Customer Reviews

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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, which comes near the end of "Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2.

This second volume includes #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. By this point the comic book has put together a team of fearless vampire hunters: Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula himself, Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, Taj, her mute servant from India, and 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. Joining the group in this volume are the vampire slayer Blade and the writer Harold H. Harold, and their are visits by Hannibal King and Brother Voodoo. Consequently, "Tomb of Dracula" was basically a quest to track down and stake the King of the Vampires.

Of the three volumes reprinting "The Tomb of Dracula" in black & white this one has the best stories, mostly dealing with mysterious Dr. Sun. We begin with the search for the Chimera (#26-28), a device of power the Dr. Sun's minions are tracking down. We then find out the tragic story behind's Taj's muteness (#31), but the larger story arc her is towards the final confrontation between Dracula and Dr. Sun. There is a problem since Dr. Sun kill Dracula before that point (#39), but one of the advantages of having a vampire for the villain is that he can die and be brought back to his undead life. With the Dr. Sun storyline writer Marv Wolfman does what has to be the longest set up in the history of the Marvel universe. For years we were tantalized with a page of panels about Sun's minions doing strange things with vampires before we started having entire issues devoted to the machinations of the living brain. Perhaps the payoff was not as great as the years of anticipation (we are talking "living brain"), but the bits and pieces as Dracula was tested and cornered by Dr. Sun were excellent. By the time you get to the end of this volume Wolfman is already into the final giant story line with Domini, the bride of Dracula, and the Church of Damned.

All of "The Tomb of Dracula" issues in Volume 2 are scripted by Wolfman, penciled by Gene Colan and inked by Tom Palmer. If Wolfman was the perfect writer for this comic book then Colan was the perfect artist (when you look at the "Giant-Size Dracula" issues drawn by the Don Heck and Nestor Redondo this point will be underscored). I still tend to think that Palmer's inking was at its very best when he was working with Neal Adam's pencils but what he did will Colan is the proverbial close second. Reading the entire series again made me appreciate how these comics were character driven, making comparisons with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" not only obvious but accurate, and the nice thing about having these reprint volumes is that it is a lot easier to read "The Tomb of Dracula" now than taking the originals out of plastic.

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 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.

Just wanted to point out to everyone interested that the ISBN on this listing is the one already used on Volume Two (just checked my copy), not the upcoming Volume Three.

(Now, it might just be a mistake of some kind and it might actually be Volume Three, but I know I don't want to take the risk since the ISBN is what these book dealers really go by.)

Since Amazon is currently only offering two listings for "Essential Tomb of Dracula", this one and the one clearly labeled as "Volume Four", I don't know what this means for those of us who still need to order Volume Three.

David Young

Just so you're aware, everyone, this is volume TWO of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" series- if you simply assume (like I did) that the only one listed would be the first volume in the series, you're gonna be mighty disappointed when you open up that Amazon box. Trust me on that one.

Marvel should be congratulated for putting out The Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 (and Vol. 2 and, soon, Vol. 3). It was a series from the mid-70s that I never got hooked on until later and, to be fully appreciated, it must be savoured from the beginning, particularly after Marv Wolfman takes over scripting early on. It is one long storyline with little or no superheroic elements and, therefore, never got the attention it deserved, much like as happened also to Master of Kung Fu, and now seems to get attention mainly for introducing the character of Blade (a nice character but my personal favourite is Hannibal King, who does not appear until the final issue of this volume). Gene Colan's pencils have never been put to better use than in the moody stories of Wolfman and the black and white format of the Marvels Essentials is finally not a drawback to enjoying the series. Tomb of Dracula is well served by this kind of treatment.

500-plus pages of enjoyable Dracula tales from 1970's-era Marvel, though perhaps not the head-and-shoulders improvement over the tales in "Essential Tomb of Dracula Volume 1" that I was expecting. Plusses include the usual sharp Gene Colon/Tom Palmer artwork and the variety of different genres explored (horror, high adventure, even science fiction). The big minus is the inclusion of several "Giant-Size Tomb of Dracula" tales. This companion magazine to the regular "Tomb of Dracula" title was clearly a training ground for Marvel's upcoming writers and artists, and it shows. The stories are readable but not much else.

