Monster Monday: Sci-Fi Man-Wolf covers by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson

When Spider-Man's nemesis, Man-Wolf, finally appeared in his own strip inside Creatures on the Loose, it was hard to make this character distinct from Marvel's other lycanthropian, Werewolf by Night.  David Kraft, who wrote the later issues, fixed this problem by turning Man-Wolf into a sci-fi hero.  The gem that had grafted to his chest was a ruby from another dimension, known as the Godstone.

This led to some ultra cool covers by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson!  Creatures on the Loose #35 features Man-Wolf on a runaway rocket sled--shades of Barsoom!  The blood red haze on top is terrific, I bet you could spot this cover halfway across the drugstore on the spinner rack.  The color scheme reminds me a bit of Gil Kane's Morbius cover on Fear #23.

But the action scene itself is similar to this cover from Amazing Adventures #29, which again is very John Carter like, with a sky sled plummeting downward.  Gil Kane loved the adventures of Barsoon and drew the John Carter strip, which probably led to these influences.

Creatures on the Loose #36 features Man-Wolf in a terrible spot, out in the vacuum of space.  I thought this was an ultra cool idea, having a werewolf in space, he would never turn human would he, since the moon was always in view?

Creatures on the Loose #37 was the last issue featuring the Man-Wolf (his story wrapped up in Marvel Premiere #45-46).  But this is another great idea, the creature fighting an army in anti-gravity. Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Man-Wolf Premiere Cover Art by John Romita and Gil Kane

One monster I haven't gotten around to is Spider-Man's nemesis, Man-Wolf.  He premiered in Spidey's title (Amazing Spider-Man #124), teamed up with Morbius in Giant-Size Superheroes #1, then launched into his own solo series soon afterward.

Creatures on the Loose #30 was the premiere of Man-Wolf's solo adventures.  Funny enough, this first issue was written by Doug Moench, who also wrote Werewolf by Night!  The cover is a classic collaboration by John Romita Sr and Gil Kane.  The cover is playing up the traditional horror aspect of a lycanthrope, though as the series evolved, Man-Wolf became more of a science fiction character.  There is a classic setup here, this fellow obvious brought his girl up for some rooftop romance when he was surprised by J. Jonah Jameson's son!

Here is Gil Kane's original pencils on Marvel's art board for this issue. 

Here is a closeup view of Gil Kane's pencils for this cover.  It's interesting to examine this before Romita applied his inks.  The character of the Man-Wolf is kept mostly intact, but the girl is glamorized in Romita's style and the horror on the guy's face is more intense after Romita finishes him.

Gil Kane and John Romita Sr had two drastically different styles and approaches which usually produced visually stunning work!  Nuff Said.