Dracula Lives (1973) #4

Dl4

I’m getting to be such a Mike Ploog snob. Seeing him ink his own pencils, then seeing others ink his pencils… the latter always seems to come with qualifications, asterisks, and compromises. Ploog pencils this issue’s first story, written by Marv Wolfman, with Ernie Chan inking him. Chan keeps much of the detail, even much of the personality, but not the energy.

The story’s about one Louis Belski, Dracula actor. I thought Wolfman was doing a riff on Bela Lugosi: switching the initials, portraying the actor in his has-been days, ready for Ed Wood to show up with an offer, but apparently not. Belski’s instead just a hack who never achieved the greatness of Lugosi, John Carradine, or Christopher Lee—according to Dracula himself, who’s come to Hollywood to stop Belski from continuing his career.

His career’s incredibly long; Belski started at the studio when it was constructed in 1927. It’s the early seventies; the actor’s apparently in his early to mid-sixties, which kind of explains why he’s not doing well in the part. He’s also a raging drunk who starts pretending he’s really Dracula after shooting’s stopped, attacking those who wrong him, and trying to seduce an ingénue. So the actual Count doesn’t just have to contend with an obnoxious actor; he’s also got to intercede in that actor’s drunken, murderous rampage.

It’s a jam-packed story, with Wolfman sort of overwriting it but never thinking about it—Belski’s age, for instance, but then also the idea Dracula got his stake pulled in Tomb and went out to revival theaters to catch up on how he’d been portrayed in popular media. Also, Belski’s a lousy lead to follow around. It’s like a horror comic where you’re waiting for the villain’s comeuppance, but the collateral damage on the comeuppance is almost too much.

While not bad, it’s definitely disappointing. Especially for the only Ploog in Dracula Lives so far.

Then there are some text pieces; lots of text pieces this issue. And the movie stills with new text are back, though not as jokey as they’ve been before. Now they’re just interstitials. The first two text pieces are a book review about the real Dracula from Chris Claremont. The book’s called In Search of Dracula (and appears to still be in print if one’s interested), but the review’s way too overwrought with Claremont trying to be personable, then the typesetting on movie stills makes it hard to read.

Then Dwight R. Decker contributes a one-page joke vacation text about real Romania? It’s too bad the filler’s not better in Lives. Especially since they appear to be upping the text and lowering the reprint count. There are only two reprint stories.

The first is about a village where everyone thinks this lovely lady is a vampire seducing the local boys, then killing them. The truth’s more complicated and not particularly rewarding, but Joe Maneely’s art’s really good, and it’s only six pages.

The following story is another original (thank goodness they’re still doing three an issue). Gardner Fox writes, Dick Ayers does the art. It’s Dracula versus Countess Elizabeth Báthory. She’s the one who bathed in human blood to stay young. Dracula doesn’t like her getting in on his business, especially when she’s a poser. It’s a tedious twelve pages, partially because the idea’s one-note, but also because Fox’s script isn’t great, and then the Ayers art is a considerable downgrade from the rest in the issue. Not just the new features either, the reprints as well.

Then comes a couple more text pieces. One’s a jokey biography of Marv Wolfman, and the other’s a review of Horror of Dracula by Gerry Boudreau. It’s more a combination of behind-the-scenes and scene-by-scene recap with some scant critical commentary. They threaten more reviews at the end.

The second reprint is a short one, art by Tony Mortellaro, and it seems like they should’ve run it in the first issue because it’s so well-suited for Lives. A German villager only wants his daughter to marry royalty, so he kills off her poor suitors, sometimes letting vampires feed on them for cover. Despite his daughter wanting to choose her own destiny, he decides for her and makes an exceptionally bad selection.

The final story is the third original, written by Gerry Conway (easily his best Dracula in Lives or Tomb and some of his best writing from this era), with art by Vicente Alcazar. Alcazar has maybe two less than perfect panels, but otherwise, the art’s consistently breathtaking.

It’s another of the Dracula origin stories, with the former Impaler retaking his castle from the invading Turks. He’s got to deal with the newly installed regional commander but also the neighborhood Catholic priest who’s got a fairly big secret. Then, of course, there’s still the castle, which the Turks have occupied, and the local girls they’ve enslaved.

