"Bad Moon on the Rise!" (from Eerie #36, November 1971)

art by Tom Sutton

my grade: B



plot synopsis: a girl going to meet her lover on the Louisiana bayou is instead met and murdered by a werewolf. Later, her lover returns home, wondering how he got there, finding blood on his face that isn't his, and reacting with, "Oh, lord, can the dreams be real? No! No!". The next day, he's inviting another lovely young girl to meet him on the bayou, wondering why he's doing it and feeling like he can't help himself. Meanwhile, a detective is looking into the first murder and working with the first girl's father, who is convinced it's the work of a werewolf. Surprisingly enough, the male lover does turn into the werewolf and murder the second girl. The detective and father keep pursuing the trail of the guy, the detective scoffing at the idea that he's a werewolf. They find him as a werewolf, the detective fires on it to no avail, and a convenient lunar eclipse reverts the werewolf to a normal person, at which point the detective's bullets kill it, but the detective is then left convinced that he killed an innocent man and that the werewolf is still at large.


It would appear my theory that the previous story ("I am Dead, Egypt, Dead") was a leftover from Moench's original portfolio might carry merit after all. This next story, definitely written after the first batch, feels like it's done by a very different author. Suddenly, Moench's characters, dialogue, and narration are all far more robust, even while the visual premise and twist ending that were both so critical to his first four stories go under utilized here. This definitely feels like the work of a more mature writer who, in the process of growing, finds himself a little more out of touch with the tropes he once depended upon.

Perhaps just as exciting, this marks the first team-up between Moench and Tom Sutton (who, in a few short years, will work on the Planet of the Apes magazine together for Marvel). Of course, they're not exactly working together right now, as I assume Moench is just submitting scripts (and either breakdowns, as he did with his first four scripts, or extremely detailed descriptions of the visuals, as I know he did later), and they're being given to bullpen artists. Still, there's a strong marriage between words and images here.

The only real disappointments are the visual premise (I think it's just the exotic setting of the Louisiana bayou this time), and the twist ending, which comes off awkwardly, with the story resolving so completely, and the only twist being that the protagonist believes the plot is still going in the final panel. It almost feels like Moench forgot to include a twist ending and then tacked that on at the end.

In contrast, there's so much working here. For example, Moench's words are more vibrant than ever and, for the first time, lend a real sense of humanity to his characters. An example:



Seriously, wow. For the first time, Moench's characters aren't just enacting plot points. He often offers little narrations that help us to feel their point of view, even fleetingly, and he works hard to give even minor characters, appearing in single panels, dialects and attitudes all their own. We've come a long way from those talking heads in Plague of the Wolf.

And Tom Sutton's art -- Wow. Even his early stuff is breath-taking:



Everything has a texture and realness to it, even while his art is often exaggerated and surreal.



Minor details:

- This is Moench's longest story yet (10 pages), and the first to get front feature billing in an issue, as well as the (somewhat misleading) cover. Clearly, Warren thought highly of it.



- I wonder if Moench ever indicated a preference for which title each story should be published in. I find it odd that he's never published in Creepy.

- Don't know if the snafu was Moench's or the letterer's, but in this story that repeatedly utters the phrase "there's a bad moon on the rise," our second victim mistakenly calls her approaching lover by the wrong name while examining her reflection:



For the record, the character's name was Kane Kincaid

Skywald is a really fascinating little company, isn't it? I have no idea if Doug sent them scripts rejected by Warren or vice versa, but I have read that Jim Warren didn't want "his" freelancers working for Skywald at the same time.

The writer in this story resembles Archie Goodwin. I wonder whose idea that was, or indeed if it was intended to resemble Archie.

Is it just me or does the writer in the comic bare a fair resemblance to Moench himself?

Ah yes, you're right I had forgotten the time period. The mustache and sorta goofy hair look is the default image in my mind, so I went right to that looking at the art above.

Ha, that'd be something to see.

I did think it looked like he did when I met him in the 90s!