Real
Name: Brjus Bejker VUKODLAK
Real
Name: Brjus Bejker
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Scientist, biology professor
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Formerly Carol Connor
Enemies: Cat Claw / Ket Klou (Carol Connor / Kerol Konor), Doktor Mors / Doctor Morse, Grgur (Berthold Schwarzenberger), Hugo, Mojo
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Bruce Baker (name in English editions), Werewolf (in English editions)
Base of Operations: An unidentified college campus, Manhattan
First
Appearance: Yu Strip#32 (June 1981);
(American printing) Cat Claw#1 (September 1990)
Powers/Abilities: Vukodlak can transform into a lupine humanoid possessing enhanced strength, durability and reflexes, as well as sharp claws and fangs. He presumably also has enhanced senses in this form.
Height: 6' (both forms, by estimation)
Weight: 160 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: (as human) unrevealed; (as werewolf) red
Hair (and Fur): Brown
History:
(Cat Claw#1 (fb) -
BTS) - Bruce Baker (or Brius Bejker) was a scientist who taught
biology at a Manhattan college, where his students knew of him as a
workaholic. He kept cats in the lab for experiments (though not
seemingly ones considered dangerous to the animals). Among his
students was Carol Connor; even her own roommate and friend Jeannie
Jones considered her Baker's pet student, claiming his mouth watered
when she was around.
(Cat
Claw#5 (fb) - BTS) - He invented a device he called the
Sygmatron which could modify DNA, but after being exposed to its
effects it turned him into a werewolf (see comments).
Thereafter he would intermittently transform, usually triggered by
pressure or excitement. In his transformed state he was far more
aggressive than he normally was.
(Cat Claw#1
(fb) - BTS) - One evening he was working in his lab using at least
one of the cats...
(Cat Claw#5 (fb) - BTS) - with the Sygamtron,
presumably hoping to figure out how to cure himself.
(Cat
Claw#1 (fb) - BTS) - Kept
in a glass tank during the experiment, one of the cats came out very
aggressive and escaped the lab. Baker pursued it without pausing to turn
off his equipment.
(Cat Claw#1) - Baker found Carol Connor outside on the floor of the corridor, having fallen backwards when the cat attacked her and scratched her left arm. Baker cleaned up the cuts and bandaged the wound, explaining to Carol that none of the other cats he'd exposed to the betatron had acted aggressively afterwards. Once he finished he asked his student why she had come to the lab so late, and she explained she'd come in to do some tests as she had an exam in his subject in a few days time. He advised her not to get involved in scientific research or become a professor, saying that he was a good warning against such a career, adding that if she did then by thirty-five she'd be as rusty as he was, and that in another ten years he'd probably not even remember his own name. Carol told Baker he was just overworked and needed some rest, and he announced that since his experimental subject had disappeared he was going to call it a day. He departed, leaving Carol in the lab alone.
(Cat
Claw#1 - BTS) - In Baker's absence Carol noticed the device he
had been working on was still turned on, but when she went to
switch it off she accidentally got blasted with its radiation,
and subsequently developed cat-like powers. 
(Cat Claw#1) - Late that night Baker felt
the lupine transformation coming over again, and soon after he
wandered the rooftops under the full moon in his werewolf form.
A few days later Carol arrived late at Baker's class to take the exam. Baker noticed that she wasn't answering any of the questions, despite her performance in class suggesting the test should be easy for her. Unable to tell him the truth - that her fingernails had just extended into claws which she was trying to hide, and that she was sensing a feeling of danger (unknowingly reacting like a feline to his canine nature), Carol told him she just needed some time to concentrate.
Soon after in his lupine form Baker read of a new scientific breakthrough that had been made at Manhattan's Grey Institute...
(Cat Claw#2 - BTS/Cat Claw#5 (fb) - BTS) - a
bulletproof fabric,...
(Cat Claw#1 - BTS) - so he
slipped in past the soldiers guarding the Institute to steal it...
(Cat
Claw#1) - but there ran into another individual curious about
the invention, a masked woman (Carol).
(Cat Claw#2) - Stating that he had hoped to steal the device in the lab's safe without witnesses, Baker introduced himself as the Vukodlak (Werewolf) and told her she had no chance against him. Instead of reacting in fear however she extended her claws. Vukodlak lunged for her, but she dodged, leapt on top of a table, then knocked him off his feet with a flying kick. She got in a second blow with her fists clenched together, but he kicked her from his prone position, then ripped a computer off the wall and threw it at her. She narrowly dodged, but the computer smashed into the lab's safe and triggered an alarm. Hearing armed soldiers coming, Vukodlak decided he wasn't ready yet to take on a group of gun-toting guards, plus he suspected he wasn't going to be able stay in his werewolf form much longer, so he fled, telling the slightly stunned Carol they would meet again.
(Cat Claw#4)
- A while later at the college Baker gave a genetics lecture to his
students, including Carol and Jeannie, and discussed the potential to
mutate genetic codes, though he noted that as yet there was no way to
predict what shape and patterns the mutations might take. A momentary
argument between Carol and Jeannie interrupted his talk, before Carol
apologized and made an excuse to leave.
