Real Name: Lissa Russell (born Lissa Russoff)

Identity/Class: Human variant (werewolf/Lycanthrope mystically mutated into a weredemon), now "cured"

Occupation: Student (at last report)

Group Membership: None
   formerly Brotherhood of Baal

Affiliations: Gideon Blaine, Brother Voodoo, Raymond Coker, Buck Cowan, Frankenstein Monster, Elaine and Buttons Marston, Belaric Marcosa's victims, Jerome Selwin, Taboo, Topaz

Enemies: Aelfric, Army of Terror, Baron Thunder, Brotherhood of Baal, Calliope's Carnival and Circus, the Committee, Doctor Glitternight, Max Grant, Hangman (Harlan Krueger), Joshua Kane and Luther Kane, Ma Mayhem, Belaric Marcosa, Moondark, Morgan Le Fey, Sidney Sarnak, Swami Rihva

Known Relatives: Mr. Price (husband), Nina Price (Vampire by Night), daughter), Grigori Russoff, Baron Russoff (great-great-great-grandfather, deceased); Louisa Russoff, Baroness Russoff (great-great-great-grandmother, deceased); Maria Russoff, Baroness Russoff (grandmother, deceased); Gregory Russoff, Baron Russoff (father, deceased); Laura Russoff Russell, Baroness Russoff (mother, deceased); Philip Russell (born Russoff) (uncle and step-father); Jack Russell (born Jacob Russoff, brother)

Aliases: Lissa Price;
    "Sensuous Serpent Girl", Weredemon, Lisa,

Base of Operations: Los Angles, California (specifically, Philip Russell's house in Westwood)

First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight I#2 (February, 1972)

Powers/Abilities: Like her brother, Lissa Russell inherited the curse of lycanthropy from her father's side of the family. Normally, the curse would have caused her to transform into a werewolf during every full moon following her eighteenth birthday. However, on the first two nights after the curse was activated, Lissa was also exposed to the "dark light" emitted by the sorcerer Doctor Glitternight which interacted with her curse to transform her into a Weredemon, a distorted version of a normal werewolf, "an amalgam of a werewolf and the demon which was Glitternight's soul."

   Lissa's Weredemon form was a powerful hybrid of human and wolf but with some additional demonic characteristics. Like the Werewolf, the Weredemon's body was covered in short fur (black instead of brown), her fingers ended in sharp claws, and she had large pointed ears (even larger than his). However, the Weredemon's form also differed from that of the Werewolf in several ways: Her face was pushed forward into a lupine snout, she had a long scaly tail (about 3 feet in length) and each foot only had three large toes, each of which ended in an extra-large talon. Also, she had a long, thin tongue, the top of her head appeared to be covered by a furless boney plate and she had a fin/crest down the back of her head and neck.

   Lissa only turned into the Weredemon when Glitternight exposed her to his sorcerous black light just as the light of a full moon was beginning to transform her into a werewolf. Jack seemed to believe that, after her initial transformation was corrupted by Glitternight's dark light, Lissa would always become the Weredemon even if Glitternight did not involve himself but he may have been mistaken. It's also not known if Lissa would still have become a Weredemon if Glitternight had attempted to transform her after she had fully changed into her werewolf form.

   Like the Werewolf, the Weredemon was bestial and savage but seemed to possess none of her human form's emotions and desires (presumably this was due to Glitternight's influence). The Weredemon also reverted to her human form at dawn.

   As the Weredemon, Lissa possessed enhanced human physical abilities (strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, etc.) which seemed to be similar but slightly less than those of the Werewolf (perhaps due to the fact that, in their human forms, Lissa was smaller and weaker than Jack). While it's unclear whether or not the Weredemon also had enhanced senses, her eyes could generate and project streams of flame. She could use her tail like a whip to attack opponents.

   It's not clear whether the Weredemon possessed the same enhanced healing abilities which made the Werewolf virtually impossible to kill or if she was also vulnerable to magical attack and to assaults involving silver.

   Lissa Russell is apparently immune to the Grey Death, a mystical plague once conjured by Aelfric the Mad Monk. This immunity is said to be due to her lycanthropic curse.

   When Lissa's body was possessed by Morgan Le Fey's spirit, "Morgan" was able to use Morgan's mystical powers for a variety of effects, including animating cables to ensnare Iron Man, forming a giant hand out of the ground to grab the Werewolf and creating a whirlwind to use against them both. Morgan also mentioned that "more than the power of Faerie courses through this woman-child's comely frame!" This may indicate that Lissa (as a "child of the Darkhold") was born with a significant potential ability to manipulate the forces of magic. Or maybe not.

History:
(Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb) - BTS) - She was born Lissa Russoff to Gregory and Laura Russoff. Her father was exposed as a Werewolf and killed by a silver bullet from villagers when she was only a few months old (or still in her mother's womb). At that time, her brother Jacob was less than two years old.

(Werewolf by Night I#14 (fb) - BTS) - After Gregory was killed, Laura and her children moved to the United States to live with Gregory's brother, Philip (who was also Laura's former lover). A year later, Laura married Philip and her children took the anglicized name Russell, which Philip had adopted after moving to America. Jacob, now Jack, and Lissa, were not told that their step-father was also their uncle.

(Werewolf by Night I#29 (fb) - BTS) - When Lissa and Jack were young they would sometimes play-fight together, wrestling around the living room rug. On one occasion, when Lissa succeeded in throwing Jack off-balance, his arm flailed in reflex panic and struck her hard across the side of her head. She cried for ten minutes, then demanded that he kiss it better (but Jack refused because it was too mushy).

