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11/03/16 @ 9:27 pm EST
A Writer’s Commentary: Max Marks talks Wolfcop #1, on sale now from Dynamite. Cover by Thomas Hodge and interiors by Arcana Studios.  PAGE 1:Like most people who’ve seen WolfCop possibly hundreds of times, I’ve always agreed with the notion that the movie really comes into its own when Willie and Lou are riding side by side like this. When doing a cold open into the WolfCop universe, I really couldn’t imagine a better way than the two of them going down the road, Lou drinking, and Willie cursing and raving. It’s just the buddy duo vibe they’ve got in a nutshell.The Wolf Cruiser – WolfCop’s car – fits great into this medium, I think. It’s like the Batmobile if the guy who designed it was drunk and had to make it out of a cop car in an afternoon, and I feel like it’s become a character all on its own. PAGE 2:Writing in Willie’s voice is probably one of the most natural things a guy can do. The way that he talks in the film is infectious, especially if you’ve had the opportunity to hear Jonathan Cherry doing it off camera. And it’s a good thing, too, since both Lou and WolfCop aren’t really heavy talkers. Like in the movie, Willie fills the air most of the time and just compounds Lou’s headaches when he’s not cheerleading him in Wolf form.If you’re a fan of the movie and want to know how or why Willie is back, the answer is never made clearly in this issue… Though you will get answers eventually in the WolfCop mythos. PAGE 3:Probably the best shot of the Wolf Cruiser in the comics. It’s funny that I consider it such a core part of his character, but the first thing I opted to do was essentially kill it in the middle of the road. Frankly you shouldn’t be surprised that a car whose design is mostly comprised of being half torn apart would break down a lot.  PAGE 4:And of course, when things go wrong, Lou’s solution is always to drink more. A lot more helpful when he’s WolfCop.This page is pretty much the beginning and end of the explanation you’ll have for why WolfCop and Willie are fleeing Woodhaven. The end of the film might give you a few ideas on how things could end up this way.Of course, even when he’s fleeing the law, Lou Garou wears his cop uniform and drives around in that car. He’s not really the planning type. PAGE 5:And right into the action. The way I always described the outskirts of Woodhaven was equal parts Canadian prairies and Mad Max. If you’ve ever been out to Saskatchewan, you’d notice that there isn’t a huge difference between the two. Just a lot more sky and a lot fewer bands of marauding motorcycle gangs. I mean, they exist, but they’re not so aggressive.This character is named Stitch-Eye. I think it’s pretty obvious why. If he talks kind of weird, it’s because I’ve heavily based the way he talks on people I had run ins with working security around Vancouver’s downtown east side. You won’t find a Hell’s Angel talking this way, but you’ll find lots of people who want you to believe that they’re friends with Hell’s Angels talking this way. Getting creative with ways to call a cop a pig is a big one. And, of course, that plays out pretty well with the overall theme in this one. PAGE 6:Say what you want about Lou’s alcoholism and apathy, he’s got a sense of justice. He just decides to use it at the worst possible times.Drinking and driving is fine, but if he sees what looks like two damsels in distress, he has no problem trying to go Harry Callahan on an armed gang. And of course he gets his ass kicked. Without the moon helping him out, he’s just a drunk cop with a superhuman sense of smell.The digital watch was a new addition. Not a lot of people wear those these days, of course, but Woodhaven always had an early 90s to late 80s retro-contemporary feel to it. And of course, if you’re waiting to literally rip out of your skin, maybe you shouldn’t count on grabbing your smartphone to check in. PAGE 7:There are lots of ways to make werewolves transform. Lycan fans all have their own preferences, whether it’s the clean hulk-out style, ones with held back body horror and stomach shifting, vague shadows under the full moon… Or just lots of grossness.Of course, we all know Lowell’s vision with WolfCop was heavy on the gross transformations, and there’s no way I could deny fans that. And it begins with some blood and vomit…  PAGE 8:WolfCop’s first official appearance in comic form. You do not want this guy riding shotgun with you if he’s not your friend.I like how this turned out especially because of the way WolfCop seems a lot more like just a mad werewolf than a cop in this page. You mostly just see fangs and claws. It’s a common theme for WolfCop that post-transformation he can get a lot more violent. Wouldn’t you, if you’d just torn your way out of your skin and nobody’s even offered you a drink yet? PAGES 9-10:Now this is WolfCop! A lot of influence from the barn battle scene in the movie, which is in my opinion hands down WolfCop’s best scene. Some people prefer either his initial transformation scene or the jailhouse sex scene. All three are excellent choices, but