WEREWOLF BY NIGHT
Real Name: Unrevealed (presumably Mr. Lascher)
Identity/Class: Human subspecies
(werewolf/lycanthrope)
Austrian citizen
(1890s era)
Occupation: Unrevealed (see Comments)
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Bettina Lascher, Johan Bauer (reluctant ally)
Enemies: His victims
Known Relatives: Bettina Lascher (daughter)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Vienna, Austria
First Appearance: Marvel Tales I#116 (July, 1953)
Powers/Abilities: Lascher transforms into a "wolfman"-style werewolf every night (not just the nights when the moon is full), granting him superhuman strength and endurance, and (presumably) enhanced senses. He possesses sharp fangs and claws. Because of his age, he is no longer as fast as he used to be. Unlike some werewolves, both he and Bettina retain their full human faculties; as such, and given that both were capable of sparing Johan, their hunting and killing of regular humans is a choice, rather than something driven by animalistic urges.
History: (Marvel Tales I#116 (fb) - BTS) - Mr. Lascher was a werewolf living in Vienna in 1890 with his adult daughter, Bettina, upon whom he doted. A man of means, he apparently had no day job (see Comments), but every night both he and Bettina transformed into their bestial forms, and Mr. Lascher would go out to hunt down and murder whatever human was unlucky enough to cross his path. However, now in his middle-age, Lascher was aware that he was slowing down, so that potential victims were eluding him.
(Marvel Tales I#116) - Out hunting one night, Lascher witnessed a
man being attacked by an ape-like creature. Lascher moved in on the pair,
coming up behind the ape, but the man spotted him approaching, and the terror
in his eyes prompted the ape to leap aside as Lascher lunged. Satisfied to
take the man instead, Lascher savaged his screaming victim while the ape
revealed himself to be merely a costumed would-be robber by removing his
mask, and fled into the night. Impressed by the robber's speed, after finishing
off his victim, Lascher followed the robber to his shabby apartment, where
he informed the terrified man, Johan Bauer, that from now on they would be
sharing the accommodation, and Bauer would be assisting him in procuring
victims. The next morning, when Lascher had resumed human form, Bauer desperately
tried reasoning with him, noting that he had just met a young lady and asking
how he could explain his roommate to her. Lascher retorted by asking what
the woman would think if she learned that Bauer was a thief, and when Bauer
then threatened to inform the police as to Lascher's true nature, Lascher
noted he could not do so without risking the authorities learning of his
own actions the previous night. Feeling trapped, Bauer reluctantly acquiesced,
and for several nights, without ever learning Lascher's name, Bauer helped
the werewolf catch more victims, keeping the money procured from those Lascher
murdered.
Eventually Bauer's paramour announced her intention to visit him
at his home, and, unable to dissuade her, Bauer pleaded with Lascher to make
himself absent temporarily. Expressing no desire to interfere with Bauer's
romance, Lascher agreed, but warned Bauer to ensure the girl was gone before
dark, when he intended to return regardless. Bauer tried to heed Lascher's
warning, but his beloved proved unwilling to leave before nightfall, and
Lascher returned sensing that the woman was still present. Intercepting the
werewolf at the door, Bauer begged Lascher to give him some extra time to
get her out, but at that moment Lascher and Bauer's beloved finally saw one
another, and Bauer delightedly discovered that Bauer was courting his own
daughter, Bettina. As Bauer watched in shock and horror, a transformed Bettina
hugged her father, who gloated that Johan would never escape them
now.
Comments: Created by Jack Abel.
Lascher is not called Werewolf by Night in the actual story, but since that is the title of the tale, and since, unlike other werewolves, both Mr. Lascher and his daughter Bettina apparently transform every time night falls, it seems an appropriate sobriquet. He's not actually given any name at all, other than "the werewolf," but since his daughter Bettina's surname is Lascher, and she wouldn't be welcomed in respectable 19th century Viennese society if her parents were unmarried, it seems reasonable to presume that her father is also surnamed Lascher...always assuming that Lascher wasn't an alias both werewolves had adopted.
Because of his insistence on moving in with Johan Bauer after their first encounter, Lascher initially gives the impression that he has no other occupation than being a murderous werewolf during the night; there is no mention of him departing during the day to work, and his decision to share Johan's poor quarters suggests he has nowhere better to go. However, Bettina Lascher lives in an expensive home and appears to be rich, so presumably her father is a man of means, and merely moved in with Johan to exert control over him. As to how Mr. Lascher came into his money is another question - he might have inherited it, stolen it in the years prior to his feeling the need to enlist an accomplice, or been a successful businessman, perhaps prior to he and Bettina becoming lycanthropes.
