Customer Reviews

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials) (v. 1)

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The horror comic book died a horrible death when E.C.'s celebrated lineup of "Tales from the Crypt, "The Vault of Horror," and "The Haunt of Fear" fell victim to the creation of the Comics Code of America, a censoring board created in 1955 in response to Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" and the resulting public outcry against horror and crime comics. A decade later a few publishers but out black & white magazines with color covers, such as Warren's "Creepy," "Eerie," and "Vampirella," to evade the Comics Code. If anything, they were more violent than the precode comic books. DC Comics continued the anthology tradition with "House of Secrets" and "Tales of the Unexpected," and eventually released "Swamp-Thing." When Marvel introduced "The Tomb of Dracula" in the early 1970s it was a rather modest entry into the horror market. But because of the success of this comic book it would be followed up with "Werewolf by Night" and "The Frankenstein Monster." But it was "Tomb of Dracula" that would end up proclaiming on its cover that it was "Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine" (starting with issue #43).

The first issue of "Tomb of Dracula" was scripted by Gerry Conway, who gave way to Archie Goodwin on the third issue, who was then replaced by Gardner F. Fox on the fifth. It was not until Marv Wolfman took over the writing reigns with issue #7 and continued for the rest of the comic's run that the title really took off. But "Tomb of Dracula" had the advantage of having the perfect artist from the start with Gene Colan. The penciler inked the first issue but for the third issue Tom Palmer did the chore, and he would ink the vast majority of issues, although there were gaps. Palmer's best work was over Neal Adams' pencils, but he gave Colan an edge he had never enjoyed before. Nobody could draw Dracula's transformations any better than Colan, master of the swirling lines that showed the vampire morphing into a giant bat. He was also very good at figures in shadows, as well as drawing rain, and when it came to drawing women only John Romita, Sr. came close (note, the cover of this collection, taken from issue #1, is by John Buscema).

"Tomb of Dracula" began with a standard love triangle. Frank Drake, an American descendant of the infamous Count Dracula, who has inherited Castle Dracula. He shows up in Transylvania to check out the property, along with his girl friend Jeannie, and his supposed friend Clifton Graves, Jeannie's ex-boyfriend and a guy out to make a buck. Cliff sees Castle Dracula as a tourist trap that he expects to end up with, along with Jeannie. But Cliff is so stupid that when he finds Dracula's skeleton with a stake sticking out of it (a major find) he pulls out the stake. The next thing we know Cliff is doing the Renfield act as Dracula's slave and Jeannie has been turned into a vampire. By the end of issue #2 Frank has to stake her and the comic is looking for a new direction. Goodwin adds a major element by having Drake hook up with Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, and Taj, her mute servant from India, which establishes the idea of a group of fearless vampire slayers. Wolfman adds the final member of the core group in issue #7, Quincy Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina Harker, now an old man in a wheelchair (because of an encounter with the Count), who brings a scientific approach to vampire slaying.

Thus, "Tomb of Dracula" becomes a quest, with this core group and their associates tracking down the King of the Vampires. Among those associates is Blade (#10), who actually manages to stake Dracula (#13). Of course, one of the great things about having a vampire as the villain is that just because you kill him does not mean the ball game is over, and the story of how Dracula ends up undead (i.e., alive) by the end of the next issue (#14), is one of Wolfman's better tales. What made Wolfman so good was that he took the long view with these characters and this comic book. During those same issues where Dracula gets killed, we start getting brief scenes involving
Chinese minions acting out the orders of the mysterious Doctor Sun. You will not find out about who Doctor Sun is and what he wants by the end of this volume, which means you will have to just keep on reading.

Wolfman and Colan also throw in some stories in which Dracula is reduced to a supporting character (e.g., #16, #23), and there is a crossover adventure with "Werewolf by Night." But one of the strengths of "Tomb of Dracula" was that it was out of the mainstream Marvel Universe. There would be another crossover with Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, and a visit by the Silver Surfer, but these limited examples mesh nicely with the supernatural aspect of the series. This collection ends on a high note with "Night of the Blood Stalker" (#25), in which we are introduced to Hannibal King, Private Investigator. Too bad there is the letter page where they explained all the clues in this one, but once you know the "secret" you can figure them out for yourself. By the time you finish this volume you will be more than one-third of the way through the comic's 70-issue run and you will be hooked.