(Werewolf by Night I#29 (fb) - BTS) - As a child, Lissa was so terrified of heights that Jack once had to rescue her from the top of the schoolyard monkey bars.

(Werewolf by Night I#29 (fb) - BTS) - When Lissa was about ten, she skinned her elbow, then looked up at Jack and cried for sympathy.

(Amazing Fantasy II#10/2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point (see comments), Lissa met and married Mr. Price,  the head of a media empire. Lissa later gave birth to their only (known) child, a daughter they named Nina.
 
(Amazing Fantasy II#10/2 (fb) - BTS) - When Nina was 12 years old, Lissa disappeared from her daughter's life. Where she went and why she left has not yet been revealed.

(Marvel Spotlight I#2) - On her brother's eighteenth birthday, after Jack said that he was on his way to fame and fortune, Lissa reminded him that not everyone was so overwhelmed with joy, directing his attention to where their mother was being given a hard time by the chauffeur, Max Grant. That night, Lissa was at Jack's birthday party when he suddenly ran off (into the moonlight).

(Marvel Spotlight I#2 - BTS) - Later that night, Lissa learned that her mother, who had been searching for Jack, had been found badly injured in a ditch two miles down the hill after something went wrong with the brakes of her Rolls.

(Marvel Spotlight I#2) - The next morning, Lissa and Philip found Jack lying on the beach and brought him back to their house. Once there, Jack noticed that Lissa was crying and Philip told him that she was almost hysterical because their mother had almost been killed that past night while searching for Jack. Jack and Lissa hugged each other and then they were just sad.

[One month passed]

(Marvel Spotlight I#3) - Lissa was assaulted by the Hellrunners, a rogue biker gang, until they were driven off by the Werewolf. Later, it was his fear that the Werewolf might hurt Lissa that caused Jack to decide to leave the area.

[One month passed]

(Marvel Spotlight I#4) - Lissa was present when Buck Cowan disguised himself as the mariner Clancy in order to get the keys to the Russell boat so that he and Jack could go to Miles Blackgar's island.

(Werewolf By Night I#1) - Miles (or Marlene?) Blackgar reported Jack's theft of the Darkhold to Philip Russell. Philip had Lissa arrange a meeting with Jack, with the Blackgars going along. The Blackgars used Lissa as a hostage. Lissa saw Jack in lupine form fight the Blackgars. Later, after the Werewolf had scurried away and returned as Jack, she saw that Jack had hidden the Darkhold in a corn flakes box. She later watched as Buck donated the Blackgars (who had been accidentally turned into stone by Marelene Blackgar's mutant powers) to a Santa Monica museum.

(Werewolf by Night I#2) - Lissa sent a friend named Terri over to Buck Cowan's apartment to help him decipher the Darkhold (which appeared to be in Latin). She (Lissa or Terri?) frequently went to Buck's apartment to visit Jack afterward.

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#3) - Lissa overheard Philip's end of a phone conversation during which he said that he had paid "your man Grant" as much as he could and that Laura's "estate wasn't quite worth as much as we thought." Since those words seemed to confirm Jack's suspicions that Philip had hired Grant to kill Laura, Lissa went to find Jack and tell him what she'd overheard. Lissa first drove to Buck's home where she found a note that Jack had left to let Buck know that he had gone to Father Joquez's rectory in Tugunga Canyon. Driving there, Lissa was stopped at a police blockade. An officer told her that there was some sort of weird mist in the canyon that was killing people and then he and Lissa both saw his partner engulfed by a Grey Mist that reduced him to a skeleton. Taking advantage of this distraction, Lissa ran the blockade and proceeded to the rectory. Lissa got there just before the security guard arrived for his evening duties and she watched as he also died and became a skeleton. Lissa was then confronted by Aelfric and fainted at the sight of him. Having a use for her, Aelfric carried Lissa inside but they were followed by the Werewolf so Aelfric summoned Dragonus and had him attack the Werewolf. Once Aelfric and Dragonus had been overcome, the Werewolf took the unconscious Lissa in his arms and carried her off into the moonlit mists.

(Werewolf by Night I#4 (fb)) - Lissa was carried into the hills by the Werewolf until he laid her on the ground. As he prepared to leave, Lissa regained consciousness, found herself facing the Werewolf and was about to scream when she somehow sensed that he was her brother. She tried to befriend him but he, fearing what he might do, kept his distance. Lissa was then captured by obsessed hunter Joshua Kane who used her cry for help to lure the Werewolf closer, then threatened her with a gun to keep him at a distance until the moon went down and the Werewolf changed back into Jack who then blacked out.

(Werewolf by Night I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Kane brought Lissa and the unconscious Jack to his nearby home where he put Lissa in a glass cage filled with a gas that kept her unconscious.

(Werewolf by Night I#4 (fb)) - When Jack regained consciousness, Kane let Jack see Lissa in her cage and then made it clear that she would die if Jack didn't cooperate and let him hunt the Werewolf.

(Werewolf by Night I#4) - During the hunt on an abandoned movie lot, the Werewolf managed to hide from Kane until remembering Lissa and what Kane had threatened to do to her caused him to lose control and attack Kane.

