Is werewolf blood tasty enough to risk a mouthful of hair?

My little scanner was giving me the hassle today, which I thought might be because it's really old, but might just be the cable going bad. Still, every so often my scans come out really off-kilter, sometimes because the comics are old and ratty, and other times straight-up user error. And yet I seem to be on the Ed Wood school: shoot once and call it! Anyway, this issue was nearby to try: From 1974, Werewolf by Night #15, "Death of a Monster!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. (Spelled "Chiarmonte" here!)

This was, of course, a crossover with Tomb of Dracula, also written by Wolfman. I wonder if it's more fun to do one of those where you don't have to co-ordinate with another writer, or if it just feels like making work for yourself...After an initial scuffle with Dracula, Jack and Topaz open the sealed diary of Jack's ancestor, Baron Russoff, which fills in some continuity for both series: back around 1795, Dracula had killed the Baron's wife for not "kneel(ing) to his power." In return, the Baron braves Castle Dracula, stakes him, and throws the coffin in the river. (I thought this was maybe where Drac would be found at the start of his series, but the coffin-in-the-river...I'm not sure how it all lines up, but I'm used to like Hammer Dracula movies just going "somehow Dracula returned.") Still mad, the Baron smashes up a lot of Drac's stuff, before rescuing a peasant girl the vampire had been keeping prisoner. The girl turns out to be a werewolf, who later bites the Baron; leading to the family curse that now plagued Jack.

The diary indicates Dracula had not been able to control the peasant girl werewolf, so Jack wants to face him again as the Werewolf (by Night!) but needs the mystic help of Topaz. (They have a kiss here, but were they a couple? I need to get the Essential of my shelf!) Topaz describes her powers as able to do about anything she needed, but Wolfman maybe hints that her power was being drained, so she might not be able to pull this bit twice: putting Jack in control of the Werewolf, to face Dracula. This fight doesn't go the distance, as Drac is more concerned with getting the diary, which he refers to as "the second book of sins," but Rachel Van Helsing snags it first, escaping with Frank Drake in a helicopter. Dracula had tried to sabotage the 'copter by smashing up the controls, but didn't do a good enough job! Unless that came up next time: that story would continue in Tomb #19, without Jack and Topaz; but the Werewolf (by Night!) would face vampires again in WbN #19. Not Dracula there, I don't think, despite appearances.

Rachel Van Helsing was consistently awesome; Frank Drake doesn't have a great showing here. Although, bat-Dracula on your head while in a moving helicopter...yeah, screaming like a little girl is not a completely unwarranted response, I guess. Read more!

As usual, when I find a full mini-series in the cheap bins, I'm mandated by law to pick them all up; also as usual, here's a book I probably should save until October that we're going to check out now. From 2004, (The) Tomb of Dracula #1, written by Robert Rodi and Bruce Jones, pencils by Jamie Tolagson, inks by Tom Palmer and Jay Leisten. Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz!

This was, let's see, the second mini-series to reuse the name from Marvel's classic horror series: we flipped through a cursed image from the prior revival last year. The previous volume had Wolfman and Colan, but this one does have one link back to the original, with the return of inker Tom Palmer. Blade follows a striking--and suspicious--blonde to a club, shades of his first movie; but this one is almost all vampire wannabes. After killing maybe the one real vamp in the club, Blade still can't figure her out: she still had a reflection, but felt like death somehow. They have a little swordplay/foreplay at her place, where she cops to being a "halfbreed" like him, but they're interrupted by a video call from her boss, who turns out to be Noah Van Helsing.

Through dossier pages and narration, we're introduced to Noah's crew: yeah, don't get too attached. Their upcoming mission was a big one: the vampires were in a frenzy, since a once a millennium event was coming. The lord of the vampires was about to undergo a transformation, ridding himself of any humanity and ascending (descending?) to full demon status, cue apocalypse. But, said transformation had to happen on the vampire's home turf: a later issue notes, the wizard that had been forced to set that up had added that bit to block the then-current vampire lord Varnae, since his home Atlantis had sunk! Blade cuts in and joins them, even though he doesn't think they're up to it, that the vampires would be ready for a siege, and that the blonde, Divinity Drake, can't be trusted, as she was a descendent of none other than...Dracula! Who doesn't appear until the last page here, with rocker long hair and jeans? Urg, that's almost enough to make me reconsider the red-armor look for him.

