Marvel struck a rich vein indeed when they took advantage of changes in the Comics Code to branch out into monsters. Tomb of Dracula was a masterwork, one of the finest series of the Bronze Age. Likewise, Dracula found some success, at least for a time, in the black and white Dracula Lives series.
Roy Thomas and the late great Dick Giordano took advantage of all this Dracula comic page count to attempt an adaptation of the original novel by Bram Stoker. They worked diligently for many issues but alas did not finish, at least not for nearly thirty years when their version of the classic tale was at long last completed and published in glorious black, white, and red by Marvel in four lovely comic books.
Those comics were later collected and color by June Chung was added to the artwork. I've at long last added this brighter rendition of the story to my stacks, a handsome hardback collection of this magnificent work. Sadly, it's clear that Giordano's skills had diminished slightly by the time he was able to bring this classic story to a conclusion, but only slightly. The art looks fantastic in black and white thanks to Giordano's always crisp line work, and I have to say it looks pretty dang good in glorious color too.
Earlier this summer I re-read the classic Stoker novel, and I'm eager to re-read this vivid adaptation.
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