(Werewolf by Night I#5) - When Jack returned to Joshua Kane's home to rescue Lissa, he found Joshua's brother, Luther, and his bodyguard Desmond waiting for him. After letting Jack see Lissa in her cage, Luther claimed that he had developed a cure for lycanthropy but he refused to use it to save Lissa from becoming a werewolf unless Jack arranged for the Werewolf to kill Luther's enemy, billionaire recluse Judson Hemp. Jack reluctantly agreed to do so but an eclipse caused him to turn back into his human self before he could kill Hemp and he found that he couldn't go through with it. Jack returned to the Kane house and tried to force Luther to turn over the cure for Lissa but Desmond intervened. In the ensuing struggle, the eclipse ended and Jack turned back into the Werewolf. Desmond and Luther were soon both dead and the Werewolf smashed open Lissa's glass cage, allowing the gas to dissipate. As Lissa slowly began to revive, the Werewolf left the house looking for the forest.

[Almost one month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#6) - While spending a day relaxing, Lissa, Jack and Buck attended Calliope's Carnival and Circus. While Lissa got a bad feeling about the circus, Jack enjoyed it and suggested that she and Buck go get something to eat while he looked over the rest of the show. When Lissa and Buck returned, they found that the carnival was packing up and there was no sign of Jack (who had been hypnotized and captured by Swami Rihva).

(Werewolf by Night I#7) - After spending several days looking for Jack in all of his usual haunts, Lissa and Buck returned to Calliope's Circus to search it but as soon as they found Jack in a cage they fell victim to Swami Rihva's hypnosis and became two new recruits for the show. That night, Lissa and Buck were dressed up and exhibited to the crowd as the "Sensuous Serpent Girl" and the "Hideous Chicken-Man." Later, after the Werewolf freed himself, Rihva took Lissa as a hostage but she awoke from her trance and freed herself from him. Realizing that Buck was still entranced, Lissa told the Werewolf to leave the burning carnival and then went to get Buck and herself to safety.

(Werewolf by Night I#8) - At the charred ruins of Calliope's Carnival and Circus, Lissa and Buck told the police that they had just been passing by while looking for a friend of theirs when they saw the fire and turned in the alarm.

(Marvel Team-Up I#12 (fb)) - Lissa, Jack, and Buck visited San Francisco (so that Jack could rest from the effects of the last full moon). They noticed a marquee advertising a magician, Moondark, and decided to attend the show. While watching the show, Lissa and Buck were entranced by Moondark who then hypnotized Jack to transform him into the Werewolf and teleported him to attack Spider-Man.

(Marvel Team-Up I#12) - The Werewolf fought Spider-Man who managed to hold his own until daylight came and the Werewolf turned back into Jack who told Spidey what had happened to him. They resolved to team up against Moondark and returned to the club where Lissa and Buck were still entranced and sitting on the floor in the midst of a pentagram. Lissa and Buck remained entranced when Moondark turned Jack back into the Werewolf and again forced him to fight Spider-Man. It wasn't until Spider-Man vaulted Moondark through the "Mists of Passage" that he used for teleportation that his spells were broken, Jack returned to normal and Lissa and Buck came out of their trance.

(Werewolf by Night I#9) - Lissa accompanied her step-father to the police station to pick up Jack. On the drive home Lissa told Jack that Lt. Hackett had been at the house the day before asking about her and the beachhouse (Note: Actually, Hackett had visited the house in WBN #8 which must have been almost a MONTH earlier). That night, the sounds of the struggle between the Werewolf and Sarnak's derelicts awoke Lissa and she tried to stop her step-father from shooting into the crowd of battling figures. Later that night, Lissa was at Century City when Sarnak's "army of terror" (including the Werewolf) attacked the people there. The Werewolf tried to prevent Lissa from being abducted but was knocked out by Sarnak, and then he and Lissa were both taken below.

(Werewolf by Night I#10) - Lissa and the Werewolf were both chained in a pit while Sarnak told them how he had been hired by the Committee to capture Jack and Lissa (whom the Committee suspected were both werewolves) and to use his control whistle to create an army of fear that would create terror that would stimulate the economy. Once daylight came, Jack became human again and was able to climb out of the pit but, unable to break Lissa's chains by himself, was forced to leave her behind to go get help. That night, the Werewolf came to find and free "the she who was kind to me" and, protected from Sarnak's command whistle by a sonic screen device, quickly defeated Sarnak and his army, and then freed Lissa from her chains and the pit. Exhausted, Lissa asked the Werewolf to take her home.

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#11) - When Jack told Lissa and Buck that he was going to move into his own apartment, Lissa asked him to come back home with her but he refused to live in the same house with their step-father. Sometime later, Lissa, worried over the disappearances of her step-father and brother, was out walking (at night in Los Angeles) with Buck when the Hangman jumped down from a building to protect them from the approaching Werewolf. Lissa attacked the Hangman, trying to drive him away from her brother, but he threw her off him and into Buck. This enraged the Werewolf and he attacked the Hangman but he later realized that Lissa could be hurt if the fight continued there so he ran off in order to lead the Hangman away from Lissa.

(Werewolf by Night I#12) - Watching the Werewolf hanging from the Hangman's noose, Lissa begged Buck to save him because the Werewolf was her brother, Jack. After the Werewolf freed himself and ran away from the police, Lissa spoiled Sgt. Carradine's aim.

