Two decades later, "Moon of the Wolf" was closely adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series...so closely that the three transformation scenes in the cartoon correspond to the comic's. You can compare them by watching the videos hosted by our friend Dutchbull:
01. The reversion scene.
02. The partial transformation.
03. The full transformation.
The only major difference between the cartoon and comic was that Lupus was renamed Romulus.
Which version do you prefer? I vote for the cartoon. Adams's art is fantastic, with its patented mix of realism and dynamism, but his werewolf design is underwhelming--a hairy dude with lynx ears. The cartoon version preserves the original's bulk but adds a genuine wolf snout and a full-on jagged fur coat. In a nice touch, human Romulus sports a unibrow in old werewolf tradition.
Though BTAS was one of the greatest cartoons of the 1990s, "Moon of the Wolf" is regarded as one of its worst episodes. But from a transformation point of view it's fantastic, with some of the most lovingly storyboarded werewolf TFs of its time.
In the reversion scene we get detailed close-ups of Romulus's paws shifting into feet, claws into hands, and even reverse muzzle growth as he gives a last howl to the moon. In the third transformation, we get epic clothes-bursting (though there's a notorious continuity error involving his shirt--or shirts), hands bulging into black-tipped claws, and muzzle-growth wittily timed with a lightning flash. The superimposition of cells that creates the transformation effects recalls the lap-dissolves used in Wolf Man, but animation allows a fuller and wilder transformation than anything in comics or live action.
All in all, a great TF rite of passage for those of us who were impressionable kids back in 1992.
