Magic Animals (Bear Transformation)

In this illustrated Spanish-language book, one of the characters gains the ability to turn into an anthropoid bear. Thanks to Andréssaurio Rex for locating and suggesting the material. 

 

 

Werewolf Illustrations

This post is devoted to various werewolf images found in books and other non-comic printed media.

We start with images from A Practical Guide to Monsters, found and photographed by @wereshere on twitter:

The next image is from Werewolves: Behind the Legend:

The next two images are from Freaks!: How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures (Thanks to Nex for the info):

From an Australian Gillette ad:

Ian Ricky has contributed the next image, a card of Jon Talbain from the Darkstalkers series, produced for the Universal Fighting System (UFS) game, titled Phases of the Moon (048/126)

The Werewolf In the Living Room (Werewolf Transformation)

 Since my last text-based post was well-received, here's another book for your consideration.
The Werewolf In the Living Room is part of R.L. Stein's popular Goosebumps series of children's horror books (it's actually part of the Goosebumps 2000 series, but who cares?).

Contrary to what the cover suggests, there are no scenes of werewolves sitting around the living room with their paws on the ottoman. Sorry feet fetishists!

The protagonist is Aaron, who describes himself as "tall and skinny" with "curly red hair, freckles, and light green eyes." Aaron is the son of a werewolf hunter, so of course he gets turned into a werewolf and hunted down by Dad.

Here's the first transformation scene:

I sat on my bed--stared out the window--and waited.
I watched the sun slowly set.
As dusk turned to night, I saw the full moon rise in the sky--and felt my skin begin to tingle. Then burn.
I gazed in the mirror--and saw dark fur sprout over my skin.
My back and chest began to throb. I could see the muscles pulsating, straining against my T-shirt. Then a searing pain shot through my body as my bulging muscles tore through my clothes.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the bones in my face shifted. Formed into a skill that was half human, half beast.
I let out a howl of agony as fangs exploded from my gums.
Then a fiery pain shot through my hands and feet. I gazed at them in horror as my fingers and toes shrank. As my hands and feet formed into paws. As razor-sharp claws sprang from my scalding skin.
I burned with fever.
Burned with hunger.
With an ugly roar, I grabbed the rope around my waist and tore it away.
With the fury of a wild animal, I ripped the planks from my bedroom door.
And then I was running.
Running out of the house.
Running on all fours through the cool night air.
Running--with a raging, bloodthirsty hunger--in search of fresh meat!

There's another transformation towards the end, though it's shorter and more clumsily written. Here's an edited version:

As Ashlee searched the house, I began to feel my skin tingle.
I can't let Ashlee see me change! I told myself.
..."Hurry, Ashlee! Hurry!" I shouted, unable to hide my panic.
My skin began to burn.
My head began to ache...
"You'd better hurry home." I sprung out of the cage.
I could feel the fur begin to sprout on my back...
My muscles began to pound...
I glanced down--and saw dark, bristly hair begin to sprout from my hands.
...Don't turn back, Ashlee, I silently begged.
Please--go out the door. Don't turn around.
Please--don't see what I've become.
...A sharp pain shot through my skull as my head turned half human, half creature.
... A searing pain shot through my mouth as my fangs slipped out. I howled in agony.
The transformation was complete.
I was a total wolf-creature now.

Dunc's Halloween (Werewolf Transformation)

I thought I'd try a little experiment and post a werewolf transformation from a book. Not a comic book or a book with pictures--just words. This is somewhat unusual, since up to now I've only featured pictures and videos.

I decided to make a random selection from my collection of werewolf books and ended up with Dunc's Halloween, a children's book published back in 1992. The cover (which I don't particularly like, aside from the werewolf's face) is below:

The premise: Dunc and Amos are doing some pre-Halloween errands when Amos gets bitten on the butt by a strange dog. The day after, he starts eating raw meat, sleeping on the floor, climbing the stairs on all fours, and chasing cats. Yes, Amos is changing...into a werepuppy. On the night of the full moon, Amos wears a lamb costume to the school's Halloween dance (to lure the werewolf that bit him)--and then the fun starts:

Back in the shadows, some very strange things were happening to Amos.
The moon had come up over the gym, and as they had walked to the door, Amos had come into the silver-blue light.
The changes came slowly at first, almost not there at all.
He crouched a little. Then a little more. And then his ears and nose grew a little. Then a little more. And hair grew on his hands and neck and face. Then a little more. And all of this happened and kept happening until it wasn't Amos standing in the doorway next to Dunc. It wasn't really not Amos, but it wasn't really him, either.
The crouch continued until it was just more comfortable for Amos to be down on all fours, while his growing nose made it easier for him to growl and pant than to talk. It all seemed so natural, and it happened one-thing-to-another until Amos wasn't much like Amos any longer. He looked less and less like Amos and more and more like a kind of rangy cross between a coyote and a dog pound stray...
Dunc turned. "Amos?"
But Amos was gone. He had dropped back into the darkness, flipped his feet to get the tennis shoes off his paws, and set off at a lope, the lamb costume trailing along behind. 

Well-written and skillfully understated. If you guys don't mind an occasional text post, a few will show up now and then, though my primary focus will remain on videos and images. Let me know what you think.