(Werewolf by Night I#12 (fb)) - The next day, when Jack called her, Lissa was relieved to learn that he'd gotten away from the Hangman and told him that their step-father hadn't come home in two days (Note: Actually, Philip had been kidnapped by the Committee in WBN #10 - almost a MONTH earlier). Jack told Lissa to wait right there because he was coming over (but he was kidnapped by the Committee when he went to his apartment to get dressed).

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#14) - Lissa was at the Russell house when Jack and Topaz brought Philip Russell's body there (Note: By now, Philip SHOULD have been missing for almost TWO months). She was present when Topaz destroyed the empty mind of Algon which had been exchanged with Philip's mind, leaving his body a hollow shell. Lissa stayed to watch over Philip and Topaz while Jack went to confront Taboo. The next day, Lissa was with Jack and Topaz when Philip revealed that he was Gregory Russoff's brother, that Laura had been being blackmailed (by the Committee) about Gregory's having been a werewolf, and that Laura was killed when Philip tried to stop paying them.

(Werewolf by Night I#14) - One week (Note: It should be one month) later, Lissa and Phillip went with Jack and Topaz to the airport to see them off on their trip to Transylvania.

(Werewolf by Night I#17) - Lissa hugged Jack when he returned from his trip to Transylvania, then reminded him that she would be eighteen in six months and, if the family curse held, she would then become a werewolf like him.

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#18) - Lissa drove to Colden House to see if Jack had gotten away before the change and was knocked down by the Werewolf as he fled. By calling for Jack to come back, Lissa revealed the fact that she was Jack's sister to the nearby Ma Mayhem, an agent of the Committee who had just failed in her attempt to capture the Werewolf. Realizing that Lissa might become a werewolf when she got older, Ma Mayhem used sleeping gas to knock her out and kidnap her. Later, Jack found a ransom note from the Committee which demanded that he turn himself over to them to save Lissa's life.

(Werewolf by Night I#19 - BTS) - Lissa remained a prisoner of the Committee.

(Werewolf by Night I#20 (fb) - BTS) - Jack apparently reported Lissa's disappearance to the police.

(Werewolf by Night I#20) - A week after she'd been kidnapped, Lissa (now wearing a torn pink short dress) was chained to a wall in a subterranean complex beneath Baron Thunder's house on Moonrise Hill when Jack (in the form of a thinking Werewolf due to a magic ring) came to rescue her. During Jack's battle with Baron Thunder, Lissa warned him when she saw a bank of machinery about to topple over onto them, enabling the Baron to catch the machine long enough for Jack to get out from under it before it crashed down, crushing the Baron. As fires in the complex approached Lissa, Jack snapped her chains and they escaped from the complex and house before they were destroyed by massive explosions.

[About three weeks passed]

(Giant-Size Werewolf #2 (fb) - BTS)) - Lissa joined a Satanic coven called the Brotherhood of Baal because she thought that they might be able to cure Jack of his lycanthropy.

(Giant-Size Werewolf #2) - Lissa quit the Brotherhood of Baal after some members began to rave about human sacrifice. After returning to the Russell home, Lissa was considering reporting them to the police when some of the brothers broke down the door, kidnapped her and vandalized the house. Lissa was held prisoner at the home of the cult's leader, millionaire Danton Vayla. That night, just as Lissa was about to be sacrificed to Satan as part of a Black Sabbath, the Werewolf burst in and attacked but was soon defeated by the Frankenstein Monster. Taking the arrival of the “wolf-demon” as a sign, Vayla decided to sacrifice him instead but before he could do so his chant caused the Frankenstein Monster to turn against the cult. While the Monster and the Werewolf were battling the cultists, Lissa used a fallen torch to free herself and fled the burning mansion. When the whole building fell into the sea with the Werewolf still in it, Lissa was sure that Jack must have died.

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#22) - After the Werewolf had (again) broken out of Buck's makeshift prison, Lissa entered and found Buck bleeding from where the Werewolf had slashed him before escaping.

(Werewolf by Night I#24) - Two days later, Lissa (whose hair was now blonde) was upset to see that Jack's face was badly bruised. Jack reassured her that everything would be fine but she still made him promise to be careful before he left with Buck.

(Werewolf by Night I#25) - The next day, Lissa was at home with Philip when Jack arrived with a (police) bullet wound in his leg. When Philip wanted her to phone for a doctor and Jack objected, Lissa agreed with her brother because doctors are required to report bullet wounds to the police. She and Philip attended to Jack's wound themselves.

[One month passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#25) - A month later, Lissa and Philip watched while Jack and Buck left the house to go visit Winston Redditch in the hospital.

[One month passed]

(Giant-Size Werewolf#3) - Lissa and Jack listened as Philip told them about how he had been investigating a plague of murders occurring in the Transylvanian town where he'd been born. Lissa and Buck insisted on accompanying Jack when he went to Transylvania to look for Topaz. After Jack left them and changed into the Werewolf, Lissa and Buck asked the local mob of irate villagers about the recent murders in the village and why they blamed the Gypsies. Coming across the Gypsy camp, Lissa and Buck revived and freed Topaz who had been imprisoned by the old Gypsy woman Maria. Later, after Maria had died and her undead Gypsies had crumbled, Lissa and the others listened as Topaz recounted the persecution that Maria Russoff had suffered at the hands of the villagers and how her hatred had driven her to enslave Topaz to force her to revive the murdered Gypsies so she could use them to seek vengeance upon the villagers.

