Title | : | Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 078510920X |
ISBN-10 | : | 9780785109204 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 560 |
Publication | : | First published January 1, 1983 |
The name alone is enough to inspire nightmares.
The legendary Lord of the Undead first appeared in the Marvel Universe in the early 1970s--and Tomb of Dracula, the most popular of the House's horror titles, scared up an estonishing seven-year run. Now, Marvel collects the first 15 issues of the classic, spooky series--plus Werewolf by Night #15 and Giant-Size Chillers #1.
Featuring the first appearance of Blade, the Vampire-Slayer! Plus: Dracula vs. Werewolf by Night--two of Marvel's most macabre super-stars in a battle of the monsters!
Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 Reviews
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I don’t generally like books where the bad guy is the main protagonist but I make two exceptions to this rule: Doctor Doom and the main man in this book, Count Dracula himself!
This is another of Marvel’s horror titles from the ‘70s and it’s a real corker. I think all twenty seven issues collected here (it’s a hefty tome) are illustrated by Gene ‘the Dean’ Colan and his work is so much more suited to horror than superheroes. He absolutely nails the tone on these books; in fact, there’s only one thing about his work on this book I don’t like and that’s how he draws Drac’s fangs. For some reason, he draws them like they’re not attached to his jaw but like they just sit loose in his mouth, tucked under his front lip. A minor quibble perhaps but it’s a reasonably important detail in a vampire book.
This being the ‘70s, some of the stories in this volume are more than a little ‘out there’ but they mostly follow the EC horror comic tone, which I love.
A couple of other annoyances stop this book scoring higher from me:
1. It is absolutely bloody riddled with spelling and punctuation errors! There’s really no excuse for this when you’ve got the writer, the letterer AND a bunch of editors proofreading this stuff. Somebody was definitely asleep at the wheel.
2. They occasionally forget the whole ‘a vampire cannot enter a home unless invited in’ rule. They use it when it suits them and conveniently forget it when it would hinder the plot. For a pedant like myself, it’s most annoying.
Anyway, overall I’d give this 3.5 stars if I could but, as it is, I’ll round up to 4 as I did really enjoy reading it. -
Really one of Marvel's stand-out series of the 70's. A bit of musical chairs in the writing staff to begin, but Gene Colon is there from the beginning. (Did Jack Abel's inks ever make anything look better, in the way Vince Colletta fit Kirby's Thor at least?) I never noticed how the 1st issue echoed parts of Dark Shadows. Issue #3 echoes the first Shadow novel- both of which begin with the protagonist about to jump from a bridge.
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The Essentials reprints are the best bang for the comic buck, period. The Tomb of Dracula is a favorite of mine and I am proud to state that I have the entire run.
These stories were fair, trying to be modern but still holding onto the campy elements from the 1940s Universal movies. The character of Dracula had a solid presence in this work, but modern horror fans of things like the SAW films have to understand these were made for a youth audience in the 1970s, so there is power but no gore.
The art? Oh, it was so good!
And now that it's in beautiful black and white and not hampered by the second-rate coloring technology of the day, these are excellent examples of 1970s horror comics done right.
Gene Colan's pencils and Tom Palmer's inks had a misty feel about them unmatched to this day (well, possibly matched in SOME of the Hellboy comics). That intangible foggy feel set the tone of this whole storyline, making much of it feel dreamlike and so unreal that it made it easier for readers to step right into the world of these characters.
Were there things this storyline shouldn't even have tried? Sure. They should have found a way to make every one of the transitions from man to bat off-panel or deleted the idea completely (Think about how hard they had it -- in a single panel they had to draw a transition from clothed man to flying bat using tools no more advanced than a dip pen and india ink. Guys with ten million dollars worth of CGI equipment can barely pull it off today).
Some of the extras in later volumes of this series are literally essential as well, such as the Gene Colan issues of Doctor Strange and the old Dracula Lives B&W mags (some of which can sell for as much as one of these 400-page TPs today).