We actually don't see a ton of Drac in this series, to be honest; since he spends most of it almost cocooned up and ordering his troops around. There is a bit more variety of vampires here too, tapping into other cultures' vampire mythos; as well as the "Mortuus Invictus," or the unwilling dead. I don't think this one quite stuck the landing, though: this maybe needed to be an ongoing, to give it enough room for the other vampire-slayers to be more fully fleshed-out. (The ticking-clock would have to be extended, then; this series takes place over maybe a few days.) That and there are not one but two twist reveals...one I liked, the other felt like a cheat. Read more!

I did pick up all four issues of Claremont's Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy Elseworlds, but I haven't had time to flip through them yet, and they probably won't fit in the scanner anyway. This issue does, though! From 1982, Uncanny X-Men #159, "Night Screams!" Written by Chris Claremont, guest-pencils by Bill Sienkiewicz, inks by Bob Wiacek, letters by Tor Orzechowski, colors by Glynis Wein.

This was a lead-in to X-Men Annual #6, one of my first X-reads and still a classic. The X-Men stop off at Misty Knight's apartment, but instead meet her roommate, model Harmony Young. The X-Men had arrived in costume, but Kitty had to change for dinner with her parents: Ororo didn't have clothes for it, but Harmony gets her dressed up. Still, later when Kitty calls the apartment, Ororo had left hours ago, but hadn't arrived back, as we see her laid out in an alley.

Logan and Piotr rush to the hospital, where Ororo had been brought in. Having lost a ton of blood, the doctor wanted to do a full transfusion, but couldn't because of unusual elements in her blood. The X-Men were still largely secret back then, and Logan worries the doctor was very close to putting two-and-two together; but then Ororo seems completely fine, save not remembering who (or what) attacked her, and she has a momentary twinge of fear at the night, that passes after she thinks she saw eyes in it. Back at Misty's, the worried guys tuck her into bed (and Bill appears to misdraw Kurt's hand turning out a light, on an otherwise amazing page!) but Ororo's rest is troubled, until she opens up the windows, and a fog sweeps in...

When Kitty arrives back two days later, she finds the guys moping, as they were at a loss how to help Ororo, who seemed to be losing the will to live. Kitty rushes up to see her, and opens the drapes; Ororo protests that "the sunlight...hurts." She also has a fancy scarf, embroidered with a 'D,' around her neck; "a...gift, from an admirer. But how can that be? He's a figment of my imagination." Ororo flinches, when the light reflects off Kitty's Star of David, and while Kitty starts putting it together, Ororo shoves her away. It's Dracula, haven't Kurt, Logan, or Piotr read a book or seen a movie? Well, this issue does predate Fright Night, so I guess they've got some excuse: probably less, since I'm pretty sure it's been retconned since that Logan had run into vampires before, and possibly even Kurt as well. (Kurt seemed at least aware they existed in the Marvel U. and Logan himself later mentions he's "seen the movies!")

Dracula shows up, to take Ororo away, but Kitty makes a valiant if ill-advised attempt to stop him alone, with a kicky little hat and a cross. Which fails miserably, since she wasn't Catholic or Christian or whatever; but her Star of David saves her from Drac's chokehold. Still, she can't stop Dracula and Ororo from flying away, as the guys arrive. Logan is skeptical, but Kurt trusts Kitty; and either way they can't just let Ororo take off. Logan tracks her to Central Park, where Dracula confronts them, with some wild dogs to even up the numbers. Kurt gets clobbered, Logan whiffs a fastball special when Dracula turns into mist, and even Piotr is thrown back. Logan tries to make a cross with his claws, but he doesn't believe. However, Kurt does, and staggers Dracula for a moment, before he summons lightning, which Kurt can barely teleport ahead of...

Kitty had slipped away, to try and find Ororo, and finds a coffin deep inside a weather station. She fouls it with holy water--I'm mildly curious where she got that, but you can get anything in NYC. Kitty then gets smacked by Ororo, who isn't really a vampire yet, but her mind had been warped. Kitty tries to reach her, saying Ororo had been "a goddess consecrated to life," and drops her stake, refusing to fight her. Meanwhile, Kurt tries to turn Dracula's lightning against him, teleporting over the vampire, but that just seems to knock out all the X-Men, leaving only Dracula and Ororo standing. Dracula orders her to kill them, but she turns on him, hitting him with another lightning bolt! Dracula takes a bat-man (or Man-Bat!) form and takes off, taunting Ororo that she was still is, but she knocks him through a window with an arctic wind. Dracula takes a hostage, but Ororo refuses to become a vampire, or to kill: "I was born free, vampire, and free I will remain." Dracula admits, she had earned her respect, and takes off...for now.

