Everything sucks, so I should post something light and frothy; but instead we've got this:

From 1975, Tomb of Darkness #13, with maybe a Sal Buscema cover? Anyway, it took me a minute to figure out if we had blogged this one already, since we covered ToD #9 a few years back, and this issue opens with a different story with the same title: "The Man in the Tomb!" This one was from 1952's Mystic #12, with art by Bob Fujitani. A seeming execution, is instead just an elaborate initiation to the local chapter of the Knights of Mystery. (I had a conversation with my mom recently: my grandpa had been in a ton of men's clubs, like the Elks, Lions, Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, whatever; and you don't really have that around today. I knew one guy that was a Mason, and I would'a been less surprised if he'd said he was a Martian.) But, a local mobster crashes the club meeting, 'cause his skirt thinks he oughta have "social prestige"...by joining these nerds. The Knights don't want a criminal in their club, but agree to give him the tougher initation, in the graveyard tomb. The mobster will be locked in the tomb, but can reach out and grab the key whenever: the longer he stays in, the greater his rank in the club. Or, that's what the Knights tell him, anyway: they plan on ditching him, moving their headquarters and maybe changing their name, before the mobster even gets out of there. Except, the mobster gets scared five minutes in, and fumbles the key...! (This one vaguely reminded me of the MST3K episode "Ring of Terror," which also features an initiation that goes bad, with a bunch of frat guys way too old for the roles!)

"Alone!" from 1952's Adventures into Weird Worlds #9 is a very Twilight Zone premise, with an execution here they would never have been able to pull off on TV! A spoiled actor hates his fans and the "leeches that hang off of him," and wants to be "alone...really, truly, alone!" As you might have guessed, he gets his wish, as everyone in the city seems to disappear--'seems to,' though. Everyone is still there, as he can see cars and buses moving, but not the people in them; and in a bar he can see drinks and trays moving by themselves, since he can't see the people! Like a lot of TZ-style stories, this ends pretty abruptly: you got your wish, now suck it. Well, even if he didn't lose his mind completely, he'd probably get hit by a car in short order. (Art by Ben Brown and David Gantz.)

"Stop the Presses!" was also from Mystic #12, with art by Gene Colan: a reporter is hounded by his cruel editor, until he finally brings him a juicy exclusive. There was going to be a murder, at 8 tonight...right here in this office. Somewhat surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any moral or anything there, just vengeance.

Lastly, from 1952's Uncanny Tales #7 we meet "The Gal who Talked Too Much!" with art by Bob Brown. This was another time capsule story, from back in the day where people seemed to be burying these things for posterity like every 20 minutes; I think we've largely accepted now that our culture is crap and given up burying Furbies or Ed Hardy trucker caps or whatever. Meek local man Simon Graves is not-so-slowly losing his mind, as his wife Hilda seems physically incapable of shutting up for three consecutive seconds. As she yammers on through a local scientist's time capsule presentation, Simon finally goes off on her; and the scientist approaches him later: he had been looking for "volunteers," to live in the time capsule, as examples of humanity that would survive any nuclear war or disaster, with bottled air, food and water. The scientist hadn't had any takers, so he suggests if Simon drugged Hilda...Simon jumps at the offer, but he might not have been the only one given that offer.

I kinda liked this one! My copy's pretty beat up; I'll have to keep an eye out for a better one, if one randomly pops up. Read more!

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!

To be fair, if "The Silver Blade" was on late-night; I'd probably stay up and watch it.

It's the middle of the goddamn night, on what's probably going to be the coldest day of the year: I turned the heat up, maybe not too much, but more than usual. So, if I'm up, might as well get some posts done, and I know I mentioned this one a while back: from 1987-88, Silverblade #1-12, written by Cary Bates, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Klaus Janson and Steve Mitchell.