The feature’s a page shorter than the issue’s other two—eleven pages instead of twelve—, and it’s a bummer they didn’t give Conway and Alcazar more pages because it’s outstanding. Conway’s characterization of Dracula as vampire king is rather thoughtful, and—given the particulars—Drac gets to be an unproblematic protagonist. Everyone else is doing far worse things than just retaking from occupiers.

Alcazar gets a variety of action to visualize, with Dracula fighting soldiers but also finding himself in his first vampire transformation duel. It’s great.

I had been thinking I’d jump off Dracula Lives after a while, so long as Tomb doesn’t keep citing it; I don’t think I can give it up. Not just for the art either; the Conway writing on the last story is fantastic. Plus, the fifties reprints are surprisingly good. I’d always assumed fifties horror comics would be rote and stale, but nope. They’re succinct enough their initial impulse carries through.

The text material, obviously, is take or leave. Meaning leave.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #14

Tod14

There are two ways to read this comic. I mean, there are many other ways, but in terms of the vampire hunters—either writer Marv Wolfman and editor Roy Thomas are missing some obvious plot points, or the vampire hunters are just a little dopey. The "little dopey" fits more.

Like, when they've killed Dracula and check for a pulse—they're not establishing themselves as very knowledgable. So after the brainwashed villagers take Dracula's corpse and go for a walk, and the fearless vampire hunters do not follow the otherwise harmless brainwashed villagers… it makes sense. They're bad at their job.

Especially since the villagers are too brainwashed to remove the knife from Dracula's heart, so his body decomposes and without a brain to mind control them, they drop the coffin and run off. Somehow Dracula thought to program them to get his corpse into his coffin, but not to remove any impalements.

Days pass, during which time the vampire hunters sit around playing board games, and then Frank comes in with a handbill announcing a church tent revival centered around resurrecting… you guessed it, Dracula! See, a preacher suffering a mental breakdown found Drac's discarded coffin and decided he was a gift from God.

The vampire hunters assume the preacher is ignorant of what he will unleash if he pulls the knife, and even Dracula will be confused about the motives. It turns out the preacher is not delusional about what he's found. The plan is to resurrect and kill Dracula repeatedly for the delight of good Christians.

I mean, it tracks, right? Like. It's inhumane and evil, and it tracks.

There's also some subplot about a Doctor Sun who's interested in vampires, enough to kill for one from the morgue. No explanation why the vampire's… dead. It doesn't have a stake through its heart, right? But, whatever. The comic promises it'll be more important later.

The art's awesome this issue—Gene Colan and Tom Palmer working in glorious synchronicity–and it makes up for the rocky storyline. And Dracula seems somewhat tragic at the end when he's at the mercy of the murderous preacher. Though the scene where none of the vampire hunters want to decapitate Dracula and instead try to pass the buck to someone else should've been played as comedy.

Oh, right: Taj survived his unsurvivable fall into the rapids. Frank Drake’s condescending but not racist when they find Taj, apparently entirely uninjured.

It's incredible how much genuinely great comic art can compensate for.

Dracula Lives (1973) #3

Dl3

There aren’t any pages of the Dracula movie stills with new dialogue. There are still some movie stills with accompanying text, but it’s not for laughs. It’s a welcome change to Dracula Lives, though the pages instead seem to be going to somewhat middling text material.

But first, the comics.

Writer Marv Wolfman contributes another part of Dracula’s Marvel origin. After becoming a vampire, killing his captors, and dropping his infant son off with some gypsies because a vampire can’t be a daddy, a flock of vampire bats descend on Dracula and again take him captive. He’s off to see Nimrod, Lord of the Vampires, only Dracula’s not going to bow to anyone, so he and Nimrod schedule a duel. Only then Nimrod’s lady tries to seduce Dracula, who isn’t into vampire ladies. Too cold.

John Buscema pencils, Syd Shores inks. It’s probably the best art in the issue, with only one real competitor, but it’s somewhat uneven. Close-ups are great, medium and long shots are iffy on the faces. And then the final battle eventually runs out of steam and ends abruptly. Good writing from Wolfman, though, and lots of the art’s solid.

The second story is one of the two fifties reprints in this issue. Larry Woromay does the art on the story, which recounts the tale of a man born disfigured who wants to become a vampire to make people pay for mistreating him. Only he can’t stand the thought of drinking blood. The end has a “twist,” but the story’s primarily successful for Woromy’s art. Lots of personality to it.

