Disposable Lit Reviews

Ace Books, 1989
201 pp.
ISBN 0-441-34663-4

Out of Print
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If you’re anything of a fanboy, you already know who Peter David is. He’s most legendary as a comic book writer, working for the Big Boys (Marvel and DC — Image doesn’t do “story,” silly) for the past twenty years and bringing the titles he works on up to a respectable level of maturity, complete with overarching story arcs. He’s the guy who turned The Hulk gray; he’s the guy who chopped off Aquaman’s hand. He’s also written more than his share of Star Trek novels, and consistently manages to make them better than the average for the species, as well as other media spinoffs (including the Spider-Man movie novelization). Much less to his credit, he provided the screenplay for a fair Full Moon flick (Oblivion) and two that really never needed to exist (Trancers 4 and 5).

If you noticed anything in that paragraph, it was that David has made his living largely by playing in other people’s playgrounds. Of late, he’s had some success with original novels such as Sir Apropos of Nothing, but historically his original output such as Howling Mad has been almost entirely eclipsed by novels with ties to movies, television, comics, video games, or whatever they’re spinning off into paperback this year.

The premise is one of those simple ones that makes you wonder how no one’s ever thought of it before (or, if they thought of it, howcome you’ve never seen the result): If a man bitten by a werewolf becomes a wolf on the nights of the full moon, what happens to a wolf bitten by a werewolf?

It’s oh-so-tempting to put “Wackiness ensues when…” at the beginning of any plot summary here, but the novel’s not exactly a comedy (at least, not as much as the cover illustration makes it out to be). Any novel that begins with a played-straight gory beheading isn’t really looking for yuks. But David plays it with a light touch, aided immeasurably by the conceit that the book is a novelized account based on his own interviews with the shapeshifter in question, pegged “Joshua Wolf”; in between third-person narrative chunks, there are little transcriptions of the conversations in which Joshua records his personal observations and interpretations of being bitten by a werewolf in a small Canadian town and ending up in a zoo in the Bronx before the next full moon.

Naturally, there’s plenty of fish-out-of-water humor as Joshua discovers what it means to be human — and what it really means to be wild — in the company of Darlene, the animal-rights activist with whom he had formed a bond while still lupine. He discovers the magic of the opposable thumb, he discovers beer, and shucks, you wouldn’t be surprised if he discovered a little thing we humans call “love,” right?

And now, for my Big Beef (because it wouldn’t be me to write an entire review without bitching about something, would it?): Peter David cheats. He makes his wolves far too intelligent, communicating with each other with wholly formed concepts and the ability to consciously second-guess human behavior (an ability which has only just been shown in great apes — it’s a little hard to swallow in canines). Yes, it does make it easier for the lazy reader to follow the musings and conversations of Joshua and his wolfpack, but on top of instantly straining disbelief, it also mutes the contrast in cognitive ability between Joshua the wolf and Joshua the man. Quite a loss, really.

Having knocked itself well out of the running for Best Freaking Novel Ever, though, it’s still an amusing and engaging little read, avoiding the ponderous over-serious tone of most late ’80’s horror novels and the out-and-out spoof mentality. And kudos to Peter David for one of the most inventive uses of silver to off a werewolf.

Nathan Shumate