[About six weeks passed]

(Werewolf by Night I#28) - The day before her eighteenth birthday, Lissa (whose hair was now light brown again) arrived at Buck Cowan's Malibu beach house for an extended stay with Buck, Jack and Topaz.
   The next day nobody (including Lissa) celebrated her birthday and that night, as Topaz suggested that she might be able to help Lissa when she changed into a werewolf, the foursome was attacked by a swarm of small winged bloodsuckers and then confronted by Dr. Glitternight who told Topaz that she had two weeks to tell him where to find Taboo or else his pets would be back.
   Nine days later, Topaz revealed that she'd had a precognitive dream in which she'd seen the four of them in a boat going to an island with a castle reeking of sorcery and that Taboo was alive in that castle. Inspired by the dream, Jack suggested that, since there was going to be a full moon that night, they should all go the deserted island off the coast of Monterey where Castle Russoff had been rebuilt by Blackgar. At the castle they encountered Taboo who explained that he was merely the essence of Taboo whose ectoplasm had been ripped from his corpse by Glitternight and solidified into a recreation of his physical body. As Taboo revealed that he had rebelled against Glitternight and had sent that dream to Topaz because he needed her help in opposing Glitternight's plan (to kill everyone on Earth so that he could transform their souls into a loyal army of demons), Jack began to transform into the Werewolf just as Glitternight and his winged thingies attacked the group. While the Werewolf attacked Glitternight, Lissa felt herself beginning to change but Topaz and Taboo began using their combined psychic power to try to suppress the change. They were succeeding until Glitternight burst into the room and attacked them. Caught between the combatants, Lissa was exposed to both moonlight and Glitternight's dark light and the combination caused her to transform into a Weredemon instead of a Werewolf.

(Werewolf by Night I#29) - The Weredemon that Lissa had become fought the Werewolf savagely for hours, their struggle only ending when the Werewolf unintentionally hurled them both off one of the castle's parapets. The Weredemon landed first and the Werewolf fell on her, knocking her unconscious. No longer interested in her now that she wasn't moving, the Werewolf left the Weredemon alone and ran off into the forest, allowing Buck and Topaz to carry the Weredemon to an upstairs bedroom. When dawn came, Lissa returned to human form but didn't regain consciousness until just after Jack returned in the early afternoon. However, Lissa was so traumatized by her experience that she denied her transformation had even occurred, instead believing that what she recalled was only a nightmare...and she spoke in the singsong voice of a ten-year-old.

(Werewolf by Night I#30) - Realizing that Lissa didn't remember what had happened to her, Jack and the others didn't have the heart to tell her the truth so they just left her to rest. Jack unsuccessfully tried to force the captive Glitternight to reverse what he'd done to Lissa. Glitternight later freed himself and secretly took Lissa (who was apparently unconscious at the time) from her bedroom to the roof. Once the full moon rose, Glitternight exposed Lissa to the moonlight and to the sorcerous dark light from his chest so that she again became the Weredemon. Glitternight then used his powers to remove Lissa's soul and transform it into a "chain of light" which made the now-soulless Weredemon completely obedient to him. When the Werewolf arrived on the roof, Glitternight ordered the Weredemon to slay the Werewolf and she immediately attacked. After a brief battle, the Werewolf managed to grab the leash and use it to strangle the Weredemon. As the Weredemon began to weaken, Topaz acceded to Taboo's request and used her psychic powers to transform Taboo's "body" back into its true form of ectoplasm which then sought out the Weredemon and entered her body through her throat. The presence of the additional "life essence" caused the Weredemon to change back into Lissa's human form (despite the full moon). Confused by the transformation, the Werewolf released the chain of light and Lissa crumpled to the roof with the chain still around her neck. Once the Werewolf and Glitternight left the castle, Topaz and Buck came to check if Lissa was all right. Later, after the leash vanished (following Glitternight's [temporary] destruction), Lissa revived and Topaz told her that Taboo had saved her life before he...left.

[Two months passed]

(Giant-Size Werewolf #5) - Jack stayed with Lissa and Philip in the latter's home for several weeks in the fall.

(Werewolf by Night I#31) - A month after being cured, Lissa was studying for exams and refused to give in to Jack and Topaz when they tried to convince her to join them and Buck (and Buck's date!) on a ski-jaunt in northern California.

(Werewolf by Night #32 (fb) - BTS) - After receiving a phone call from Topaz about how Buck had been badly mauled and might not survive, Lissa went to Westwood Hospital to be near him and to keep Topaz, Elaine and Buttons company.

(Werewolf by Night I#32 (fb)) - Later, after Jack had arrived, Elaine suggested that Lissa, Jack and Topaz all go home and get some rest. Jack offered to drive them home but Lissa and Topaz, who were both uncomfortable with the idea of being near him that night, had already decided that they would stay in Topaz's room instead.

(Werewolf by Night I#32) - That night, Lissa and Topaz were in Topaz's room worrying about what was happening to Jack when Frenchie broke in through the window and held them at gunpoint, demanding to know which of them was Jack Russell's sister. When they refused to tell him, he took both of them prisoner. Later, while tied up in Frenchie's helicopter, Lissa and Topaz were watching when Moon Knight knocked out the Werewolf and took him captive.

