Curse of the Worgen is a five-part comic miniseries explaining the background and specifics of World of Warcraft's Worgen Curse. It was written by Micky Neilson and James Waugh, and drawn/colored by Ludo Lullabi and Tony Washington.
Curse of the Worgen primarily follows Halford Ramsey, a famous Gilnean detective in charge of investigating a rash of brutal murders known as the 'Starlight Slasher' murders. His searches lead him to discover the age-old legend of the Worgen Curse. The comic also touches in with characters from the in-game worgen starting zone as they deal with the beginnings of the zone's events.
Curse of the Worgen contains examples of:
- Ascended Extra: In-game, Belysra Starbreeze is a quest giver who appears briefly in the Worgen starting zone and, later on, she can be found as a priest trainer in Darnassus. Curse of the Worgen has her as a main character and explains much of her background.
- The Atoner: Belysra Starbreeze.
- Backstory: A good 80-90% of the comic consists of this.
- It also explains why there are Night elves in Gilneas in the starting zone experience though not why they brought an army with them.
- Berserk Button: Halford does not like it when his deceased sister Ana is mentioned, and punched Cox when he did so in his What the Hell, Hero? moment. Cox being much bigger than Halford, he shrugged it off and punched him to the ground with one blow. He manages to get over her death after drinking from the waters of Tal'doren.
- Big "NO!": Belysra when Arvell is killed by a Legion demon's axe.
- Clothing Damage: Unlike in the source material, transforming into a Worgen results in one's clothes getting completely torn off. Near the end, Worgen with their clothes intact appear, though.
- Deadpan Snarker: Halford has his moments.Halford: Pay attention to these words, Cox, for you will rarely, if ever, hear them again: You are correct.
- Driven to Suicide:
- After her two sons died in the Northgate Rebellion, Halford's sister Ana hanged herself.
- After his plot to turn over King Greymane to the Forsaken fails, Lord Vincent Godfrey throws himself off a cliff and dies from the impact.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Genn Greymane's reaction when Lord Godfrey, Baron Ashbury and Lord Walden betray him, holding him at gunpoint to turn him over to the Forsaken. Especially Ashbury, with whom he grew up and was a childhood friend.
- Enemy Within: The Worgen curse for Halford as well as Genn Greymane.
- Evil Makes You Monstrous: Ralaar starts out looking like your average Night Elf, but by the time he has become the Alpha of the Druids of The Pack, he's a hulking mass of muscle and Wild Hair with a permanent Slasher Smile plastered across his face. And then he becomes Alpha Prime...
- Expy: Halford is this to Sherlock Holmes. At first.
- Great Detective: Halford Ramsey was conceptualized as a Sherlock Holmes Expy. In the comic he's described as being a famous detective who, though not always likeable, was a great investigator, and he has the ability to deduce facts from small clues.
- Heroic Willpower: Despite being infected with the Worgen curse, Halford occasionally manages to overcome his bestial instincts with his logic before drinking from the waters in Tal'doren.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Ralaar, and all the Druids of the Pack by extension.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The character known as Belrysa Starbreeze in-game is spelled Belysra Starbreeze in the comic. The comic version is correct, but the discrepancy is yet to be fixed in-game.
- Insane Troll Logic: Lord Godfrey's plan to convince the Forsaken to leave them alone is to turn over Genn to them, hoping they'll leave them be afterwards. Needless to say, this would likely not have worked.
- Jerkass: Godfrey. Overlaps with Fantastic Racism. It later leads him to betraying Genn because he's a Worgen himself.
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: Halford is quite the Jerkass, at one point interrogating the son of a lady who was victim of the "Starlight Slasher" right after he had witnessed the act. That said, his goal is to catch a dangerous serial killer, and he is quite loyal to Greymane. Compared to Godfrey, he's a saint.
- Karma Houdini: Cox was a member of the Wolfcult the entire time, and he's last seen in Greymane Court with Alpha Prime, with no hint of repercussions for his actions.
- The Mole: Halford's partner Cox was a member of the Wolfcult the entire time.
- Ms. Exposition: Belysra. Alpha Prime also serves as a less-unbiased form of this.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Malfurion after Arvell's death. Ralaar calls him out on it.Ralaar: (to Belysra) Let Malfurion tend to the corpse his wise choices have created.
- Belysra has a similar realization when Alpha Prime, formerly Ralaar, attacks Malfurion after they have torn a Legion fortress to the ground. Bonus points for using what must be the Night Elven counterpart of the Trope Namer expression.
Belysra: No! No no no NOOOO! Mother Elune, what have I done? - Not Quite Dead: Darius Crowley.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Belysra attempts this with Alpha Prime, by telling him that Malfurion himself tried out the Pack Form once but was equally unable to control it. Unfortunately, this only makes Alpha Prime call his old mentor a hypocrite.
- Say My Name: MALFURION STORMRAAAAAAGE!
- Sherlock Scan: Halford shows the ability to do this, often making quick deductions based on small clues, such as:
- Maxwell Wiggins being a Northgate Rebel sympathizer due to printing information not officially released to the public, such as the majority of the victims being Greymane supporters.
- The location of the Wolfcult hideout in Gilneas City, due to previous clues pointing to an antiques shop and the most recent victim having bought items there for a wedding[note][/note].
- Maxwell Wiggins was a member of the Wolfcult, and his printing press with its unique "R"s was used to print "The Essence of Purity".
- That Man Is Dead: Ralaar would like to remind Malfurion that..."There is no more Ralaar... there is only Alpha Prime!!!"
- The Spock: Halford displays shades of this. His famous logical reasoning was one of the reasons Alpha Prime was interested in turning him to his cause.
- The Watson: Cox fills in this role as part of the Sherlock Holmes parallel. Unlike the Trope Namer, however, he is a member of the Wolfcult that he and Halford are investigating.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Genn's relationship with Liam has this in spades.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Cox delivers one to Halford while they're investigating the most recent killing in a spree of murders, where Halford tried interrogating the son of a lady who had been killed in front of him while handling the corpse in a less-than-respectful manner.