Then comes the first text piece—Doug Moench writing about Bela Lugosi and the 1931 Dracula movie. It’s a thoughtful piece examining how the film’s aged. Probably a little long, but Moench’s got good observations.

The following story is Dracula versus Solomon Kane, so Marvel did a multi-license crossover decades before the competition. Only not exactly because Dracula was never copyrighted in the United States, and the British one had run its course already.

Solomon Kane’s trying to find a missing girl in Transylvania. First, he’s fighting bandits, then wolves, with Dracula showing up to save him at the last minute. Dracula doesn’t know anything about the girl, but wouldn’t Solomon like to spend the night at the castle.

Roy Thomas writes, Alan Weiss pencils, and the “Crusty Bunkers” ink. They must sit at the same table with Many Hands. Supposedly Dick Giordano and Neal Adams did some of the inking. The art’s good but occasionally sparse. There’s great action, though, because obviously, Dracula didn’t offer Kane a place to crash not wanting to suck his blood.

It’s a Solomon Kane story guest-starring Dracula; it’s okay.

Next up is Chris Claremont’s text piece from the perspective of Van Helsing, set to pictures from the Hammer movies of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. I get they needed to fill the pages, and the story’s better than the movie still rewrites, but it’s still a quick gimmick dragged out over six pages.

The second reprint has Chuck Winter art and is a reasonably straightforward Macbeth adaptation until the last panel. Winter’s art is emotive but rushed, and the big reveal at the end isn’t an improvement on Shakespeare. Shocker. The adaptation also severely reduces Lady Macbeth’s part.

The final story is from Gerry Conway and Alfonso Font. It continues last issue’s New Orleans adventure for Drac, this time getting him all the way to Paris. A mystery woman is out to kill him, there’s a gargoyle flying around the city, lots going on.

Font’s art is design-oriented and fairly good, except Dracula looks a little silly. He’s very formally dressed and finely coiffed, but in a very distinct, very not Dracula Lives style. Font does a fantastic job with the Paris setting, just not the count. It might feature the best “bat” action, though it might also just be Paris.

The Conway story is okay. But, unfortunately, it’s a little too busy for the story we end up getting.

Dracula Lives doesn’t have any home run art outings this issue, which really hurts it. It’s a string of “not bad,” though at least the Wolfman one has some emotional weight. Then the text pieces seem like filler even when they’re okay.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #13

Tod13

It’s only taken a dozen issues, but Tomb of Dracula finally lets the vampire hunters get the upper hand. They get there the same way Dracula usually does—the writer surprising both the reader and the targets. The move isn’t quite a twist—it comes as a hard cliffhanger—and it’s nice to see writer Marv Wolfman mixing things up a bit. Not sure how many times he’ll be able to do it before it’s a trope, but this first time it works.

The issue ends with a lengthy, exciting action sequence. The vampire hunters—recovered from Edith Harker’s death—have tracked Dracula to the little English town where he’s been hiding. He’s going into the battle with a handicap; it’s almost daylight, and he’s got tired brain. But he’s still got time to do away with those pesky vampire hunters.

Gene Colan and Tom Palmer are on art, and it’s a lovely issue in that department. The art’s always good, starting with the vampire hunters bickering immediately after Edith’s death. Except when they show a shopkeep a sketch of Dracula, which alerts the Count and seemingly mind wipes the shopkeep. That sketch is a hoot. Colan and Palmer’s art is quite successful in its verisimilitude, bringing together all the comic’s disparate elements—modern London, Blaxploitation star Blade, Dracula himself—but that sketch is silly. The comic’s going into its most thrilling portion, but the most compelling question is who drew that picture and was it with crayon.

It was probably Frank Drake, who starts the issue not consoling girlfriend Rachel Van Helsing about dead Edith, leaving it for Taj. Frank’s got to pontificate instead. Blade tells him to snap out of it, Frank yells at Blade, they calm down, then Quincy agrees with Blade. That pattern repeats itself a few more times in the issue. I get unexceptional white male leads, but events always showing they’re wrong, but they never learn from their mistakes is not good writing. It’s reality, but it’s not good writing.

Anyway.

We also get a flashback to Blade’s origin, though not the half-vampire stuff yet. Just his mom getting murdered while giving birth to him. The vampire they call is a doctor, which makes him the third vampire doctor in Tomb. At first, the most interesting part of the flashback is how they’re coding the mom giving birth in a brothel, but then it’s how could Blade possibly know most of the story since the only person in the room with the vampire is his dead mom. Exquisite art and all, but it goes on long enough for the incongruity to solidify.

