You may not realize it, but Marvel has one of the world’s top fictional characters in their arsenal but have rarely used him:
Dracula.
Sure he’s not a Lee/Kirby creation, but as a public-domain character he was folded into the Marvel universe back in the early 1970s as the titular star of a series about various vampire hunters trying to kill him. With the series’ end after 70 issues, Dracula has popped up sparingly across the Marvel Universe. He was last seen being killed for Marvel’s recent ill-fated vampire resurrection but didn’t quite stick. What I’m proposing is a reinvention, by going back to the source. And going to the MAX line.
The Concept:
This ain’t the musty old men in wrinkly make-up trying to be scary. Imagine Tomb Of Dracula remade as a outside-continuity MAX miniseries positioned as a early 1900s period piece traversing America, Europe and into Romania with Quincy Harker and his group of hellions on one side and Dracula waiting on the other. No need for Blade here, as Tomb of Dracula built up an enterprising contigent of protagnist from Harker to Rachel van Helsing, Frank Drake, Hannibal King and Taj Nital. It could be like the Magnificent Seven crossed with…well, Dracula. And I know just the guy to make Dracula look threatening again…
The Creators:
The Writer – Garth Ennis: You won’t see Garth Ennis as a utility player at Marvel writing the next summer event series, but Marvel’s come to know what Ennis is best at and how to employ him, such as in this year’s Fury MAX series and the writer’s storied Punisher run. With Tomb of Dracula being off the shelves for over three decades now, it’s a book that doesn’t work in their modern framework but could be an explosive outsider’s book like Ennis’ other material. The big question here is: would Ennis do it? He’s not into straight-forward superhero stories, but at its best, Tomb of Dracula was anything but.
The Artist – Eduardo Risso: Risso’s currently knee-deep in Before Watchmen comics, but he’d be a big catch for Marvel and Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso, who edited him for a time at Vertigo. A Ennis/Risso pairing sounds like nitro and glycerin put together, and Risso’s unique style could make Tomb of Dracula an artist’s dream.
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I would read the hell out of this.
Taking Dracula back to his classic roots and not whatever the hell Marvel did to him in that X-Men crossover.
So glad I didn’t buy any of those Dracula/X-Men books!
I’ve always felt that Tom Mandrake would be the natural successor to Gene Colan for a ToD relaunch.
Oh, Hell Yes! Good call for Mandrake.
TOD is one of my all time favorite books.
Most people don’t know that TOD received some big time awards from the comcs writers back in the 70’s. Wolfman/Colan did a great, timeless craft on that series.
couple years ago I got the essentials sereis of TOD, the black and white ones….TOD is almost better in Black and White. The use of black space is creepy as sh*t.
Since blood and gore are pretty common in comic books, this probably wouldn’t even need to be MAX. Also, Chris Lee should be involved.
Was that Dracula in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #19 back in the day? It was some vampire…..
I really want to see this as Marvel’s ‘Let’s through all the supernatural elements together’ book.
It should involve one arc with Blade, Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night and Dracula. Hell is angry it still hasn’t claimed him (being undead and all) and so has once again taken hold of Ghost Rider to do its dirty work. Calling Dracula out to do battle has drawn Blade’s attention. And due to his ability to control bats and wolves etc Werewolf by Night is in Dracula’s sway. Maybe Frankenstein’s Monster too. And why not Simon William Garth
Next arc Gaia should be angry that the abomination that is Dracula is still walking around. She has pushed two of her favourite and most deadly children in his direction: Man-Thing and the Wendigo. However Dracula is pushing toward the cities where the most feeding is and neither of these two fancy heading that way.
So (Next few issues)Dr. Strange and Son of Satan (who are conversing) are met by Morbius who has come to tell them what he has learnt on the grapevine. Problem is its not just Dracula who is arriving. Brother Voodoo’s dead brother has chosen this moment to avenge his brother’s death. Plus Dracula.
Just go all out, balls to the wall Marvel horror characters. Don’t go subtle go for everything.
Marvel uses Frankensteins Monster even less than hey use Dracula. Has he been seen since he was in Iron Man #102 (I think t was) back in the late 70s?
You would think with the popularity of vampires right now that Marvel would jump on book ideas like these. Maybe if it was Dracula and The Avengers it might peek their interest more.
Dracula once fought Thor over Sif, but the old TOD really worked because of the combination of Gene Colon and Marv Wolfman. Even though Dracula fought Dr. Strange they managed to keep the series grounded as a horror title. One of the worst things to happen during the Dracula/X-men comics was the casual way in which Rachel was killed off. I really don’t see Enis being able to do what they did back then.