Werewolf by Night #31
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWerewolf by Night #31 is the direct narrative engine behind one of Marvel's most consequential character debuts: it is the issue in which the full-moon ski-trip catastrophe unfolds, leaving Buck Cowan critically mauled and hospitalised — the exact circumstances that the criminal organisation the Committee exploits in the very next issue to hire Marc Spector (Moon Knight) to capture Jack Russell. Without the tragedy set in motion here, the setup that introduces Moon Knight in #32 has no foundation. The issue also serves as a showcase for the Moench-Perlin partnership at the height of their Bronze Age horror storytelling, weaving monster-movie dread with genuine emotional consequence for Jack's supporting cast.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 18 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw — VF/NM ▾ $39–$107 3 listings
Raw — VG+ ▾ $18.48–$45 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.99–$400 20 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
By the time issue #31 went on sale in April 1975, writer Doug Moench had been steering the series for roughly a year, partnering with penciler Don Perlin, who had been recruited to the book by editor Roy Thomas in 1974 and took over as regular penciler starting with issue #17. The two worked in close creative collaboration — Perlin co-plotted the stories alongside Moench — under the editorship of Len Wein, who also served as Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time. The book was produced on a monthly schedule, and this issue's cliffhanger structure was consciously designed to bridge into the arrival of a new costumed character that Moench and Perlin were developing, with Marvel having asked them to introduce a new hero to boost the title's sales.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #31 (cover date July 1975, on-sale April 1975) was written by Doug Moench, penciled and inked by Don Perlin, coloured by Michele Wolfman, lettered by Dave Hunt, and edited by Len Wein.
- First appearances of Elaine Marston and her daughter Buttons Marston (Earth-616) — supporting characters introduced during the Northern California ski-trip story.
- The issue's central tragedy — Buck Cowan being severely mauled by Jack Russell's werewolf form while selflessly shielding young Buttons — directly establishes the plot conditions exploited by the Committee in the following issue (#32) to hire Moon Knight.
- Moon Knight himself does NOT appear in issue #31; his first appearance is in the immediately following issue, Werewolf by Night #32 (August 1975), created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin.
- The Raymond Coker subplot continues in this issue, with Lt. Victor Northrup tracking Coker and the voodoo character Jeesala of de Thousand Years threading through the narrative as a secondary story element.
- Moench and Perlin co-plotted the book together; Perlin later confirmed in interviews that Marvel specifically requested they devise a new costumed character to help the title's performance — the creative effort that produced Moon Knight one issue later.
- Issue #31 is reprinted in Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection Vol. 3 (2018, Marvel), which collects Werewolf by Night #31–43 alongside related tie-in issues featuring Moon Knight, Spider-Woman, Ghost Rider, and Marvel Team-Up.
- The cover art for issue #31 was by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia, consistent with Kane's regular cover duties on the series during this period.
Cast · 9 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Dracula #24 (1979), Essential Werewolf by Night #2 (2007), Werewolf by Night Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection #3 (2018), Werewolf by Night - Classic Collection #1 (2020)
Key issues in Werewolf by Night
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.