TOMB OF DRACULA No. 1, April 1972 |
Whilst a pleasing enough read, with plenty of suspense and some fleeting
glimpses of the Count’s formidable powers as he easily withstands Clifton
Graves’ panicky bullets at point-blank range, it is hard to believe that this
twenty-five page periodical formed the foundation upon which a seventy-issue
long series was built. Certainly so cornily contrived a narrative as one based
upon the bizarre notion that a financially deficient relative of Dracula would
visit the long-abandoned vampire’s castle in the hopes of turning it into a
tourist attraction makes it understandable as to why, in more recent years, “credited…
sole writer” Gerry Conway has supposedly distanced himself from the
publication, with both Roy Thomas and title Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee having subsequently
been given dual responsibility for the plot.
Indeed even the composition of the comic’s supporting cast appears to
have been manufactured simply to provide a disappointingly implausible explanation
as to the reason behind someone arbitrarily removing the stake from the corpse of
“a man whose name is whispered by… wary hill-people” and thus inadvertently
bring the famous fictitious blood-drinker back to (un)life. Why else would Frank
Drake willingly visit Transylvania with both his girlfriend Jeanie and her murderous
ex-lover if it wasn’t to allow this publication’s writer to indolently have the
vampire-hunter’s former friend snatch-up the sharpened piece of wood with the
intention of using it to “remove a certain obstacle to a young lady’s
affections”?
Sadly the handling of the titular character himself also seems to
somewhat suffer on account of poor story-telling. Admittedly the Comics Code
Authority’s decade-long “virtual ban on vampires” had potentially made writing
for so malevolent a creature of the night somewhat arduous. But having clearly
established Dracula’s immunity to firearms, fearsome faculty for mesmerism and
ability to readily transform into a bat (and vice versa), why is the Lord of
Vampires unable to “remain” in the presence of a human holding a “silver
compact” and later suffer the blessed indignity of having his relative bounce
the tiny round mirror off his head?; “Idiot! Did you really think that compact
would destroy me? You’ve sealed your end, my friend --”
Writer: Gerry Conway, Artist: Gene Colan, and Letterer: Jon Costa |
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