I’m just really into when WolfCop is being WolfCop. This is him in his element. Full moon overhead, shrugging off gunfire, and tearing apart lawbreakers in full fury. These are the moments when Lou Garou is ready to let out all that anger he’s been repressing with alcohol for the last thirty-odd years. PAGE 11:Stitch-Eye’s got a big gun. If you google “Nitro Express revolver” you’ll understand why. The kind of gun that could conceivably stop a WolfCop. Or a dinosaur. I don’t know why this gun exists in real life. It legitimately looks like a weapon designed for fighting fictional monsters.And Lou Garou gets his sweet revenge. Someone bites his hand and makes him drop his gun, and he bites it right off.You do not want to mess with the WolfCop. No big gun will change that. PAGE 12:And the gag has come off for Willie, completing the team! He’s twice as necessary when Lou’s wolfed out like this. WolfCop doesn’t generally string together more than two or three words at a time, and when he does, it’s usually to make some kind of quick pun or demand.One of my regrets in this comic was how few women were in it in general, as these two are the only ones who ever make an appearance in it. I really liked how Jenny (that’s the blonde’s name) turned out with her design and I’m hoping we’ll see her again later. PAGE 13-14:This girl, on the other hand, we’ll probably never see again.Though if you ask me, that’s the most rational human response to seeing a werewolf eviscerate a gang of bikers. I wouldn’t care who he was saving me from. I’d want to get as far away as possible.And we’ve got our first appearance for Pigskin. This is what I’d really consider my first big original contribution to the WolfCop mythos. Everything you’ve seen so far is sort of me going off of the world Lowell created and drawing from the best parts of the film. You’ll see nothing like Pigskin in the film. But he’s still got a real grindhouse villain quality to him. He’s the first sign of the expanded world WolfCop is walking into. And you can tell he’s a lot more comfortable with this world than WolfCop is.I kind of regret nobody ever called him by his name in-comic. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a fan of puns (they’re the DNA of all other jokes, and don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise) and Pigskin works on so many levels.  PAGE 15:Pigskin’s creepy henchmen, the Butcher Boys, were all made with one basic premise in mind: What weapons did WolfCop not go up against in the film that I really, really wanted to see a werewolf cop fighting? The obvious answer was chainsaws and flamethrowers. The fact that these are also very useful makeshift tools for preparing cannibalistic feasts was just a happy coincidence.On a note about the cannibalism, this was originally conceived in late 2014, a time when you might recall cannibalism was in basically every headline. I don’t know why 2014 was such a big year for cannibalism. But it’s definitely a mainstay for B-movies, and it’s welcome as all hell into the WolfCop universe. PAGE 16:People wanting to eat WolfCop is kind of a running theme. In the film, it was his blood. Here, it’s his flesh. Sooner or later, someone’s going to want to grind his bones to make their bread.Willie’s back riding shotgun with WolfCop here, and we’re well into the night, which is WolfCop’s best element.And here we’ve got WolfCop riding a motorcycle while chugging bourbon from a bottle. Gratuitous? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? I will fight to the death defending the premise that it is not. PAGE 17:I always like views of WolfCop with the moon at his back like in this top panel. Things like this are why I’m so glad this character was brought into comics.And here we see WolfCop’s always effective master plan: Chug as much alcohol as possible before charging into combat!It’s actually not a bad plan. Alcohol is to WolfCop like spinach is to Popeye. It’s the secret sauce that makes him stronger than the average werewolf.Even if it wasn’t. I have a feeling Lou would be drinking roughly as much, though.  PAGE 18:WolfCop with an M60. It had to happen. Even if just for one page. PAGE 19:And there’s the nitro pistol in action. Enough to stop a crazed cannibal in his tracks. The lack of a massive exit wound from such a big bullet is intentional, of course. Knocking him down is the best it can do.I’m always happy with the shots of Wolfcop firing into the panel. Werewolf with a gun is just one of the best ways to describe WolfCop. PAGE 20-21:And the butcher boys in action!Chainsaws are just such a great piece in anything b-horror, slasher, or monster related. Allan delivered the perfect scenario I’d had in my head here, of WolfCop grappling with one chainsaw while enduring another. If I had to pick a favorite panel in this whole book, it’s this.And Willie actually fires a gun! Which he never actually does in the film, in spite of owning the local gun shop. It just was never really necessary. But we’ve always envisioned him as that perfect redneck sidekick who may be a bit of a coward but is willing to lend a hand when lending a hand