Werewolf by Night

For our latest fantasy draft, in honor of Doctor Strange, our writers must compete to put together the best superhero teams made up entirely of Marvel magical characters, featuring one occultist, one demon, one vampire, one undead character, and one were-monster. In day two of the draft, Tara Marie added Pixie and Carnage to the team of Sera, Jubilee, and FrankenCastle; Steve added Dead Girl and Mephisto to the team of Spitfire, Nico Minoru, and Robbie Reyes; Kieran added Doctor Doom and Throg to the team of Dracula, Elsa Bloodstone, and Captain Britain; Andrew added Satana Hellstrom and Jericho Drumm to the team of Agatha Harkness, Billy Kaplan, and Cullen Bloodstone; and Elle added Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch to the team of Magik, Blade, and Zombie. With two picks left apiece, it's time to round out the teams and see which one comes out on top.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. Ah, the Halloween season. That wonderful time of the year where they let me talk about monsters around here and no one looks at me funny for having fifteen tabs about werewolves open on my laptop.

The current run of Deadpool --- which stretches back into the previous volume --- has been one of the smartest, most sophisticated takes on one of Marvel's most juvenile characters. Over the course of over sixty issues, Gerry Duggan and crew have infused Deadpool with a level of complexity that the character had been missing for decades. Recently, Wade Wilson has been pulled in all directions by the Avengers, the Mercs For Money, his burgeoning relationship with his daughter Ellie, and his failing marriage with Shilkah, Queen of Monster Metropolis. In the most recent issue by Duggan, Mike Hawthorne, Terry Pallot and Jordie Bellaire, Deadpool #17 one of those bonds snapped, and a classic Marvel hero paid the price. Spoilers follow.

Q: Are there any superheroes who can't be improved by making them also a werewolf? -- @daveexmachina A: My friends, I am being 100% real with you when I say that questions like this are exactly why I started writing this column in the first place. So let's see here. If you go back and look at my work over the past ten years, it's probably going to be pretty clear that when it comes to your classic Halloween monsters, werewolves don't really do much for me. I am and will always be a Dracula man, but I can't deny that throwing in some extra hair, a couple of claws, and an uncontrollable monthly blood lust is something that could make pretty much any character in comics a whole lot more interesting. Which, now that I think of it, is probably why it's actually happened way more than you might remember.

If I'm being honest, I think all I've ever wanted out of any Marvel cartoon is for Swamp Thing and Howard The Duck to team up and hang out. And while we are still a long, long way from that ever happening (because that's never happening), we're closer than we've ever been. A few weeks ago, Howard made a brief cameo appearance in an episode of Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and now Ma

Dr. Strange, First Appearance Blade, Werewolf by Night and Morbius the Living Vampire will unite in Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum's Strange Tales Marvel Minimates box set in March. Though the figures won't arrive in stores until well after Halloween, toy sites are currently offering preorder prices of about $17-20 if the spooky side of the fall season strikes fans...