As the sun rises, Ororo returns to the X-Men, and hugs Kitty for her braveness. But the X-Men don't have long to rest, as they get a phone call from Moira MacTaggert: Professor Xavier's condition had taken a turn for the worse... 

I don't think Claremont was ever shy about wearing his influences on his sleeve; and this feels like a speedrun through Bram Stoker's novel. But the character work, and the art, make it a great one. If you were a fan of the alt-universe series Mutant X, this issue was a load-bearing plot point, as Ororo didn't resist there and gobbled Kitty up to become the vampire Bloodstorm. I also think I read Claremont's Dracula, long, long before I'd ever get to read Tomb of Dracula: those I probably didn't see until the 1993 reprints.

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I'm just saying, other companies can still produce black & white magazines; we haven't lost the technology.

By Crom's black beard...! I was going to say, I've complained before, when Marvel had the Conan license, and re-launched Savage Sword of Conan not as a black-and-white magazine, but a traditional comic; which was malfeasance bordering on sacrilege. Then I remembered, didn't I buy all those from a show recently? And if so, where the hell did I put them...I got all distracted, but my point was, I should be mad at this issue, for not coming in the classic Bizarre Adventures format, too: from 2019, Bizarre Adventures #1.

Oddly enough, this would be the first #1 issue for the title: it had been Marvel Preview up until 1981, although it had two "Bizarre Adventures" issues before the title change. This issue features four stories from characters who did, or certainly could have, been featured in the magazine days; starting with a Bloodstone story, with the classic monster-hunter. (Elsa's dad to you newbies!) "The Star-Spawned Sorcerer" Written by Jed Mackay, art by Chris Mooneyham.

Next, Shang-Chi in "The Lesson," which features kung-fu action, again in the vein of the magazine days. Shang faces an old master, but is he the unstoppable weapon he could be...? (Written by Sebastian Girner, art by Francesco Manna, color art by Andy Troy.) Then, Dracula, who of course had his own black & white mag, in "Eveline O'Reilly." Drac revisits an old foe, whom he had conflicting feelings for; but time has long since marched on. (Written by Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad, art by Becky Cloonan, color art by Lee Loughridge.)

There were three variant covers for this book, but I have the Black Goliath one by Aaron Conley, who also draws the three-page closer with the giant hero in 70's style. It's silly, although his "ew, no, I'm a normal human" crack is a bit rough. ("How Does He Do It?" Written by Jon Adams, art by Aaron Conley, color art by John Rauch.)

For a buck, this was pretty good! Although I wish I had a big stack of black & white next to me now.

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Wasn't expecting Dracula to pull a January 6th, but here we are.

I just picked up a dollar copy of this one, and opened it up...directly to that page, like it was cursed. From 1992, Tomb of Dracula #4, written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Al Williamson.

And of course, I wasn't positive I had even read this, but sure enough, there's an old post from 2018 with the first issue; where I indicate I was missing the second issue. Without having the other issues next to me, I think Drac was dabbling in psychic power here, and while he had an army of zombies at his command, he looked like crap, dead and rotting. Blade guest-stars, but closer to his loose-cannon characterization of the original series: he's willing to do just about anything to kill Dracula, and isn't taking no for an answer. There were also a few new supporting characters, that Wolfman may have been trying to seed for later use; but where do you go after Dracula? Anything else would be a comedown. Read more!

Pluto TV started their Universal Monsters channel a couple months back, and ever since it's been on in the background here most of that time. Lon Chaney's Larry Talbot/the Wolf Man is probably my favorite, but even some of the lesser lights have their moments: I kinda like the 1941 gorilla-suit number the Monster and the Girl. A mild-mannered church organist tries to save his sister when she's forced into prostitution in the big city (!) but gets framed for murder and sentenced to death. Some scientists ask if they can have his brain when he's, y'know, done using it; and transplant it into a gorilla; who later goes on a murder spree against the crooked D.A. and untouchable mobsters. One of the 'tough-guys,' a sneering gunsel, freaks out after a couple bodies are found, crushed into pulp: "I don't wanna be mangled!" Fearing the gunsel had lost his nerve and might talk, the bosses are forced to have him, 'taken care of,' but yeah, still gets mangled.

