Longtime horror fans know that the werewolf is the hardest classic monster to get right. Not only do you need a good story behind it, you need a damn good design for it as well. In fact, it’s this last point that often tends to make or break werewolves. Lycanthropy is a curse, a very tragic one at that. The afflicted become slaves to the moon, ripping through their own flesh to prowl the night as hulking beasts with a hunger for brutality. It better look like something that not even nightmares have a chance at standing toe-to-toe with.
Rodney Barnes and Stevan Subic have achieved precisely that, going beyond terror to create one of the most terrifying and vicious werewolves in any medium for their book Batman: Full Moon.
Barnes is already a modern master of horror thanks to his and Jason Shawn Alexander’s Killadelphia, an urban vampire epic that ties its bloodsuckers to the country’s founding fathers. He’s also produced an exceptional sequel to the blaxploitation classic Blacula, subtitled “Return of the King,” and an additional werewolf story that’s a part of the Killadelphia universe titled Elysium Fields. Subic’s work is in a class of its own, leaning hard on a kind strangeness that lingers and that is accompanied by character work that establishes torment and fear as the status quo. It’s what makes his work on The Riddler: Year One, written by Tom King, so disturbing. Needless to say, these two horror minds are operating at their peaks.
Full Moon sees Batman on the trail of a particularly sadistic killer that leaves a trail of torn and broken bodies in its wake. We’re shown quite quickly who’s behind the violence, a werewolf that looks like a living tornado made up of wiry fur, ragged claws, and sharp teeth. Kirk Langstrom, aka Man-Bat, is among the big players in the story, along with Commissioner Gordon and a few civilians from Gotham’s most neglected parts who take in the werewolf in his human form to help the poor soul.
Considering Batman has a history of becoming a monster from time to time in comics, from being a vampire in Doug Moench and Kelley Jones’s Batman & Dracula trilogy (Red Rain, Bloodstorm, and Crimson Mist) to turning into different creature versions of the Justice League’s villains in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Metal and Death Metal series, it should come as no surprise that the Dark Knight gets hairy and violent in Full Moon. Barnes and Subic pull no punches here, either. Batwolf is as angry and monstrous as the one he’s chasing after.
Barnes script treats the Batman formula less like a superhero comic and more like a gothic tale that evokes images of Victorian London, fog included. It’s more Werewolf of London than The Howling, though there’s a bit of the latter in there as well. The wolf sticks to the shadows, preferring empty buildings and parks to bright and populated spaces (echoing An American Werewolf in London as well in the process). The dialogue matches that gothic tone. It mixes procedural with old-school horror sensibilities that are sure to delight fans well-versed in the genre. Barnes also captures that sense of urgency that’s unique to werewolf stories, where the protagonist is always racing against the full moon and the prospect of another transformation that’ll add to his already immense sense of guilt.
Subic rises to the occasion with not only a werewolf for the ages, but a keen eye for gothic detail as well. Each of the environments Batman ventures into looks like it was ripped straight from a classic Hammer movie. They’re all places worthy of the massive beast that stalks it, that make it feel like it fits right in. The atmosphere in them is possessed by dread and despair, as if the city were reacting to the werewolf’s presence.
Subic presents the werewolf as a god of violence. Every time it appears, a more primal kind of danger builds up around him, making for an unbearably tense reading experience. It’s muscular, wide, and occupies a lot of space in each panel it’s in. It’s like an inescapable force that’s driven by the need to add new bloody chapters to the history of death and killing it represents. The eyes make an impression. They’re basically two red spheres that look like they paint the world blood red for its viewing pleasure. Simply, this werewolf deserves to be considered as one of the best in its field. You can’t help by study the monster in admiration, and in terror.
Batman: Full Moon is the new gold standard for werewolves in comics. It’s a story that understands its monster and the things that are needed to make it truly memorable. Subic deserves special mention here. When a werewolf story gets the creature right, it positions itself quite well to become a classic. Well, Subic gets it right, and his work, along with a smart script from Barnes that includes subtle callbacks and easter eggs to werewolf movies of old (and a killer wrestling reference that those in the know will appreciate), earn Full Moon the right to be considered a new horror comics classic.