means sneaking up on a guy with a shotgun. PAGE 22:WolfCop is better when he’s on fire. Just saying. This is one of those visuals we’d never get in a 2 million dollar movie but we all desperately want to see from a character like WolfCop. The fanboy in me just went nuts when I saw these pages. PAGE 23:And Pigskin is standing up again. And holding that nitro bullet just so you understand what it means that it didn’t get all the way through him. As if the beatdown he gives WolfCop in the next panel didn’t get that message across.WolfCop’s a tricky character in that, in the world he’s been presented in so far, he’s more or less invincible outside of specific circumstances. I was of the opinion we needed to move away from that. We didn’t want fans to feel comfortable that, given enough moonlight and alcohol, WolfCop would always be safe. So seeing someone just completely wreck him in fisticuffs is the best way to get that settled.WolfCop’s strong, and he’s tough… But I think that what gets him by the most in a fight is his instinct. That might sound a bit weird and vague, but I think it comes across in all of his depictions to date.  PAGE 24:This transformation was 100% everything I’d hoped it would be. Coming apart at the seems, like he was wearing that bloated body as a costume. Nice similarity as well as contrast with WolfCop’s transformations.In the WolfCop universe, a clean transformation is always unlikely. PAGE 25:So, people ask me, why a pig? Well, you can count on WolfCop to lay out the obvious pun there.The design here is a bit reminiscent of some of Gannon’s transformations in the Legend of Zelda series. As an avid gamer I’d be lying if I said there was no influence there. A lot of it comes from my love of Dungeons and Dragons, too. The Wereboar was always a weird monster to me, and one that didn’t get used much. Plenty of people think being part wolf or part tiget is cool. But part boar? I don’t know anyone who would volunteer for that. PAGE 26:And this is what I mean by instinct. He’s gutted, about to be eaten… And gun goes in the nostril!A few fellow Canadians have asked me if the burnt toast line was in any way inspired by a certain Canadian heritage minutes video you can find kicking around the web still, and I can neither confirm or deny. Well, I can confirm that there’s definitely something there. Canadian audiences are always so well-attuned to even the most obscure culture references. PAGE 27:And they all lived happily ever after!Sort of. WolfCop never really gets to rest, and things only get bloodier and more harrowing for him. But at least he did some good along the way. His car’s still broken down and Willie’s the only one he can rely on, but I felt this ending was enough that even if this was the only one we ever did, it was a great little walk through the potential world of WolfCop. Thankfully, we’ve got more on the way! 11/16/25 @ 12:48 pm EST
While most of the focus over at Marvel Studios is currently on the pair of upcoming Avengers films, Ryan Coogler is ready to return to Wakanda for a third Black Panther film. We’d heard of the possibility of the film originally from Denzel Washington who, while speaking of his potential retirement, mentioned the film as one of his future projects and then when Nate Moore left Marvel last year, he said he would be back producing the third Black Panther film. Now, Coogler himself said while on stage talking about his film Sinners, that Black Panther 3 would be his next movie. The series kicked off with Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, king of the African Nation of Wakanda and while he reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, he sadly passed away shortly after. The sequel dealt with the characters death and passed the mantle on to his sister Shuri played by Letitia Wright who is expected to reprise the role in the upcoming Avenger films, but with talks of a potential soft reboot of the MCU, it’s unclear who will be wearing the mask for the third film.  11/16/25 @ 12:31 pm EST
The most recent news on the DCU has to do with Jimmy Olsen. Variety is reporting that Skyler Gisondo will reprise his role from Superman in a true-crime docuseries style show that focuses on villains in the universe starting with the Flash rogue, Gorilla Grodd. Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault are set to write and showrun with James Gunn and Peter Safran joining them as executive producers. The show is planned for HBO Max and will be a mockumentary style similar to Yacenda and Perrault’s previous series like American Vandal and Players. In the original report, Variety claimed the series would be called DC Crime, something Gunn took to social media to debunk, saying there had never been any project in production called DC Crime, he then added that his saying that doesn’t mean that the rest of the report is false. This sounds like a pretty good confirmation to me.  11/15/25 @ 12:49 pm EST
