Great Moments In Comic Book History #42: Tomb of Dracula #27

Posted on October 23, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Of all the Marvel horror comics that were published in the 70s, Tomb of Dracula was the best. Not only did it have the best stories, the best villain, and the best supporting cast (Blade, Hannibal King, Rachel van Helsing, Doctor Sun, and many others) but it also had the best covers.

Tomb of Dracula #27 (first released on September 3rd, 1974) is one of my favorites. Gil Kane’s cover features Dracula, fire, a beautiful woman, a beast in the moon, and a melodramatic tag line. What more could a comic boom reader ask for?

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Great Moments In Comic Book History #41: Tomb of Dracula #41

Posted on October 11, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

For my money, the original Tomb of Dracula is still the best horror comic to ever show up at a newsstand. From 1975, The cover of Tomb of Dracula #41 is a classic. Credit for this goes to Gene Colan, Tom Palmer, and Gaspar Saladino.

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Great Moments In Comic Book History #35: Tomb of Dracula #49

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

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.

Tomb of Dracula #49 (October, 1976)

“And With The Word Shall Come Death”

Writer — Marv Wolfman
Penciler — Gene Colan
Inker — Tom Palmer
Colorist — Michele Wolfman
Letterer — John Costanza
Editor — Marv Wolfman

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Great Moments in Comic Book History #31: Tomb of Dracula #43

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

In Tomb of Dracula #43 (April, 1976), a reporter named Paul Butterworth discovered the existence of not only Dracula but also the people (like Blade, Frank Drake, and Rachel Van Helsing) who were trying to stop his reign of terror.

Paul thought it would make a good story but he knew he needed proof so, when he met Dracula, he was sure to take a few photographs. The joke was on Paul because vampires can’t be photographed! When Paul’s editor sees the blank photos, he demotes Paul to doing the helpful hints column.

Not a bad story. Tomb of Dracula was always at its best when it brought in “normal” characters and allowed them to interact with Dracula and the vampire hunters. Paul Butterworth never made another appearance but he was still a part of the series’ overall mythology.

However, the thing that made this issue great was the cover. Illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, this cover may not have much to do with the story but it perfectly captures the feel of Tomb of Dracula.

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Great Moments In Comic Book History #29: A Vampire Stalks The Night

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

Now that we are halfway to October, I decided to share my personal favorite cover from The Tomb of Dracula.

The Tomb of Dracula was a comic book that ran for 70 issues, from 1972 to 1979. It was published by Marvel and it’s generally considered to be one of the best of the horror comics. It was also the first comic book to feature the character of Blade, who was later brought to life by Wesley Snipes in one of the first successful films to be based on a Marvel comic.

I’m a Tomb of Dracula fan and a collector. I’ve got nearly every issue of Tomb of Dracula and it’s companion magazine, Dracula Lives. Below is my favorite cover:

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Great Moments In Comic Book History: Dracula Joins The Marvel Universe

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

The year was 1972 and, nearly 20 years after Dr. Fredric Wertham had declared them to be a menace to young minds, horror comics were making a comeback.

The Comics Code Authority, which had been established in response to Wertham’s claim that comic books were creating deviants, had long banned not only horror-centric comic books but also vampires in general. However, with times changing and creators regularly challenging the antiquated rules of the code, the CCA relaxed its rules about horror comics. Monsters could once again exist alongside super heroes.

Marvel was among the first to launch a new line of horror comics. Using Dracula was no-brainer. Not only was he the world’s most famous vampire but he was also in the public domain so Marvel could use him without having to pay a cent for the rights. (When you’re a kid, you always think that comic book artists and writers get to do whatever they want. It’s when you grow up that you realize your favorite comic books only existed as long as they were financially viable.) Tomb of Dracula was launched in April of 1972 and, despite a shaky beginning, it would go on to become a classic. Speaking as a collector, it’s also one of my personal favorite titles from the so-called Bronze Age of Comics.

The 1st issue of Tomb of Dracula features Frank Drake traveling to Transylvania with his girlfriend Jean and his best friend, Clifton Graves. Drake is an irresponsible playboy who has lost millions due to his own bad luck. However, he is also one of the last living descendants of Dracula. He and Graves have decided to turn Dracula’s castle into a tourist attraction. What they didn’t count on was that Dracula would still be alive, trapped in the castle and waiting for someone to set him free. 20 pages later and Grave is dead, Jean is a vampire, Dracula has escaped, and angry villagers are surrounding the castle.