Volume 1 of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" contains issues #1-25 of "The Tomb of Dracula," along with a crossover story in "Werewolf By Night" #15 and the "Giant-Size Chillers" #1 story that introduced Lilith, Dracula's daughter. Volume 2 has issues #26-49 of "Tomb of Dracula," a crossover with "Dr. Strange" #14, and a quartet of less than stellar stories from "Giant-Size Dracula" #2-5. Volume 3 has "Tomb of Dracula" #50-70 and stories from "Tomb of Dracula Magazine" #1-4. I understand there is going to be a Volume 4, which hopefully would continue to reprint some of the stories from Marvel's black & white "Dracula Lives" magazine. Obviously you need to get all three volumes of the "Essential: Tomb of Dracula" so that you can appreciate how Wolfman, Colan, and Palmer crafted the best "fear" comic book since the days of E.C.

Before Werewolf by Night, or Ghost Rider, or even Monster of Frankenstein, there was the Tomb of Dracula. Debuting in the 70's and the beginning of Marvel's foray into horror comics; Tomb of Dracula began with longtime Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway at the helm with the legendary Gene Colan providing the pencils. The series begins with Frank Drake, a living descendant of Count Dracula, inheriting Castle Dracula, and unwittingly awakening the vampire lord. Eventually, Drake has to make a big sacrifice, and the writing reins are soon taken over by Archie Goodwin, and later by Gardner Fox. It wasn't until Marv Wolfman took over the series that Tomb of Dracula really took off, as new characters like Rachel Van Helsing and later Hannibal King (in the last issue of this Essential title) are introduced that would have a huge impact on the series until it's end. What Wolfman is the most credited for with Tomb of Dracula, is the creation of the mysterious vampire hunter Blade, who makes his debut in the tenth issue of the series. Later on, there is a cross over with Werewolf by Night, and the first appearance of Dracula's daughter Lilith. Gene Colan's pencils are simply gorgeous, and when he's teamed with inker Tom Palmer, it's really something to behold, even in black and white. All in all, like many of Marvel's other Essential titles, Essential Tomb of Dracula is a deal for the price if you don't mind the brittle black and white pages, and it's the beginning of the best Marvel horror title you'll ever read.

Before buying this I had no idea Dracula was such a big part of the Marvel Comics universe. Now I know better. More importantly, it's a fun read. It reminds me of those classic Hammer horror movies. Not so much violent as creepy, atmospheric, and just a touch old-fashioned.

Dracula and his hunters are the stars here. Drac is an especially complex character. The stories are a little repetative. Hunters track down Drac. Drac escapes. But the stories are still fun, still interesting.

Two parts are especially worth noting: The first appearance of Blade in comics (before he became a dull half-vampire cliche). And Drac vs. Werewolf by Night.

Recommended especially for comic fans looking for some history. Or anyone else just interested in a little old-fashioned scary storytelling.

The year was 1972. DC Comics saw the steady decline of the superhero set and decided to take their books on a "quest for relevance". Denny O'Neil was enamoured by the hip-journalists of his day such as Norman Mailer and the social messages in the songs of Bob Dylan. He brought that spirit into his "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" book in an acclaimed run with Neal Adams (reprinted numerous times as "Hard Travellin' Heroes"). Marvel, who began the Silver Age superhero renaissance, had gone on to its "Phase Two" with Roy Thomas taking over from Stan Lee on many of the books - in order to free Stan's schedule so that he could go on the road on speaking-tours to colleges and universities. In short, everyone was working hard to court the attentions of the more sophisticated college-students. It was, as if, comics as a whole was being forced to grow up overnight. At the same time, the "bravura" writers/artists of the day were turning conventions on its head with their subversive and counterculture meditations on spirituality, reality, politics, drugs, mysticism, etc. (Check out anything by Steve Englehart, Howard Chaykin, Al Milgrom and Jim Starlin to see what I mean!) The more sophisticated storytelling led Stan Lee himself to contribute several issues of "Amazing Spider-Man" to deal with the rising problems of drug-addiction among the youths in his neighbourhood. The Comics Code Authority (that ghetto-like policeman of four-colour pop-culture initiated because of the fundamentalist tirades of Frederick Wertham) refused to approve those issues by Stan Lee. Stan Lee went ahead and published those issues without the code. The world did not end. Morals did not suddenly slide down the drain. More than anything, those issues proved to the world that archaic values (of an earlier and more cowardly time) needed to be re-evaluted and that comic books really do serve a higher purpose by providing needful information about social issues. The result was that the Comics Code was actually revised - time was, a few gutsy writers could force legislative bodies to change their archaic codes.