I was pretty excited to get this one from the quarter bins at my main comic shop in one fell swoop; since it was a 12-issue series: I had seen issues here and there over the years, but never put it together. Gene Colan is of course a legend, probably best known for Tomb of Dracula, but I misrembered Cary Bates for a bit, confusing him with old Warlord writer Cary Burkett; despite the fact that if you search "Cary Bates" on this blog we've seen a ton of comics from him! Something that struck me as odd: the first issue of Silverblade came out May 19, 1987; per the GCD. The checklist on the editorial Meanwhile... page includes Watchmen #12, which didn't hit stands until July 28? Looks like Watchmen #11 came out May 19; so either there's a typo, or the series slipped in shipping. How many comics fans today ever read Watchmen in singles, though? I myself only had one random issue! Anyway, I mention that, because of course Watchmen has been collected and republished a gazillion times, while Silverblade has yet to be collected at all. Which isn't maybe as surprising as I thought: DC's probably better about that than Marvel, but there's a fair amount of oddball titles from the mid-to-late 80's that haven't been collected in trades. Lords of the Ultra Realm, that never got a trade; and I swear the characters from that, and Watchmen, are both in DC's Who's Who: Update '87. Silverblade, is not; or at least doesn't get a proper full-page entry.

I'm nattering on, partially because I'm still chewing the book over in my mind: Silverblade has it's moments, it's not uninteresting, but is it any good? I didn't love it wholeheartedly--Greg Burgas over at Comics You Should Own did a pretty glowing write-up on it. For me, it's close: it does some things very well, like the first issue setting up the main character, Jonathan Lord, a faded actor turned recluse and crank. Bobby Milestone, former washout child actor, shuffles along as Lord's gopher; there's a remake set in space coming for Lord's biggest film, the Silver Blade; and someone might be plotting to murder Lord...or worse, if they can think of it. While Lord had done 102 films, he had been withdrawing into them, himself, and his secluded mansion for years; and Bobby was slowly but surely getting sick of his crap. After he storms out, Lord makes a plea to be what he was before; a plea that is answered by a mysterious voice, as he's wrapped up in film.

Bobby is kidnapped by Vermillion, who has nursed a grudge against him and Lord for 47 years: Bobby had been sick a day during filming of the Silver Blade, so Vermillion had jumped at the chance to make some money--for his dancing lessons!--by doing a stunt shot for him. Unfortunately, a net broke, and he took a nasty fall, that ended his dancing career before it even began; but honestly, he probably wasn't going to be the next Fred Astaire. Was there a next Fred Astaire? Vermillion had a stroke of inspiration: basically a snuff film, but with better costumes and production values. He wasn't expecting a new guest-star, as first a monster, than the Silver Blade himself, appear to take out Vermillion's goons and rescue Bobby. Who has no idea why his boss is a young man again, or seems to have a talking falcon...? (There are references to the Maltese Falcon, but less about the film than the actual, literal object?)

Later issues have text pieces, filling in backstory from the golden age of Hollywood and Lord's films: he did a lot of genre pics, so there were a few monsters and whatnot in there to keep it interesting, and Lord could turn into any one of his old roles. And, between that, Vermillion's quest for vengeance, and Lord maybe learning to not be a jerk again; that felt like enough hooks for the series to me? Especially since the retro-Hollywood stuff seemed so well-researched. But then there comes a mystic bird, an earlier version of Silverblade, and a bunch of New Age-y metaphysics and spirits and ancient civilizations that didn't do much for me: they could've left it at "Jonathan Lord tapped into the power of film," now adventures. (Vermillion's plot just sputters out, and he's given a completely unearned happy ending; he'd committed at least a couple murders.)

If I sound disappointed, it's just there were directions this maybe could've gone, that are brought up and seemingly just dropped: Lord and Bobby's relationship is open to investigation, for instance. Lord gives him a job, sure, but it also feels condescending and weird, like he needed someone to idolize him; and Bobby already felt like he'd wasted his life, so how would he feel when Lord gets a second chance? Also, Lord turns into Dracula around #6; largely because Colan can draw the crap out of that and to set up a cliffhanger; but he also turns a young woman into a vampire, and at the end of the series she's made Lord's housekeeper and fixed up with blood to drink...like that was a happy ending? All better?  I don't think the series did a great job with female roles, and Lord's attitudes towards sex seem old-fashioned, in a way that echoes movies of his time but probably wasn't realistic at all.

I also thought Silverblade was mentioned more often in the DC universe, even though this isn't set there; but that was Colan's Nathaniel Dusk, which is referenced in Doomsday Clock. OK, Silverblade might've dodged a bullet there. But his series doesn't quite do it; and will probably continue to just be a weird little Easter egg DC fits onto theatre marquees or background movie posters. Eh, maybe that's not a terrible legacy; the comics equivalent of Lord's films still playing on late shows or second-run theatres.