I know I sound like a giddy kid when I am describing these things, but I can't help it. These Essential volumes deliver you back to a time before VHS, before DVDs, before the 24-hour news cycle, before youtube, before Buffy, before cable, before the internet, before video games -- but long after radio dramas, after the best newspaper comics, after movie serials, and even after most of the campy family friendly shows like Lost in Space, Batman, Superman or The Munsters that came out of the 1950s or 1960s. Saturday morning cartoons of the day were horrible -- Yogi's Ark and a frienldy version of Tom & Jerry -- misguided at best! Comics WERE the only worthwhile kid culture out there. You didn't just read the comics in the 1970s, your imagination made them come alive by re-reading them again and again, sharing them with friends, and trading for more. Back then, kids really wanted to know if Dracula's dark evil was somehow more powerful than Doctor Strange's mystic powers, and every now and then Marvel delivred.
The Tomb of Dracula comics are an example of how they got most of it right, and that ain't bad. -
I actually read this once before, on the lamp-lit streets of Boston when I was in college. I remembered bits and pieces of it (that odd yellow-peril throwback, brain-in-a-jar arch enemy, Dr. Sun, for one) but it was more or less like reading it for the first time. As is usually the case, there's a bunch of stalls-and-starts early on as different writers rotate through, but it's mostly Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan throughout. Gene Colan is my favorite 70's comic book horror artist, precisely because of his work here. It's great, maybe even better, in black & white. And I wouldn't call myself a Marv Wolfman fan, but his particular style of plotting, where a bunch of garishly dramatic set pieces are cobbled together and are either forgotten & discarded or halfheartedly explained issues later, especially works here, because these stories really aren't about the drama (we all know the good guys are doomed and Dracula's going to get away) but the atmosphere, the mood. Plus, it's great how he works with all sorts of genres and settings. He's got a train mystery story, a snowy survivalist story, a spy story, a pulp detective story, a haunted house story...
Still, ya get sick of the heroes saying stuff like "This is it: tonight we finish Dracula FOR REAL THIS TIME REALLY THIS IS IT WE'RE REALLY GONNA GET 'EM TRUST ME!" when you know that's not gonna be the case. Likewise, most of the time Dracula sounds like your standard variety Meglomaniac Marvel Villain (MMV). Still, as the stories progress, and the alleged "heroes" take a backseat as the writers as much as the readers grow bored of them, Dracula takes center stage and becomes a more and more complex protagonist, if not outright anti-hero. -
Before Werewolf by Night, or Ghost Rider, or even Monster of Frankenstein, there was the Tomb of Dracula. "Tomb of Dracula" began with a standard love triangle. Frank Drake, an American descendant of the infamous Count Dracula, who has inherited Castle Dracula. He shows up in Transylvania to check out the property, along with his girl friend Jeannie, and his supposed friend Clifton Graves, Jeannie's ex-boyfriend and a guy out to make a buck. Cliff sees Castle Dracula as a tourist trap that he expects to end up with, along with Jeannie. But Cliff is so stupid that when he finds Dracula's skeleton with a stake sticking out of it (a major find) he pulls out the stake. The next thing we know Cliff is doing the Renfield act as Dracula's slave and Jeannie has been turned into a vampire. By the end of issue #2 Frank has to stake her and the comic is looking for a new direction. Goodwin adds a major element by having Drake hook up with Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, and Taj, her mute servant from India, which establishes the idea of a group of fearless vampire slayers. Wolfman adds the final member of the core group in issue #7, 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.
Thus, "Tomb of Dracula" becomes a quest, with this core group and their associates tracking down the King of the Vampires. Among those associates is Blade (#10), who actually manages to stake Dracula (#13). Of course, one of the great things about having a vampire as the villain is that just because you kill him does not mean the ball game is over, and the story of how Dracula ends up undead by the end of the next issue (#14), is one of Wolfman's better tales. During those same issues where Dracula gets killed, we start getting brief scenes involving Chinese minions acting out the orders of the mysterious Doctor Sun. You will not find out about who Doctor Sun is and what he wants by the end of this volume, which means you will have to just keep on reading.
All in all, like many of Marvel's other Essential titles, Essential Tomb of Dracula is a deal for the price if you don't mind the brittle black and white pages. 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. Not so much violent as creepy, atmospheric, and just a touch old-fashioned.
Book Details:
Title Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)
Author Marv Wolfman
Reviewed By Purplycookie -
Marvel Comics did a good take on the Dracula legend in this comic series. The awesome Gene Colan art was perfect for the story. Recommended.