Actually, I was going to talk about Dracula, since that channel runs a good-sized block of it: they start with the 1931 Bela Lugosi version, then the 1979 Frank Langella Dracula (which has music by the great John Williams, which just feels wrong!) then the 1931 Spanish Dracula, that was filmed nights with Lugosi's. Also, sometime in the last couple months, I know Svengoolie ran the Jack Palance TV movie from 1974. So I've seen or read more than a few versions of Dracula, but partially because it varies, I always forget what happens to Jonathan Harker. He's more central in some tellings, but I usually think when he goes to Transylvania, he's not coming back out. Let's see how he does today! From 1976, Marvel Classics Comics #9, "Dracula" Adapted from the novel by Bram Stoker, script by Naunerle Farr, art by Nestor Redondo. Cover by Gil Kane, in the classic Marvel style!

This was actually a reprint, from an 1973 English adaptation. (Which I thought predated Marvel's Tomb of Dracula, but no!) Per one source, out of 36 issues of this series, 12 of them were reprints from other publishers. It has the square, typeset-style word balloons that probably seem weird to American readers, but is otherwise a pretty good retelling of the story. Harker does survive; after his encounter with Dracula's three women, he manages to climb out of the castle, but is unsure if any of that actually happened when he wakes up in a hospital later. Hey, the Demeter referred to by name! I feel like it either wasn't, or a different name was used in the '31 movie; I still want to see Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Mind you, I don't know if most versions have a sequence straight-up outlining Dracula's powers like this, but you know what, for comics that's pretty standard, right? Anyway, I liked seeing a more classic Dracula: I know Marvel's in the middle of a big vampire thing, but they're still using the red armor look, which has to be 'inspired' by 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula; and I don't think anybody likes it. At all. It's been around 15 years, and hasn't won me over yet. Read more!

Again, I guess they're challenging you to read "true tales of the weird and supernatural," not necessarily delivering them.

Traditionally, in ghost stories, anybody scoffing at the idea that they were "true" is going to get the pants scared off of them later. I doubt that's going to happen here, but who am I to say? From 1976, Ghosts #50.

The GCD credits Buddy Gernale with the opener, "startling testimony to the existence of a frightening world of the spectral and supernatural." I rather like the notion of a haunted bookshelf, since I'd like to haunt a bookshelf! I don't know if any of these stories are necessarily based on anything, although Dartmoor had mysterious beasts in it as recently as a few years ago. Actually, the mundane explanation for that one is still kind of fun.

In "Home is Where the Grave Is!" a young boy raised next to a graveyard grows up with ghosts as good, friendly neighbors. But that doesn't save him from getting drafted for Vietnam...you can pretty much guess how he's going to come home. (Story by Carl Wessler, pencils by John Calnan, inks by Tex Blaisdell.) "The Trapped Phantom" features E.R. Cruz art, as a bandit murders a fisherman, but worries about his vengeful ghost. Which is trapped near where it passed, so should be easily avoidable...unless there's a flood or something.

Finally, in "The Most Fearful Villain of the Supernatural" an Irish writer visiting "Rumania" is shocked to find a deserted castle, with a body in an open coffin with a stake in its heart! Which he removes, reviving the vampire: not doing that seems like it would be common sense, but it wasn't yet, since the writer, Bram Stoker, hadn't written Dracula yet! Did Stoker have a chance encounter with the supernatural, that led to one of the most famous books of all time? That's a premise that's probably been used elsewhere, but also probably given more than six pages. (Written by George Kashdan, art by Lee Elias.) Read more!

I thought I had posted some panels from this series before, but I also don't think I've seen this particular movie version since the 90's. (Of course, after I wrote this, I caught about twenty minutes of it over the weekend!) Wonder if I have the other three issues, too. From 1992, Bram Stroker's Dracula #1, script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Mignola, inks by John Nyberg.

This was adapting the Francis Ford Coppola movie, and the design work for the film is absolutely in Mignola's wheelhouse. This is a pretty, pretty book; in a plain newstand format. I'm mildly surprised this doesn't seem to have been released as a fancy-edition, at least maybe not at the time.

Topps is probably not remembered as a comic company, but they were swinging hard in the 90's. I don't think it saved them when the speculator bubble burst, but they shot their shot. Read more!

I swear I have the Essential Frankenstein somewhere, not on my shelf of those. But when I randomly come across one of these, I probably have to grab it. From 1974, the Frankenstein Monster #9, "The Vampire Killers!" Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by John Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten.

