Werewolf by Night #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWerewolf by Night #3 delivers the first appearances of Aelfric the Mad Monk and his demonic minotaur servant Dragonus, two figures whose mythology — rooted in the 12th-century history of the Darkhold scrolls — deepened the supernatural scaffolding of early Marvel horror in a way that outlasted the characters themselves. The issue is also the culminating chapter of Conway and Ploog's Darkhold story arc: the cursed grimoire that Father Joquez had been translating for Jack Russell triggers Aelfric's possession of the priest and his death, after which the Darkhold vanishes from Jack's life — a loose end that would eventually entangle the Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Agatha Harkness, and much of Marvel's supernatural corner across fifty subsequent years. For collectors and historians, this Bronze Age horror issue represents the creative team's most ambitious world-building of their early run, weaving medieval flashback, demonic summoning, and family-curse mythology into a single 36-page package that still reverberates through the Marvel Universe.
In "The Mystery of the Mad Monk!", Werewolf by Night confronts a chilling enigma that tests his courage and wits in the shadows of a haunted European estate. This 1973 issue, written by Stan Lee and illustrated in the moody, atmospheric style that defined the series, features a striking cover by Mike Ploog, whose bold pencils and inks bring the eerie tale to life. The story unfolds amid a flurry of promotional excitement, including the announcement of a new black-and-white monster magazine, Monster Madness, and several upcoming Halloween specials.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was originally conceived by Roy Thomas, who pitched it as 'I, Werewolf' — a first-person lycanthropy story centered on a teenager — before Stan Lee renamed it 'Werewolf by Night.' Gerry Conway took over scripting duties alongside artist Mike Ploog, and their collaboration defined the tone of the book's early issues, with Conway later describing the horror genre as a welcome creative change from the superhero work that dominated mainstream comics at the time. Issue #3 was produced on the bi-monthly schedule the book launched with in September 1972, with Roy Thomas serving as editor and Frank Chiaramonte providing the inks — the same production team responsible for the surrounding issues.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: January 1973; on-sale date: October 24, 1972. Published by Marvel Comics as part of the ongoing Werewolf by Night Vol. 1 series.
- Story title: 'The Mystery of the Mad Monk!' Written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Mike Ploog, inked by Frank Chiaramonte, edited by Roy Thomas.
- First appearance of Aelfric, the Mad Monk — a 12th-century sorcerer-monk who served the Elder God Chthon, reassembled the Darkhold scrolls in 1149, and whose spirit possesses Father Ramón Jóquez in the main story.
- First appearance of Dragonus — a bull-headed (minotaur-like) demon summoned by Aelfric to fight the Werewolf; Dragonus accidentally gores and kills Aelfric/Jóquez, ending the threat.
- The Darkhold figures centrally in the plot: Father Jóquez had been translating the grimoire for Jack Russell when Aelfric's spirit, bound to anyone who reads the Darkhold, takes possession of him — establishing the book's corrupting, possessive power as a recurring Marvel supernatural concept.
- The issue also reveals in flashback that Lissa Russell (Jack's sister) shares the family's lycanthropic curse — a significant development for the ongoing serialized narrative.
- Aelfric and Dragonus were later referenced in a flashback story in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #12, extending their legacy into the wider Marvel mystic universe.
- The issue is reprinted as part of Marvel Masterworks: Werewolf by Night Vol. 1 and Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection Vol. 1, which collects Marvel Spotlight #2–4 and Werewolf by Night #1–15.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Vampyr #3 (1972), Dracula #6 (1975), Dracula Lives #14 (1975), Dracula Lives #15 (1975), Essential Werewolf by Night #1 (2005), Werewolf by Night Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection #1 (2017), Avengers / Doctor Strange: Rise of the Darkhold #[nn] (2018), Werewolf by Night - Classic Collection #1 (2020), Marvel Masterworks: Werewolf by Night #1 (2022), Darkhold: The Saga of the Book of Sins #[nn] (2024), Gli Albi dei Super-Eroi #21, Ihmissusi & Frankenstein #3/1973, Varulven #6
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