Tomb Of Dracula #14 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 14, November 1973

Having killed off the titular character in this comic title’s previous instalment, courtesy of “a knife thrown with hellish rage by the vampire-slayer known as Blade”, Marv Wolfman understandably spends the vast majority of this nineteen-page periodical engineering a narrative with which to bring the blood-drinking demon back from the dead. Disagreeably however, whilst many of this monthly’s readers would surely have anticipated just such a storyline, especially when the publication’s cover proudly proclaims that “The Vampire has risen from the grave”, few surely would have expected the Brooklyn-born writer to accomplish the feat in such an incredibly outlandish and contrived manner.

Somewhat contentiously though, it probably isn’t the fact that the multiple award-winning author has a Man of God resurrect the Prince of Vampires that proves so brusquely unbelievable. For by his own admission the “dejected Father Joshiah Dawn” is clearly someone tormented by both inner demons and "Satan’s hand...” Nor is it the illogical coincidence of the revivalist just happening to see the Count’s abandoned coffin miraculously glowing just outside his dwindling congregation’s tent. The biggest problem with the storyline to “Dracula Is Dead!” is that the Christian spiritualist “take[s] the knife” out of the Transylvanian nobleman’s petrified corpse knowing full well that in doing so he’ll be bringing back a “dude [that’s] been damned more times ‘n Judas.”

Admittedly once he has arisen Dawn’s “brothers and sisters” momentarily hold the “Lord of Evil” at bay via “the searing power of the Cross of God”. But to suggest even so many crucifixes would somehow kill “Satan’s Demon” is infuriatingly naïve, particularly when the press then try to wrestle Bram Stoker’s creation to the floor in order to somehow end his unholy existence. Considering that the self-appointed people’s saviour dangerously boasts that “the Lord gave me knowledge of you and your kind and he spoke unto me of your weakness”, it seems rather ludicrous that anyone would try and physically molest a creature who can simply transform himself into mist and evade such an impotent attack…

Fortunately despite such a glaringly manufactured plot Gene Colan’s artwork for this nineteen-page periodical is terrific. Indeed, whether it be illustrating “the villagers: their minds possessed by Dracula months before” obediently “smashing at the old oaken door” in their unreasoning desire to retrieve their master's corpse and “remove the knife from his chest”, or the Count’s sneering final confrontation with a defeated Josiah Dawn as lightning illuminates the night’s sky, the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Famer’s detailed pencilling, ably inked by Tom Palmer, proves consistently dynamic-looking.

Story: Marv Wolfman, Pencils: Gene Colan, and Inks: Tom Palmer

Tomb Of Dracula #1 - Marvel Comics

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 --”

Fortunately Issue One of “Tomb Of Dracula” does contain some wonderfully atmospheric artwork by Gene Colan, such as the voluptuous local barmaid, duplicitous Graves and sultry-looking fanged Jeanie. However it is the Eagle Award-winner’s drawing of the Count himself, crammed full of brooding menace and nobility which genuinely makes this comic’s pencilling a genuine treat for the eyes.

Writer: Gerry Conway, Artist: Gene Colan, and Letterer: Jon Costa

Tomb Of Dracula #8 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 8, May 1973

Whilst Marv Wolfman’s second script for “Tomb Of Dracula” is undeniably a thrilling action-packed read, crammed full of the Count’s frightful machinations for world domination, as well as more of the living dead than even Rachel van Helsing can shake a sharpened stake at, “The Hell-Crawlers” also disappointingly relies upon its readers to take an awful lot of the Shazam Award-winner’s plot devices at face value. For not only does the Brooklyn-born writer conjure up an unnamed “quick-acting poison” which swiftly threatens to slice through Dracula’s “vital organs” and forever contaminate him. But he also creates the character of a physician vampire who has both somehow managed to sire a human daughter and create “an instrument of the damned” imaginatively called “The Projector!”

Indeed it is rather hard to imagine a less convincing narrative in a Bronze Age comic book, especially when Doctor Heinrich Mortte’s invention looks exactly like a genuine household "opto-mechanical device for displaying film" and yet is apparently somehow capable of “raising from the grave an army of living vampires” all under the Count’s control. Certainly Bram Stoker’s villainous fiend has never looked more ludicrous than when he raises the film projector aloft above his head and excitedly exclaims “Now I have the power to create an army of undefeatable vampires… Ha! Ha! Ha”. Little wonder that the aristocrat’s bearded subject “rue[s] the day I first conceived this horror...”

