Something inhuman has come to Tarker's Mills, as unseen as the full moon riding the night sky high above. It is the Werewolf, and there is no more reason for its coming now than there would be for the arrival of cancer, or a psychotic with murder on his mind, or a killer tornado. Its time is now, its place is here, in this little Maine town where baked bean church suppers are a weekly event, where small boys and girls still bring apples to their teachers, where the Nature Outings of the Senior Citizens' Club are religiously reported in the weekly paper. Next week there will be news of a darker variety.
Horror novella written by Stephen King and illustrated by Bernie Wrightson. It was published as a limited-edition hardcover in 1983 by a publisher called Land of Enchantment; in 1985, it was published as a mass-market trade paperback by Signet.
Originally planned as a calendar, with each month's illustrations created by Wrightson, and King contributing short vignettes to go with them. But King felt he'd never be able to tell a decent story in the case of an extremely short vignettes, so he expanded the work, with a chapter for each month.
The book is set in the small town of Tarker's Mills, Maine. During a brutal blizzard on January 1, on the night of the full moon, Arnie Westrum gets stranded in a railway shack while trying to clear snow off the tracks. During the night, he hears an animal at the door of the shack, and when it breaks the door down, Arnie manages one good swing with his pickax before he's torn to pieces.
The next month, the full moon falls on Valentines Day. (King acknowledges his calendar trickery in an author's note, saying he just wanted to have the werewolf attacks happen on major holidays.) Stella Randolph is a heavyset woman, unlucky in love, running a failing seamstress shop. She dreams of finding her one true love, and once the full moon rises, she does meet someone who she -- briefly, desperately -- wishes were a romantic partner instead of a monster.
And every month continues much like that. The full moon rises, and someone gets killed. Some months, the Beast goes after someone's livestock or wild animals, or travels out of town to avoid hunters. And one month, it absolutely fucks up trying to eat Marty Coslaw, a ten-year-old kid in a wheelchair, which soon leads to Marty figuring out who the werewolf is between full moons.
Who will the werewolf kill this month? Who is the cursed soul who's behind all the bloodshed? And does Marty stand any chance of survival when the werewolf learns he knows his deadly secret?
This book does have a few notable weaknesses. This is a very short book -- it's just 128 pages, and even among King's other novellas, it's a bit light -- this isn't a slam-bang powerhouse like "The Mist." King has never been much for traditional horror icons, and there is some modest disappointment that his take on werewolves comes as a short illustrated novella from 40 years ago. I wish this had been a longer book, because I think it'd be great to get the definitive King werewolf novel.
If you dislike King's style or themes, you won't be able to escape them here. There are a lot of small town characters, some of them noble and good, many of them poor and generally New England redneck, and a few rotten scumbags. This is often considered one of King's strengths, but with a work as compressed as this one, that's a lot of small-town color crammed in a small space, and it does sometimes get to be a bit much.
On the other hand, if you enjoy the way King crafts his characters, there's a lot to love here. Yeah, King sometimes trowels the redneckiana on pretty thick, but many of the characters are well-drawn. Marty Coslaw is the most prominent character, a smart kid who is determined, a bit overconfident, and very, very lucky. His family is also great -- his older sister Kate who comes across as resentful and rude, but who hides a fiercely protective heart, his mother, brusque and strict, his father, the physical education teacher, who hides his awkwardness and fear of his son's disability behind a loud, jolly "Big Pal" voice, and Marty's Uncle Al, the beloved Bad Uncle, who is willing to break the rules and incur his sister's wrath to smuggle Marty some fireworks -- and much later, a gun loaded with silver bullets.
Other townspeople are excellent characters, too, particularly some of the victims. Stella Randolph is living a hopeless life and distracting herself with romantic fantasies. Alfie Knopfler is running the best diner he can, shining the whole place up every night, and still wallowing in his memories of past sexual conquests. Town constable Lander Neary thinks he's a hard-nosed cop, is frustrated that the state cops think he's a stooge, can barely bring himself to feel sympathy for a kid who almost got murdered, and is entirely unprepared when the Beast comes calling. Elmer Zinneman, a local pig farmer who loses his entire herd, and his brother Pete seem like some of the smartest people in the book -- they see the problem, they acknowledge that the answer seems impossible, and they make careful plans that they hope will end the Beast's rampage.
The werewolf isn't much of a character at all, though. It's a force of cruel nature, red in tooth and claw. Even when we find out his true identity, he's most notable for his eagerness to rationalize what he does when he's a monster so he doesn't have to feel guilt about the people he kills. Plenty of fictional werewolves feel anguish over what they do when the moon is full. The werewolf here thinks the kid in the wheelchair is the bad guy for telling him to kill himself.
Probably the best thing about this book is Bernie Wrightson's spectacular illustrations. Wrightson was one of the greatest artists working in comics, particularly horror comics. He co-created the Swamp Thing, created 50 detailed illustrations to go along with a new edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, worked on horror comics for Warren Publishing, drew the art for the comics adaptation of King's "Creepshow" movie, and yes, drew horror and superhero comics for Marvel and DC.
For "Cycle of the Werewolf," Wrightson provided a gorgeous full-color illustration for all 12 chapters of the book, ranging from the gory -- Constable Neary getting his face torn off and the aftermath of Elmer Zinneman's slaughtered pigs -- to the traditional -- Arnie Westrum wielding a pickaxe against a werewolf that's just torn its way into his shack -- to the sublime and surreal -- a small country church fully awash in werewolves and the Beast seemingly romancing Stella Randolph. And it's not all howling monsters and blood splatter -- Wrightson also contributed chapter headings with beautiful black-and-white illustrations of serene Maine landscapes, as well as smaller pieces at the end of chapters illustrating some small object from the tale.
I like this book a lot. I like werewolf books a lot, and this one is among my very favorites. I like King's story and characters and everything he brings to the tale. And Wrightson's beautiful artwork makes it all 1,000% better.
"Cycle of the Werewolf" was adapted into a feature film in 1985. "Silver Bullet" was directed by Dan Attias with a screenplay by King. It starred Corey Haim as Marty Coslaw, Gary Busey as Uncle Red, Megan Follows as Marty's sister Jane, and Everett McGill as the werewolf. Some supporting actors included Terry O'Quinn as Sheriff Joe Haller and Lawrence Tierney as Owen Knopfler. It isn't a perfect movie, but it's not at all bad. Haim and Busey are fantastic in their roles, and McGill is convincing both as a very normal, nice, forgettable person before you know he's a werewolf and as a menacing, murderous villain after the reveal.
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