Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula #49 (October, 1976) finds Dracula in a foul mood.  Not only does he have the pesky vampire hunters still chasing him but also the leader of his cult, Anton Lupeski, is obviously plotting against him.  Dracula just wants to spend some time with his wife but instead, he finds himself suddenly transported to the mansion of Angie Turner.

Angie is a recluse who has the ability to bring fictional characters into existence.  She spends her time with the Frankenstein’s Monster, D’Artagnan, Tom Sawyer, and Injun Joe.  Her favorite fictional character, though, is the title character from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  The real Dracula is stunned and angered to discover that he’s been summoned by a woman who thinks that he’s the same as what calls the “inferior” who is featured in Stoker’s novel.  Angie watches as Dracula not only kills all of her companions but also kills Robin Hood and Zorro when she summons them.  Angie realizes that Dracula is not the tragic figure that she imagined but instead a vicious monster.

Dracula, who truly was a monster in Tomb of Dracula, taunts Angie and prepares to attack her, just to suddenly find himself back in his lair.  Dracula may have claimed to have been real but Angie was not only able to wish him out of her mind but, as the final panels show, she was also able to bring back to life all of her other companions.  The story ends by revealing that Angie is a mental patient who has been in a padded room ever since losing her family.

If this issue just featured Dracula dismissing Stoker’s novel, it would be an important part of Marvel’s vampire mythology.  What makes the issues a classic is the suggestion that even the “real” Dracula is just a figment of Angie’s imagination.  Since Tomb of Dracula regularly featured guest appearances by other Marvel character, one could argue that this one issue suggests that the entire Marvel Universe might just be an elaborate fantasy in the mind of a woman mourning the loss of her husband and children.  Either way, this issue is a strong portrait of the power and comfort of imagination.  Angie stands in for every comic book reader over the years.