Blood of the Wolf Man #1 Review – All Fluff and Guts
Starting in 2023, publisher Skybound over at Image Comics has been steadily building up a roster of limited series in partnership with Universal Studios to bring the infamous Universal Monsters to the paneled page. So far this partnership has yielded 6 limited series: Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, and Phantom of the Opera. I, like many fans of the beloved age of cinematic monster mash, was just waiting to see how they would tackle the Iconic 1941 film The Wolfman. Now in June 2026, our questions have been answered with writer Joshua Williamson (Superman and G.I. Joe) and artist Leomacs (Everything Dead and Dying), in Blood of the Wolf Man.
Each comic out of this new line has adapted its respective monster and canon in different ways, and Blood of the Wolf Man is no different. Williamson and Co have decided to drastically steer the Wolfman away from the 1941 film’s plot. Unlike George Waggner and Curt Siodmark’s film, which follows Larry Talbot returning to his Welsh family home and getting infected by the curse of the lycanthrope, Williamson turns this dynamic of son and estranged father on its head as in this first issue we meet our protagonist, Adam Jaeger a young man on an art scholarship at an upper class college who at a party violent transforms into the wolfman. After being the only survivor of an ‘animal attack,’ Adam is reunited with his estranged father, who already knows of his son’s condition, hiding it from the police and seemingly hiding the other awful things Adam’s alter ego has done in the past.
Unlike the original film, the estranged family dynamics are recontextualized with Adam and his father’s difference and past trauma damaging their relationship. Adam’s father only wants Adam to carry on the family business of hunting animals after the deaths of his other son and Adam’s mother, whilst Adam wishes to paint something he used to do with his late mother. In this, it’s clear Adam’s father is upset by his son’s rejection of their family fortune, whilst also being scared of his son’s abilities.
It is also clear from this first issue that Williamson is using the Werewolf allegory, which has often been used in a variety of contexts, to represent both the fears of growing into maturity and generational trauma. Seen in the opening pages, whilst the werewolf poem of the 1941 film is narrated, we see Adam staring at himself in a wolf themed ornate mirror both isolated from the party around him and the reader we see him inspecting the mirror seemingly lost and uncertain of his own form, all of this being beautifully drawn by Leomac which makes the more clique elements of this approach hit surprisingly well. Later on, Adam complains about feeling alone, and this is further compounded by the empty manor his father lives in and his father’s emotional distance. Whilst not my personal favorite use of the Werewolf allegory, it will hopefully give the remaining 3 issues room to expand the emotional stakes of Adams’ transformations.
Like the majority of the Universal Monster line so far, it’s the artist on these books who makes them sing, and with Wolfman, Leomacs’ art and Pip Martin’s colors are the ultimate draw to this series for me. Despite the very little wolfman in this issue, the splash page reveal is drawn to perfection, and Leomac captures the original design for the wolfman; this uncanny-valley approach to werewolves, which is sadly not seen as much anymore, is in favor of more monstrous wolf designs. Leomac also sells the emotional beats of this issue, like our introduction to Adam. The reader fully understands the context of the setting Williamson is trying to establish, with limited words on the page, and therefore, we, as readers, are directly brought into Adam’s perspective. Pip Martins’ colors then make Leomac drawings pop with a clever mix of muted tones cut through by powerful crimsons used for the issue’s bloodier scenes, each sticking with you due to the color palette.
Overall issue 1 of Blood of the Wolf Man makes a good first impression the art and colours are truly the standouts and it seems the plot is moving in a very interesting direction, i quite enjoy the titles suggestion that the Jagger family carries the blood of this curse and permitting Williamson sticks the landing with the emotional beats set up so far this will be another strong entry into the collection of Universal horror comics.
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