Equally as hard to accept within this twenty-page periodical is Wolfman’s unbelievably idiotic portrayal of Dracula and the Transylvanian nobleman’s foolish treatment of the ‘teacher of medicine’. The creator of Blade quickly establishes, through the blood-drinker’s physical abuse of the “insufferable” Clifton Graves, that his version of the Lord of Vampires is highly intolerant of his servants. But having pushed Mortte to his moral threshold's breaking point by contemptuously belittling the scientist whilst he takes the Projector from him, the sneering 'immortal' then incomprehensibly tells Heinrich that the doctor’s “daughter must be our first victim… to show the world we vampires hold no quarter for anyone!” It is therefore little wonder that upon hearing this the elderly consultant steals back the instrument he “should have destroyed… years ago” and shatters it upon “the ice-capped ground” in his death-throes.

Fortunately Issue Eight of “Tomb Of Dracula” still proves to be an entertaining experience as a result of Gene Colan’s exemplary pencilling and Ernie [Chua] Chan’s inks. In fact the artistic duo really seem to have been at their best whilst producing this comic strip, especially towards the book’s end as Dracula and Mortte lock fangs in the guise of giant flying bats, and Quincy escapes certain death at the tiny hands of a horde of hypnotised youths.

Writer: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Gene Colan, and Inker: Ernie Chan

Tomb Of Dracula #7 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 7, March 1973

Despite comprising of a confusingly busy narrative, which not only contains an astonishingly high number of notable characters such as Edith Harker, Rachel van Helsing, Frank Drake, Taj and the cravenly Clifton Graves, but also a seemingly endless series of contrived happenstances which swiftly bring the entire party of protagonists into direct contact with the Transylvanian nobleman on the wintry streets of London, “Night Of The Death Stalkers” also provides its readers with the thoroughly compelling beginnings of a titanic “ongoing saga plotting its title’s vampire count against a group of vampire hunters” under the penmanship of two-time Eagle Award-winner Marv Wolfman. Indeed “eleven months, six issues and three writers after the launch” of “The Tomb Of Dracula” there is finally a palpable sense of long-term direction with this issue’s storyline as the Brooklyn-born writer introduces the comic book’s readership to the fanged fiend’s elderly wheelchair-bound nemesis, Quincy Harker and establishes that the invalid has “dedicated” the past sixty years of his life to finding people ‘who shared his hatred for the Undead.’

Having provided such a formidably inventive, albeit partially paralysed, foil for the scheming ‘supervillain’, the creator of Blade also supplies the cloaked aristocrat with something of a makeover within this twenty-page periodical by reinforcing, partially through a citation from “The Chronicles of Abraham Van Helsing… 1888”, that Dracula has both the power to “direct the elements: the rain, the thunder, the snow” and the ability to hypnotize groups of humans with a “deathly stare” into “zombie-like attackers”. Both of these supernatural aptitudes are crucial to this magazine’s central plot as the hungry patrician first buries England’s capital city under a “bitter hoarfrost” and then callously traps his numerous foes with a horde of “drugged” children who “are compelled to destroy” Harker and “will not stop until they are successful.”; “You cannot stop them, because to stop them, you must kill them! And you, Mister Drake… You could never bring yourself to murder a child. Ha! Ha! Ha!”   

Somewhat disappointingly however, Gene Colan’s artwork for this fascinating confrontation between Dracula and his “old friend” Quincy, is slightly inconsistent, especially when it comes to the classic horror illustrator’s depiction of the Lord of Vampires himself. Admittedly the vast majority of panels containing Graves’ ungrateful “Master” adhere to the Bronx-born penciller’s innovative and inspired vision of him looking like actor Jack Palance. But dishearteningly, whether as a result of Tom Palmer’s errant inking or not, the “loathsome” monster occasionally appears to resemble little more than a shoddily-drawn red-eyed devil with a disturbingly bouffant widow’s peak.

Writer: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Gene Colan, and Inker: Tom Palmer

Tomb Of Dracula #18 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 18, March 1974

Whilst Marv Wolfman’s narrative for “Enter: Werewolf By Night” undoubtedly makes good upon its promise of celebrating “two of Marvel’s most macabre super-stars-- in a battle of monsters!” The Brooklyn-born writer’s confrontation is rather disappointingly an emphatically one-sided affair as the Prince of Vampires easily subdues his lycanthrope opponent on two entirely separate occasions. Indeed Dracula actually appears to have more of a problem overcoming Jacob “Jack” Russell’s mysteriously mesmerising female companion Topaz, than he does outfighting the antiheroic werewolf, even turning “hesitantly before the power of this girl” and taking flight into “the indigo skies.”

However any readers dissatisfied over so lack-lustre a response to this meeting of two iconic horror comic book characters, should still have found plenty to enjoy within the Shazam Award-winner’s storyline, especially as it provides plenty of cryptic clues as to why Russell’s father had apparently been secretly “observing” Castle Dracula from a clandestine vantage point within Russoff Manor. This particular periodical also contains some additional backstory to Bram Stoker’s creation as well. Something which is especially useful for those unfamiliar with the vampire’s history as depicted in the American black and white horror magazine “Dracula Lives!”; a thirteen issue series published by “Marvel Comics Group” in the early Seventies.  

In fact Wolfman seems to positively delight in teasing his audience with cryptic clues as to future tragedies yet to come and even goes so far as to include a brief fleeting glimpse of a hapless Blade about to be staked by a chair bound Quincy Harker beneath the streets of Paris, only to then narrate “but we shall not see its impact…” Yet whilst the vampire killer’s fate at the hands of the elderly invalid is clearly to be revealed in “the next issue” dishearteningly readers would have to go and purchase Issue Fifteen of “Werewolf By Night” in order to “learn the origin of the werewolf” as well as discover “the conclusion of the most sense-shattering battle of them all.” For as Dracula kneels over a semi-conscious Russell saying “But for now, Dracula thirsts and he thirsts [for] the blood of the werewolf!” the comic dramatically ends.

Equally as frustrating is the artwork of Eugene Jules “Gene” Colan, whose pencilling appears worryingly inconsistent throughout this issue despite being inked by Tom Palmer. The two-time Eagle Award-winner seems to initially really struggle drawing Jack Russell and it is only when the New Yorker portrays the cursed youth battling the drunken ne’er-do-well Scratcher that his readily recognised charismatic style comes to the fore.

Writer: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Gene Colan, and Inker: Tom Palmer

Tomb Of Dracula #15 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 15, December 1973

Though arguably best known for his ‘lengthy run’ as the writer on this title, it is highly unlikely that the script to Issue Fifteen of “Tomb Of Dracula” will ever be seen as one of Marv Wolfman’s greatest contributions to the Bronze Age of Comics. For rather than containing an immersive engaging narrative, the nineteen page horror magazine is disappointingly little more than a disconnected collection of unimaginative short stories involving the Lord of Vampires and therefore proves to be a very messy substandard read.

Much of this displeasure comes from the expectations created by Gill Kane’s wonderfully impactive cover illustration of a rifle-carrying bearded hunter first shooting down a somewhat surprised vampire bat in mid-flight, and then standing over the Count’s ‘dead’ body in astonishment. Such an exciting well-drawn composition creates all sorts of questions in any purchaser’s mind as to why a mortal would so foolishly commit such an act upon the supervillain and equally promises some blood-curdling reprisals once the gunman’s prey has recovered from his wound. After all “How long will a vampire stay dead?”

Unfortunately the entire matter is very brusquely and bewilderingly resolved within the space of just three short pages as Wolfman reveals that Dracula actually allowed himself to be ‘shot at’ in order to “see what sort of man would dare raise a weapon to me”. Such a sudden resolution to so potentially thrilling an adventure is then followed by three similarly brief tales; all of which are supposedly taken from the Transylvanian’s very own “personal ledger.”

Admittedly there is some logic to the two-time Eagle Award-winner’s creation of such a bizarre anthology book, as clearly none of the unrelated ideas included within “Fear Is The Name Of The Game!” would themselves be substantial enough to ‘fill an entire issue’ on their own. But such a potpourri of plots, including a murdered wife seeking a fitting revenge upon her homicidal husband, an immortal Roman luring Dracula to a lake of blood and an elderly Scotsman ‘killing’ the Count in his own castle, smacks of the scripter still “floundering on the series”.

Possibly just as uninspired by this comic’s storyline was penciler Gene Colan, as the American artist’s drawings becomes increasingly unimpressive and erratic the further into the book one looks. Indeed so inconsistent is the Bronx-born illustrator’s sketchings, one moment superbly depicting the hapless hunter Vinnie being chased by rats and then impotently showing a wronged woman savaging her ‘killer’ in the next, that it could be argued it is plainly obvious which parts of Wolfman’s writing Colan enthusiastically felt worked and which he clearly felt did not.

Scripter: Marv Wolfman, Penciler: Gene Colan, and Inker: Tom Palmer

Tomb Of Dracula #2 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 2, May 1972

Plotted by Gerry Conway at a time when the Brooklyn-born writer was by his own admission performing “at a level that was actually beyond me”, Issue Two of “Tomb Of Dracula” is arguably heavily influenced by the “Hammer Picture” fright flicks which enjoyed such popularity with movie-goers in the Fifties and Sixties. Indeed “The Fear Within!” could quite easily have been a comic book adaption of one of the British film company’s movies so similar is the magazine’s narrative to the once “lucrative Hammer formula”.

But whereas the London-based producer enjoyed “huge box office success” with its early vampire films, it is doubtful that this twenty-one page storyline would have garnered too much praise had it appeared on celluloid. Being far more akin in quality to the critically panned “The Satanic Rites of Dracula” than the 1958 box-office breaking release of Terence Fisher’s “Dracula”.

Admittedly there isn’t actually that much wrong with this response by “Marvel Comics Group” to the Comics Code Authority’s relaxation of its rules regarding horror periodicals, except perhaps the cover’s rather comedic subheading “Who Stole My Coffin?”. But Conway’s plot of an Englishman stealing the Count’s casket and fleeing the Carpathians with it to “balmy London” is a little fatuous and silly. Especially when it results in the Lord of Vampires paying Clifton Graves’ “fog-wrapped city” a visit, dressed in all the foppish trappings of a gentleman such as walking cane and fedora.

The storyline also struggles to purvey any genuine sense of horror despite starting dramatically enough with the latest owner of “the old count’s castle” discovering the vampire’s tomb amidst the fortification’s crumbling ruins. This is predominantly caused by the New Yorker’s incarnation of Dracula appearing to be a much more action-orientated villain than the secretive terrifyingly intense ‘big screen’ version established by actor Christopher Lee. Something which results in the Transylvanian nobleman preferring to duke it out with a bar-room lout in a packed public house than simply stalk the shadows as an unseen killer.  

Fortunately artist Gene Colan’s illustrations are engaging enough, if a little rough and undisciplined in places, such as Graves’ staking of his beloved Jeanie. But something has clearly gone awry with the colouring of Dracula’s flesh a third of the way through the issue as the vampire remains as white-skinned as ever despite Van Harbou relieving the Count of his “unearthly pallor” early on in the adventure.

Story: Gerry Conway, Art: Gene Colan, and Inking: Vince Colletta

Tomb Of Dracula #9 - Marvel Comics

TOMB OF DRACULA No. 9, June 1973

If vampires actually existed and had nightmares then it would be easy to imagine that the Lord of the Damned’s precarious situation during the first few pages of Issue Nine of “Tomb of Dracula” would be at the top of their list. For this “midnight excursion” by Marv Wolfman places a semi-conscious recuperating supervillain in the enclosed back room of a church with little in the way of fixtures except a large “cursed crucifix!” Unsurprisingly Dracula is far from happy with this particular turn in his undead fortunes. However he is unable to exact any kind of lasting revenge upon the citizens of Littlepool for the entirety of the book due to the ill effects from having previously been struck by a poisoned dart.

Indeed The Lord of all the Undead has seldom been seen in such a poor weakened condition and the Brooklyn-born comic book writer takes full advantage of this unusual state of affairs in “Death From The Sea!” No longer able to simply fly to safety or rely upon his great inhuman strength and savagery, Dracula instead has to use his wits and cunning to buy himself sufficient time to identify a hapless victim and regain his potency. As a result the 1973 Shazam Award-winner places the blood-drinker in the amusingly absurd situation of first being offered a room for the night in a church and then in the uncomfortable position where he must calm the concerns of the local townsfolk by recounting to them the adventure which led him to their minster’s doorstep.

This three-page flashback sequence is very well written with the Lord of the Damned explaining away his ghoulish attacks upon innocent travellers by referring to them as operations and blood transfusions. To the people of Littlepool this clearly comes across as a reasonable tale of ill-luck by a stranger in poor health. But to the reader, who has seen the true tale of Dracula’s exploits via the illustrations of Gene Colan, it is clear that the Lord of Vampires is at his manipulative best.

Unfortunately the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Famer is not quite on top of his game throughout these twenty pages with the majority of his pencil work appearing workmanlike at best. There’s a definite lack of detail to many of the panels’ characters and a rather simplistic, almost rushed feel to the artwork. Certainly the illustrations lack the signature-style of fluid figure drawing and extensive use of shadows for which the Silver Age comic book artist is best known for.

However much of this criticism may actually be down to inker Vince Colletta, who despite being one of Jack “King” Kirby’s frequent collaborators during the Fifties and Sixties, does not seem to have had such a positive influence upon Colan’s work as the title’s regular contributor Tom Palmer did. Indeed the Italian inker was replaced by Jack Abel in the following issue after publisher Stan Lee felt he had taken unacceptable shortcuts on the inking. Later Colan himself would go on record as saying that Coletta "didn't take his time with my stuff."

Story: Marv Wolfman, Art: Gene Colan, and Inking: Vince Colletta