With the loosening of the Code and a demand for more sophisticated literary-graphic entertainment, both Marvel and DC decided to explore the Horror Genre (long since abandoned after the death of EC Comics - another casualty of the archaic Comics Code Authority). Marvel did Man-Thing and DC did Swamp Thing. History is unclear as far as which was the original swamp creature. It was possible that both Gerry Conway and Len Wein were tapping into the same poplorica memes of the day and decided to explore issues of identity and mysticism via masses of swarm glob! Next came other horror gems like Ghost Rider, Werewolf By Night, House of Mystery, the Warren Magazines/Vampirella, Tales of the Zombie and the big brother of horror comics that ruled the morbid Seventies: TOMB OF DRACULA.

This series was the brainchild of Roy Thomas. The first two issues were written by Gerry Conway (who was given everything that Roy himself did not personally write anyway!), the next two were by Archie Goodwin (who was just starting off as a freelancer going on to an editorial position at Marvel - and who worked on the Warren/Vampirella mags as well) and the following two were by legendary DC Alumni Gardner Fox. That was Year One of the bi-monthly mag that began on April 1972. The greatest highlight of the book was, naturally, the art of Gene Colan (inked by Tom Palmer, who also did amazing work for Neal Adams and John Buscema at the same time) that brought a combination of cinematic realism, creepiness and grace to the storytelling. Colan, once known as the laziest artist in the business, really did his best on the series. He was the sole penciller for the entire series (more than 70 issues straight) and something about the stories spoke to his heart. Colan is the type of artist whose art range from absolutely mind-blowing (e.g. Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Tomb of Dracula) to uninspired fill-ins whenever he's not in the mood. However, even the art of Gene Colan was not enough to elevate the book to true "cult-status". Marv Wolfman was the glue that held the book together. Upon taking on the book from issue #7 onwards, Wolfman gave his heart and soul as the writer of the book for the rest of the decade (before leaving Marvel in the early 1980s to create "The New Teen Titans" with George Perez at DC).