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Why not blog all the books I should do at Halloween now? No one can stop me! And this little one-shot I don't recall seeing before just recently: from 1988, Bloodscent #1, written by Dean Allen Schreck, art by Gene Colan. Introduction by Tom Savini.

Plotwise this one might seem a little slight, but it's enough for Colan to run with it: after a kill, a serial killer doesn't have as much time to savor it as he would like, as he realizes he's been spotted. Making his way back to his car in the woods, he's chased by an unseen pursuer...possibly more than one. If you recall some of Colan's other horror work, you probably know what's after the killer. 

Since I'm a gazillion years old, I can remember when Comico books were on racks--in Canada, anyway. For some reason, that's the only place I remember seeing them! But, I don't recall seeing horror one-shots very often, either; and here we are. 

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I'm not sure there's a woman in this entire issue, Miss Wendell.

Because this is all reprints: from 1974, Tomb of Darkness #9, cover by Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia.

"The Man of the Tomb" pretty much has to be reprinted here, doesn't it? After years of living underground due to atomic war, a scientist finally cracks his formula for reversing fission, which could end the war and make the surface of the planet habitable again...although, honestly, mankind would just wreck it up again, so why bother? This story was from 1954's Mystic #26, as was "The Living and the Dead!" and "Good Morning, Mr. Smith!" The latter of which appeared to be a straight-up lift of the Brain that Wouldn't Die but predates that film by eight years! Well, that been on the shelf for three years, but the plot dated back to 1925, anyway. I'll qualify for an educational grant yet!

"Juggernaut" is a variation of the Jagannath myth, albeit with a grifting priest: sacrifice yourself to the crushing sacred wheels of the Vishnu wagon, and gain eternal salvation! Be sure to leave your stupid worldly possessions to the priest before you do...The crooked priest is savvy enough to know, he just needs one sucker, to get the ball rolling, as it were, and trips one peasant under the wheels. Which encourages others! Still, he'll get his. (From 1953's Adventures into Terror #24, written by Paul S. Newman, art by Gene Colan.)

Lastly, in "The Living and the Dead!" (art by Al Eadeh) mystery writer Oscar gets a lot of ideas from the supernatural plots of his friend John, by tut-tutting them as worthless garbage, then reworking them just enough to present as his own. Except John has his own reasons for telling Oscar all these stories...

I took a moment to check out Mike's Amazing World, to see what else was on the racks when Mystic #26 came out. EC's Haunt of Fear #23 was out same month; just saying... Read more!

Look, blogging a Cap book is about as patriotic as I can muster nowadays.

But it's not too bad, I've had it since I was a kid and have probably bought it at least two more times. From 1981, Captain America Annual #5, "Deathwatcher!" Written by David Michelinie, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Dave Simons. Cover by Frank Miller!

This one might be most remembered for the opening sequence, where the Constrictor and a small crew has commandeered a Coast Guard ship, and threaten to open fire on the World Trade Center! Cap manages to get on board, but the Constrictor still gets a shot off--or would have, if an unknown party hadn't planted a mine on the ship. The crew of scuba divers also videotaped some of Constrictor's men drowning, but their employer is not wowed by the picture quality. The lead diver returns to a somewhat delapidated mansion, and his main job as butler, for bored tycoon Samson Scythe. The wheelchair-bound Scythe finds food too dull to consider, opting to be fed intravenously instead; and only perks up to watch his James Bond-villain cat "Fur-person" eat a live mouse.

Meanwhile, Steve Rogers ponders the mine mystery, completes an art assignment, shows a lot of skin in a shower scene, and gets sexually harassed. (Oh, all right: an editor likes Steve's work, but she gets huffy when he declines an offer for dinner and drinks. It takes him a second to put it together...) And Scythe watches live footage of a mobster's birthday party, which cuminates in the boss cutting into a booby-trapped turkey and getting electrocuted. Rival mob boss Gamble goes to the cops and Captain America: he didn't do it, but doesn't want a mob war to escalate, or anyone to make a shot at him. Cap keeps a tail on Gamble for a week, as the mobster avoids committing any crimes; instead he nearly gets it in a booby-trapped elevator. Scythe is really excited, until Cap saves Gamble, but that gives him an idea...

