By Stephen King, illustrated by Berni Wrightson (Land of Enchantment/Signet/New English Library)
ISBNs deluxe hardback edition: 0-9603828, paperback 978-0-45005-878-3
Not so much a novel as a serial of connected short stories Cycle of the Werewolf is comprised of a dozen discrete episodes describing a series of brutal killings which occur in the isolated New England town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine. The clue is in the title but for the terrified inhabitants it’s some while before the penny drops and the Full Moon Murderer is correctly profiled as a supernatural hairy slavering monster and not a bunch of accidents of a malicious human madman…
Divided into twelve chapters, the blood-soaked year is lavishly illustrated by comics legend Berni Wrightson in 12 lush and gory colour paintings, 12 moody black and white pen drawings and another dozen stunning monochrome spreads to delineate the changing months. It is some of his best work ever and seems to be to mark the moment he switched from pen and ink disciple of EC horror maestro “Ghastly†Graham Ingels and became a paint and colour illustrator in his own right.
The controversial project – most King followers don’t like this tale very much – began life as a proposed horror-calendar but grew and evolved into a terrifying picture book novella, initially released as a collectors edition hardcover in 1983, with a limited signed edition also available. The story was filmed as Silver Bullet in 1985 and released in a mass-market paperback edition by Signet in the US and New English Library here.
Moreover comics fans aren’t the only continuity completists and I should mention that one of the survivor’s of King’s vampire classic Salem’s Lot meets a grisly end here as May’s victim, whilst the inclusion of peripatetic preacher Father Callahan means that technically Cycle of the Werewolf is a part of King’s Dark Tower/Wheel of Ka sequence of novels.
Whereas the oversized hardback I’m reviewing might be a little difficult to find – but not impossible – the illustrated Signet softcover edition is pretty common, and speaking as someone who’s not the biggest devotee of King’s horror writing, I can honestly say that as supernatural chillers go this story ain’t that bad, whilst the art is completely astounding.
This edition © 1983 Land of Enchantment. Text © 1983 Stephen King. Illustrations © 1983 Berni Wrightson. All rights reserved.