The Tomb Of Dracula - Volume Three!

This is my favorite of the three Essential Tomb of Dracula volumes for the very simple reason it features my favorite Dracula story from the lengthy Marvel run. We witnessed Dracula getting married in the last volume and now the consequences of that arrangement bear fruit. Dracula has child and that child proves even more troublesome to him than Lilith. This is one of Marv Wolfman's finest storylines and I include in that estimation his work at DC. Also, the team of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer were in the zone on these issues, the storytelling and draftsmanship was immaculate for the most part. 

Dracula rarely crossed over into the regular Marvel Univers and I consider this a good policy, but his clash with the Silver Surfer was a nice yarn which pitted Marvel's symbolic Christ-figure against their symbolic Satan-figure. I was frankly surprised at how much trouble Drac caused Norrin Radd in this clash. 

I love Marvel's original "Blaxploitation" version of Blade. And anytime he battled the King of Vampires I always imagined there was a small chance he'd actually win, at least for a short time. This battle is not actually between Drac and Blade but with Blade's evil vampire twin. That's too complicated to explain. 

The Golden Demon who strikes out against Dracula in this issue is a prefigure of what is to come for the Vampire Lord. He doesn't know it yet, but he's battling his own son. 

We take a bit of a break from Dracula's travails to follow Hannibal King and a now human Blade as the duo find and battle the vampire who created them both. Deacon Frost was a rare vampire, seemingly impervious to Dracula's powers who had schemes of his own. The Blade-King duo put an end to that. 

The birth of Dracula's son by his human wife Domeni had to be one of the most spectacular events in all of comics, but it blazed by the public almost certainly because no one cared to look. I'll have more to say on this subject at the end of this post. Anyway, in this issue, timed to come out near Christmas we get the birth of Dracula's heir. They even have to move the birth to a barn just in case no one noticed the Christ parallel. It's a great story with Van Helsing's team finding the barn by the light of a flair. 

This issue has the baby's "christening" of sorts, though it's done in a Satanic ritual and he gets a name -- Janus. This issue is mostly about Drac's wife Domeni and he learn a lot about her history and motivations which of course are not what an egotist like Dracula imagines. 

The fifty-sixth issue of Tomb of Dracula is another favorite of mine in that we get a nifty change of pace with an issue all tricked out as if it were the story that Harold H. Harold finally writes, a novel titled The Vampire Conspiracy. Needless to say, Harold is the hero and Harold gets the girl -- his crush Aurora. 

This issue tells the story of a man fated to be reincarnated time and time again. A prophecy says that he will meet Dracula and that Dracula will end his life once and for all. It's an intriguing trip through history as we follow this fellow wander toward his fate. 

Dracula gets some time off, becoming only a background player in a story which features Blade. Blade is helping an old friend and ally rescue his wife from some vampires. 

In this issue the conflict between Dracula who intends to use the Satanic cult for his purposes and Lupeski their leader who has always intended to slay Dracula when the time is ripe, match up with shocking ending when Janus is killed. So is Lupeski by Drac's hand. 

Dracula reflects on his children, especially Lilith who is his bitter enemy now that his son is seemingly dead. But that death might be all that we think as the ending focusing on Domeni suggests. 

The Christ parallels with Janus continue when he is risen from the grave due to Domeni's influence and the baby is then bonded with the Golden Demon who had attacked Dracula nearly a year before. 

Dracula and Janus prepare to face one another again while at the same time Dracula must confront an enemy who can illusions of the past. Harold and Aurora have taken a leave from the book for a time and Rachel Van Helsing and Frank Drake prepare to confront the Count once again. We also surprisingly meet Topaz, the supernatural chick from the pages of Werewolf by Night. 

Janus and Dracula are forced to battle in an illusory arena while the true enemy looks on. The two get the better of the demon but in the end Janus does seem to end Dracula. Dracula has long thought that Janus was an agent of Satan but that's proven to him to wrong when Satan shows up to a direct hand. 

