10 Greatest Horror Comics You NEED To Read
4. Tomb Of Dracula
Tomb of Dracula was a 70-issue series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. It ran through a series of writers at the beginning, including Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, and Gardner Fox before Marv Wolfman became the primary writer with issue # 7. Gene Colan and Tom Palmer were the chief artists through most of the run.
The series centered around legendary vampire Count Dracula, but also introduced characters like Blade, Frances Drake, Hannibal King, Deacon Frost, Rachel Van Helsing - the granddaughter of his classic adversary, Abraham Van Helsing - and Dracula's daughter Lilith.
With the relaxing of the Comics Code Authority and its restrictions against vampire stories, editor Stan lee and Roy Thomas were able to plan the Dracula title. Artist Gene Colan departed from the generally excepted idea of Dracula resembling him as portrayed by Bela Lugosi. Instead, he based the look on noted character actor and “tough guy” Jack Palance.
While Wolfman had planned to keep the book and its characters separate from the larger Marvel universe at first, crossovers with Jack Russell’s Werewolf and meetings with Doctor Strange and Spider-Man connected this world of Gothic horror with the “shiny” world of capes and costumes. Tomb of Dracula is an important book because it helped take the first steps to the mainstream horror genre again in a post-Fredric Wertham comic book industry.