A new Star Trek film is in the works and Paramount is tapping the team of Jonathan Goldstein and John Frances Daley to write, produce and direct. This news comes shortly after David Ellison, founder of Skydance who recently purchased the studio, told investors that the next Star Trek film would not be a sequel to the Chris Pine/ Zachary Quinto lead series of films. While this hasn’t been 100% confirmed, word is that the new film will be focused on new characters and not directly tied to any previous film or television series. Goldstein and Daley have a good track record when it comes to revitalizing franchises having written Spider-Man: Homecoming for Marvel Studios and wrote and directed Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves which was very well received by fans and critics.  11/15/25 @ 12:32 pm EST
With The Fantastic Four: First Steps having moved to Disney+, the Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby lead team is now first in fans minds. But one person still thinks about the First Family of Marvel presented a decade ago and what went wrong. Miles Teller, who played Reed Richards in Josh Trank’s 2015 version of the property, still thinks about the project and how he believes the problems all came down to one person. Teller was on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy show said, “You saw the movie, right? Your eyes were working during that time? I think it’s unfortunate because so many people worked so hard on that movie. And, honestly, maybe there was one really important person who kind of f***ed it all up.” While Teller didn’t say who that was, he was referring to the person who made the final cut on the film, which was not director Trank. Teller said that he wanted a superhero film on his resume to help show him as a serious leading man, but after seeing the final cut recalled, “I remember talking to one of the studio heads, and I was like, ‘I think we’re in trouble.'” The 2015 version made $167 million worldwide compared to this year’s version which made $521 million. He stopped short of calling for a director’s cut of the film.  11/09/25 @ 2:03 pm EST
The Creeper is a unique character from DC Comics, first introduced in "Showcase #73" in 1968. Created by Steve Ditko, The Creeper’s real name is Jack Ryder, a former television talk show host and investigative journalist in Gotham City. After being attacked during an undercover operation at a costume party, Ryder is injected with a serum by Dr. Yatz and gains superhuman abilities, including enhanced strength, agility, rapid healing, and a pain tolerance bordering on the supernatural. The serum, combined with a bizarre costume, transforms him into The Creeper, a vigilante known for his wild laughter, erratic behavior, and flamboyant appearance—a shock of green hair, yellow skin, and a red mane-like cape. The Creeper remains largely untouched by mainstream media, providing an opportunity to introduce audiences to a fresh face and break away from more established archetypes. His blend of horror, humor, and psychological complexity could create a film that stands out from traditional superhero fare. The Creeper’s unsettling persona and visual style lend themselves well to a film that could blend genres—horror, black comedy, and superhero action. His maniacal laugh and unpredictable methods could inject dark humor and psychological thrills, appealing to fans of films like "Joker" and "Deadpool" while carving out a distinctive identity in the DCU. Jack Ryder’s journey from cynical journalist to bizarre vigilante offers rich storytelling potential. Exploring themes of identity, sanity, and the nature of heroism, a Creeper film could delve into Ryder’s internal struggles and the impact of his dual life, making for a character-driven narrative that resonates with audiences seeking depth and complexity. And with being set in Gotham City, The Creeper’s adventures naturally intersect with the city’s gritty underworld, providing opportunities for noir-style detective storytelling. His background in journalism and investigation can be leveraged to create suspenseful plots involving corruption, criminal conspiracies, and moral ambiguity—making him an ideal protagonist for a film that explores the darker aspects of the DC Universe. The Creeper stands as one of DC Comics’ most unconventional and intriguing characters. His untapped potential, distinctive personality, and ability to straddle multiple genres make him a perfect candidate to lead a film in the new DCU.  ... 11/09/25 @ 1:37 pm EST
Predator: Badlands is doing very well, thanks for asking. The latest film in the long-running franchise set a few high franchise marks including domestic opening with $40M, best worldwide opening with $80M and best Cinemascore with an A-. The film also sits a the top of this week’s box office beating out the 2nd place film, Regretting You, by $32.9M… though that film is in its 3rd week. Other new films opening this week, Sarah’s Oil and Nuremberg, opened in 4th and 5th with just over $4M each. Badlands is the third Predator project for director Dan Trachtenberg, the first Prey showed how he could handle the franchise but then he wanted to follow it up with an animated film, Killer of Killers and then for the first time Badlands make the Predator the protagonist. 