Later that night Baker went on the prowl
across the city rooftops as Vukodlak, his howling at the moon disturbing
the people below, thought most presumed it only a wild animal. After a
while on top of a department store he ran across Carol, now wearing a
costume and calling herself Cat Claw.
(Cat Claw#5)
- Declaring their prior fight simply a battle lost, and this new
confrontation a decisive clash to ensure his ultimate victory, Vukodlak
attacked Cat Claw and punched her off her feet. Then he ripped a vent
stack off the roof and threw it at her, but she evaded and kicked him in
the muzzle. She extended her claws, but he swiped at her before she
could strike, tricking her into going off balance as she dodged
backwards and so leaving her open for a kick to her gut. Before she
could recover he tried to deliver a lethal finishing blow, but she
managed to just roll aside at the last second. As she tried to leap out
of reach he grabbed her round the waist and pinned her in a crushing
bear hug, so she kicked backwards into his groin. As hoped this caused
him to release her and bend over in agony, calling her a bitch, and
leaving himself open to a right hook that sent him stumbling back into
the store's rooftop electrical sign. Electrocuted, Vukodlak passed out.
Cat Claw checked his vital signs to confirm she'd not accidentally
killed him, but then saw that he was starting to transform back into a
normal man. To her horror as the transformation ended she recognized
Baker, but then the police arrived on the roof intent on arresting her.
Grabbing up the unconscious Baker Cat Claw fled down the side of the
building.
Grabbing a pair of long coats from somewhere
to disguise her costume and Baker's ragged clothing and pouring whiskey
on him, Carol hailed a cab and took Baker home, telling the driver her
companion was drunk. As they reached his house he began to wake up, so
Carol told him that she'd run into him when he came into the institute
and collapsed in front of her. As she hoped, Baker presumed that after
being electrocuted he'd been in a daze but had managed to change back
into undamaged clothing and that Carol had mistakenly thought he'd been
drinking. Happy to grasp this explanation to cover what had really
happened, Baker acted sheepish and made the excuse that it had been a
good party, so Carol, likewise trying to maintain her own pretense,
suggested she come in and make him some coffee to help him sober
up.
However the pair found an intruder waiting inside, the rogue scientist
Doctor Morse (who Cat Claw had recently battled, between her encounters
with Vukodlak). He then called in a pair of thugs, Hugo and Mojo,
waiting in the next room, one carrying a gun, the other carrying a baby
version of Grgur, a mutated monster had turned a former assistant into.
Morse explained that he intended to take them all to Baker's lab, hoping
to use the Sygmatron he had read about in Science Magazine to restore
Grgur to adult form. Baker got them past the guard and into his lab, but
refused to use his invention to help the madman, all too aware of what
it could do to a living organism. The doctor had Hugo threaten to shoot
Carol in the hopes of pressuring Baker into cooperating, but the tension
instead triggered his transformation. Ripping off his shirt, the
werewolf declared there was room in the city for only one Sygmatron
creature - him!
Shocked, Morse told his men their only chance
was Grgur, ordering them to delay Vukodlak while he used the Sygamtron.
Vukodlak dashed towards Morse as he went for the machine, angrily
declaring he was the only one permitted to use it, but with his focus on
the doctor he left himself open and Mojo shot him in the back. Dropping
to the ground and beginning to change back, Baker begged Carol to stop
them, but it was too late, and Grgur was changed back to his twelve foot
tall adult form. Seeing no other option Carol extended her claws and
attacked the creature, thus giving her dual identity away to the wounded
Baker. He lay bleeding on the floor while Cat Claw fought Grgur, until
she eventually electrocuted him, accidentally restoring him to his
original human form. With both Hugo and Mojo having been knocked out
during the fight, Morse pulled a gun on Cat Claw and shot at her, but
Baker jumped in the way and took the fatal shot himself. He died in
Carol's arms. While Carol was distracted by this, Morse set some of the
lab equipment to overload and blew up the lab in an attempt to kill her.
It failed, but Baker's corpse was buried in the rubble.
Comments: Created by Branislav "Bane" Kerac.
Vukodlak first appeared in the Yugoslavian comic Yu Strip#32 in the
strip Ket Klou (Cat Claw). Kerac, a Serbian artist, had come up with the
title character in conjunction with his friend and past collaborator Svetozar "Toza" Obradović, but it's unclear
whether Toza also co-created Vukodlak, though it is possible, maybe
even probable, given that Vukodlak appears in the very first
installment.
As best as I've been able to figure out, Cat
Claw ran for a total of 28 episodes in Yu Strip, with gaps between
episodes. These were reprinted in various European countries, but I
couldn't tell you exactly where or when. Those who know the series
recall that Cat Claw's flimsy outfit frequently suffered costume
malfunctions resulting in some nudity - there's a reason I cropped the
main image here to cut off part of the heroine that Vukodlak is
fighting. However, there's no nudity in the original Yu Strip run until
the ninth episode - I suspect that it was originally included but
censored by the publisher, and restored in the earlier installments when
they got reprints. Eternity reprinted all of these in their nine issue
run of Cat Claw, with all the nudity back in, but with a different sort
of censorship, detailed further down this profile.