Recently, I went through my shelves looking for this old "Essential Tomb of Dracula" book that reprinted the earlier issues of the series in glorious black & white. I got that volume for my wife to read during her last pregnancy, if I remembered rightly. I'm the sort of idiot who buys a 600+ page book of vampiric-horror for his pregnant wife to read! Ironically, I never did read the book myself. At that time, I was caught up with the stirrings of the Ultimate Universe and Nu-Marvel under Joe Quesada's goons. My stupidity. This is indeed "superior comic crafting". Marv Wolfman's writing combined with Gene Colan's pencils and inked by Tom Palmer. I dived into the book and was lost for 10 hours straight. I toured the English countrysides with the Old Count, visited the age-old Castle Dracula in Transylvania, and was caught in the old superstitions of the crucifix, the stake, garlic, and all the colourful Roman Catholic mumbo-jumbo that went a long way into the creation of the vampiric lore that we know and love. I read about Dracula mesmerising a bunch of kids and turning them into killers. Then I fell asleep and had a terrible dream about murderous kids with knifes! Woke up with cold sweat. Time was comics were so potent a mind-drug! And that was long before we had any stupid "Suggested For Matured Readers" tag on the covers. Wolfman wrote the rag-tag band of vampire hunters as humans rather than super-humans. Quincy Harker (son of Jonathan and Mina Harker), Frank Drake (descendent of Dracula), Rachel Van Helsing (daughter of Abraham Van Helsing), the mute giant Taj, and later, Blade and Hannibal King (yes, the blokes from the Wesley Snipes movies!). They were people who were idealistic, passionate, wracked with self-doubt, struggling with their constant failures, looking to one another for love and support, etc. All this long before Chris Claremont made angst fashionable in the pages of "Uncanny X-Men"! Hundreds who've outgrown their spandex fantasies found that they had to continue reading and collecting "Tomb of Dracula". In a way, it was also among the first real serial comic-book by Marvel. It was true that in the 1960s, Marvel revolutionized the industry with its evolving characters (Peter Parker outgrew high school and went to college, Reed and Sue got married, etc.) but the comics were still pretty much self-contained in the sense that one could pick up any single-issue and understand what's going on. Not so with "Tomb of Dracula". Wolfman was so obsessed with his supporting characters that at most times, the sub-plots were carrying the series along at the expense of the weaker main-plots. That was almost unheard of in the era before trade-paperback and hardcover reprints. In other words, you'll pick up an issue from the newstand and chances are, you'll struggle to make heads or tails of the story! The result was that it created a loyal cultic fan-base who bought, read and re-read every single issue! Characters lived and died - and everything that happened was shocking in the days before solicitations, previews, internet fanbases and Wizard magazines! It was a microcosm of imagination made up of passionate creators and their loyal readers - comics were read then, not collected as speculative commodities! There was nothing like it in the pre-Star Wars days to equal that sort of loyal fanbase - except perhaps, Star Trek on TV. One issue every two months, read, reread, dissected, meditated upon, inspiring nightmares and fever dreams...

The crowning achievement on the series, however, is the main-protagonist - Count Dracula himself. This is not the mysterious presence in Bram Stoker's novel. Neither is he the caricatured version captured in movies starring Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. This is, first and foremost, a character. Long before Neil Gaiman came along and wrote human sentiments and developing personalities into his demi-gods Morpheus, Death, Destiny, etc., Marv Wolfman and company were giving us a larger-than-life villain that you'll hate to love - but you can't help but love him despite yourself! After all, he's a serial-killer, a bloodsucker, a demoniac, a sexual predator, etc. But faithful Marvelites also recognize in him the mythic qualities that made their favourite villains such icons. He had the majestic poise of Victor Von Doom, the arrogance and regal bearing of Namor, the self-agonizing pangs of Magneto and even (to an extent) the helpless hunger of Galactus! He encapsulates the best of what makes a villain. Now, everyone who reads heroic fantasy will come upon the realization that the greatest villains is only one fine line away from being a great hero as well (that is why we cheer everytime our heroes team-up with their archfoes to defeat an even greater evil - e.g. X-Men and Magneto fighting Rev. Willian Stryker in "God Loves Man Kills"). Wolfman's Dracula is just such a character - struggling with his love for a mortal woman, fighting his own daughter and regretting that even his own offsprings detest him, showing compassion for a pair of teenage lovers in an obscure farmland, and finally driven to the edge by Satan himself, who stripped him of his vampiric powers to drive him insane! This is the reason why many writers (post-Wolfman/Colan) couldn't resist doing their continuation of this Dracula. Chris Claremont had him appear many times in the "Uncanny X-Men" series to abduct Storm and fight the X-Men. Most recently, Frank Tieri wrote the "Apocalypse vs. Dracula" miniseries pitting the two immortal villains against each other in Victorian London. Then, of course, we have the "Blade" movies, TV series, and countless appearances in comic-books post-Tomb of Dracula. But none of the other appearances can ever match the mythic aura and sophisticated horror of the original Wolfman/Colan run. Accept no substitutes, forget all the other non-canonical appearances of the characters - the original Tomb of Dracula is the epitome of superior comic-craft!

In the beginning, this series was just finding its feet. When the editors hit on the combination of Wolfman and Colan to take over, it started producing gold.

A team of vampire hunters come together with a descendant of Dracula to pursue and frustrate the Lord of Vampires all around the world.