This was pretty early in Cap's relationship with Bernie Rosenthal: not only did she not know his secret identity, but Steve goes full Clark Kent to ditch her when he hears a radio broadcast warn of a bank robbery. The bank robbers are still there, since they're waiting for him; and Cap doesn't have his shield! He admits he can't always take it with him; but you wouldn't have guessed, since I can't remember the next or last time I saw that! Scythe's butler escapes on a motorcycle, that rides into a trailer: Cap dives under a door to get him, but is surprised by two goons waiting for him. Scythe tells him the robbery was just a ruse to draw him out to talk. Scythe wants Cap to lay off, so he can kill some mobsters, because that's how he gets off. Not like the Punisher, no: just watching death. Born to the idle rich, Scythe had done and seen about everything by the time he was a teenager. He joined the army and discovered he loved watching someone, anyone, die; and enjoyed the hell out of the Vietnam War, then entered a brutal depression afterwards. Too bored to move, eat, anything, he began to physically detoriate; but an old army buddy became his butler, and made a suggestion: he arranged for a mugger to get shot in Central Park, and videotaped it. Scythe took to it like a junkie, setting up cameras across town, even occasionally doing some 'good' like saving the city by mining Constrictor's ship. Scythe confesses he also did it since there's no way he could've taped everyone dying if Constrictor had opened fire. But now, he wonders, what would it be like to watch a hero die?

Like most of the millionaires--they were millionaires, back then--gone bad in NYC at the time, Scythe has a mansion and grounds full of deathtraps, and challenges Cap to it. Or let the cops try it, and get ground into mulch, either or. Cap faces traps like robot dogs, and a golden shower--wait, what? It's a room that fills up with gold dust, what were you thinking of? Man, I hope Cap didn't use that phrasing in his report. There's also a tuning fork-like trap on the roof that is very effective; Cap barely gets out of that one. The last hurdle is the butler in the media room with a flamethrower: a weakened Cap accidentally hits the fuel tank, and the whole place goes up. While Cap gets the butler out, Scythe nearly makes it to a fire extinguisher, before seeing his own death on a screen, and dies transfixed by the sight. 

I suppose there wasn't as much networking back then: Scythe's mansion and traps remind me of Elizabeth Dawes Sterling's from Daredevil. Or, Scythe should've maybe outsourced his murders, to Arcade or something. There's something to be said for do-it-yourselfing though, I guess.

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He got it twice as bad as Two-Face, but "All-Face" wouldn't be a good name.

The Savage Skull is a barely-remembered Batman foe, but it's more unusual to see Harvey Bullock acting more the villain, in today's book: from 1983, Detective Comics #528, "Requiem for Skulls" Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Klaus Janson.

Formerly a crooked cop, after having his face burned off Jack Crane became the cop-killer Savage Skull. He was previously believed to have been killed in a fire in Batman #360, but although Commissioner Gordon had declared the case closed, Detective Bullock didn't buy it. That may have been because he had known Crane, or it may have been part of his ongoing job to discredit Gordon, on the orders of Mayor Hamilton Hill. Bullock sends uniforms to sweep the docks, and one is killed when he finds the Skull: Gordon is pissed Bullock got a man killed going in without back-up, but Bullock gets promoted to assistant commissioner. Most of the cops that see Bullock are mildly surprised he's even still on the force...

Bullock remembers an old youth center Crane used to train kids at, and goes to investigate; and after a chat with Batman Gordon goes after him, with Batman going after them; since nobody takes any backup. Skull is there, of course, and Bullock isn't able to talk him down, while Gordon is only able to stop him from killing Bullock before the Skull comes at him. Taking out his knife with a batarang, Batman then steps into the ring with Skull, a Golden Gloves boxing champ, who probably doesn't have any nerve endings left in his face. He puts up about a page and a half worth of fight! Batman is proud of Gordon for saving Bullock, who says he's going to call a press conference "to straighten a few things out," although Bats seems doubtful. Since the next panel, Bullock double-crosses Gordon, taking the credit for the arrest, accusing him of interference, and calling him an incompetent who should be drummed from the force! That was a bit of a surprise. I was thinking this was early in his character, but Bullock had been around since Detective Comics #441.

Also this issue: redheaded Jason Todd, crying at Wayne Manor, visited by a clown. Literally, a clown. Pre-Crisis his origin was very, very much like Dick Grayson's, except Jason's acrobat parents had been killed by Killer Croc. I'm sure this clown would turn out to be a drunk, or a grifter, or something.
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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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We're not quite to the point of "self-debasement," but I was thinking...