Perhaps as a result of the extra exposure (no pun intended) new episodes began appearing in the Swedish magazine Magnum in 1991, after the American reprints ended (it's possible these new episodes actually appeared somewhere else earlier, but I've not been able to find evidence of this) - sixteen Magnum issues that I know of, because they and the original run were subsequently gathered into eleven collected editions. In 2004 Kerac mentioned in an interview that he was hoping to eventually release a twelfth volume. You can see the covers for the eleven collections here (but be warned, there is some nudity, so if that would offend, then don't click on the link).
In the American printings this character is
called "the Werewolf," but since there are quite a few characters who
use that name (such as Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night) I've stuck
with name he used in the Yugoslavian versions, which sounds cooler
anyway imo. Of course, in universe the story was set in New York and
there's no suggestion the character isn't an American, so he probably
did call himself just the Werewolf.
Though the implication of Cat Claw getting
her feline powers from a device on Professor Baker's lab was that this
device was likely the origin of Baker's animal powers, it wasn't until
his final appearance that this was confirmed, when Baker wolfed out in
an attempt to stop Doctor Morse from using the Sygmatron and stated that
there was only room for "one Sygmatron creature in this city and that is
the Werewolf!" As such, his lycanthropy is scientific, rather than the
more common supernatural curse. Given that Carol got feline powers after
being scratched by a cat and exposed to the Sygmatron, it seems logical
that Baker must have been exposed to a wolf.
Cat Claw was republished in English by Eternity Comics, an imprint of Malibu, and so eligible for Appendix coverage thanks to Marvel purchasing Malibu.
| Could Vudkodlak (and Cat Claw's entire series) be set in 616? I think without question. It's not only standard superhero stuff set in a world mostly like our own apart from the presence of superhumans, much like the Marvel universe, but from the very first episode there was repeated evidence that it was taking place within the Marvel multiverse, if not officially so. See below: | ||||
 In episode#1 the not-yet Cat Claw Carol Connor is in the park and in one panel we see two familiar lovebirds on a bench behind her. Yes, that's Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. The two page park sequence was cut entirely from the U.S. reprint. |
 Episode#2 sees Carol's roommate reading a comic, though who the comic is about changes for the U.S. reprint. |
 Episode#8 includes a flashback to a fight involving a horn-headed hero. The U.S. reprint calls him Crashman, but the original version calls him "Nebojsa" ("Fearless"), which was the name Daredevil often got reprinted under in Yugoslavia, AND tells readers that for more detailed information they should write to 575 Madison Av, NYC - which was Marvel Comics' address at the time. |
||
  |
||||
|
In episode#10 Cat Claw needs to replace her damaged costume, and goes to a costume shop. The original version (left) has a somewhat different and more recognizable selection than the more generic costumes in the reprint version (right) |
||||
 In episode#11 Cat
Claw fights some thugs in the costume shop, and at one point
picks up a Daredevil figure to use as a bat. When she puts him
down she calls him Nebojsa, but in the U.S. reprint she calls
him Crashman, as in episode#8. |
||||
Additionally, in episode#18 we see a
newspaper editor carrying a copy of the "Daily Buggle" (sic), a detail
not modified for the American reprint, and in #19 Cat Claw attends a
costume party where others present are dressed as Spidey, Daredevil,
Captain America and the Thing.
This profile was completed on 09/14/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent
Profile by Loki. CLARIFICATIONS:
Vukodlak has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Samizdat's Cat Claw Album#1, cover (main image)
Cat Claw#1, p4, pan2 (human headshot)
Cat Claw#2, p2, pan1 (introducing himself as the Werewolf)
Samizdat's Cat Claw Album#3, cover
(defeated)
Cat Claw#5, p16, pan5 (transforming)
Yu Strip#32,
p3, pan5 (Carol interrupts Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson)
Cat Claw#1, p27, pan4 (Jeannie reading "Bitter-Man")
Cat Claw#3, p18, pan5 (Daredevil/Crashman fights Grgur)
Cat Claw#4, p17, pan1 (Cat Claw in the costume shop)
Cat Claw#4, p25, pan2 (grabbing the Daredevil mannequin - only including
the Yugoslavian version because ironically the U.S. version shows nudity
while this one didn't)
Cat Claw#4, p26, pan1 (calling
the mannequin either "Fearless" or Crashman, depending on the version)
Appearances:
Cat Claw#1 (September 1990) -
Toza Obradovic (writer for Chapter 1), Bane Kerac (writer for Chapter 2,
art), Sibin Slavkovic (editor)
Cat Claw#2 (November
1990) - Bane
Kerac (writer for Chapter 3, art), S. Dragincic (writer for Chapter
4&5), Sibin Slavkovic (editor)
Cat
Claw#4-5 (February-April 1991) - Bane Kerac (writer, art)
First Posted: 09/21/2026
Last updated: 09/14/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright
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Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
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