More interestingly, we get some insight into Dracula’s plan. He’s been biting people, not turning them into vampires, but instead into sleeper agents. His first victim is another woman he saves from a rapist. I’m not sure the last time we’ve seen Dracula kill a random woman in Tomb; he’s done it off-page, but we haven’t done the hunting in a while. So my idea for a Gene Colan art book of his panels of the bat swooping in on an unsuspecting British girl on the countryside won’t work out.

The sleeper agent bit is cool, as is Dracula going to a boxing match and deciding sports are dumb, and so are the humans watching them. He says it more artfully. His hideout, however, is a little silly. It’s the village mortuary. Functional, sure, but weird Dracula’s going to screw up this small town’s only funeral service.

Oh, speaking of weird. The timeline is a mess. The story opens at the end of last issue, then presumably jumps ahead to the next night. Dracula goes to the boxing match, then goes home. It takes him a long time to get home, and it’s almost dawn, but he sees a carnival in town. It’s only important because a cop working the carnival duty knows Quincy and calls in the vampire bat. The vampire bats are apparently ginormous, so they’re noticeable.

The overnight carnival is just odd.

But, odd aside, it’s a good issue. Dracula’s a personable villain protagonist, the art’s phenomenal, and the end action sequence is aces.

Dracula Lives (1973) #2

Dl2

There’s a thirteen-page Neal Adams warlord Dracula comic this issue, and I don’t understand why it’s not a bigger deal. Like, it’s gorgeous. Of course, the other stories have good art, too… well, the Gene Colan and Dick Giordano one, but the Adams one is kind of an immediate classic.

I started reading Dracula Lives because the Tomb of Dracula editors’ notes promised it’d fill in the backstory. Given Tomb’s unsteady continuity, I got curious; I’d also heard Dracula Lives was pretty good, the PG-17 version of TOD. But it’s not addressing the main series’s continuity issues.

Adams’s art is on the Dracula origin story, written by Marv Wolfman. Set in the fifteenth century, it begins with Dracula falling in battle against the Turks. They find him almost dead and decide to puppet him around to get everyone else to surrender, bringing him to a gypsy who swears she’ll make him right. Well, maybe, baby, the gypsy lied. She’s a vampire, and she’s going to turn Dracula for being such a shit to her people.

So, a note. Punishing a megalomaniac by making them immortal seems like a strange choice.

But the story does give vampire Dracula a better origin than, say, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He renounces his bad acts, which put his loving wife and little baby son in danger. He’s sympathetic, partially because the lead Turk is cartoonishly evil—though not cartoonish because Adams’s art is detailed and exuberantly so. It’s a good origin. Well-written by Wolfman, singular art by Adams.

Doesn’t answer any questions about Dracula knowing the vampire hunters from after the novel and before TOD #1.

Then there’s an old Atlas horror reprint; no credited writer, and Joe Sinnott art. It’s about a grave keeper swindling the local vampires. It’s a fairly by-the-numbers horror strip, and it’s pretty dang good. Sinnott’s got a good sense of humor, a lot of personality in his characters, and great use of shadows.

So there are two reprints, three original stories, and some of those one-page Dracula movie stills with new “dialogue,” but there’s also Chris Claremont doing a text piece. It’s a letter to the editor about how Bram Stoker got Dracula wrong. It’s not great, but it’s okay. What’s strange about it is the timing–Dracula Lives #2 came out in 1973, and two years later, Fred Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape came out. Tape’s all from Dracula’s perspective; it’s different from Claremont’s piece, but there are resemblances. Enough to wonder.

The text piece delays the weak comic. Written by Tony Isabella, from a Steve Gerber plot, with art by Jim Starlin (layouts by Jim Starlin) and Syd Shores finishing. Shores draws everyone like a caricature, which is something. But the story’s about Castle Dracula during World War II when Nazis occupied it and terrorized the local gypsies. One night a vampire appears, but it can’t be Dracula because Van Helsing killed him.

It should be good.

It’s not. But it should be. The art’s not good enough, the writing’s not good enough, but the concept’s not terrible. Though it directly contradicts TOD continuity.

The second reprint is a Stan Lee-penned entry, also an Atlas, about a corrupt politician who hires guys to vote using dead people’s names. Men, specifically, though that detail’s not a plot point.