I was thinking about Marvel Legends, and then glanced at this issue and remembered, hey, didn't I get the Blade figure? Along with about sixty-plus others last year, yeah. Some figures got buried in the crowd there, but we'll get back to him. Oh, and today's book: from 1975, Tomb of Dracula #30, "Memories on a Mourning's Night!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer. This one's been reprinted multiple times, but we've got a beat-up original today--got the Marvel Value Stamp and everything!

Dracula's in a gloomy mood tonight, after the death of Sheila Whittier: I don't have the previous issue handy, so I'm not sure why he's so broken up about that, but he is. So he opts to stay in and do a bit of "scribing" in his diary. This gives us the opportunity for three short tales, of Dracula failing or coming up short; as he works through those hard times: it would be admirable, if he wasn't a murdering monster, right?

First, a scheming wife tries to make Dracula her murder weapon for her husband, so she can move up to Otto von Bismarck. Next, Dracula takes revenge for a little blind girl, only to find maybe she didn't want it. Finally, the big one: Drac's first meeting with Blade, who wants to join Dracula!? What?

Presenting himself as wanting to get on the winning team before vampires wipe out humanity, he brings Dracula to meet his team--and jump him! They actually do pretty well, although Dracula's handmaidens show to help revive him later, and most of team Blade would be dead before long.

I was nattering on about Blade on Twitter the other week, since some wrong-minded soul tried to say Spawn was a better movie than Blade: come on, son. It's not even a better movie than Blade II. But Blade's never been able to carry his own comic for very long, so I wonder why Marvel hasn't trotted out Tomb of Dracula again lately? Well, it might be all right, since I hate, hate, hate the current Marvel design for him. And, if I've never mentioned it; no offense to Wesley Snipes, but I'd love to see a Blade reboot, set in the 70's! Wooden knives, funky green night-vision goggles, so much funk...
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Is it weird a guy so into blades is unshaven, or is that my hang-up?

It's tough coming up with Batman villains: not every one is going to be the Joker or Two-Face...or even in the top twenty there. Sometimes you need a filler for crowd scenes, which is where I first saw today's baddie, but here's his first appearance from 1982, Batman #343, "A Dagger So Deadly..." Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Klaus Janson.

Batman has other problems today, like the disappearance of Man-Bat, and that Bruce Wayne and the board of directors of the Wayne Foundation have collectively been hypnotized by Poison Ivy into signing over the foundation's assets! Still, when on patrol he comes across a motorcyclist attacking a truck, with a knife, he meets Dagger, who seems to have elevated the protection racket game. To further sell him, really hype him up, Dagger then takes out the Batmobile--with a knife!

Bats has to ditch the Batmobile in the river since he was worried it would explode and endanger bystanders, but goes back later for the knife to examine it. It's a quality weapon, from a Rennington Steel, and Batman visits the factory to check the sales records and maybe see who bought it. Instead, he meets a bitter David Rennington, who, since blade sales were down, decided to expand into crime and became Dagger! With his knives and on his home turf, he gives Bats a hard time for about five pages, which is probably the best turn-out Dagger's ever going to have. Batman even has a laugh that Dagger "just couldn't cut it!" and I have a feeling he kind of needed the win.

I know the first time I saw Dagger was in the classic--and never reprinted in the U.S?--Batman #400, where I think he's one of the many villains that escape from prison or Arkham, but one that opts to not face Batman again right then!

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Is it weird to have to come up with villains for Dracula?

Sure, there was Blade, and Frank Drake and Rachel Van Helsing; but they were heroes: ofttimes Dracula faced off against evil, perhaps not as great as his, but evil nonetheless. And today's issue throws a disembodied brain in for good measure: from 1974, Tomb of Dracula #20, "The Coming of Doctor Sun" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer.

High in the Transylvanian Alps, Dracula is on the ropes here: starved for blood and being chased by Frank and Rachel in a helicopter and taking potshots at the vampire with wooden bullets. I'm not sure who's flying said copter, since the weather conditions are bad enough that Dracula can't turn into mist or a bat and fight the wind. Still, he finds shelter in a cave filled with treasure, and the bodies of two treasure hunters; but is disappointed since at least one of the bodies had been poisoned, and Drac can't even drink its blood.

