Tomb of Dracula - Gene Colan, Tom Palmer,& Marv Wolfman

Following the liberalisation of the comics code in 1971 Marvel comics responded by publishing a series of monster and vampire themed comic books which featured lead characters as diverse as werewolves, vampires and the sons and daughters of Satan. While most of these comics were successful one title stood out, "The Tomb of Dracula " by the team of Marv Wolman and Gene Colan. Despite the titles lead character being the actual villain of the piece this was a great title that mixed horror with soap opera with wonderful art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. The title lasted for 70 issues covering the period 1972 until 1979 spawning a US monthly title (1972-75) and an 87 issue UK weekly comic both titled “Dracula Lives”. Marvel have rebooted their version of Dracula several times but none of these have come anywhere near to the original and best Dracula series.

Above (and at header) from Tomb of Dracula #1 - The pages where we first encountr Marvel's Dracula has always stuck with me ever since I first read this in the UK "Dracula Lives" title in 1975. Cifton Graves a friend (its complicted) of the titles hero Frank Drake,does not die from this attack and is later turned into Dracula's personal valet, before eventually being killed. Below some of my favourite splash pages from my sadly limited US ToD run:

Tomb of Dracula #7

Tomb of Dracula #14

Tomb of Dracula # 30

Tomb of Dracula #35

Tomb of Dracula #38

Tomb of Dracula #68

Above: From the one off special edition of "The Silver Surfer Vs Dracula" (originally publsihed in ToD #50) my favourite Dracula cross over (and there have been a few)