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Cover: Gil Kane & John Romita

Creatures on the Loose #30

Name: Creatures on the Loose #30
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jul 1974 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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★ 1st appearance — Simon Stroud

About this Issue

Creatures on the Loose #30 marks a pivotal structural shift for the series: after years as a rotating anthology featuring monsters, barbarians, and reprints, the book committed its remaining run entirely to a single ongoing protagonist — Man-Wolf, the lupine alter ego of astronaut John Jameson. That editorial bet on a character-driven serial in a genre book was itself unusual for the Bronze Age Marvel horror line, and the issue launched what became an eight-part saga running through issue #37. The debut of ex-CIA agent Simon Stroud as Man-Wolf's dogged human pursuer added a noir-flavored law-enforcement foil whose appeal outlasted the Creatures on the Loose title itself, eventually carrying over into the Morbius mythos and, decades later, into live-action cinema.

Contains 2 stories

Full Moon, Dark Fear!

16 pp · Superhero

Joe's Weak Spot

2 pp

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (Fine) $23

CGC 9.8 · 13 in census $979

CGC 9.6 · 38 in census $219

CGC 9.4 · 50 in census $150

CGC 9.2 · 28 in census $150

CGC 9.0 · 41 in census $99

CGC 8.5 · 31 in census $72

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CGC 8.0 · 18 in census $72*

CGC 7.5 · 11 in census $64*

CGC 7.0 · 14 in census $52

CGC 6.5 · 7 in census $49*

CGC 6.0 · 5 in census $47*

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $37*

CGC 5.0 · 4 in census $35*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $32*

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $25*

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Creatures on the Loose Man-Wolf 30 - 1st Simon Stroud $12.99

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History

Creatures on the Loose began its life in 1969 as Tower of Shadows, a horror-anthology title Marvel launched to compete with DC's House of Mystery and House of Secrets; after poor sales it was retitled with issue #10 in 1971 and cycled through sword-and-sorcery features including King Kull, Gullivar Jones, and Thongor before landing on Man-Wolf as its final ongoing feature with #30. Writer Doug Moench and penciler George Tuska were assigned the strip — Tuska handling interiors while the cover was produced by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr. — under editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, fitting neatly into Marvel's early-1970s push to exploit the loosening of Comics Code restrictions on monster characters. Man-Wolf himself had been created by writer Gerry Conway two years earlier in Amazing Spider-Man #124–125 as a science-fiction twist on the werewolf myth, driven by a moonstone gem John Jameson brought back from a lunar mission rather than any supernatural curse.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date July 1974; on-sale April 1974 per Comic Reader #105.
First appearance of Simon Stroud, a former CIA agent and NYPD special investigator assigned to hunt Man-Wolf — a character created by Doug Moench and George Tuska.
Marks the beginning of Man-Wolf's uninterrupted solo run as the lead feature, which continued through Creatures on the Loose #37 (September 1975).
Story title is 'Full Moon, Dark Fear!'; script by Doug Moench, interior pencils by George Tuska, inks by Vince Colletta, letters by John Costanza.
Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr., with Gaspar Saladino lettering on the cover.
Also contains a reprint of a story from Uncanny Tales #11 and includes Marvel Value Stamp Series A #65 (Iceman) on the letters page.
A fan letter from Ralph Macchio — who would later become a Marvel editor — appears in the letters column.
The issue's main story and its Man-Wolf run are collected in Man-Wolf: The Complete Collection (Marvel, 2019) and were also excerpted in Marvel Firsts: The 1970s Vol. 2 (2012).