Werewolf by Night (Marvel NEW)/Issue 1

The debut issue of the Werewolf by Night comic book series, part of the Marvel NEW initiative. It is succeeded by Werewolf by Night Issue 2.

Synopsis
''At the end of the 14th Century, the Crusades ended at last. For the mercenary, Jakob Russof, it's time for a glorious homecoming to Latveria. Happiness and joy were felt by him when his family welcoming him in open arms, until King Doom himself asked him a favor he couldn't refuse. And in the dark of night, his life would never be the same again.''

Continuity
This issue is the first part of the story arc, The Dark of Night. Chronologically, by the time this issue is published the entire story arc itself predates all the other first issues of fellow Marvel NEW comic books due to its primary setting.

Plot for The Dark of Night, Part 1
In present day New York, a shirtless man is seen sitting on a couch in his apartment watching a news. The news reports of a homicide that happened at a construction in Hell's Kitchen. The victims are reportedly mauled savagely, with claw marks seen among the victims who didn't have their bodies split. Authorities are still trying to figure out the culprit, dismissing any rumors of a man-beast or a hero from the mutant community committing such atrocity.

The man turns off the TV and reveals himself as Jack Russell. Breaking the fourth wall, he asks the reader if he knows what happened and why he's there. He tells him/her that for the first time in many years, he has lost control over his inner beast after centuries of peace between them. Russell says that if his other side takes over, a torturous future awaits him. He continues by asking the reader if he/she knows of how he came to be and how he's in a mess like this. Russell guesses that the reader wants to know, of course, and proceeds to tell of his past life.

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Switching time and place to the 14th Century, an army camp somewhere in the Middle East was seen. In the camp, a group of soldiers were seen. Among them, an armored Jakob Russof was seen brooding with his fellow mercenaries. They were seen taking a speech from Eobar Garrington, the Black Knight. Through Garrington's speech, it was revealed that it's the end of the Crusades, and the Europeans had lost the many battles waged in the Holy Land.

The Black Knight congratulated the mercenaries for their efforts and advised them to not be heavy-hearted, as they did the best they could. In Russof's mind, he refused to accept their losses, saying that mercenaries like him participated little in the major battles fought by the royals due to their monetary fear. Nevertheless, he continued to listen to the Black Knight's speech until it's over. After allowed to return to their camps, Russof was relieved and felt happy to finally come home to his family tomorrow.

Before going to his tent, Black Knight had approached Russof and conversed with him. He discovered of Jakob Russof's Latverian origins and the fact that he's the only Latverian to ever participate in the war. Apparently, Jakob was sent by King Doom as a reluctant answer to the Pope's request of him to send men. Russof was well aware of King Doom's isolationist nature and how intimidating was his nature among European leaders.

After wishing him the best of luck for his future, Russof returned to his tent where he met fellow mercenaries that came from Norway, Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral. While conversing with them of their future plans, Russof once again broke the fourth wall and advised the readers to not believe in a single word they said about things like Asgard, Midgard, the Ten Realms, and others. He then delivered a quip, reminding the readers that things "change" here and not even these "gods" are safe from them. The conversation ended once the mercenaries agreed to rest for tomorrow. Though before falling asleep, Russof delivered one last comment to the reader, saying that he's not even sure if they need sleep.

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The next day, Russof was seen in a port with many other soldiers. Seeing the crowded port, he sympathized the soldiers for being valiant and valorous in battle, fighting not for the corrupt high-classes but for the sake of kinship in a series of long, brutal battles under the heat of the sun. He criticized the Pope for forcing them to fight battles that weren't even supposed to be their business through faith. Still, he's aware of his nature as a mercenary and admitted that these have always been the Saracens' lands, anyways.

Afterwards, Russof headed to a merchant ship, asking the traders if they could take him to Latveria. The traders were initially afraid and rudely told him to get off the ship due to their fear of Latveria. A brief argument happened until the Black Knight himself called out Russof, telling him that he'd take him to Latveria.

On board his ship, Eobar revealed that he's not going to England any time sooner and told Russof that he's needed in Symkaria. With Latveria just north of Symkaria, the two were going the same distance, indeed. And as time went on and the boat reached Symkaria nearer and nearer, the two conversed like old friends. Through this conversation, Russof's status as Latveria's premier warrior/mercenary and his nickname as the "Wolf" were known. Other than that, his origin as naturalized Russian immigrants in Latveria was revealed, as well as his family.

