Writers: Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin and Gardner F. Fox
Artists: Gene Colan and Mike Ploog (p), Tom Palmer, Frank Chiaramonte, Vince Colletta, Jack Abel, Ernie Chlia and Gene Colan (i)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reprints Tomb of Dracula #1-25, Werewolf by Night #15 and Giant-Size Chillers #1
The Plot:
After he's brought back to life, Dracula emerges in the 1970s to find himself in a continual battle with a group of determined vampire hunters who are looking to bring his reign of terror to an end. Along the way Dracula also battles demons, ghosts, fellow vampires, the disembodied criminal brain of Doctor Sun, Jack Russell: Werewolf by Night, and even the very elements themselves. These issues also introduce Blade the Vampire Hunter, and Hannibal King to Marvel continuity.
The Good:
After a somewhat shaky start this volume emerges as a highly enjoyable reading experience that presumably gave Marv Wolfman his start in the comic industry. This volume contains several high quality stories that manage to cast Dracula into the rather unlikely role of the protagonist, but at the same time the continually presence of a group of heroes that view him as evil incarnate, and a series of attacks that Dracula makes to sate his hunger keeps the character firmly entrenched in the bad guy column in spite of his numerous heroic deeds. In any event there's some truly memorable issues in this volume, from a nicely harrowing issue where Dracula possesses an army of children to attack the vampire hunters, to my personal favorite issue which has Dracula forced to team up with one of his mortal enemies to survive a four day trek through the Transylvanian Alps. There's also a handful of pretty exciting encounters that Dracula has with various threats that proved to be the greater of the two evils, as he battles a walking skeleton, an abusive husband turned vampire, a haunted house, and in the most enjoyable arc of the volume his first struggle against the evil Dr. Sun who I suspect becomes a regular opponent of Dracula in this series. In the end this volume is well worth a look by readers looking for a glimpse at the character who Marv Wolfman manages to turn into a fairly convincing anti-hero, without casting aside his decidedly evil core.
Gene Colan is a name I've heard mentioned numerous times as one of the giants of the early Marvel comics, this is the first real good look I've gotten of his work, and I have to say I've blown away by the level of detail he puts on the page, and how effectively he's able to deliver the more frightening elements of this series. I mean the shambling brutes, rotting corpses that spring to life, and even Dracula himself are all presented in their full nightmarish glory. The book also manage to do a pretty fair job of simply telling the story, as one can actually see Dracula's hunger/anticipation as he closes in on a victim, and here's a great looking shot where we see the vampire hunters standing over Dracula's body, and one can't help but love their stunned expressions when it looks like they've finally accomplished their seemingly impossible goal. There's also some truly wonderful cover visuals that make me even more depressed about the rather mundane quality of what passes for a cover image on most of today's books. This volume also includes an issue of Werewolf By Night that is illustrated by Mike Ploog and I'm going to have to make an active effort to uncover what projects he worked on, as his work is also quite impressive.
The Bad:
The early issues of this volume left me a bit concerned as while they are enjoyable enough, they did seem to be struggling to do much with the idea of Dracula being brought back to life beyond pitting the character against a group of vampire hunters. I also found myself growing a bit disappointed whenever the book shifted its attention back to these vampire hunters, as with the notable exception of Blade who receives a fairly memorable tussle with Dracula toward the end of the volume, the group that is dogging Dracula's heels is a rather dull collection of stereotypes. I also found that the book fell into a bit of a trap whenever Dracula looked to be backed into a corner he would turn into mist, which got to be a bit annoying after a while as I found myself waiting for the vampire hunters to pick up on this trick and come up with a way to counteract this move (e.g. a vacuum device would suck him into a garlic-laced bag). I was also a bit disappointed by the big battle that Dracula has with Jack Russell: Werewolf By Night, as the two issues spend far too much time getting the two characters together, and not nearly enough time having the two going after each other in a manner that I expect most fans, including myself, had been hoping for.
I Vant To Suck Your Blood:
I been hearing good things about this series for pretty much my entire comic reading life, but I've yet to encounter a single issue of this series during my various trips to the back-issue bins, so I'm ever so pleased that Marvel finally got around to including the series in its Essential Volumes collection. In fact I rather prefer the Essential format, as Gene Colan's work looks quite striking in black and white, and it also doesn't hurt that Marvel should be able to collect the entire 70 issues of the regular series and its various one-shots/crossovers within the confines of three volumes. Now this first volume is well worth its price tag, as while the early issues are a bit average, Marv Wolfman makes his arrival on the book and he quickly turns this series into a highly enjoyable series that manages to expand beyond the rather restrictive format of the early issues. Now there are moments where the character of Dracula comes across as a bit of a broken record as he brags about how impossible he is to kill, and the heroes that are constantly dogging his heels are a bit generic feeling, but Marv Wolfman manages to work in some truly engaging stories, and what's more he manages to make Dracula into one of Marvel's first anti-heroes, and a highly engaging one at that.
What did you think of this book?
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