Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen, The (Comic)
Nat Brehmer
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Written by Micky Neilson
Art by Jason Johnson, Milan Parvanov
Published by Space Goat
Comics based on horror films can be incredibly hit or miss. But as I’ve pointed out, when they work well, they can be something really special. Thankfully, The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen falls into that latter category for a lot of reasons, not the smallest among them being that I really thought we would see a Howling comic long before now. Even when I was picking up back issues of Fright Night as a kid, I would wonder why we didn’t have a Howling comic to serve as the appropriate counterbalance. The film franchise strayed further and further from Joe Dante’s masterful original movie as it went, and the comic medium always seemed like the best way to get back to the tone, style and genuine horror that made Dante’s film so great.
Luckily, almost impossibly, Revenge of the Werewolf Queen is here to change all that, thanks to the team at Space Goat– also responsible for the thoroughly entertaining Evil Dead 2 comics. After seven on-screen follow-ups, we finally have a direct sequel to the original Howling. And even better: It’s good.
Just like an ‘80s horror sequel, the comic picks up by giving us a refresher course on the end of the original. As was already insinuated by the end of the film, Karen White’s transformation into a werewolf on live television was treated as a hoax. Only the people who were there when it happened actually know the truth, and they haven’t been dealing with it very well—especially survivor Chris Halloran, who pulled the trigger at Karen’s request.
The issue serves both as a great epilogue to the movie and a set-up to something bigger as Chris begins to piece together that there may have been survivors from the fire at The Colony.
I love the opportunity they took with the fact that The Howling had a great central female villain who never really had the chance to reach her full potential. Interestingly, the original Howling II novel by Gary Brandner also saw Marsha return from supposed death, hell-bent on revenge. But the similarities end there. The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen is, fittingly, its own beast.
The comic also does a great job of recapturing the tone, style and especially the classic Rob Bottin werewolf designs seen in the film. There was great care taken to make this a worthy sequel, one that’s long overdue, and as a fan I cannot stress how much I appreciate that. These are the characters just as we remember them. Their motivations have changed in organic and believable ways. The story already feels bigger, an arc fitting the comic book format. The artwork is dynamic, moody, keeping the feature’s characterization intact but not lifelessly attempting to recreate likenesses in every panel.
Any fan of Joe Dante’s The Howling should be delighted with this new comic book sequel. It’s an unexpected gem, the sort of thing I always wanted but never actually expected to see.
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Comic
Categorized:Reviews
