Full Moon Rising... Werewilf Returns!

YESTERDAY SAW the return of a classic British comic strip character to the printed page. Classic in the sense that he appeared some thirty years ago, rather than him being a popular iconic character. But for those who loved him, it appears to be big news that... Werewilf is back!

As reported here, Toxic #137 went on sale yesterday, April 1st, and it was foolish not to pick it up at your newsagent or supermarket because it had another free comic inside going by the name of Crazy Comics!

Crazy Comics! features several brand new strips by a hilarious host of talents, and as reported yesterday, one of those includes Spooks in Space written by myself and drawn by Steve Harrison. I was also involved in another strip that appears in the comic, yes, you've guessed it, Werewilf.

It was artist Shane Oakley who first suggested bringing back this old IPC published character to me. I made a pitch to Egmont, its new owners, and they liked the idea, later upping the page count to two pages. Shane helped flesh out my memory of Werewilf and in so doing it took on a new life of its own.

Being bitten by a set of false teeth belonging to a wolf was how the original young Wilf got turned into a werewolf and began his comedy escapades, originally in the pages of Whoppee! However, this new version is the latest lad in his family to be touched by a moonlight curse... Or so his grandfather claims, and we all now our own granddads are better at telling tall tails than anyone else we're ever likely to meet!

Shane continued to be heavily involved in developing this new version with me, as we developed ideas, plots and amazingly agreed on the scripting.

I've since seen an old interview Shane gave John Freeman about the Alan Moore plotted Albion series. In it Shane mentions an idea they had to include Werewilf that was presumably exorcised when it was found Egmont owned the rights. Our ideas are independent of those.

I've also already seen favourable comments about our Werewilf at the Forbidden Planet blogsite. In it comparisons are made to Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse's The Bojeffries Saga, and while they're more than flattering I can safely say they were never intended... It's more likely something to do with our mutual growing up in the once heavily-industrial Midlands and the ironic comparisons of today's leisure society that brings out a black sense of humour in all of us. Either way, I really hope you enjoy the results yourself.

Shane was also down to draw Werewilf, but alas, when Toxic gave us their deadlines we found they conflicted with his work on Channel Evil, written by Alan Grant. Fortunately, he was able to snatch enough time to do some character sketches and we're presenting them as a rare treat for you here today.

Featured above are Wilf looking a right state (because of his transformation!) and his long-in-the-tooth Granddad.

To the left we have Ernie Helsing, local milkman and part-time bumbling monster-hunter, plus a character who doesn't appear in the strip on sale.

That other lad is Go-go Einstein, an evil kid scientist and origami expert, intent on discovering a formula to wipe out all monsters not of his own inscrutable invention! Whether anyone will get to see him in a story is down to you and thousands of others across the country.

Toxic readers are invited to vote online for their favourite strip in Crazy Comics! The intention being that the winner will appear regularly in Toxic itself. To vote for your favourite character go to: www.toxicmag.co.uk/vote.

We rebooted Werewilf so that he's a viable character for today's market, and put in an awful lot of emotional time that we hope readers, young and old alike, will appreciate and more importantly have a laugh at!

Come back Saturday and I'll tell you how John Erasmus saved us from what could have been the jaws of defeat!

For more on Toxic and its Crazy Comics! supplement, the return of Werewilf and his latest cartoonists, visit these websites:

www.shaneoakley.blogspot.com/