Though it's a little more common nowadays, comic books that starred villains instead of heroes have always been something of a rarity. In the 1970s, Marvel gave it a shot with such books as Werewolf by Night and Supervillain Team Up, but the former wasn't so much a villain as a good-guy-turned-beast (not unlike the Hulk), and the latter - with a rather brief run - actually co-featured the Sub-Mariner, who is much more an antihero than a villain. No, the best Marvel villain book - both in terms of length-of-run and quality - was The Tomb of Dracula.

Volume One of the Essential Tomb of Dracula contains the first 25 issues of the title along with a couple associated issues of Werewolf By Night and Giant-Size Chillers. The star of the book is, of course, Dracula, a vampire with a monstrous ego and the powers to back it up. He is not merely misunderstood (like the Frankenstein Monster) or unable to control his powers (like the Werewolf). He is out-and-out evil, relishing the violent death he dispenses. In Issue #1, he is safely staked, but that is soon rectified when his descendent Frank Drake comes to claim Castle Dracula. Drake's duplicitous friend pulls out the stake and is rewarded by being enslaved by the Count. After Drake is forced to kill his newly vampiric girlfriend, he is quite despondent until he is brought into the fold of Dracula's hunters.

These hunters include Rachel van Helsing and Quincy Harker, both descendants of characters from Bram Stoker's novel. They are assisted by the mute Indian Taj and later by Blade the Vampire Killer. The stories deal primarily with the hunter-and-prey relationship between this group and Dracula, with both groups serving in both roles. Soon another villain will come into the mix, the mysterious Dr. Sun, whose own schemes seek to eliminate both sides. Dr. Sun's first story arc is in this volume, with a more significant arc in Volume 2 (which I had actually read first).

With writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan responsible for most of the issues in Tomb Dracula's run, there is a pleasant consistency in quality that often evades other works. This is a story with little in the way of superheroics (Blade is around as close as it gets, and even he is strictly human); instead, this is a chronicle of supernatural horror. If this is a genre you enjoy, Tomb of Dracula is the best in the comics field.

I have TOD in the original color comics & these Essential offerings. The art-work of Gene Colan translates extremely well to the B&W medium. (Not the case w/many Marvel titles).I enjoy both versions.

Tomb of Dracula is yet another series I only discovered thanks to the Essential collections. I didn't really know what to expect about a series that features Dracula as the main character. Wolfman and Colan keep the concept fresh by introducing a diverse cast of supporting characters and by telling many types of stories. Very enjoyable, I will plan to read further volumes.

In truth, the Marvel company is probably one of the most well known and most famous comic book companies there are. When one thinks of Marvel, they usually might think of a lot of famous ditzy super-hero characters living these ice cream type lives where their biggest problem tends to usually be deciding between Lisa, Mary, or Sandra. In actuality these characters, whom we all know, the Human Torch, Mr Fantastic, Spider-Man, and Thor to name a few, truly have no lives at all! Their only lives tend to really lie in the need to jump at the first sign of trouble the way a fish will jump for bait. These characters are almost invulnerable and usually have writers thinking of lame ways to bail them out of situations that get too big for them. Suddenly! a button might appear that they can push, or... like... out of nowhere--KAZA!-- they can hold their breath longer than the bad guy! (How Convenient.) Some heroes, like Dr Strange, need only make a few silly chants... and... Presto! his troubles are solved.

Often times these heroes also tend to be involved in some korny romance that never in actuality goes anyplace. Not so in Dracula!

Now while reading stories like these is a load of fun, there are moments when we need other things also. Dracula is perfect for that. Though it may be difficult for some to believe that Marvel could actually pull of a Horror title. It was for me. When we think of Marvel, we usually DO think of those above-mentioned happy-go-lucky characters whose lives are cake. Dracula is for those who crave the opposite! A super powered character that actually has problems and faces real challenges. Something Stan Lee alone could never concieve of.

