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Tomb of Dracula
was Marvel's most popular and successful ongoing horror
title of the 1970s, weaving an ongoing saga that plotted
the vampire count against a group of vampire hunters. It
was vividly brought to life by Marv Wolfman's gripping
multi-layer storytelling, Gene Colan's moody
cinematographic artwork, and Tom Palmer's intensely
gripping inking. The overall result harked back to the classic vampire stories but also added new momentum to the theme. Marvel's Tomb of Dracula was an outstanding contribution to the genre, a classic in its own right, and the jewel in the crown of Marvel's Bronze Age horror. It remains a fan favourite to this day.
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But before Eshcol can reach for
it, two strangers appear from the shadows and hold him
and Sheila at gunpoint, and they along with Dracula are
forced to watch on as the two thugs are poised to take
possession of it. And thus, another issue of Tomb Of Dracula ends on a cliffhanger... to be continued. |
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REVIEW & ANALYSIS |
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According to Roy Thomas, Tomb
of Dracula was a solid seller for most of its run
(Cooke, 2001), and Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan steadily
progressed on the title, from being two enthusiastic
individuals working together, to becoming an actual team
where mutual understanding and a shared perception
created results not otherwise possible. The series just
kept getting better and better, until it arguably reached
its prime for a period running from April 1974 to August
1975 over a sequence of 17 issues, namely Tomb of
Dracula #19-35. Tomb of Dracula #27 is situated perfectly midway in that period of five star excellence, and by this time the narrative flow and the plot interest had reached such a high intensity that Marv Wolfman could come up with storylines which did not even feature the team of vampire hunters as central cast characters for a few issues without any worries about losing the overall dynamic. |
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The chimera statue is a marvellous plot element and story device, since it also creates the suspenseful situation of several parties (most of them not on the side of what's good and right) hunting down the individual pieces. |
Unlike Wolfman, Gene Colan (1926-2011), nicknamed both "Gentleman"
and "the Dean" by Stan Lee,
worked on Tomb of Dracula right from the start,
and he would stay on the book throughout its entire run -
after having literally fought for this assignment from
Stan Lee
Colan created an intensely atmospheric visual rendition of Wolfman's horror saga and established a look and feel that went far beyond the classic horror comic qualities. His style, superbly inked by Tom Palmer, provided readers with a truly captivating visual journey into the dark shadows. For Colan, it all boiled down to a deeply rooted belief that comic books and movies share common traits.
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At this point in time of the series, Gene Colan was really in top gear and provided gripping visuals for Wolfman's stories. It all seemingly just flowed from his pencils with ease as he embedded his characters in atmospheric settings which embodied everything - and more - the genre had to offer. Issue after issue Colan's cinematographic style and his enthusiasm for this kind of work left their quality mark on each and every page. |
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One new element which had come up for Colan with Tomb of Dracula #26 was the chimera. In contrast to the classic Greek rendition with three bodies and three heads, Colan chose to simplify this by drawing only one head, namely the lion's. The result is a creature which is actually much easier to "decipher", and Colan's portrayal of the statue plays an important part in how successful the story arc works as a whole - just as his artwork did for the entire series.
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On a personal note
to further illustrate this, I immensely enjoyed Tomb
of Dracula #27 when I picked it up at the newsagent
as a 12-year old. It was only my third issue of the
series, but it thrilled me so much that even 45 years
later I can still recall just how much I liked the way
the mystical chimera intertwined with the Dracula theme.
It was only decades later, upon re-reading the issue for
the first time, that I was struck by just how many
interesting facets of the plot I had missed, yet without
any detriment to its entertainment value at the time. Tomb of Dracula #27 is one of those examples of a Bronze Age comic book - admittedly not available by the hundreds - which provides readers of any age (albeit probably best upwards of 12) with a very high level of storyline satisfaction: the plot kicks off from a superb cliffhanger and builds up instantly on various levels as it is taken forward very swiftly, building up a growing amount of suspense until it finally reaches yet another cliffhanger that really makes you wonder how things will go on from here. In a nutshell, this is comic book writing at its best from Marv Wolfman as the hunt for the mysterious artefact is complemented on an equally high level of excellence by Gene Colan's artwork and the inking supplied by Tom Palmer. |
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Tomb of Dracula #27 is
an exceptionally entertaining and surprisingly
multifaceted comic book, and as such it is also an
important part of the overall fabric which made the
series what it is from today's perception: a comic book
title which shaped and influenced comic book history. Tomb
of Dracula was the longest running Bronze Age horror
comic book title, in many ways serving as the prototype
mould for Marvel's 1970s run of horror comics which
infused the genre with the underlying principles of the
traditional superhero comic book, making the "superhero from the crypt" one of Marvel's milestone
contributions not just to the Bronze Age period of the
1970s but to comic book history as a whole. And finally, Tomb of Dracula
owes its uniqueness and success to an important
shift in focus which Marv Wolfman brought to the title:
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TRIVIA |
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Tomb Of Dracula had featured a letters page entitled "Tomes to the Tomb" since issue #3, and by the time issue #27 was prepared for the printers, editorial was receiving a lot of letters - so much so that Tomb Of Dracula #27 featured not one but two pages of missives from readers. | |||||||
Of course simple and outright praise from readers was
there too, and rightly so.
Like any other Marvel comic book from the 1974 period, Tomb Of Dracula #27 also featured a Bullpen Bulletin ("Notes and news on a nestful of Nebbishes!"), plus a Bullpen Bulletin bonus page, and the usual in-house advertising (not to mention the infamous flea market ads). |
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Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, along with Tom Palmer, certainly had a lot to do with those accolades, raising the bar of quality in comic books significantly through their work on Tomb Of Dracula. | |||||||
FURTHER READING ON THE THOUGHT BALLOON | |||||||
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BIBLIOGRAPHY COMIC GEEK SPEAK (2005) Podcast: Book of the month club - episode 5 - Tomb of Dracula, Interview with Marv Wolfman (31 October 2005, quoted from personal transcript) COOKE Jon B. (2001) "Son of Stan: Roy's Years of Horror", Comic Book Artist #13 DLUGOS Jenn (2002) "Gene Colan Interview", ClassicHorror.com, published online 15 December 2022 LATTIMORE Richmond (1951) The Illiad, Chicago University Press MATA Shiai (2007) "Gene Colan Interview", SlayerLit (stored on Internet Archive) SIUNTRES John (2006) "Marv Wolfman by Night", Word Balloon: The Comic Creator's Interview Show (quoted from personal transcript) THOMAS Roy (2000) "So you want a Job eh? The Gene Colan Interview", Alter Ego (vol. 3 issue 6) |
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