‘The wind doesn’t scratch at doors… or whine to be let in...’
One of the things I love about Stephen King is that he will dive into well-worn horror tropes and then either subvert them or lean into them to the point of homage. He has a vampire novel (Salem’s Lot), a post-apocalyptic novel (The Stand), a zombie novel (Pet Sematary), a time travel novel (11.22.63) and on and on. Because his passion for horror generally is so vast and limitless, none of these forays into familiar genre staples feels forced. Cycle of the Werewolf is King’s werewolf novel (obviously), and it’s also the closest he has come to penning a graphic novel…
Illustrated by renowned comic-book artist Bernie Wrightson, Cycle of the Werewolf started life as an illustrated calendar with King providing 50 words for each month. Typically of King, he found this word count limit too restrictive and so the calendar became a graphic novella.
Taking place in the small Maine town of Tarker’s Mills, the novella describes monthly werewolf attacks that correspond with the coming of the full moon. Despite being one of King’s shortest works, he still fleshes out the town of Tarker’s Mills beautifully, with its resentful police constable, troubled priest and town drunkard. These might be familiar characters in the King canon, but they also feel real. One of King’s greatest strengths is his ability to accurately describe small-town life, and Tarker’s Mills is just as well drawn as Derry or Castle Rock.
Most of the characters arrive and are quickly dispatched but if we have a protagonist, it is 10-year-old paraplegic, Marty Coslaw. His relationship with his wildcard uncle (memorably played by Gary Busey in the 1985 film adaptation Silver Bullet) provides the novella’s most enduring relationship. It is also satisfying that King handles Marty’s disability with sensitivity and warmth (unlike the various overweight characters in the book but, you know, it was 1983, give the guy a break).
While King’s prose is typically on point (some of the descriptions of the werewolf attacks are wonderfully vivid), it is Wrightson’s incredible illustrations that really bring the story to life. The combination of these two masters of their craft working together made me wish that King had explored this style of storytelling more often.