Aw, this one's missing a few pages: the Angry Villagers Local #237 have Frank trussed up and are burning him at the stake, but that has unfortunately left their town open for Dracula to swoop in and put the bite to a woman or two. The Monster had been on the verge of giving up, but hearing the sound of someone else suffering inspires him to keep fighting, to save anyone from the torments he had lived through. The mob is completely ineffectual against Dracula--maybe you should've brought more than one crossbow, or at least not called your shot ahead of time--as well as against a newly driven Frankenstein.

While Dracula is coffin shopping, Frank returns to the cave Drac came from, and finds sultry villager Carmen waiting for him. Even Frank isn't convinced she's into him; she's there for his blood, having been turned by Dracula. Her attack paralyzes Frankenstein's vocal cords; I don't think he would be able to talk for the rest of his series and beyond. Frank stakes Carmen, which irritates Dracula more than anything: he obviously had no feelings for her, but how dare that thing take away something of his? Dracula has the Monster on the ropes for most of their brief fight, until the Monster manages to get him into the sunlight, form the cross, and stake him. (I sincerely doubt the Monster believed in God, so the cross shouldn't have worked; but the sunlight may have done the damage needed.)

Frankenstein is left with "only the bitter bile of revenge," and Carmen's memory; but isn't left with any time to consider it, as he is greeted by Vincent Frankenstein! We're not sure of his deal yet, but that's pretty ballsy to march himself up to a cave that had two vampires and the Monster. Well, I bet Vincent either didn't believe in vampires, or didn't believe they would dare threaten a Frankenstein.
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Emma Frost bags out halfway through this one, she's not spending Halloween with kids.

It's August as I write this, and was brighter than the surface of the sun when I went out earlier, but we're still blogging as Halloween a comic as I could find! From 1998, Generation X/Dracula, "Children of the Night" Written by Joseph Harris, pencils by Tomm Coker, inks by Troy Hubbs. (I'm glad the GCD had that, those credits were nearly impossible to read there!)

The cover--an homage to X-Men Annual #6, and the back cover features Bill Sienkiewicz inks!--makes it look like this is going to be fairly straight-forward: Dracula attempting to sway Chamber, with the restoration of his ruined face. (I thought it should be just a glowing, ruined hole; or at least jawless; but Chamber's face is portrayed here as if merely wrapped. He seems less wrecked than Jonah Hex or Snake-Eyes, and that was kind of supposed to be his whole deal!) But the story is more impressionistic and a bit vague: there are multiple dream sequences, vampiric thralls that are magically restored to human in the end, and an ambiguous ending that's probably never followed up on.

Aside from the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown trick-or-treaters, there are more callbacks to X-Men Annual #6 than I had thought: the 'D' emblazoned scarves Dracula gave to his special favorites, and a character stabbing Drac that probably should've finished him.
(From X-Men Annual #6, "Blood Feud!" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Bill Sienkiewicz, inks by Bob Wiacek.)

In this case, it's Husk finally realizing she could change into wood and stab him, but she misses the heart. Rrrrright. There is an interesting moment slightly earlier, when Dracula is about to bite her, and she sheds a ton of skin at him to get away. For Drac, I imagine that would be like trying to bite into an apple and finding nothing but multiple layers of skin: gross, and oddly unsettling. Overall this issue's not in the ballpark of its inspiration (partially because I'm not as attached to the Gen X kids) but it has a couple interesting visuals.


Out of the 1998 annuals oddball pairings, we've blogged X-Men/Dr. Doom, Hulk/Sub-Mariner, X-Man/Hulk. I probably still have Machine Man/Bastion somewhere, but I think I actively skipped Alpha Flight/Inhumans recently. Maybe I might've coughed up for it, if I realized it maybe might have the Stan's Soapbox where he answers a question from me! Collect them all!

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This wasn't gonna work, but good on Blade for giving it a try.

Mike Baron played a card really early in his Punisher run--around the second issue, if I recall correctly--like Frank was going to bag it in, give up being the Punisher, retire somewhere. Seemed pretty unlikely then, seems pretty unlikely here too. From 1994, Blade: the Vampire Hunter #1, "Dark Visions" Written by Ian Edginton, pencils by Douglas H. Wheatley, inks by Chris Ivy.

