The Tomb Of Dracula (Essentials), Vol. 2

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Summary: Take heed, everyone...
Review: Just so you're aware, everyone, this is volume TWO of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" series- if you simply assume (like I did) that the only one listed would be the first volume in the series, you're gonna be mighty disappointed when you open up that Amazon box. Trust me on that one.

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Summary: Check the ISBN folks
Review: Just wanted to point out to everyone interested that the ISBN on this listing is the one already used on Volume Two (just checked my copy), not the upcoming Volume Three.

(Now, it might just be a mistake of some kind and it might actually be Volume Three, but I know I don't want to take the risk since the ISBN is what these book dealers really go by.)

Since Amazon is currently only offering two listings for "Essential Tomb of Dracula", this one and the one clearly labeled as "Volume Four", I don't know what this means for those of us who still need to order Volume Three.

David Young


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Summary: Slow Beginning But Gathers Steam Nicely
Review: Marvel should be congratulated for putting out The Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 (and Vol. 2 and, soon, Vol. 3). It was a series from the mid-70s that I never got hooked on until later and, to be fully appreciated, it must be savoured from the beginning, particularly after Marv Wolfman takes over scripting early on. It is one long storyline with little or no superheroic elements and, therefore, never got the attention it deserved, much like as happened also to Master of Kung Fu, and now seems to get attention mainly for introducing the character of Blade (a nice character but my personal favourite is Hannibal King, who does not appear until the final issue of this volume). Gene Colan's pencils have never been put to better use than in the moody stories of Wolfman and the black and white format of the Marvels Essentials is finally not a drawback to enjoying the series. Tomb of Dracula is well served by this kind of treatment.

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Summary: The Dr. Sun storyline comes to a head in "Tomb of Dracula"
Review: The horror comic book died a horrible death when E.C.'s celebrated lineup of "Tales from the Crypt, "The Vault of Horror," and "The Haunt of Fear" fell victim to the creation of the Comics Code of America, a censoring board created in 1955 in response to Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" and the resulting public outcry against horror and crime comics. A decade later a few publishers but out black & white magazines with color covers, such as Warren's "Creepy," "Eerie," and "Vampirella," to evade the Comics Code. If anything, they were more violent than the precode comic books. DC Comics continued the anthology tradition with "House of Secrets" and "Tales of the Unexpected," and eventually released "Swamp-Thing." When Marvel introduced "The Tomb of Dracula" in the early 1970s it was a rather modest entry into the horror market. But because of the success of this comic book it would be followed up with "Werewolf by Night" and "The Frankenstein Monster." But it was "Tomb of Dracula" that would end up proclaiming on its cover that it was "Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine, starting with issue #43, which comes near the end of "Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2.

This second volume includes #26-49 of "Tomb of Dracula," a crossover with "Dr. Strange" #14, and a quartet of less than stellar stories from "Giant-Size Dracula" #2-5. By this point the comic book has put together a team of fearless vampire hunters: Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula himself, Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, Taj, her mute servant from India, and 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. Joining the group in this volume are the vampire slayer Blade and the writer Harold H. Harold, and their are visits by Hannibal King and Brother Voodoo. Consequently, "Tomb of Dracula" was basically a quest to track down and stake the King of the Vampires.

Of the three volumes reprinting "The Tomb of Dracula" in black & white this one has the best stories, mostly dealing with mysterious Dr. Sun. We begin with the search for the Chimera (#26-28), a device of power the Dr. Sun's minions are tracking down. We then find out the tragic story behind's Taj's muteness (#31), but the larger story arc her is towards the final confrontation between Dracula and Dr. Sun. There is a problem since Dr. Sun kill Dracula before that point (#39), but one of the advantages of having a vampire for the villain is that he can die and be brought back to his undead life. With the Dr. Sun storyline writer Marv Wolfman does what has to be the longest set up in the history of the Marvel universe. For years we were tantalized with a page of panels about Sun's minions doing strange things with vampires before we started having entire issues devoted to the machinations of the living brain. Perhaps the payoff was not as great as the years of anticipation (we are talking "living brain"), but the bits and pieces as Dracula was tested and cornered by Dr. Sun were excellent. By the time you get to the end of this volume Wolfman is already into the final giant story line with Domini, the bride of Dracula, and the Church of Damned.

All of "The Tomb of Dracula" issues in Volume 2 are scripted by Wolfman, penciled by Gene Colan and inked by Tom Palmer. If Wolfman was the perfect writer for this comic book then Colan was the perfect artist (when you look at the "Giant-Size Dracula" issues drawn by the Don Heck and Nestor Redondo this point will be underscored). I still tend to think that Palmer's inking was at its very best when he was working with Neal Adam's pencils but what he did will Colan is the proverbial close second. Reading the entire series again made me appreciate how these comics were character driven, making comparisons with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" not only obvious but accurate, and the nice thing about having these reprint volumes is that it is a lot easier to read "The Tomb of Dracula" now than taking the originals out of plastic.

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. Volume 3 has "Tomb of Dracula" #50-70 and stories from "Tomb of Dracula Magazine" #1-4. I understand there is going to be a Volume 4, which hopefully would continue to reprint some of the stories from Marvel's black & white "Dracula Lives" magazine. Obviously you need to get all three volumes of the "Essential: Tomb of Dracula" so that you can appreciate how Wolfman, Colan, and Palmer crafted the best "fear" comic book since the days of E.C.

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Summary: One of the high points in comic book history
Review: Wolfman and Colon were really at their best when they were working on this series. Marv kept the series moving with tight characterization and nobody could draw Dracula like Gene: the bat fluttering on the breeze, the bat transformations, the face foating in the mist, and the overall imperial air. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up with the work load and the giant-size issues were handled by others and weren't quite as good.