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Once the Black Knight was in reach of Symkaria, Russof parted ways with the English Knight and bid him farewell. Proceeding through the country's borders, he made his way to his home in Doomstadt, Latveria's capital. Before he reached Castle Russof (his family's residence), he had made his way through a dense forest. And as he had passed the many tall trees the forest offered, he encountered a pack of wolves. He successfully repelled them, killing one of the wolves in the process. He noted that it's odd for wolves to appear at day, advising himself to be cautious next time.

Hours later, he finally reached Doomstadt where the locals welcomed him in open arms, hailing him as the people's champion. As news of his arrival reached Castle Russof, Gregor, his father, approached him and invited him to their residence for a celebratory feast. In Castle Russof, he was greeted dearly by his loving family who asked him of his experience.

Once the feast and celebrations were over, Gregor noticed someone missing: his sister. He brought this matter up, and in an instance his family looked at each other in expressions of concern. Asking of where she was, it's revealed that her sister went missing two days ago in a similar vein to how his mother disappeared two years ago.

Surprised and angered,  Jakob asked of how could that happen, guessing that a jealous villager should've kidnapped her. Jakob's grandfather, Grigori, told him that a curse was upon the bloodline of the Russofs since the old days, explaining that his brothers, sisters, nieces, and uncles went missing as well. While those things were true, the other family members doubted him as he's already a feeble old man with rusty memories now.

Nevertheless, Russof swore to find Lissa (his sister) and kill whoever was responsible for this. His statement was responded in surprise by a voice that seemingly came out of nowhere. The voice praised Russof for his boldness and told him that he's needed exactly for such case. The voice turned out to be Doom, prompting the Russofs to kneel before him.

As he crouched, Jakob wondered how could he be there. He continued by saying that he heard of King Doom's prowess in magic but he never believed it nonetheless. After ordering his loyal subjects to rise, Doom revealed to Jakob that his sister's disappearance was the latest out of the sixty disappearances that happened in Latveria within the years of his absence.

Hearing this, he concluded that Doom's trying to tell him that these disappearances happened because of him. Doom confirmed, but told him that it could be phrased better. Still, Doom said that many members of Latveria's various families, mostly the major ones such as the Hassens, Fortunovs, and Vernards, were abducted in the middle of nights with the same descriptions: the sounds of screeching, followed by the unexplained disappearance of the people.

Afterwards, Doom told him that with his return, he intended to find whoever was responsible for these disappearances alongside Jakob. Jakob rebuffed, telling him that he himself wouldn't join him in finding the culprit. Doom delivered a small laugh before ordering him to be in Castle Doom at dusk. After saying that, Doom walked into the shadows present behind him and disappeared.

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Jakon complied of King Doom's orders and left Castle Russof to Castle Doom at dusk with reluctance. Welcomed by the palace's royal guards, the Doom Sentinels, he's led into King Doom's throne room where he was given the details of his task. While Jakob rejected him in a partially rude manner, telling him that it's his own mission, Doom still explained the task and gave him a squad of Doom Sentinels under his command to find his missing sister and the others.

Informing him to search around the dark forests of Latveria, Jakob soon was presented with his Sentinels and armed himself for the task. Not long after, he and his men proceeded to march down the streets of Doomstadt into Latveria's dark forests. As they marched, Jacob noticed the intimidated expressions of Doomstadt's citizens, thinking in his mind that the Doom Sentinels had made notable names for themselves due to their uncompromising nature as the extension of Doom's will.

After a long march hours later, Jakob and his Sentinels somehow found themselves within the same area that Jakob traversed earlier this day, with the Wolf pointing out such detail as he found the remains of the wolf that he killed prior. And after sensing and realizing that someone's keeping an eye on him, Jakob and his men were ambushed by the pack of wolves that attacked the Wolf today.

As the battle waged on with the Doom Sentinels suffering their first losses tonight, Jakob was surprised by a sudden attack from the wolf he killed previously. When he tried to decapitate it, he found himself unable to and his sword broke. Proceeding to fend off the wolves (which killed all the Doom Sentinels eventually) down to his bare hands, he ended up being mauled by the wolves. In his perspective, his vision began to blur as he began "hallucinating" of the wolves speaking to him. He tried his best in repelling them away with his remaining strength, but Jakob was knocked off cold when a wolf bit his throat.