But the good stuff includes a multi-part rematch with the disembodied brain known as Dr. Sun (probably the most unusual comic-book villain ever); a knock-down/drag-out battle between Dracula and Quincy Harker in Harker's booby-trapped mansion (complete with flying wooden stakes and squirting holy water); and some funny supporting characters who lighten the mood without going overboard doing so.

The volume's closing tales put it over the top, though: Dracula gets married, and both his motivations and his bride's in the relationship demonstate subtlety, complexity, and genuine mystery. I'll need to pick up "Essential Tomb of Dracula Volume 3" to see where that storyline goes, but I'm happy to do so.

But for now, I'd give most of the tales in this book a solid "good", with a small peppering of "fair" and "very good/excellent" stories rounding out the mix. The thing to remember is, "Tomb of Dracula" was an ongoing title about an out-and-out evil character (subtle character traits aside, writer Marv Wolfman never let readers forget Dracula's evil nature) and that unusual premise always resulted in stories that were, at the very least, somewhat interesting. And often more than that, as this entertaining reprint collection reminds us.

Without question, this volume contains the very heart of the series, which to my mind, represents Marvel Comics at her best: with strong characters, beautiful artwork and the guts to take chances! Writer Marv Wolfman had been on the series for about a year and was comfortable with putting the characters through their paces-- and in this volume, they were put through a meat grinder!

The main plot deals with the ramifications of the events in the previous volume. As Dracula's plots and schemes begin to come to fruition, he notices a change within himself. Hannibal King, a reluctant vampire and detective (ala ANGEL) had blatantly defied him (in volume one); Drac's finding it difficult to make his transformations and little-by-little, his strength is fading. He comes to the conclusion that he's losing his powers! It's a mad dash as the Lord of The Undead tries to find the answers to his dilema, realizing that if his powers vanish, can a final death be far away? And as for Quincy Harker, Blade and the rest of our vampire hunters, don't think they cut Vlady-Baby any slack--this is the opportunity they've been waiting for! Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows, is the mastermind behind it all who awaits the outcome--while making his or her own plots for world conquest!

This is a "danse macabre" that is screaming for a full color edition. Artist Gene Colan is the undisbuted master of shadows, equalled only perhaps by "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, and in this story, Colan never disappoints. Colan's high caffeine "camera angles", chirascuro lighting and careful rendering give each character a human dignity that is often missing from the work of other mimetic artists; on these pages, Colan demonstrates the true meaning of "realism". Aiding and abetting Colan's pencils, are the inks of Tom Palmer, whose warm yet icy coloring is painfully missed in this black and white edition.

Besides all of this hype, is it good? It's simply MAGNIFICENT! Unlike lesser efforts by others, Wolfman tried to make each chapter as exciting and interesting as his well-developed subplot! There's action, mystery and horror galore in addition to many stand-out minor stories that give us thrills, laughs and a few tears; "Battleground of Blood" (the showdown between Dracula and Harker) and "Hell Hath No Fury" are but two of such efforts while we are delighted by the introduction of two "comic relief" characters: Harold H. Harold (who may be loosely based on Mr.Wolfman, himself) and Aurora Rabinowitz, who would play a key role later in the story. If that isn't enough, we later meet one of the most complex and fascinating characters in comic-book history, Domini--The Bride of Dracula; she who would love a vampire. (Paging Wynona Ryder!)

The only thing stopping this book from receiving a five star rating from me is this: it's in black and white and printed on newsprint! Oh, the horror-- the horror!

Wolfman and Colon were really at their best when they were working on this series. Marv kept the series moving with tight characterization and nobody could draw Dracula like Gene: the bat fluttering on the breeze, the bat transformations, the face foating in the mist, and the overall imperial air. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up with the work load and the giant-size issues were handled by others and weren't quite as good.

There is some classic work here, as the team of vampire hunters is working solidly together, and Dracula runs across some powerful antagonists of his own, in the weird Dr Sun, and the powerful sorceror Dr Strange. Rachel Van Helsing, Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and others are still trying to put wooden arrows into him, giving him further problems to deal with, as he runs into more Marvel characters, including the Silver Surfer.