(Werewolf by Night I#33) - Lissa and Topaz were still tied up in Frenchie's helicopter when Moon Knight (carrying the Werewolf) hung on to the dangling rope ladder to get away from the police. Later, when the Werewolf revived and knocked himself and Moon Knight off the ladder, Lissa and Topaz watched them fell into the harbor, just missing a pier. Later, after the Werewolf had reverted to human form at dawn and been knocked out by Moon Knight, the helicopter brought captors and captives alike to the Committee's warehouse-headquarters where Jack was put into a cage while Lissa and Topaz had their wrists tied together with ropes hanging from the ceiling which forced them to stand upright for the whole day. That night, after Jack had turned into the Werewolf and Moon Knight was being paid his money, Lissa verbally condemned him for turning her brother over to "filthy men who'll turn him into the murderer he's always feared he would become...the murderer he's always fought to avoid - - even when it tore his soul in two!" Impressed by Lissa's words and by the humanity that he'd seen in Jack earlier, Moon Knight enabled the Werewolf to free himself from his cage and then, as the Committee began shooting at the Werewolf, used two crescent-darts to cut the ropes holding Lissa and Topaz so that they could get away from the gunfire and the warehouse (and the Werewolf).

(Werewolf by Night I#34 (fb)) - In a waiting room at Westwood Hospital, Lissa and Topaz babysat Buttons while Jack asked Elaine about something that a semi-conscious Buck had mumbled before lapsing back into a coma. Later that day (or the next day), Elaine brought Jack, Lissa and Topaz to meet Jerome Selwin, the owner of Marcosa House, "the world's most active center of haunting influences." Selwin agreed to let them visit the house as long as they promised to tell him the secret of defeating death if they learned it. Later, the foursome visited Buck's home to look at his notes on Marcosa House and Elaine revealed that Buck seemed to have been more interested in learning if any incidents of lycanthropy had been observed than in the article for which he was supposedly interviewing her.

(Werewolf by Night I#34) - Lissa, Jack, Topaz, and Elaine went to Marcosa House hoping to find a way to save Buck's life. Outside the front door, Lissa was the first to notice the "Sentinel of Hell" gargoyle and she soon became so unnerved that she wanted to leave until Jack convinced her to stay. Later, after a number of frightening events occurred, Lissa and Jack took part in a seance conducted by Topaz at which a medieval peasant claiming to be the spirit of the werewolf possessing Jack appeared and warned them to leave. Exhausted by the sitting, Jack left Lissa to tell Topaz about what had happened while Topaz had been in a deep trance. Lissa later went upstairs to her room to sleep. Sometime later, as Jack was heading for the gargoyle, Lissa was heard to scream "NOOOOOO" and Jack headed for her room but was stopped by the now-solid peasant who said that "he" had decided that Lissa and Jack must die.

(Werewolf by Night I#35) - After the werewolf-peasant had been defeated and had disappeared, Lissa's voice was heard calling out "HELLLLP" so Jack and the others ran up to her room. Jack got there first and found Lissa dangling in mid-air, held up by a noose around her neck which was strangling her. When an apparition of Philip Russell appeared at the other end of the rope, Jack attacked him but "Philip" vanished and the rope went slack, releasing Lissa who was hysterical because "her own father" had tried to kill her in her sleep. Lissa was so upset that Jack had Elaine give her a sedative. Even with the pills and Topaz and Elaine beside her, it took a half hour before Lissa finally stopped screaming and fell asleep.

(Werewolf by Night I#36) - Later, after the sedatives wore off, Lissa woke up and found that Jack had been transformed into a Werewolf who could think and talk, Elaine and Topaz were both injured (after Marcosa had compelled Elaine to attack Topaz with a knife and the Werewolf had been forced to knock Elaine out), and Buck Cowan had come out of his coma and somehow managed to get to Marcosa House. As Jack remarked that so far Lissa was the only one who was "unmarked" by Marcosa, the pitcher she was holding exploded, cutting her hand and causing a lot of bleeding. Later, the group witnessed Marcosa restraining the peasant but he managed to "show them the way" by sending them down to the cellar where Topaz felt compelled to attach a skull to a headless skeleton. Once that was done, the spirit who had previously appeared as the peasant manifested in his true form of Gideon Blaine, one of Marcosa's victims, who had now managed to cast off Marcosa's will. Blaine then led them to a catacomb full of the remains of Marcosa's other victims. After the spirits of those victims agreed to save Buck's life if they were freed from Marcosa, Blaine directed the group to the crypt in which Marcosa's mortal remains were sealed. When Jack opened the door, slimy tentacles came out and attacked the group, then withdrew and the door closed behind them. Hearing sirens, Lissa and the others went outside to greet the police but found they were actually zombies so they retreated back into the house where "Buck" revealed that he was really Marcosa.

(Werewolf by Night I#37) - As the zombie police broke in, Topaz and the Werewolf protected Lissa and Elaine and managed to defeat the zombies. Marcosa then transformed Lissa, Elaine and Topaz into demonic versions of themselves who began fighting each other. The spirits of Marcosa's victims managed to make themselves and Marcosa's soul solid, and when Jack ripped open their prison, three of them took control of the demon-women and stopped them from fighting while the others entered Marcosa and made him carnate as well. Once Jack the Werewolf had battled and destroyed the duplicates of Glitternight, Moon Knight and the Hangman that Marcosa had created to defend himself, and then ripped Marcosa to shreds, his power was broken and Jack and the women all returned to normal. As the freed sprits left, Blaine told them that he would sacrifice himself to revive Buck from his coma (and he did). The group then found Marcosa's physical remains and the women watched as Jack destroyed them, ensuring that Marcosa would never return. The foursome was later picked up by Jerome Selwin's men.