Fred Kida does the art.

Art’s fine. Story’s really long without much pay-off.

The art in the final story, another original, makes up for it. It’s the Colan and Giordano art. Dracula in New Orleans. Gene Colan drawing the French Quarter with Dick Giordano inking. It’s glorious.

Roy Thomas writes. It’s an okay story about Dracula mysteriously waking up in New Orleans—directly following last issue’s New York adventure—and it’s got something to do with voodoo queen Marie Laveau. The story opens with a cemetery tour where the guide is talking about Laveau (then saying people who go into debt deserve to die, don’t you agree, which is a bizarre bit of dialogue), and it just happens to figure into the Dracula plot.

Story doesn’t matter; it’s all about the art. Art’s absolutely fantastic and not even as good as the Adams art on the first story.

The story also has a panel with The Zombie (Simon Garth), telling everyone to check out his new comic, which is an interesting bit of Marvel shared universe cross-promotion. It’s like reading a Spider-Man comic or something.

So, overall, three of the five stories are good, two are middling, the text piece isn’t terrible, and the photo dialogue things are bad but brief. Dracula Lives is a heck of a comic. Especially when it’s got such exceptional art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #12

Tod12

You know, maybe I’m overthinking the writing on Frank Drake. Maybe he’s just a shitty racist who doesn’t Taj for being Indian. It sure seems like it. Especially after he has a “quaking in his boots” moment before Blade shows up and saves his ass.

Tom Palmer’s back inking Gene Colan this issue, which is good, but it’d be better if the story weren’t just about Dracula messing with the vampire slayers. Though they’re not very good at vampire slaying, apparently. Drac’s mistake is inviting Blade along because then Blade can save everyone’s butt.

Mostly.

The issue opens with the vampire slayers interrupting Dracula’s evening snack, so he kidnaps Edith (Quincy Harker’s kid, whose most personality to date was complaining Blade isn’t polite enough to her) and tells them they have to come to a haunted mansion, or he’ll kill her. Once he gets Edith to the haunted mansion, he explains she’s dead either way.

The vampire slayers show up and walk right into the haunted mansion—called “Whispering Hell”—knowing it’s a trap. They don’t do anything to prepare for the trap angle; they just muscle their way in, thinking everything will be okay. Basically, because Taj will eventually save them. Only Taj can’t save them this time. Instead, Blade has to save them.

It’s a strange comic—writer Marv Wolfman seems aware Frank Drake is a bumbler, for example, but he’s still got to be a hero. Dracula, meanwhile, is a mean dude—he’s literally just making the vampire slayers suffer for kicks—but he’s at least not incompetent at it. Sure, inviting Blade was a mistake, but the Count was right about Quincy’s vampire slayers not being up to the task. The story just serves to humiliate the heroes, deservingly humiliate them.

They’re even more unlikeable when they don’t acknowledge Blade saved their lily-white asses.

The issue presents the ending as a surprise, but it’s pretty obvious stuff. It initially seems like it’s going to be a new development in the series overall, only—again—Wolfman takes an easy way out with it.

The art’s good but the content—Dracula versus vampire slayers in an old mansion—limits what Colan and Palmer are going to be able to do with it. Especially since Dracula’s only idea for a trap is, like, a bunch of bats and a bunch of spiders. Admittedly, the slayers can’t contend with either of them, but still….

Stop playing with your food, Vlad.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #11

Tod11

Jack Abel’s inking Gene Colan again, but the issue pulls through all the same. The art’s better than last issue, particularly on Dracula. The writing’s better too, but actually good, as opposed to just not the worst Abel can screw up Colan. There are some particularly great pencils Abel trashes this issue too. With better inking, this issue’d be a contender for best Tomb of Dracula so far. Even with the goofy Haiti voodoo subplot.

It’s been two weeks since the last issue, and Dracula’s still not used to Clifton Graves being dead. Dracula left him on an exploding yacht because Graves was so useless. Drac briefly ruminates on the departed leech, who’s been pointless since issue two, and it’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one who wanted Graves gone. Dracula, Prince of Darkness, agreed.

Dracula then goes to sleep, resting up to hunt down the biker gang who tried to drown him a couple issues ago. Now, Tomb of Dracula’s editorial notes are saying I need to read Dracula Lives! to understand Dracula’s Marvel history—which I think I’m going to do so I can better bitch about continuity issues.

