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and the principal heroes include Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula; Rachel van
Helsing, a descendant of Dracula’s nemesis Abraham van Helsing; Quincy Harker, the
elderly son of another of Dracula’s foes, Jonathan Harker; and Blade, one of Marvel’s
most prominent African American characters, a vigilante whose mother was killed by
the vampire Deacon Frost while giving birth to him. However, whereas most superhero
comics of the time featured episodic narratives whose premises rarely changed, To m b o f
Dracula had an overarching and evolving storyline that had been planned out years in
advance. Th e series begins by chronicling the struggle between Dracula and the heroes,
but eventually Dracula is killed by the mad scientist Doctor Sun, who seeks to turn the
entire human race into vampires, and the heroes are forced to revive Dracula and ally
with him against Sun. In the second half of the series, Dracula becomes the head of a
Satanic cult, claiming to be the devil, but he gains a new enemy: his newborn son, Janus,
who magically ages and is revealed as an agent of Heaven. (Unusually for a Marvel comic,
To D dealt explicitly with religion and did so in a notably sensitive way.) Furthermore, its
characters underwent signifi cant change over the course of the series—it lacked the “illu-
sion of growth” typical of contemporary Marvel comics. Dracula (based visually on Jack
Palance) is a disgusting monster; his lack of thought balloons discourages the reader
from identifying with him, whereas Wolfman makes each of Dracula’s victims more sym-
pathetic by giving them names and brief biographies. Yet Dracula also has his noble side.
As early as issue #22 he saves a woman from her undead abusive husband; his love for
Janus and his wife Domini is genuine, and his struggle with Janus convinces him of the
superiority of good to evil, to the point where, in #69, he uses a crucifi x to defend chil-
dren from other vampires. Yet Dracula ultimately proves to be beyond redemption, and
the monthly series ends with his death. By contrast, the heroes are changed for the worse
by their encounters with Dracula. Whereas the heroes in Stoker’s novel have mostly
altruistic motivations, the chronically depressed Frank fi ghts Dracula only because he
has nothing else to do, while Rachel, Quincy, and Blade are motivated by their desire
for revenge on the vampires who killed their loved ones. Eventually Quincy sacrifi ces
his life to kill Dracula. Frank and Rachel are thus left with no purpose in life, and their
romance proves unsustainable. Th e series illustrates Nietzsche’s aphorism that whoever
fi ghts monsters risks becoming a monster. Because Tomb of Dracula’s only title charac-
ter is the villain, the roster of the heroes is subject to change without notice. Other re-
curring heroes include Quincy’s daughter Edith, the mute Indian Taj Nital, the Dracula
groupie Aurora Rabinowitz, the vampiric detective Hannibal King, and the hack writer
Harold H. Harold, who provides much-needed comic relief.
Wolfman and Colan collaborated on every issue of the series from #7 onward, and
Tom Palmer inked every issue starting with #12. Such longevity for a creative team was
almost unheard of at the time and perhaps explains why the series is often praised for
its consistency. Colan’s painterly pencil work is eff ectively complemented by Palmer’s
tight inking.
Th e characters in Tomb of Dracula appeared in many later Marvel titles, including
X-Men Annual #6, in which Rachel is turned into a vampire and killed by Wolverine,