[One month passed]

    Days later, as Jack waited for moonrise in the California North Woods, he said "mental goodbyes" to the four people who counted in his life (Lissa, Philip Russell, Topaz and Buck) before he transformed into the Werewolf and ran off into the snowy woods.

(Werewolf by Night I#38) - Concerned about the missing Jack, Lissa and Topaz drove to Buck's Malibu home and convinced him to help them search for Jack. Before they could leave, Lissa and Topaz saw Buck transform into a goat-headed figure (Goat Child) who stated that all three of them must remain there to greet both of the keys, that all three of them were needed, that there was a reason for what would come to pass and that the Three Who Are All had concluded their affairs. Then the vision ended and Buck was himself again, unaware of what had just happened. When Lissa tried to tell Buck how he'd changed, he dismissed it as a temporary hallucination but somehow all three of them felt what it was best if they stayed where they were for the time being.

(Werewolf by Night I#39) - Still at Buck's home, Lissa, Topaz and Buck had already been joined by Raymond Coker and Brother Voodoo by the time Jack arrived. After Coker, Lissa and Jack all revealed that they had each had visions in which different beings claiming to be the Three Who Are All had appeared to them, the group realized that all three entities together made up the Three. As Brother Voodoo revealed that the Three had told him that the mission upon which they were about to embark was crucial to the whole world, zuvembies broke into the house and attacked the group. During the ensuing battle, Lissa tried to fight back but needed help from Jack. Once the zuvembies had been defeated, they disappeared (thus proving that they weren't real zuvembies) and Lissa was the first to notice that Coker had been abducted during the struggle. Jack soon began to transform into the Werewolf but Brother Voodoo, by sending the spirit of his dead brother Daniel into Jack's body, was able to stop the change and restore Jack to human form. Lisa then hugged Jack and told him how happy she was for him. As Jack, Topaz and Brother Voodoo prepared to leave for Haiti, they suggested that Lissa stay behind with Buck and she reluctantly agreed.

(Werewolf by Night I#42/Spider-Woman I#19 (fb)) - While Jack and Topaz were in New York, Lissa, Elaine and Buttons all visited Buck at his Malibu home. When Lissa and Buttons went into the kitchen to get some hot chocolate, Lissa screamed and Buttons ran to her mother saying that “a bad man got Lissa” and that he was going to kill her. Buck armed himself and rolled into the kitchen to find Lissa passed out on the floor at the feet of an intruder (a former employer of Buck's whose sudden appearance had caused Lissa to faint). The man barely had time to speak one sentence to Buck before he burst into flame, setting the whole house on fire. Buck managed to revive Lissa and get everyone to safety.

(Marvel Premiere #59/2) - While speeding down the Ventura Freeway in an attempt to get to "his place" before moonrise, Jack and Lissa got caught in a traffic jam caused by a jackknifed truck. After being stuck for a while, Lissa saw that Jack was beginning to change so she urged him to get out of the car and run. Jack lunged out of the car, completed his change into the Werewolf and ran off into the nearby Topanga Canyon.

(Iron Man I#209 (fb) - BTS) - Despite being cured, Lissa still suffered from some residual effects of the curse in the form of headaches, bursts of temper and an occasional dream.

(Iron Man I#209 (fb) - BTS) - Lissa began to have nightmares in which she relived events from the life of Morgan Le Fey. Each night the nightmare seemed more real and it became increasingly difficult for Lissa to wake herself up.

(Iron Man I#209) - Lissa had another nightmare during which she relived what had happened to Morgan when Merlin bound her to her castle. As one of the knights aiding Merlin did something that was not "gentle" to Morgan, Lissa awoke screaming and was soon comforted by Jack.
   The next day, Lissa and Jack went to the annual Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Agoura to see their old friend Buck Cowan who was performing there as a juggler. While Jack talked with Buck, Lissa noticed a man (Tony Stark) in the crowd who she thought she knew. She then attacked him but was quickly restrained by Jack and Buck. However, when Stark revealed that he knew Jack was the Werewolf, Lissa broke free, began raving about how "No man will bring harm to my brother" and tried to use magic against Stark but was only able to manifest some lights around her hands before she collapsed. Taken to the medical tent, Lissa revived and apologized for mistaking Stark for "the villain" from a memory of a time long past. As Lissa passed out again, Jack suddenly realized how close to sunset it was and he and Stark left in Stark's car in an attempt to reach Jack's nearby makeshift prison before Jack became the Werewolf. Before they reached the holding cell, Morgan Le Fey's spirit-self appeared on the road ahead of them and drove their car over a cliff. As this happened, Lissa awoke from a dream about that event and was confronted by Morgan who revealed that she had been preparing Lissa (as a "child of the Darkhold") to be her new body. Lissa tried to run away but she couldn't escape from Morgan who then entered her body and took it over completely. Iron Man and Jack (controlling his Werewolf self) then arrived and attacked "Morgan" who used her powers over earth and wind to retaliate. Eventually, "Morgan" had Iron Man at her mercy and was about to destroy him when the Werewolf, who had become increasingly bestial as Jack's control over him was weakened by the full moon, savagely slashed her across her back. Shocked by the unaccustomed pain and fearing for her continued existence, Morgan chose to leave her wounded host-body. Lissa regained control of her own body and immediately collapsed. Iron Man and Buck cared for her and summoned an ambulance to take her to a hospital.
 
