‘Sgt. Werewolf’ and other werewolf war comics highlight wartime horrors
In World War II, American sergeant Steve Hovatter is transformed into a werewolf in the course of his battle with supernatural Nazi forces; such is the premise of the one-shot comic book Sgt. Werewolf by creator Rich Woodall, from publisher Scout Comics’ horror imprint, Black Caravan. With its splendid artwork and fun, fast-paced story, Sgt. Werewolf is a great addition to several other comics that utilize werewolf combatants as an apt metaphor for the horrors of war.
Sgt. Werewolf is set in 1942; Hovatter leads a five-man squad to infiltrate a German castle where the vampire Herr Teufel works with human occultist “The Baron” to create an army of golems by combining Jewish and Norse magic. Hovatter and his men are in good spirits as they proceed with what seems a challenging mission — a mission that becomes more bizarre as the squad encounters the castle’s supernatural defenders. Hovatter is exposed to a magical artifact that turns him into a fearsome werewolf; he then uses his new lycanthropic abilities to fight the Nazis.
Woodall renders the characters and combat with a cartoonish exuberance. The story moves swiftly, with over-the-top action and wild scenarios; Woodall uses a subdued color palette that makes the frequent display of blood splatter all the more noticeable. The American characters — with both their anachronistic diversity and fighting ebullience — seem inspired by Marvel Comics’ 1960s war comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.
Despite the story’s fantasy elements, Sgt. Werewolf does not ignore the real-world human costs of warfare; some of Hovatter’s comrades are killed in battle, and Hovatter himself is wounded.
Sgt. Werewolf is not the first comic to feature a wartime werewolf protagonist. Other comics also use the werewolf — with its symbolism of transformation and unleashed savagery — as a metaphor for the horrors of war.
In issues 28 and 29 of the DC Comics fantasy series Fables by writer Bill Willingham and artist Tony Akins (with inker Jimmy Palmiotti and colorist Daniel Vozzo), Bigby Wolf — the “Big Bad Wolf” of fairy tales, aiding the Allies in World War II — guides a group of American GIs, led by Sgt. Harp, into a German castle to stop the Nazis from using a monstrous creature in the war. (While Bigby is not a werewolf in the traditional sense — he is a mythical wolf able to magically assume human form — he is perceived as a werewolf by his German adversaries.) The mission is a success, but several GIs, including Harp, die completing the mission.
The DC strip Creature Commandos debuted in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980); created by J. M. DeMatteis and artist Pat Broderick, the strip features American combatants transformed — via the science of the secret government group Project M — into iconic mythic creatures: a werewolf, a vampire, and a Frankenstein’s Monster. Oklahoma farmboy Warren Griffith is classified as 4F; he suffers from the mental illness of lycanthropy, believing himself a wolf, and Project M’s scientists change him so that he uncontrollably turns into a vicious werewolf.
Griffith, like the other Creature Commandos, is a tragic figure; he is young and mentally ill, and yet exploited by his government as a weapon. Griffith’s transformation into a werewolf is arguably symbolic of the process that most wartime soldiers go through as they leave behind the societal constraints of a civil life and hone the ferocity needed to fight the enemy.
The series ‘Namwolf also explores this theme of wartime transformation. Published by Albatross Funnybooks, ‘Namwolf is written by Fabian Rangel, Jr. and illustrated by Logan Faerber, with colors by Brennan Wagner and letters by Warren Montgomery; the comic features scrawny teenager Marty Spencer, who is deployed to Vietnam and discovers — in the heat of combat — that he suffers from a family curse that turns him into a werewolf. Spencer’s transformations initially terrify his comrades, who eventually accept and appreciate his condition.
‘Namwolf makes great use of the werewolf metaphor to highlight the savagery of war. Spencer’s father, who is also a werewolf and a veteran of World War II, writes a letter to Spencer declaring that “Nothing brings the MONSTER out of a man faster than WAR.” The theme of exploitation is also present; Spencer is drugged by military commanders and made even more savage. As Spencer battles Vietnamese monsters and another werewolf created by the U.S. government, he questions the morality of the Vietnam conflict.
Another werewolf-centric comics series that explores the moral ambiguity of warfare is Cry Havoc. Published by Image Comics, Cry Havoc is written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Ryan Kelly, with colorists Nick Filardi, Lee Loughridge, and Matt Wilson; the comic’s protagonist is Louise Canton, a street musician who is attacked by a werewolf and as a result now also transforms into a beast.
Canton is recruited by Inhand Consulting, a mysterious organization that weaponizes mythic beasts. Canton is sent to Afghanistan with other creatures to aid the U.S. military in tracking down a rogue Inhand agent, Lynn Odell; in the course of this service, Canton comes to recognize her exploitation by both Inhand and Odell’s monsters, and the moral failings of both groups.
The DC strip Sea Dogs is set in the year 1780 of the American Revolution; the comic imagines that Patriot forces recruit three werewolves to infiltrate and sabotage a British warship. A backup feature initially serialized in two-page chapters at the end of ever comic book published via the DC horror imprint Hill House Comics, and written by the imprint’s curator, acclaimed horror writer Joe Hill, with illustrations by Dan McDaid and colors by John Kalisz, Sea Dogs depicts the savage supernatural slaughter of a sympathetic British crew, and challenges readers to ponder the morality of the Patriot plan and the horrors of war.
The comics discussed above illustrate how werewolves serve as a horror metaphor for wartime savagery, and how werewolves highlight the psychological and physical effects that such savagery has on combatants. Sgt. Werewolf, with its eye-catching artwork and an engaging story that explores these themes, is a worthy addition to such wartime werewolf tales.
NOTES AND FURTHER READING:
DISCLOSURE: As works published by DC Comics are referenced in the above article, it should be disclosed that the article’s author is a former DC Comics contributor. There are no current financial arrangements between the author and DC Comics.
Sgt. Werewolf (Rich Woodall; Black Caravan, September 2022)
Sgt. Fury Epic Collection: The Howling Commandos (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, et al.; Marvel Comics, 2019)
Fables: The Mean Seasons (Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, et al.; DC Comics, 2005) [this collection contains issues 28 and 29 of Fables]
Creature Commandos (J. M. DeMatteis, Robert Kanigher, et al.; DC Comics, 2014)
Cry Havoc, Vol. 1: Mything in Action (Simon Spurrier, Ryan Kelly, et al.; Image Comics, 2016)
‘Namwolf (Fabian Rangel, Jr., Logan Faerber, et al.; Albatross Funnybooks, 2017)
Hill House Box Set (Joe Hill, et al.; DC Comics, 2021) [this box set collection contains the collected Sea Dogs strip by Joe Hill and Dan McDaid]
Attention, Secret Dictionary Club members — use Code Seventeen to decipher the following message: FLI RXVEKJ YRMV UVJKIFPVU KYV MRDGZIV SZBVI XREX KYRK KVIIFIZQVU SRKFE IFLXV.
BONUS COMIC STRIP:
The text and images above are the property of their respective owner(s), and are presented here for not-for-profit, educational, and/or review purposes only under the fair use doctrine of the copyright laws of the United States of America.