With the help of Topaz Dracula is able to survive his encounter with Satan, but upon his return to Earth discovers that he's no longer a vampire. 

No longer a vampire, Dracula is no longer their king and so the undead turn on their former master. It's all Dracula can do to get out of Boston and hijack a plane to New York City to find Lilith to change him back into a vampire. 

Still a human being, Dracula is followed to NYC by a bounty hunter. Dracula a human finds the complex feelings not to liking at all. Domeni morns for her husband while Lilith plans for his arrival. 

Lilith is in no mood to help her father and tries to kill him now that he is weak. Harold H. Harold has gotten embroiled in the Dracula affair again against his better judgment. 

Van Helsing and Drake hunt the human Dracula down but again are unable to end him. By the end of this somber tale, Satan returns Dracula's vampiric powers now that the vampire has been humbled. He promises Dracula will not be received in neither Heaven nor Hell. 

In the penultimate issue, Dracula gets back to Transylvania but finds his legions of vampires are serving another master named Torgo. Ironically it falls to Dracula to use the cross itself to save a trio of children from the vampire legions. 

In the final issue of Tomb of Dracula we see Dracula confront and defeat Torgo to regain mastery of vampire kind. But in his moment of triumph is longtime enemy Quincy Harker has slipped into his castle and waits with a silver spike and a bomb. After staking Dracula, the bomb demolishes Dracula's castle. The enemies now seemingly gone. We get a happy ending of sorts for Frank and Rachel and Domeni is visited by her son again who undergoes a most happy transformation. But Dracula is not forgotten. 

The critically acclaimed color series was no more but The Tomb of Dracula rose from the dead like its namesake, but this time in black and white, moving back into the space created long ago by the cancellation of Dracula Lives. The story though picks right up some time after the seeming demise of our star, a tour group uncovers his grave and a woman with ulterior motives and a magic gem removes the silver spike and up he comes thirsty as all get out. He samples one of the ladies and kills another guy who tries to stop him with a cross. Then he finds the gem is something he's been looking for and leaves with the lady. Later that unlucky tour group is in London recuperating where Dracula finds them again. None of the regular crew are in this issue aside from Inspector Chelm. Colan is inked by Bob McLeod for this issue only and it's a nice effect. 

Issue two gives us all a grand surprise when legendary artist Steve Ditko steps in to draw a Dracula story for Wolfman's script. The story is about a man who is slowly becoming part of another dimension and can for a time transport other people there against their will. His sister has been designated by a cult to be the wife of Asmodeus. Dracula really is a small player in this one, showing up time from time and in the end clashing with the other villains. I can't say I'm crazy about Ditko's version of Dracula, which seems very spare. 

The best way to describe this story is that I think Marv Wolfman wanted Dracula to battle Regan McNeil from The Exorcist. It's a hair-raising affair with dynamic art by Colan and Palmer. There's a second story about an artist who loses her singular ability to create beautiful artwork when she is corrupted by Dracula. 

The final story was written by Roger McKenzie while keeping the original art team. A family move into a lighthouse but don't realize that Dracula has already taken up residence there. Dracula becomes quite infatuated with their young daughter. Drac's keen interest in very young girls in the last two issues really ups his creep factor considerably. 

I've always found it remarkable the the color series of Tomb of Dracula did not get more criticism than it did from those forces in our society intent on making sure we all live a pure and noble life as God would have us do. The series offers up a number of blasphemies during its long run, the greatest of which was equating a child born in a Satanic ceremony with Christ himself. Of course, if you read carefully, you know that Christ is in charge all the time, but critics rarely read that closely. This series coming out today would I bet attract much more negative attention in our society which sadly seems to want to become a Christian theocracy despite the limitations of the Constitution. Overall, these are some outstanding stories, worthy of being read so many decades later. 

One more volume to go. 

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