet Studios? OK, this is clearly supposed to be Hammer or a copycat of Hammer Film Productions.

This was fun. I think this might be my favorite issue of this series, of the few that I have read, to date. 

Weremail by Night

Three of the four letters are about the differences between how the book looked when Tom Sutton drew it versus how it looked when Mike Ploog was the penciler. Ploog penciled the first 7 issues of this series. Tom Sutton only penciled issues 9 and 10. Werner Roth penciled the eighth issue and Gil Kane penciled issues 11 and 12. The most recent issue that the letter writers mention is the ninth issue.