(Amazing Fantasy II#10/2 (fb) - BTS) - Nina Price (Lissa's daughter) began to suffer blackouts once(?) a month starting on her eighteenth birthday. After each  blackout she would wake up to find herself naked and covered with blood. After visits to various doctors and therapists, Nina received a black, unmarked envelope containing a letter written by Lissa Price. The letter told Nina about the centuries-old Russoff family curse whereby every new generation of the family produces a werewolf and that her uncle (Lissa's brother) was the last one...until now. A subsequent encounter with a vampire altered Nina's curse significantly so that, while she existed as a normal human by day, she became a Vampire by Night (except during the full moon when she transformed into a large wolf).
 
(Amazing Fantasy II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Nina came to believe (possibly because of what was in the letter) that Lissa knew what her daughter would become and that was why she left.
 
(Amazing Fantasy II#12/2 - BTS) - Vampire by Night was rescued from a S.H.I.E.L.D. trap in a forest near Toronto by the Werewolf by Night. At dawn, they both returned to their human forms and Nina recognized her rescuer as her Uncle Jack who later suggested that they go find somewhere to talk because he wanted to tell Nina some things about her mother, Lissa.

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Michael Ploog.

    Amazing Fantasy II#10-12 (September-November, 2005) contain bonus stories about a new character called "Vampire By Night" whose real name is Nina Price, the only (known) child of Lissa Russell Price. Nina had inherited the Russoff family's werewolf curse but she was also the victim of a vampire who tried to make her into a vampire. However, the curse protected her from becoming undead and Nina lives as a normal human by day but becomes a vampire by night...and a wolf during the full moon. This is an interesting idea and I would be looking forward to reading her adventures...except for one thing. Lissa Russell last appeared in Iron Man I#209 (August, 1986). At that time she was still no older than her mid-twenties, she was not married and she was not a mother. And while that was 19 years ago in real-world time, it was no more than 5 to 7 years in "Marvel Time" - - which makes it impossible for her to have since given birth to a daughter who is now about 19 years old.
   In Amazing Fantasy II#12/2, Nina fell into a trap set for her by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents but was rescued by the Werewolf. When dawn came, both monsters turned back into their human forms and Nina met her Uncle Jack for the first time. The story ended as Jack just about to tell Nina some things about her mother.
   Ideally, the Vampire By Night stories would be set in an alternate future timeline, like the one wherein the adventures of Spider-Girl take place (Earth-MC2). Sadly, that cannot be the case since Nina's further adventures will be in the pages of the upcoming "Nick Fury's Howling Commandos" (limited?) series. So, unless some time travel is involved, that will pose something of a continuity problem.

• Time Travel
• Magic
• Had the child quietly at a very early age
• There are explanations, and the same is true for the White Tiger (Angela del Toro)
  --Snood

Lissa Russell's age is not just strange because she is a twenty-something with a 19 year old daughter. Prior to her brother's birth, her mother Laura encounters the Scarlet Witch a few days before her powers manifested. This means that if Lissa is in her mid twenties, then Wanda should be about 40 (or 60, if Nina's age is accurate)
--adam craik

    According to a note in the Werewolf's entries in the original and deluxe editions of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, "Jack Russell's sister Lissa was cured of lycanthropy soon after her first transformation at age 18 by the sorcerer named Taboo, who mystically took her curse upon himself." Unfortunately, that is NOT what happened. Instead, it is the presence of Taboo's "life essence" (or soul) within Lissa's body which counteracts her hereditary werewolf curse. There are other instances in which a person's lycanthropy has been repressed by the addition of another spirit. As noted above, the soul of Daniel Drumm was able to temporarily unite with Jack's spirit so that the spirit of the werewolf was driven from Jack's body (WBN #39). And the fact that Buck Cowan did NOT become a werewolf himself after being savagely mauled by the Werewolf may be due to the fact that the spirit of Gideon Blaine permanently entered Buck's body in order to preserve his life (WBN #37).

    According to the MTU index, Jack Russell's appearance in MTU #12 takes place between WBN #8 & 9 (i.e. "last seen in WBN#8, following which he is found by Buck Cowen and Lissa Russell; appears next in WBN#9, at the beginning of which is the next full moon after this story.") However, if you read those issues, in WBN #8 Lt. Hackett visits the Russell home to ask questions about Lissa and in WBN #9 Lissa says that Hackett had come by the house "yesterday" and a footnote says that that was "last issue." Of course, since the Werewolf's activities in WBN #6-8 occur over a three-night period (specifically captioned as "First Night", "Second Night" and Third Night") and WBN #9 begins on a "First Night", it seems that Lissa must have been mistaken about when Hackett dropped by. Maybe it was actually "a month ago" instead of "yesterday"? Or maybe Hackett actually dropped by the Russell home on two occasions. His first visit was depicted in WBN #8 but his second visit, which occurred a month later (and on the day before WBN #9) was never depicted. If that were the case, then we should just ignore that "last issue" footnote in WBN #9.

    Aside from the stress/trauma involved with being the sister of a werewolf, Lissa Russell has really had a rough life. She has been physically assaulted on at least nine occasions, been kidnapped and held hostage at least eight times, drugged/entranced at least four times, and transformed or possessed at least three times.

    Another great candidate for the Legion of the Night.
--Snood

Profile by Donald Campbell
John McDonagh should be credited for providing me with info about Lissa Russell's appearance in five issues.

Clarifications:

Lissa Russell has no known connections to: