The Stop Button

Blankets (2003) OGN WA: Craig Thompson. Oddly callous memoir about creator Thompson growing up conservative Christian in rural Wisconsin in the eighties and nineties. The first half is rough but searching. The second half is more polished; usually for nothing. Thompson figures it out by the end, when it’s too late. More unfocused than bad.

Doctor Strange (1974) #14 [1976] W: Steve Englehart. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. The TOMB OF DRACULA crossover finishes up here, with Strange outwitting Drac to save Wong’s immortal soul. Most of it plays as a TOD issue, only with atrocious Englehart scripting. And despite great Colan and Palmer art… the action’s lousy.

Ginseng Roots (2019) #11 [2023] WA: Craig Thompson. The Brothers Thompson finish up their Chinese trip, with Craig showing a great deal of cultural sensitivity and enthusiasm. The boon is their third wheel–a “sister”/tour guide. Lush art; wonderful as usual.

Ginseng Roots (2019) #12 [2023] WA: Craig Thompson. Craig–GINSENG’s protagonist, not the creator–figures out if he’ll actually be able to turn all his ginseng research into a comic. Good thing since it’s the last issue. It’s a double-sized, glorious finale to the series.

Monkey Prince (2021) #4 [2022] W: Gene Luen Yang. A: Bernard Chang. MONKEY wraps its origin arc with a big, but not dangerous cliffhanger. Monkey and Shifu team up with Robin again, this time intentionally. They’ve got to save Monkey’s parents from the demonically possessed Penguin. Yang has fun with the teen superhero team-up. Good jokes and a great pairing of culture and canon.

Monkey Prince (2021) #5 [2022] W: Gene Luen Yang. A: Bernard Chang. New town, new school, new girl, new supervillain boss for the parents. The parents are fun and funny but also a tad psychopathic. They’re now bad parents, endangering Marcus. Though Marcus manages to get into danger on his own. Yang continues to impress, especially how he weaves in the DCU. Good, creepy action art. Who needs Batman when you’ve got MONKEY.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #38 [1975] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. More filler to delay the Dracula showdown with Doctor Sun. Unfortunately, it involves the return of Harold H. Harold, Wolfman’s most obnoxious creation (to date). Quincy and Co. team up with Sun; I’m sure they won’t regret that choice.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #39 [1975] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Doctor Sun’s master plan comes into focus, with the vampire hunters unwittingly (but predictably) playing into his plans, which–shocker–aren’t just about trying to kill Dracula. Colan seems to be doing a Will Eisner homage at times, which is something, at least.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #40 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Frank Giacoia, Gene Colan. Gorgeous art, thank goodness, to compensate for insipid dialogue and more plot churning from Wolfman as the army tries to take on Doctor Sun. Will Dracula have to get involved to save the day?

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #41 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Dracula’s back from the dead (again), because no one else can possibly stop the evil Doctor Sun (again). Dippy Wolfman script, great Colan and Palmer art. Sadly, Blade joins the gang just so they can be racist at him (again).

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #42 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. So much racism. So much. Blade’s just here as a target. Anyway–Wolfman wraps up the third(?) final showdown with Doctor Sun, in full tell don’t show mode. The obnoxious supporting cast doesn’t help anything either. Lackluster in the extremis.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #43 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Wolfman punts on Blade’s vengeance art (as always), leaving the previous cliffhanger unresolved. Instead, he does a done-in-one reset involving a reporter. The art’s nice and the characters are far less obnoxious than the regular cast.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #44 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Aside from the perplexing choice of Boston as the new setting, lousy supporting character moments, and over-baked dialogue, it’s not bad. There’s movement on Blade’s arc (finally) and great art on guest-star Doctor Strange. Plus deep cuts to Dracula’s Marvel origin. Crossover concludes in DR. STRANGE (1972) #14.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #45 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Blade and Hannibal King team up in a back door pilot and Wolfman does a full, immediate cop-out on the DR. STRANGE crossover death for Dracula. Instead, Dracula decides to start a cult. Weird, dumb, but gorgeous art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #46 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Dracula gets married, which is boring. Blade hangs out with another racist, also boring. To stay engaged, Wolfman does a horror comic done in one about a toxic waste monster. Not good but different, with solid but not great art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #47 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. It’s an all romance issue. Dracula and Domini talk past each other with agendas and love at first bite. Blade’s girlfriend distracts him from his life-long quest. Rachel’s sick of Frank. Harold comes back for some ungodly reason. Speaking of godly, Wolfman goes 100% Christian comic, with Jesus being a visually passive but ostensibly active participant. Blah.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #48 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Competently executed filler with a lead story about one of Dracula’s victims as she encounters him time and again throughout her life. Not great but gives Colan and Palmer variety.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #49 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Dracula’s trapped in a woman’s magical library where she hangs out with her favorites from classical literature, and he’s a mega prick about it. Good but not great Colan and Palmer art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #50 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. It’s the battle no one needed–Silver Surfer versus Dracula! Thanks to the art, the comic works out, but Wolfman tries too hard writing the Surfer. He gets the protagonist spot, making Dracula a supporting player for an anniversary special. Also, the Christian stuff is overbearing.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #51 [1976] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. It’s a mostly action issue–Dracula’s fundraising for his cult, evil vampire Blade happens in, Drac’s racist as usual, they duke it out. Meanwhile, Frank successfully gaslights Rachel into admitting men are always right. Blah. Not even the art keeps it going.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #52 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. It’s Dracula vs. an unknown super-being who looks like Adam Warlock but isn’t a warlock because Wolfman’s doing a Christian comic. Colan’s the same but less. Colan’s real close to phoning it in level.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #53 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Blade and Hannibal King need to track down Deacon Frost for their vengeance arcs. Only problem is Blade’s dead. Good thing there are guest stars like Damian Hellstrom available. Real good art, slightly obnoxious King narration, but it’s solid action comics.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #54 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. The Son of Dracula is born, on Christmas Eve. Will Dracula keep wife Domini happy as his minions plot against him, in league with his nemeses? Of course. Gorgeous night-time wintery art–Colan’s seeming Eisner nods are back. Best “normal” issue in ages, which sadly means some racism towards Blade from his white pals.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #55 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan. An occasionally problematic, but incredibly ambitious TOMB, centering (eventually) around bride of Dracula, Domini. Colan and Palmer have a glorious issue. Wolfman does okay (it’s complicated) but there’s a lot of earnest to it. At times, so much things get silly.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #56 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Harold writes a novel about fighting Dracula. It’s terrible (one has to wonder if Wolfman was self-aware when mocking garishly purple prose). So is the comic any good? No. The art’s good. The story is surprisingly bland.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #57 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Wolfman tries another done-in-one-ish horror comic about a man who keeps getting reincarnated until he meets Dracula in present-day Boston. Lots of racism in the flashbacks (Wolfman frankly revels in it), while the regular subplots get pushed again further. Bah. But some good art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #58 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Blade and an old friend team up to save the friend’s wife from an odd vampiric affliction. The story gets silly at times, but… at least no one’s racist in it towards Blade or his Black friends. In the story, anyway. Wolfman’s got to make sure Blade treats his girlfriend like garbage. Fine art, but the story’s more compelling for once.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #59 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Unsurprisingly, the fearless vampire hunters bungle ambushing Dracula as he celebrates the birth of his son. The regular cast doesn’t like the idea of using… guns with silver bullets to kill Dracula (it’s unsporting, but then there’s no comic if they ever succeed). Great art and a silly finish. Wolfman’s bad at Christian comics.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #60 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan. Phenomenal art–Dracula raging against a thunderstorm–would make the issue stand apart, but then there’s also all the weird and icky. First, it retcons last issue’s Christian comic cliffhanger. Then Dracula rants about being a rapist when he was alive. Wolfman’s idea of writing him sympathetic is something else. But, the art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #61 [1977] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. After a distressing intro with the insipid vampire killers, the issue settles into the main event—Mrs. Dracula trying to resurrect Junior. Except if Junior comes back he’ll be a Heaven vampire, Dad’s mortal enemy. Wolfman’s overwriting passes obnoxious, but it’s weird enough to compel, with help from the gorgeous art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #62 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. The issue starts soft, with Domini and Janus talking too much before Janus turns into a golden eagle (the Heavenly version of a vampire bat?). But then there’s a great, weird fight scene, followed by actual suspense. Wolfman overwrites it a tad, but the main story about a haunted house, is rock solid.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #63 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Drac, son Janus, Frank Drake, and guest star Topaz fight a demonic, telepathic worm monster in a haunted house. Lots of setup to fill pages before a strange time jump back to gladiator times. Lots of great art. And in the last few pages, Wolfman figures out how to make it compelling.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #64 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Dracula and Topaz go to Hell so Satan (not Mephisto) can babble incessantly about Dracula being so badass he most be destroyed. It’s another of Wolfman’s terrible Christian comics. Back on Earth, lots of (misogynistic) talk of the fearless vampire hunters. Not even the art can help this stinker. Okay cliffhanger. Maybe.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #65 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan. Human Dracula roams Boston by daylight, becoming a reluctant hero, while the fearless vampire hunters debate whether killing him in his resurrection is fair game. They decide human or not, he goes. Then there’s some cowboy vampire hunter. Is it lazy or just bad? Good art, though.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #66 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan. Dracula is in New York City, trying to find daughter Lilith to turn him back into a vampire. He meets a divorcée at a discotheque. His cowboy hitman pursues. Good art, if strange (cowboy vs. vampire in seventies New York. Wolfman overdoes the Christian stuff again and teases The Cowboy about his real name not being manly enough.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #67 [1978] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan. Still in New York, Dracula tracks down daughter Lilith, who takes advantage of his humanity to beat the everblooming shit out of him. Great art, a tad exploitative at times (cleavage angles are a big thing). Harold shows up and gets into a buddy cop movie with Drac. Bad Christian comics too! It’s packed.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #68 [1979] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Really good conclusion to the Dracula as human arc. Not without many faults, including the barely present Colan pencils. The art is good, but it’s very different than usual. The ending’s a talky disappointment but the ride there is phenomenal. Even with problems, the writing’s got momentum going for it.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #69 [1979] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. On the run from his old subordinates, Dracula—once again a vampire—finds himself protecting scared children. There’s a lot about crucifies too, which Wolfman manages not to bungle. It’s the first time he hasn’t screwed up the Christian stuff. Art’s good. Still that “New Colan” vibe. Maybe we won’t go back.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #70 [1979] W: Marv Wolfman. A: Gene Colan, Tom Palmer. Big finale has some great art. Some. It’s also a whiff of a finish, with Wolfman going all in on a “Rachel’s a broken woman” bit. No special guest stars. No big payoff. Wolfman basically soft booted last issue and now we’re at the end. But some good—some great art. “New Colan” is mostly gone. Too bad about the script.