11/08/25 @ 4:21 pm EST
Recent reports about problems on the set of Stranger Things may not have been what they seemed. There were stories being published that Millie Bobby Brown had filed a report against co-star David Habour, accusing the older actor of bullying. But the validity of those reports are now in question as both Brown and Harbour joined their Stranger Things cast members at the red=carpet premiere of the show’s fifth and final season. Brown and Harbour were seen joking together and even hugging. Brown has also spoke of Habour to Extra, saying: “It’s been amazing. We’re so lucky to have each other. The show means so much to the both of us, and to everyone here. This has been the last 10 years of our lives.” Brown stars as the psych-powered Eleven and Harbour plays Sherriff Jim Hopper who ends up adopting her. The fifth and final season will release on Netflix in three sets with Volume 1 on November 26 (four episodes), Volume 2 on Christmas (three episodes), and The Finale on New Year’s Eve.  11/01/25 @ 2:53 pm EST
There is a major movie franchise out there that is not going by its original name and it’s thanks to the star. When screenwriter Derek Kolstad finished what would become is most popular film, he was inspired by revenge-thrillers with one-word titles like Payback and Shooter. He dubbed his film, Scorn. The problem came when the star of the film went out and talked about it, he always referred to it by the lead character’s name rather than the title. After a while, the studio realized that their star, Keanu Reeves, had done millions of dollars worth of brand recognition for the name John Wick… they decided to go with it and renamed the film. Why Reeves did this is unknown, but Kolstad has since admitted that John Wick is a better franchise name, saying, “I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.” Was this an intentional thing on Reeves’ part or just a happy coincidence? We may never know.  11/01/25 @ 2:38 pm EST
If you check the major Hollywood sites like Deadline and Variety, they’ll tell you that October 2025 has been the lowest box office take in almost 30 years. It sits currently at $440 million with a few days left to add. In 1998 the box office did $455 million, which this month should just creep past. By comparison October 2018 did $832 million with just three films: Venom, A Star is Born and Halloween, taking in $481 million. But last year, October only took in $478 million showing the decreasing trend. Adding to the decline is the fact that no major releases were scheduled for this weekend because of the Halloween holiday. And what was put into theaters the whole month really didn’t get people’s attention. Tron: Ares was the highest profile film and that hasn’t even broken $70 million in its four weeks in theaters. When you look at numbers like that, it’s hard not to think about what might have been. There was a big budget film slated for release this month, a film that got delayed and delayed and hasn’t even started filming. A film that finally has a finished script and is set to release in October of 2027… that of course is Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2. One of the most anticipated films currently in production, the sequel to the 2022 hit, bolstered also by the fan favorite HBO series The Penguin, would easily match and likely succeed the success of the first film. The Batman opened on March 4, 2022 and ended that month with $338 million domestically. It was originally scheduled to be released October 3rd, looking at that release date, this year there really wasn’t any big film put in its place. The film would’ve done better than the first and that amount would’ve driven 2025 towards the top of the list, maybe even surpassing 2018. Ah, what could’ve been.  ... 10/26/25 @ 12:25 pm EST
DC Studios has potentially taken a significant step by filing for a trademark for a film titled "Salvation Run." A move that isn’t too surprising since the Salvation planet and the idea of using it as a prison for meta humans was introduced in the season finale of Peacemaker season 2. But the filing does indicate just how big this idea could be for the DCU. "Salvation Run" is a storyline from DC Comics that originally ran in the late 2000s. The story centers on the mass exile of some of DC's most notorious villains to a hostile alien world, forcing them to band together for survival. It was a concept originally pitched to DC by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin. The trademark filing by DC Studios suggests that the company is considering developing "Salvation Run" into a feature film. While trademark filings do not guarantee that a film will be produced, they often indicate serious intent or early-stage development. The filing protects the title and concept, ensuring that DC Studios retains exclusive rights as plans evolve. Should "Salvation Run" move forward, it could introduce a fresh dynamic to DC's film slate. Instead of focusing on heroes, this story would shine a spotlight on villains, possibly expanding character development and offering audiences new perspectives on well-known antagonists. It also opens opportunities for ensemble casting, complex storytelling, and connections to other DC properties.  |
