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Tomb of Dracula #25

Oct 1974
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Tomb of Dracula #25 cover

Story Name:

Night of the Blood Stalker!


Synopsis

Tomb of Dracula #25 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Private eye Hannibal King receives a client, Adrianne Walters, who was married that morning and her husband Fred was killed just hours later by a mystery man who knocked at the door (we see it was Dracula); the killer fled when other tenants arrived, leaving Adrianne unharmed. King deduces it was a vampire, having encountered one on another case a few years earlier (the flashback shows us Deacon Frost); he also mentions a recent case where all of the passengers on a jet were found dead, their blood drained (we see Lilith this time). King takes the case and starts by asking questions at a local pub about Fred Walters. The bartender takes him in the back and attacks him as he is under Dracula’s control. King escapes and heads to the docks where Fred worked as an accountant for a shipping company; there he encounters Dracula, arranging for coffins of earth to be sent to various places overseas. Dracula throws King out of the window but he returns after the vampire lord leaves and forces the manager to tell him where the coffins are going. King is directed to a warehouse where Dracula is waiting for him with a few of his vampire henchmen. There is a battle which ends when the sound of sirens leads Dracula to flee. King returns and tells the client that her husband was killed because he learned too much about Dracula’s scheme to send his coffins around the world. Then comes the big reveal: Hannibal King is a vampire.


 

Review / Commentaries


Tomb of Dracula #25 Review by (January 26, 2021)

Review: Time has somewhat tarnished this issue’s impact as we all know who Hannibal King is—at least those of us who managed to sit through BLADE: TRINITY. But at the time this was a major surprise: Marv Wolfman, always looking for something new to showcase Dracula, chose a private eye story, with its tropes, including a weary first-person narration with hard-boiled similes. And this all to serve us a surprising new protagonist, a vampire detective. True, there are quite a few clues as to his identity scattered throughout, the most blatant of which is his standing before a mirror on page 7, so that many readers will have guessed but it was still nice to have it happen. A vampire protagonist was what this series needed to keep it fresh—but Marv still has more in mind so he can keep King under wraps for another twenty issues! Problem is, the concept was great, the execution is a bit lackluster. Gene Colan’s style suits private eye tales as well as horror but the writing never makes this more than a passable imitation of a detective story; if it had been one in its own right, it might have been a classic. But it’s still good. And clever. And welcome.

Comments: First appearance of Hannibal King; his next appearance will be in issues #44-53 as a series regular. The letters page to issue #28 contains a list of all the clues that Hannibal King is a vampire.



> Tomb of Dracula comic book info and issue index

Elektra

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Gene Colan
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Tom Palmer
Gil Kane (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Palmer (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: John Costanza.

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