This biker gang’s working for a dying rich guy who wants them to go kill his enemies before the final curtain. He’s got voodoo dolls of all his targets, so he can torture them from afar before the bikers end their miseries. It’d probably play better if there weren’t a “kidnapped in Haiti by savage voodoo natives” flashback. But that section’s quickly forgotten, as Dracula hunts the gang and they hunt their targets. Drac finally catches up when they’re on to the last victim, a mutual acquaintance (who apparently invited Dracula in at some point because he’s got no trouble entering the house uninvited).

Writer Marv Wolfman’s playing with Dracula character in more ways than just vampire rules or character history; Wolfman’s making Dracula more sympathetic and more personable. When it’s time to feed, Dracula doesn’t hunt the helpless young woman; he pursues the human guy also hunting the young woman. And when Dracula’s soapboxing, he doesn’t sound like a wannabe megalomaniac but rather a slighted aristocrat with anger issues.

It works.

It works enough to get through the disappointing art.

Wolfman hints at future plotlines for the vampire hunters, who mostly take this issue off. Frank and Rachel are on a weekend date, and they’re going to see a Dracula play; the narration promises we’ll hear about it later, presumably next issue. Or in Dracula Lives!. But this issue’s about Dracula and the bikers and their respective prey.

The ending’s particularly good. Wolfman reveals at the last moment the issue’s a lot more tightly constructed than it initially appears.

I really hope another inker comes on soon, though. I miss being excited for the art.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #10

Tod10

Well, they found the worst inker (so far) for Gene Colan—Jack Abel. But then they had to one-up it with a letterer so bad the comic’s visually unpleasant to read. Denise Wohl’s the letterer (credited as D. Vladimer, presumably because you can’t have too many girls working on a book).

This issue features the first appearance of Blade.

And it is a stinker of a comic book.

It opens with three vampires attacking would-be stowaways on the London docks. Or some docks in England. Doesn’t matter. Blade saves them, then Quincy Harker confronts him. Last issue, when Quincy got a phone call and had to rush away, it was about Blade being active in the area. Quincy’s mad Blade killed a teenage vampire. Blade asks what Quincy would do about it.

Quincy’s got no answer, then defends Blade when daughter Edith says he’s rude. I don’t know if it’s supposed to come off slightly racist, but calling confident, capable Black people rude doesn’t ever not have connotations. Swell.

The story’s about Dracula hijacking a yacht. The owner looks vaguely like Paul Williams. I say vaguely because it’s impossible to know what anything should look like after Abel’s inks have mangled Colan’s pencils. Dracula’s on board to convince all of this rich guy’s friends to be subservient to him. Dracula tells Clifton Graves (who’s got different color hair this issue) they’re all too wimpy to resist Dracula.

But Dracula’s first scene with the yacht party is being a sniveling dipshit. After he snacks on a blonde, though, he’s ready to hijack the ship and threaten to kill them all if they don’t pledge fealty. It’s a stupid plan. For an already stupid comic book, it’s a stupid plan.

Even with better art, it’d be a bad comic. It’s a lousy script, though Blade’s a fun character once the Harkers aren’t complaining he’s not articulate enough. But I can’t actually don’t know if anything could overcome the lettering. This comic contains a lot of text, and it’s painful to read. Wohl’s lettering is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.

Yuck.

There are also a bunch of continuity issues—including notes about how we need to be reading Dracula Lives! to know what’s going on—but Dracula knows Blade, which makes absolutely no sense. He’s been making vampires for his legion, which we’ve never seen before in the comic.

It’s a stinker for sure, start to finish. However, I’m relatively confident it’s just writer Marv Wolfman having a (very) lousy month.

And at least they didn’t call him Black Blade.

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #9

Tod9

This issue starts with one of Tomb of Dracula’s most potent scares—Vince Colletta will be inking Gene Colan this issue. Beware all who enter. That said, it’s not as bad as I thought it’d be. Yes, Colletta ruins a bunch of panels, and he can’t do the shadows, but—at the very least—the art does have some kind of weird personality. The story’s also got a lot of personality, like writer Marv Wolfman going overboard with Dracula’s church-related panic attack but then doing a sublime tall tale recounting.