Other than featuring the characters of Drake and Dracula, the first issue of Tomb of Dracula doesn’t offer many hints of what would follow. There’s no mention of Rachel van Helsing or Hannibal King or, everyone’s favorite, Blade. It doesn’t even firmly establish that Dracula is a part of the canonical Marvel universe, though later issues featuring Dr. Strange and a host of others would clear up that mystery. Despite not being anywhere near as good as what would follow, it does what it needs to do. It sets Dracula free and set him on the road to becoming one of Marvel’s best villains. Subsequent issues of Tomb of Dracula would provide Dracula with a better supporting cast than just Drake, Graves, and Jean. They would also provide a more rounded view of everyone’s favorite vampire. By the time the series ended in 1979, Dracula had become a tragic hero and his story had gone from being just a modern vampire tale to being an epic of good and evil.

And it all started with three Americans flying to Translvania.

Tomb of Dracula (Vol. 1 #1, April 1972)

“Dracula”

Writer — Gerry Conway
Penciler — Gene Colan
Inker– Gene Colan
Letterer — John Costanza
Cover Artist — Neal Adams

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Oh dear…Dylan Dog: Dead of Night trailer

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, a comic book reader and there’s really only been four comics that I’ve ever actively made it a point to track down and/or read. One was Strangers in Paradise, which I was introduced to by my first college roommate, who told me that she was my Katchoo. Secondly, there was an old comic book series from the 70s called Tomb of Dracula that Jeff loves. The entire series has been collected in four trade paperbacks and, last Christmas, I ordered all four of them. Of course, since I ordered them all in August (patience and impulse-control not being my strong suit), I had a lot of time to read through them before wrapping them up and giving them away. (And, to my surprise, I enjoyed them in all of their platform shoed glory.) Third, there’s The Walking Dead which Arleigh introduced me to. And finally, there’s Dylan Dog.

I haven’t read a lot of Dylan Dog, largely because it’s an Italian comic and English translations aren’t easy to come across. (And apparently, when an American company did try to reprint the series in English, they ended up getting sued by the estate of Groucho Marx.) So, I can’t claim to be an expert on Dylan Dog because almost all of my information about this series comes second-hand. Honestly, if you asked me to tell you about Dylan Dog, I could probably give you the Wikipedia equivalent of an answer (i.e., that Dylan Dog is a private investigator in London who deals with super natural cases.)

Why does Dylan Dog fascinate me? Well, some of it is because of what I’ve heard about it from sources that I trust. I hate that answer because it sounds so flakey and simple-minded but luckily, that’s not the only reason. There’s also the fact that Dylan Dog’s investigative partner is a guy named Groucho who looks (and apparently acts) just like Groucho Marx. The other is that Dylan Dog was created by the same author — Tiziano Scalvi — who is responsible for inspiring one of the greatest movies ever made, Michele Soavi’s Dellamorte Dellamore. In fact, Dellamorte Dellamore started off as an attempt to make a Dylan Dog film and the film’s main character had appeared — in a supporting role — in Dylan Dog. From what I’ve heard, Dellamorte Dellamore — with its use of the paranormal as a metaphor for alienation and other deeper philosophical concerns — captured the sensibility of Dylan Dog.

Finally, one of my favorite authors — Umberto Ecco — is on record as saying, “I can read the Bible, Homer, or Dylan Dog for several days without being bored.”

So, that’s why I raised an eyebrow when I came across the trailer for Dylan Dog: Dead of Night while looking up grindhouse movie trailers on youtube.

And then I watched the trailer and that eyebrow quickly went down.

Number one, no Groucho. That already indicates that this is a compromised film. Number two, I may not be able to “read” Dylan Dog but I can look at it well enough to know that Dylan Dog is not a firing-two-guns-at-once type of hero. Number three — New Orleans? Bleh. I’m officially bored with movies that try to be “colorful” by filming in New Orleans. Number four, Taye Diggs? I’m sorry but any series that could inspire Dellamorte Dellamore deserves better than New Orleans and Taye Diggs.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on April 29th, 2011.

Bleh.