While researching the first comic book vampire for another website, I just might have come across the first comic book werewolf as well. After hours of digging and searching I believe that the first werewolf to ever appear in a comic was in More Fun Comics Issue #11, which was published way back in 1936. Like the first vampire comic, with was also a New Fun issue, this issue features DC hero Doctor Occult. This time Doctor Occult isn’t battling it out with a vampire, but with a werewolf.
In the three-part arc titled “The Werewolf,” a nervous man pounds on Doctor Occult’s door one late evening, only to be turned away by Jenkins the butler. Angered by being refused, the man transforms into a ferocious wolf and runs off. Hearing the wolf’s howl, Doctor Occult leaves the house in order to search for the werewolf. Using a mystic talisman, Occult is able to subdue the wolf, therefore protecting a female bystander from an attack.
For those new to Doctor Occult (also known as the “Ghost Detective”), he is a private investigator that specializes in cases involving the supernatural. Created by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Doctor Occult is the earliest character created by DC Comics still currently in use in its shared universe today. This hero possesses a variety of powers, such as intangibility, astral projection, telekinesis, hypnosis, illusion casting and the ability to repel magic and exorcise supernatural beings. On top of that he is also a skilled detective.
Is More Fun Comics Issue #11 really the first ever appearance of a werewolf in a comic book? I can’t be 100% sure, but my research isn’t coming up with any other werewolf comic printed before 1936, which is why I think Doctor Occult’s battle against the werewolf is a first.
– Moonlight
About the Author
Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to werewolves and other supernatural beasties. She writes for top genre sites like Vampires.com and Werewolves.com. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and you may lose a limb. You can stalk her via her Twitter.