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Starts off kind of rough due to revolving door creative teams, but once it gets settled with writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan, it starts to really take off. Colan, especially, is the superstar here, since his art is perfectly suited for the black & white reproduction of the Essential line. Just gorgeous stuff, and it looks far better in b&w than it ever did in color (to think that for all those years I claimed not to be a Colan fan, it was actually his colorist I had the grudge against).
Anyway, Bram Stoker it ain't, but it's fun. -
After reading Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest last month, I needed to read more Dracula. I opted to go with The Tomb of Dracula, classic, iconic Marvel series, published in the early 1970s with Gene Colan's incredible run of 70 issues, most of them plotted and scripted by Marv Wolfman, and inked by Tom Palmer.
I was 10 years old when I first read these suckers (heh heh) and Gene Colan's Dracula (looking like Jack Palance) will always be (for me) the signature illustrated Dracula. Gene Colan (God Rest his Soul) had a clear mastery of chiaroscuro that infused his books with fluid movement, mood, and texture evident in the shadows of his figures that is rarely captured by comic book artists today.
Essential TOD Volume I includes the first 15 issues of Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night #15, and a story from Giant Size Chillers #1. Werewolf by night was a crossover, and the Giant Size Chillers story was supposed to introduce Lilith, Dracula's daughter, to herald her own title.
The first couple of issues were off to a rocky start when Stan Lee, and Roy Thomas decided that they had to interfere with Gerry Conway's vision for the title. Obviously, they didn't learn there lesson immediately going through a short run by Archie Goodwin, and Gardner Fox. Marv Wolfman began his run with issue #7 and the rest was history.
The scripting of the comics is verbose, overtly wordy, but also tone setting. The language is as lyrical as Stoker's own stories and are IMHO the perfect complement to Gene Colan and the shadows he cast. -
La serie parte come "risvegliammo Dracula per caso e ora gli diamo la caccia", ma per fortuna evolve molto meglio. Nelle prime storie infatti i protagonisti sono un gruppo eterogeneo di cacciatori di vampiri, ma quando verso il decimo episodio il team artistico è consolidato, Marv Wolfman porta Dracula al centro della scena, come deve essere visto che la serie porta il suo nome. Gli altri, ossia i buoni, vengono correttamente relegati al ruolo di ottimi comprimari.
Di tanto in tanto si incappa in qualche buco logico, ma nel complesso la serie regge bene, e ci fornisce un Dracula molto sfaccettato, con un suo codice d'onore e un modo di fare coerente.
I disegni, tutti opera di Gene Colan, quasi sempre inchiostrato da Tom Palmer, sono qualitativamente eccezionali. Mike Ploog, pur ottimo disegnatore, che qui disegna una avventura della serie Werewolf by Night per l'immancabile cross-over, appare in confronto un disegnatore molto scarso.
La serie originariamente era a colori, e ho letto molti di quegli albi a colori. Il colore rovina molto del lavoro di Colan & Palmer, in b/n la resa è veramente qualcosa di magnifico. La loro Londra è eccezionale, i villaggi inglesi stupendamente caratterizzati, e i Carpazi splendidi. Se potete, recuperate l'essential in bianco e nero. -
I remember this being one of the best comic book series of the seventies. I still think it is, but my mature self has noticed how uneven the series was. This is partly baked in, because the writer changed ever two issues for the first ten, then settled on a writer I think is usually overrated, Marv Wolfman, but some of his finest work was on this series. There are things he does well, such as create a horrific mood in the captions that weave themselves through the story, though there are lapses such as when Wolfman slips into the second person. Most of the dialog is just fine, except when Wolfman writes black characters who speak in horrible jive dialog, or English characters who speak in inauthentic dialog. Some of his characters, probably more than half, are well conceived to serve a series of this type, though a few are horrible clichés. Still, there is rather more to recommend TOMB OF DRACULA than to scorn, and that is rare in seventies comics.