But yes, what we have here is horror at its finest. A perfect continuation from where Bram Stoker left off. It's told so well too. Dracula's descendant Frank Drake stumbles upon his tomb. His spiteful friend pulls the stake out of Dracula and he wakes up to unleash his fury on the modern world! Not only that, but he is also much more clever than he was in the original novel. Eventually, Rachel Van Helsing, descendant of DR Van Helsing who originally plunged the stake into Dracula, joins Frank Drake (Drakula, get it?), in order to help him put Dracula back in the Tomb. What's even better here than was in the novel is that Dracula is a HECK of a lot smarter here. In the novel, he just played right into the hands of the good guys. Here, Dracula actually has to think his way out of things, even if it means holding another vampire in front of him. Like when Rachel, Frank, and their assistant Taj corner Dracula in some mansion using the assistance of police aircraft. Dracula has nowhere to escape. What does he do? You won't get it here!

So far, I am not dissapointed with this series. It's just what I needed. It has some well told stories and makes use of great dialogue. It even features a nice education on religious mythos and parts of London. If you get into it enough, you'll actually feel like you're there. It's even got
stories of time travel, dimensional travel, heaven, hell and all things betwixt. Even cooler, Dracula gets a human partner to help him in the form of Clifton Graves, the man who pulled the stake out of him and re-awoke him!--and he was the best friend of Frank Drake, who is pursuing him, which makes for a good plot twist. This is awesomeness at its finest! I didn't think Marvel could pull it off, but they did. The best part though... it can be read in and of itself. In other words it can exist seperately from the Marvel Universe. It can be like Ann Rice, who we sometimes like to think of the vampires in HER books being in our own world. The same holds true here--we can take it as being a part of the Marvel Universe or in a reality in and of itself.

But beware, it gets brutal sometimes, so it's certainly not for the too sqeemish. In essence, this series is good for those of us who are tired of those usual routine comic book characters who spend their time kissing the behinds of various females in distress. Dracula, rather than kiss them, feeds them to the rats! And the artwork is awesome even without the color. How can you go wrong?

Back during my "Marvel maniac" days in high school and college, I was more of a devotee of the company's costumed heroes, so I didn't particularly follow titles like "Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu", "Tomb of Dracula", or other non-superhero titles that took place on the fringes of the Marvel Universe.

I'm now enjoying Marvel's inexpensive "Essentials" volumes to catch up on a lot of those previously unread titles, during those occasional times when I still get into a comics-reading mood despite my now being a boring adult. And I'm certainly glad that I recently took a few weeks to read "Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume One".

On the one hand, after being exposed to the complex, often sympathetic vampires of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Dark Shadows", and various Anne Rice novels, the purely evil for evil's sake Dracula of "Tomb of Dracula" initially seemed a little regressive and simplistic. But on the other hand, such a character- as the star of an ongoing series, no less- was certainly bracing and in-your-face. And that latter feeling ultimately took over and I started really enjoying this moody yet energetic series as I moved through the 27 or so issues reproduced here.

As another Amazon reviewer excellently put it, this is a series about hunters and the hunted, with Dracula and the title's supporting cast of vampire hunters taking turns fulfilling those roles (the vampire hunters chase Dracula in one issue, Dracula attacks them in the next, and so on). These stories are broken up occasionally by a stand-alone horror mystery where Dracula takes on some other supernatural threat like a haunting or some other strangeness that threatens some issue that Dracula cares about. There's even a science-fiction style threat to Dracula in the form of the mysterious Dr. Sun, whose origin and appearance is like something right out of an "Avengers" or "Fantastic Four" story.

Common wisdom is that "Tomb of Dracula" got better as it went along over the years, so it's good to know that these perfectly entertaining tales will likely be followed by even better ones in subsequent volumes. But for now, these initial stories, virtually all written by the reliable Marv Wolfman, are hardly an ordeal to get through, and Gene Colon's shadowy, moody artwork- dreamlike yet very detailed- is a joy to behold in black and white. By the way, that's another reason to employ these inexpensive "Essentials" volumes to catch up on or revisit "Tomb of Dracula": Mr. Colon's artwork arguably looks even better in black and white than it did in the color comics in which it originally appeared.

Good stories, great artwork, lots and lots of pages of entertainment, and all at a cheap price- what's not to like?