There's a brief interlude for a flashback for Rachel Van Helsing: when she was still a child, Dracula had killed her family, intent on stopping the vampire hunter family line. Quincy Harker had saved Rachel, and then raised her. Meanwhile, in Ireland, "vampire Brand," meets his master, Doctor Sun; while the doctor's men capture Dracula and chain him up with garlic-wrapped chains. Sun had rescued one of Dracula's former lackeys, Clifton Graves, after an explosion on a yacht, and gave him an opportunity for revenge. Which is cut short when Frank and Rachel show up: they're forced to fight Sun's goons, while Graves fights Dracula, and Rachel accidentally shoots Graves in the back with a crossbow! The fight is then cut short, as Frank, Rachel, and Dracula are immobilized by Dr. Sun...who so far, seems like a brain on a TV screen. I didn't scan his appearance in Nova #25, but I was more used to Sun as a brain in a robot casing; I don't think he started out like that, though. Sun wants to duel Dracula for the title, "the throne of the lordship of vampires!" From this issue, I'm not sure he has any motive, other than that having an army of vampires at your command would admittedly be pretty cool...

The treasure cave corpses seem somewhat disconnected from the main plot line here; and it's slightly unclear that Dr. Sun appears in two places at the same time, by tele-conferencing, apparently. Rachel's story could've used a little more space, but she always makes me sad; since she was killed in X-Men Annual #6, which I read years before I ever saw her in Tomb of Dracula.
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With a name like 'Vampre,' you shouldn't be surprised by this turn of events.

Sometimes you buy a comic for the cover, or in this case covers: one from Mike Mignola, and a flip-cover from Gene Colan, for 1995's the Death of Lady Vampre #1, created and written by Bruce Schoengood, pencils by Dave Gutierrez, inks by M.A. Moussa.

This was the origin issue for the Blackout Comics bad girl character, as the titular vampire slaughters a wedding party and forces the groom to 'marry' her. This causes Elizabeth Vampre to recall her wedding day, in 1862, and her wedding night, which I'm features some lingerie that I'm pretty sure was not historically accurate. But her groom is murdered by a female vampire, and Elizabeth is taken to another vampire, Confederate Major Brant; who says she looks like an "Angelique." A priest saves Elizabeth from Brant, but the priest also turns out to be a vampire! The "priest," Baraclaw, used that ruse to get Elizabeth to trust him, so he could turn her into a vampire to replace his lost Angelique. The pair go on slaughtering humans through the Civil War, and Lincoln's assassination was actually Booth trying to kill Baraclaw. Which is kind of a weird place for the issue to end, but there you go.

I don't think Lady Vampre was the breakout character for Blackout, but she would have a few more appearances in the 90's.

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Sounds better than my résumé, anyway.

In this exciting issue of Daredevil, the Black Widow laments her lack of employable skills, that have led to her living in a Rolls-Royce with a large Russian man.

The Owl runs into the people he moved across the country to avoid.

Daredevil spends most of the issue with what appears to be a suitcase on his back, lugging around about a mile of coiled rope, and protects his secret identity with an even more worrying lie.

I'm shocked anyone let Matt Murdock go anywhere unattended, since he would usually return looking like he just walked into traffic. "We know you're blind, Matt, but...geez." From 1974, Daredevil #116, "Two Flew Over the Owl's Nest!" (Groan...) Written by Steve Gerber, art by Gene Colan. (Colan was back to fill in this issue, per the letters page, he was busy with Tomb of Dracula, Doctor Strange, and an issue of Son of Satan that may not have seen print until 1974's Marvel Spotlight #18!)

I'm only four episodes into Daredevil, since I'm trying to save it for when I'm on my silly exercise bike. It's so good, guys.
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I don't think I appreciated these enough at the time:

The lead story in 1992's Moon Knight Special #1 was "Explosion at the Center of a Madman's Crown." (Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Art Nichols, inks by Chris Ivy.) It guest-starred Master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi and featured villains and settings from that book, so it felt more like it than an issue of Moon Knight. But, this was about midway through the run of Marc Spector: Moon Knight; I had mis-remembered it as being between the short 1985 Fist of Khonshu and 1989's Marc Spector.

But although there's a not-terribly-funny "Moon Blight" the movie spoof that wastes Marie Severin art, there's also some fun retro covers from Ron Frenz, John Romita, Don Heck, Ty Templeton, and Gene Colan! Those are pretty great.