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While I never collected Tomb of Dracula my father did and one day when I stumbled upon his old comic collection and saw he had almost the whole series I was instantly hooked. This Essential series which collects the first 25 issues of the series plus some supplemental issues really dials the nostalgia up to 11. While some of the stories are repetitive my favorite are ones that focus just on Dracula when he has to solve some sort of mystery or personal problem. The series didn’t really hit its stride until Marv Wolfman took over and Rachel Van Helsing stopped firing her crossbow at Dracula expecting it to hit only for him to turn into a bat or mist at the last second every single time (this happened multiple times in the first 10 issues). Will be getting the second volume in the future to enjoy more of these stories.
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Well it was a bit of slog of overwritten nonsense but with that great dirty Gene Colan art I love & remember so well from reading Howard the Duck in my youth. It's 70's anti-superhero comix at their best and worst. Truth is as a kid I hated horror comics and movies because they were scary & believe me I didn't need too much as an overimaginative kid to bedevil me at night. I kinda thought any kid who liked this stuff was like an alien. My big sis loved the horror stuff. Not me! Anyway I finished this 500 page monstrosity thinking that's it for me, no more Marvel Dracula reading but damn if Marv Wolfman didn't pull a hard-boiled last story out of his hat that had a hook ending . . . wtf, I'm seriously thinking of running down the 2nd volume now, oh man do I need a shrink.
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I've wanted to read this since I read a Marvel Encyclopedia (in Grade School) almost 20 years ago. I've been reading comics for about 10 years now and have an bit of awe for 70s Marvel;
Omega the Unknown, Dr. Strange, Conan, Master of Kung-Fu, Black Panther, X-Men, Captain America (Nomad), The Defenders, Eternals, Howard the Duck and Warlock. A lot of Engleheart, Gerbert and Starlin.
Ultimately, a 12 year old me would have loved this. 33 year old me? Not so much. -
Landmark series worthy of the Lord of Vampires. The artwork by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer throughout sets the perfect tone with one of my favorite visual depictions of Dracula in any medium. Presented here In glorious black & white! The first few issues are solid, but once Marv Wolfman takes the writing reigns, the saga soars with compelling conflicts and characters, including the introduction of Blade.
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These Marvel Essential volumes are great ways to read classic comics and see art by your favorite writers and artists without breaking the bank trying to find original issues.
My only gripe (and it is a minor one) is that these are reproduced in black and white. This, and the newsprint-y paper, is how they are so affordable. But (and this is a big but) you get a lot of reading in each volume. -
Beginning possibly the greatest comic strip series of all time. Fifty years old, but could have been written yesterday (apart from some of the clothing choices!). Marvel's pioneering horror run has never been better than this.
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I expected this to be a hokey horror comic, which it kind of started out as, but towards the end of this book it started to feel like it had more passion behind it. I really liked it.
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Wonderful Gene Colan artist and Tom Pamer inks.
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There were some good ideas in here but they mostly fell flat by the end.
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Atmosphärische Zeichnungen, wenig gruslige Geschichten
Gene Colan. Das reicht. Allein die Zeichnungen in diesem Band sind den Preis schon locker wert - dass hinter derart atmosphärisch dichten Darstellungen die Plots weit zurückbleiben, ist wohl verständlich. Während "Tomb of Dracula" schon ein großer Schritt vorwärts im Vergleich zu DC's "House of Mystery" ist in Bezug auf "Grusligkeit", ist es halt immer noch für erwachsene Leser eher Schmunzellektüre, und es fällt einem schwer, sich auf so klischeehafte und wenig spannende Geschichten einzulassen, zumindest wenn man sich wirklich Gänsehaut erhofft - das ist heutzutage mit derartigen, noch unter Comics Code stehenden Comics wohl schwer möglich.
Aber, wie gesagt, Gene Colans Artwork hier ist schon fantastisch, er holt das letzte aus den mageren Plots heraus, manche Panels zeigen die archetypischen Dracula-Szenerien so perfekt und rundum gelungen, dass man sie ausschneiden, vergrößern und an die Wand hängen könnte. Definitiv seine beste Arbeiten. Sie machen "Tomb of Dracula" zu dem Klassiker, der es ist; und in schwarzweiß kommen diese dann, ohne übertünchende Farben, nochmal besser zur Geltung.
