Sunday, January 6, 2019
Werewolf Hunter / The She-Wolf
You asked for it-- more golden age Werewolf Hunter, aka Professor Broussard adventures-- and like our last post it's also a creepy Creature Double Freak Feature! This time Broussard's on the trail of two very different types of lycanthropes, though they both share something very much in common. Also notice how the Prof's age seems to change from one story to the next, as well. I love that we're actually getting a nice retrospective of his occult work throughout the various stages of his life in this Rangers Comics run. And I don't know about you, but Armand Weygand's somber emotional touches in the writing is a real warm welcome here at THOIA as well. I do hope you're enjoying these as much as me. From the April 1943 issue of Rangers Comics #10, art by Saul Rosen, and the October 1944 issue of Rangers Comics #19, art by Lily Renee.
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8 comments:
Thanks,for these tales. Curious, I started to look at some of the Professor's tales myself. Thanks for bringing up what I was wondering in your last post on why the Professor looked so different in the former tales--I almost thought he was a different character completely in the second story. Of curious interest in the first story is the introduction to his daughter Lily (Oddly spelled Lili in the next adventure she is in.) Lily is only featured twice in this series although a niece also features in a few tales later on. Also of interest in the first story is the professor's loyal assistant Danny O'Shea who after the first four stories in this series, disappears from them without a thorough explanation.
As for the stories themselves, the first one is probably the first and only time I've ever seen a werewolf get eaten by an alligator. I also must admit, that I should have known that the werewolf would be the trapper's daughter rather than the trapper himself--but to be honest, the werewolf doesn't actually look female until the reveal of who it actually is. I also love the distinction that the werewolf ONLY shows up on Fridays.
The second tale is rather sad and mysterious with the werewolf in question being more of a tragic character than a vicious one, and the townsfolk are the true monsters here.At least the werewolves in this one actually look like wolves here. Some of the earlier stories in this series have some extremely odd looking werewolf designs--one even looks more like an ape than a werewolf!
Magra was called the Wolf-witch so perhaps her enchantments made her and her children immune to the fire.
I liked both stories, showing the early days of Broussard's life as a student of the Occult and his later years battling evil with his daughter and assistant in tow. Sort of a Van Helsing passing on the baton to the next generation.
In the second story, Broussard as the young man dealing with things beyond human ken, it made me think of Lovecraft's doomed heroes, young men exploring ancient secrets, confident and self assured in their knowledge not realizing they may be in over their heads. At least Broussard avoids the fate of so many of Lovecraft's characters.
Werewolf Hunter is a character that I would look forward to being revived, either to face modern evil or new adventures he encountered in his past.
I appreciate how the second story really weaves a folkloric, and plausibly eastern European, tone. I also love how the kids--the litter, I guess--are used as a sly hint to the nature of Magra's exotic phenotype. Do you know somebody with a large number of children who are all the same age? Septets, say? An Octo-Mom? Have you considered the possibility that your friend is a wolf-witch?
I think all the fireplace images in that story are great, especially the first panel of page six. Renée was so great at these textile details.
I wasn't quite as taken with the first story, though I am impressed that it delves into the honest-to-god technical process of literal werewolf hunting, a counter-intuitively unpredictable tactic for this title to take. But it's that L'il Abner-esque splash that I dig the most. Looks like the dogs are throwin' their own Sadie Hawkin's Day Race this year, girls!
Our werewolf hunter, again, does next to zilch in each tale! Even worse, he can't even choose sides in the second one!
The first one is a standard who's the werewolf story, but the alligator bait is a nice touch.
The second one reads like a gothic victorian tale. It's well paced, our prof serves basically as narrator and nothing else, and the story wraps up to an interesting ending which could be up to interpretation. A nice, compact little victorian type story.
And Lily again gets in some nice fashion.
Imagine that poor alligator now -- doomed to become a wolf on Friday nights!
A werewolf fighting an alligator? Someone's been reading my diary.
Striking poster. Fun posting. Thanks Mr.K.
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