The action picks up—presumably—soon after last issue’s conclusion, which had Drac flying off into the night after he’d failed to resurrect an undead vampire zombie army. He starts this issue in the ocean, a group of young folks rescuing him and taking his wet, unconscious form to the only place in their village open at such an hour… the local church. Tomb of Dracula vampire logic allows vampires on holy ground, apparently, because it’s not until Dracula wakes up and sees the crosses all around him does he flip out. There’s a particularly poorly inked sequence where he tries to escape, eventually having to wait for the priest to open the front door.

Outside, instead of attacking the priest and the concerned locals, Dracula makes up a bullshit story to explain his condition, including lying to protect his pride. It’s reasonably subtle—especially for a Marvel comic—and very cool. He won’t accept help from the priest, but he will crash with one of the locals until he regains his strength.

Of course, he’s only got six hours until sunrise to regain his strength and get away to some good old Transylvania soil. So he goes to get something to eat, failing to realize turning one person in a confined village will soon lead to enough vampires everyone’s going to notice them feeding. Also, the priest sees some vampire activity and decides to get a lynching party together—the priest’s desperate to get his flock involved in church activities again, in whatever form.

Meanwhile, Dracula makes a new friend in his rescuer, a young man named Dave, who doesn’t want to spend his life in a crappy English fishing village. It would feel like a done-in-one if it weren’t for the flashback tie-in to the last issue or the brief aside with the vampire hunters (immediately recovered from the little kids trying to kill them earlier in the evening).

It’s a nice issue, despite the overwriting, despite the Colletta. Wolfman keeps making Dracula more interesting a character; for instance, in this issue, he’s in the protagonist slot. Not even the abysmal inks of Vince Colletta can mortally wound Tomb of Dracula!

Tomb of Dracula (1972) #8

Tod8

Oh, no, Tom Palmer’s not inking Gene Colan this issue, and they got Ernie Chan to do it instead!

While I suppose Chan’s inks could be worse, it’s a profound downgrade in the art. During the human vampire hunter stuff, it’s reasonably okay—if chunky-lined. During Dracula’s vampire plot? It’s just wondering what it would’ve looked like with Palmer or someone better. Especially during the giant bat fight, which takes place over a few pages, and Chan does an abysmal job with.

The issue’s not just unsteady due to Chan, unfortunately. Writer Marv Wolfman employs an ill-advised declarative statement expository device, and it’s not good. His dialogue’s got more expository dumps, too; luckily, both devices go away by the comic’s second act, like Wolfman thought he had to keep it accessible for the potential new reader. Who wouldn’t have seen Chan’s name in the credits and put it back on the spinner.

Anyway.

While the vampire hunters try to survive a dozen hypnotized children trying to kill them, Dracula rushes off to tend his wounds. Quincy Harker shot him with a poison dart at the end of last issue, and it’s apparently toxic to vampires… which, obviously, makes no sense. How’s it going to move through the inanimate heart of a vampire?

It also doesn’t make sense when Dracula flies to a doctor’s house in a faraway village and reveals the doctor’s a vampire. Who’s got a twenty-year-old daughter, either meaning vampires can have babies the old-fashioned way, or Dracula wasn’t on ice very long before the first issue of Tomb. It wouldn’t be a big deal if they’d just establish some actual pre-series continuity instead of being so wishy-washy. They could even have vampires' hearts work if the swimmers still swim.

Dracula’s got plans, though. He’s in full Bond villain mode; turns out his vampire doctor pal has created a ray to awaken the dead and turn them into vampires. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be zombies or how Dracula found a graveyard with so many still fleshy corpses, but it’s Chan inking Colan, so I also don’t care. I can’t imagine Chan would ink bony zombies any better.

The vampire hunters and the kids plot is less disappointing in terms of art. It doesn’t need to imply the supernatural, just the mundane gone terribly wrong, and Chan doesn’t detract. The writing, on the other hand, is a little pat. At no point do the vampire hunters consider killing the kids, which is dark, but it also should’ve been discussed. The resolution is a deus ex machina with a Bond gadget; the Dracula plot compensates, concluding with a whole lot of impressive dramatic heft.

It’s impossible not to wonder how the issue would read without the Chan inks. Still, it’s all right. The Dracula plot makes up for the vampire hunters one.

Also, they really need to deal with Renfield-wannabe Clifton Graves. He starts the issue with Dracula smacking him aside for being useless, then the vampire hunters smack him aside for being useless. It’s almost like he’s useless to the book.