After the (presumed) deaths of his teammates in the Nightstalkers, Blade was going to give the old normal life a try. In fact, I thought he was using his real name, but he gives it out as "Hannibal Francis Blade," after his lost friends. Still, in short order he's accosted by escaped lunatic Bible Bob, who tells Blade he's never going to be able to walk away from the life, and to that effect gives him a "witch's compass," knowing it will lead Blade back into action soon enough. Blade fights Thorne, a corporate raider type, now head of Varnae's vampire cult; who's up to all sorts of modernized vampire nonsense, like a "necrotech program" using "a chaos theory form of random analysis" for mystic events. Such as "the imminent return of that Carpathian leech, Count Dracula!"

Sure enough, a reporter working on the Nightstalkers story runs afoul of the resurrected Dracula, who appears briefly this issue, in a toga. They may have been trying to update him from his traditional Tomb of Dracula look, but I know they weren't quite to his current red armor look, which I can't stand.
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Hey, that one stole Thor's hat!

Over time, I thought I had put together most of the issues of Thor just prior to when Walt Simonson reinvigorated the book with Thor #337. But I didn't recognize today's book, since I would've remembered a Bill Sienkiewicz cover! From 1983, Thor #332, "Blood of a Goddess!" Written by Alan Zelenetz, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Vince Colletta.

As Dr. Donald Blake, Thor has returned to New York City, to get ambushed with questions about Jane Foster's murder! The cops didn't have a body, or even much motive besides jealousy; but Blake may have been one of the last to see her; and the story of what actually happened to her is pretty impenetrable for the reader, so it probably wouldn't go over great with the cops, either. After Jane failed her trial against the Unknown, she had been returned to earth and set up with Blake-lookalike Dr. Kincaid, who's understandably curious what happened to his fiancé, but Thor doesn't think he can say anything without torpedoing his secret identity.

Blake's questioning makes headlines...somehow, possibly because this story was before the constant hellstorm of today's news churn. Sif sees the papers and rushes to join her beloved, while Thor is giving word to try and find the Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn, which had been used to fuse Jane and Sif together, or whatever it did. Meanwhile: Dracula! Flying by, he notices Thor and Sif (and seems to notice Sif more than the preoccupied Thor does...) then proceeds to turn three hapless teens into vampires. Dr. Blake gives a second opinion on their bodies in the morgue, then offers the lead detective assistance as Thor, so he's there the next night when another body rises as a vampire. Thor makes short work of that one, then has to fly to the cemetery figuring the teens would turn as well. Also a short fight, but at Sif's place, a half-asleep Sif hears a tapping at the window, and dreamingly thinks it's Thor...when it's actually Dracula!

The Dracula story would only run one more issue, then the Jane Foster plotline would be wrapped up--for some time--in #334-335. I feel like I have most of those, but it probably wouldn't stop me from buying them out of the quarterbin again.
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It's a bazillion degrees out as I write this, so why not take a look at a chiller? From 1991, Tomb of Dracula #1, "Day of Blood! Night of Redemption!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Al Williamson.

We saw Wolfman and Colan's later book, Curse of Dracula, some years back; but this was their traditional Marvel Dracula from classic Tomb of Dracula. (Colan drew all 70 issues, while Wolfman came on with the seventh issue.) It's both continued from their run, and much, much darker. Actually, the continuity may be a little off--or ignoring other writers and titles use of Dracula--since here, Quincy Harker had killed Dracula with one of the silver spokes of his wheelchair, but had died when dynamite blew up a chunk of Drac's castle and buried them, before Harker could decapitate and permanently kill him. Still, his vampire hunting crew went on with their lives; in the case of Rachel Van Helsing, getting killed later. In normal continuity, Rachel was killed by Dracula in X-Men Annual #6, but here it's indicated she was killed by garden-variety vampires some time later...and that's not even the worst thing that happened to her.

After leaving Rachel, Frank Drake went into therapy with Professor Gregor Smirnoff, a Russian dream researcher; who would introduce him to his future wife, Marlene McKenna. Although she had never seen Dracula, she believed Drake's stories, and they were causing progressively worse nightmares...that seemed to imply Dracula was returning. Meanwhile, students in Georgetown are holding more and more disturbing rituals, sacrificing ever more to an unseen master. And Smirnoff's true colors are revealed in his notes: before her death, he had seduced the then-alcoholic Rachel, to pump her for information on the grave of Dracula. Then, Marlene is seemingly possessed by Rachel, as Smirnoff knocks Drake out and takes her to Transylvania! No spoiler to guess what happens soon after...

As is so often the case around here, I'm missing an issue of a four-issue mini, #2 in this case. But we've barely scratched the darkness of this one, and it would have a four-digit body count by the third issue!
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