Besonders cool, und eine nette Überraschung für alle Vampirfans - das erste Auftreten von Blade, dem Vampirjäger, in Ausgabe 10. -
Entertaining adventures bringing Dracula into the then modern times (1970s). The book focuses on Dracula and the vampire hunters trying to stop him. A couple of the hunters should be familiar if you know the Bram Stoker novel, as they are descendants of characters from the book. The stories are mostly broken into two types: vampire hunters chasing Dracula and managing to mostly spoil his plans, and Dracula as an almost anti-hero stopping a villain at least as bad as Dracula. I like that throughout the series, Dracula remains undeniably evil. This book is also significant in that it introduces the character Blade.
The first few issues are a bit all over the place, as the writer seems to change each issue after the next. Fortunately, around issue 6 or 7, Marv Wolfman takes over as writer, and he remains with the the title for the rest of its existence. With Wolfman on board the quality gets more consistent, and he introduces subplots that he develops over time. No matter the quality of the story, probably the book's biggest star is Gene Colan's moody art. His artistic style really brings out the horror elements of the story. He could make a happy couple walking down the street in broad daylight seem creepy. -
Tomb of Dracula has always been one of my favorite comic series. Growing up, I loved anything featuring the classic Universal Horror characters, and Marvel was using just about all of them. The Werewolf was featured using original character Jack Russell in Werewolf By Night, Frankenstein's Monster had his own title for a while, and of course, Dracula himself would have his own book (and would later even take on the X-Men).
Here we have the first of four Essential collected editions featuring the Lord of the Undead and his constant foil of vampire hunters led by Quincy Harker, son of Mina and Jonathan Harker. Featured in this group are Frank Drake, descendant of Dracula, Rachel Van Helsing, granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, the mute Taj Nittal, and of course Blade, the vampire slayer! Later, detective (and vampire) Hannibal King would join the group.
These are some great comics from the 70s and just a lot of fun to read. Definitely worth checking out. -
I'm not quite through (about six issues left of Vol. 1) but I have to say these Marvel Essentials are just about the coolest things ever, and The Tomb Of Dracula is perfect for this series. I missed the first run of this comic during the seventies, but have had a blast discovering it in this vast book of reprints. The art is top-notch, and the stories are wild and imaginative, especially considering what would, at first glance, be a limited concept.
Is some of the dialog is a little silly? Yes, but it's a seventies comic! It's camp value is part of the charm. And as for the price (about $12 on Amazon) you can't beat it. You've got 500 pages of content here! It doesn't get much better than that. And it's a perfect book to read when between more "serious" literary pursuits. They just don't make comics like this anymore. -
There are a lot of reasons why I shouldn't have liked this collection. It's extremely text heavy for a comic. The plots are repetitive. The prose is ultra-purple. Characters needlessly narrate in dialogue the action that's happening right there in the panel. Blade, one of only two main characters of color, speaks mostly in jive. The other, Taj, doesn't speak at all. And yet...I kind of loved it. There's an unintentional campiness to the pervasive gothic atmosphere that I very much enjoyed. It's worth a look if you can get past its shortcomings. It definitely made for some fun Halloweentime reading.
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If I could give this three and a half stars, I would -- but really, that's a cop-out.
Once Wolfman takes over the writing chores, this gets ... maybe not *good*, exactly, but a lot of fun. Dracula talks way too much, the Dracula hunters consistently scuttle their own plans by talking rather than doing ... but it works. It strikes a tone and runs with it for all its worth. I'd like to say Buffy did it better, but then I wonder if Buffy's going to feel just as dated in 20 years.
I'm looking forward to reading further collections, that's for sure. -
It was $2. Don't judge me.
Update: Standard 70s kitsch but with Blade. Blade makes it awesome. White people are morons who hunt Dracula at NIGHT and wonder why their plans fail. Oscillates between Dracula as antagonist and protagonist so there is more complexity than a lot of these compilations. Originally in color but the B/W gives it a nice "noir" feel which works great. Lots of experimentation with pacing and toeing the line on sensuality, violence, gore, and good v. evil. -
The comic starts off weak, with its constant back and forth between Dracula and its hunters. However, it gains strength midway through the volume when Wolfman gains the confidence to write about Dracula without the hunters. Unlike most essentials, the art is crisp enough to survive the change to black & white.
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It had a very rough start, but once the full creative team was in place, this became the best horror series comics have even seen. It gets better from issue to issue, and even 30 years later is a fresh, interesting read. Highly recommended.