Man, I would've read the hell out of Gene Colan's Moon Knight. Or Ty Templeton's, for that matter!
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I haven't had cable for a bit, so I had to look up if Ghost Hunters was still a thing. Sadly, yes. A thing I hate slightly more than today's issue! From 1977, Tomb of Dracula #56, "The Vampire Conspiracy!" Written and edited by Marv Wolfman, art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Tomb of Dracula is pretty great, but good lord, I hate the character of hack writer and professional sad sack Harold H. Harold, a minor recurring character in the book. This issue is an imaginary story, Harold's novel, and it sucks so much. It's supposed to, yeah, but still.

Anyway, while badmouthing this issue, it occurred to me Harold would have a point about rationality, except he lives in the Marvel Universe, which is chock full of vampires, werewolves, Kirby monsters in giant color-coordinated underpants...

Working on a longer strip, so short one today! That or I'm watching old Robot Chicken clips on YouTube. Either or.
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Anyone says 'autumn' is their favorite season, throw this in their face.

Tomorrow's the first day of fall. It's called fall. I don't think I've ever even said the word 'autumn' out loud. 'Course, I did grow up in Montana, where winter can run from September to April...

"Fear is the Name of the Game!" Scripted by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer. Originally from Tomb of Dracula #15, 1973. Reprinted in Halloween Megazine #1 in 1996--man, I wish those Marvel Megazine reprints had caught on.


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At first glance, this looks like a retelling of Nightcrawler's first appearance in Giant-Size X-Men #1. In the next page, Kurt even gives the same "I learn my lessons well!" speech, but it's slightly reworded, since it's out loud, to the angry villagers this time.

In fact, this was another batch of angry visitors, accusing Nightcrawler of having killed a child. The "child" in question, though, was merely a disguise of a monster, that was killed by its brethren for revealing itself; and the monsters in question had been killing children and may have been responsible for Kurt's step-brother going insane, which led to his death at Kurt's hands...

Yeah, this was a pretty big lump of retcon, in Marvel Comics Presents #104, "Male Bonding, part 4: You Know That We Do It Together" Written by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Al Williamson. In previous versions, Kurt's stepbrother Stefan made Kurt promise if he ever went bad, Kurt would stop him; and Stefan did go bad, committing more than a couple murders. He ended up snapping his neck in Kurt's tail, at which point the villagers found them, and gave chase, leading into Giant-Size.

Kurt fares against the villagers about as well as he did the first time, but luckily he's saved this time by Wolverine. This was their first team-up since Logan and the X-Men supposedly died in Uncanny X-Men #226 (an issue I have, but needed the footnote this issue to remind me) and Kurt's a little pissed about not being let in on the gag.



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I didn't think I had any Jemm, Son of Saturn comics, but I found issue #4 in my Superman box, since it guest-stars, well, duh. My impression of this series, without having read much of it or really remembering this issue, is that it was more or less "E.T. in the DC Universe," and maybe.

Young orphan Luther Mannikin and his newly found alien friend Jemm are taken in by street person Crazy Freddie, who looks like he's going to molest the hell out of both of them. No, Freddie is just collecting children for his band of pickpockets, which seems positively wholesome now. While Jemm and Luther play jacks, rogue C.I.A. agent Dade and Superman track them down: Dade because he lost his fiance and forty soldiers to aliens (who were robots that didn't look anything like Jemm) and Superman's trying to see what's up with all this Saturnian talk, since he knows there's no life there. (This might be pre-Crisis, so Supes might be able to see it from there.)

Superman is able to knock out Jemm, and Dade then attempts to execute him with a stolen C.I.A. superweapon called the "Krypt-Kicker." Supes stops him, pointing out that he's an alien himself, unwisely. The xenophobic Dade shoots him, but before he can finish Jemm, the robots that previously faced him return, capturing Jemm, and killing Dade. Supes regains consciousness, knowing he dropped the ball; and Jemm and Luther now face...a White Saturnian, Synn.

There's also a subplot, barely, with the little girl offering Jemm a flower up there. She's psychic, and is introduced and dies over the course of this issue. Not great, and it reminds me of E.T. for some reason too.

I know I've read more of his Marvel work, like Daredevil and Tomb of Dracula; but Gene Colan did a batch of DC as well, didn't he? I know I have a good chunk of his Detective Comics and Nathaniel Dusk. Odd that I've only one issue of this, though: "The Hunting" Written by Greg Potter, art by Colan and Klaus Janson.

Short one today, since I had to do some cleaning, and watch the Cowboys game, which is so frustrating it makes me want to cut myself. Not really. Maybe.
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