Joe Maneely's cover of Marvel Tales I#116 depicts a Werewolf by Night, but it's clearly not Lascher, as he is both modern day (1950s) and tries to discourage an unfortunate woman from being near him when he transforms.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mr. Lascher, Werewolf by Night, has no known connections to
Johan Bauer has no known connections to
Bettina Lascher has no known connections to
Johan Bauer was a young clerk living in Vienna in 1890. He met and
fell for Bettina Lascher when both attended a costume party one afternoon,
but was disappointed when Bettina decided to leave the party early, before
nightfall, claiming she was tired. However Bettina then gave him permission
to see her home. He learned that she lived in an expensive looking house,
and, after asking and being granted permission to see her again the next
day, he fretted in the carriage on the way home that he would not be able
to woo Bettina in the style she would expect on his lowly clerk's salary.
On the spur of the moment Bauer decided to get the money he felt he needed
via robbery, and had the carriage drop him off in a lonely part of the city.
Donning the ape costume he had worn to the party, he ambushed a wealthy looking
man, who proved easy prey, terrified by the creature Bauer appeared to be.
Unfortunately for both men, the werewolf Mr. Lascher also witnessed these
events, and stepped in, taking Bauer's victim for himself. Bauer fled in
terror, but Lascher followed him home, and coerced the reluctant Bauer into
becoming his accomplice. Over several nights Bauer, still disguising himself
in the ape suit, helped Lascher catch numerous victims, soon accumulating
considerable stolen funds.
Unaware that his new partner was his beloved's father, during the day Bauer used the money taken from Lascher's victims to woo Bettina, taking her to the finest cafes, never noticing that she ended her dates well before it became dark because he had his own reasons to be home before nightfall. Eventually though, Bettina insisted on visiting Johan's apartment. Convincing Lascher to go elsewhere during the daylight hours, Johan cleaned the place up prior to Bettina's arrival, and was pleased when she proclaimed his apartment quaint but in need of a woman's touch, suggesting she might provide that one day as Mrs. Bauer. However, to Johan's distress, he could not get Bettina to leave as night neared, and when he heard someone thumping on the door he hastily sent Bettina into another room, telling her that her make-up needed fixing. As he had feared, the knocking was the werewolf demanding entry, and Johan begged for more time to get Bettina out of the apartment. Bauer's blood ran cold as he heard Bettina enter the room and react in shock to the lupine figure standing at the apartment's threshold, but his fear turned into stunned bemusement as a similarly lupine Bettina happily greeted Lascher as her father.
--Marvel Tales I#116
in 1890 Vienna, Bettina Lascher was a young werewolf, the apple of her lycanthropic father's eye; both father and child transformed whenever night fell into their lupine forms. She met a young clerk, Johan Bauer, while attending a party one afternoon, and though she had to make excuses to leave prior to dark descending, she permitted Johan to see her home and agreed to meet him again the next day. That night Bauer also made the acquaintance of her father when he decided to become a robber in order to procure the money he felt he would need to properly woo Bettina, and Bauer became Mr. Lascher's reluctant helper in procuring victims for the elder werewolf.
Remaining unaware of this, and with neither Bauer aware of Lascher's
connection to Bettina nor her father aware that the woman Bauer was courting
was Lascher's own daughter, Bettina and Johan's relationship continued apace,
until Bettina decided to visit Johan's home, taking his initial reluctance
to let her see where he lived as possible evidence he was hiding something
from her, perhaps even a wife. With little choice, Johan agree to her request,
intending to make sure Bettina left before nightfall, when the werewolf would
return. However, Bettina, apparently having decided it was time to reveal
her own secret to her paramour, ignored Johan's attempts to get her to leave.
As night fell and the werewolf returned to the apartment and pounded on the
door, Johan insisted Bettina, telling her she need to fix her make-up.
Transforming in the back room, Bettina returned intending to surprise Johan,
only to see her father standing in the apartment doorway. Bettina was overjoyed
to learn that her parent already knew her beloved, while her father happily
gloated that Johan would never escape them now.
--Marvel Tales I#116
Various unidentified people attended the party where Johan Bauer first met Bettina Lascher.
--Marvel Tales I#116
Lascher murdered several unidentified victims during the time he worked alongside Bauer, though only two were depicted on panel.
--Marvel Tales I#116
images: (without ads)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p1, pan1 (main image)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p4, pan4 (Lascher, human headshot)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p5, pan5 (Lascher, werewolf headshot)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p5, pan7 (Lascher, Bettina and Bauer
together)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p5, pan4 (Johan Bauer)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p3, pan2 (Bauer in costume)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p2, pan2 (Bettina Lascher)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p5, pan7 (Bettina in lupine form)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p1, pan3 (Bauer meets Bettina with partygoers
in the background)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p3, pan4 (Lascher kills Bauer's screaming
mugging victim as Bauer jumps out the way)
Marvel Tales I#116, 2nd story, p4, pan6 (Bauer counts the pair's ill-gotten
gains as Lascher slays another victim)
Other Appearances:
None
Last updated: 02/01/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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Lascher's victims