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Tomb of Dracula #27

Dec 1974
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Tomb of Dracula #27 cover

Story Name:

Night-Fire!


Synopsis

Tomb of Dracula #27 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Count Dracula is trapped in a room quickly filling with holy water; he tries turning into a bat and flying through the duct the water is pouring through but he is splashed which burns severely. He changes into a mist and makes it through before collapsing from the pain….

Frank Drake and Chastity Jones arrive in Brazil to be greeted by his old pal Danny Summers who repeats his offer of a job….

At his home, Quincy Harker shows Rachel van Helsing his new device for tracking vampires but she is really worried about Frank Drake. She knows that he, having never made anything of himself, is in awe of her independence and accomplishments so he will only return when he loves himself as much as he loves her….

The unseen villain [spoiler: it’s Doctor Sun] questions his flunky Randolph who was sent to steal the Chimera from Jacob Eshcol; he brought back only the lion’s head portion of the statue yet David Eshcol has only the serpent’s tail so where is the third piece, the goat’s body? Sun dangles him over a vat of acid, forcing him to reveal that it is hidden in a safe deposit box in a bank. Sun then drops the traitor into the acid then dispatches the sensuous Mae Li to fetch the box….

David Eshcol and Shiela Whittier encounter Dracula on the road and the vampire presents himself as Shiela’s employer from the “museum.” David is suspicious of the newcomer but Dracula takes the tail of the Chimera and demonstrates the power that resides in only one portion of the statue: he calls fire from the sky worldwide—as we see that in India, it has driven Taj Nital’s car from the road and killed his friend Ramon—and then Dracula calls down rains to wash away the traces of the fire. He then uses the tail to raise an army of the dead to search for the other two parts; they leave their graves and kill the caretaker. The Count tells the confused David that he is a vampire and intends to kill him but Shiela pleads for his life; Dracula overpowers him but is suddenly repulsed by the Star of David his victim pulls out. The vampire tries to mock and intimidate him into throwing it away but David counters with some solid theology about God the Creator and man’s free will to obey or rebel. Dracula distracts him with the idea that the Chimera can give him the power to bring a divine order to the world—and then attacks. David presses his Star of David against his enemy’s face and it burns. Then Doctor Sun’s agents arrive and capture all three of them and the Chimera’s tail….


 

Review / Commentaries


Tomb of Dracula #27 Review by (March 1, 2021)

Review: The big question? Does anyone actually notice the upheavals i.e. the fire falling from a fiery image of the Chimera in the sky—one that can be seen in London and India at the same moment? We know it wrecks Taj’s car but there should be worldwide panic and other types of hubbub, shouldn’t there? And what about the army of the dead Drac raises to hunt for the Chimera? They are never mentioned again; they seem a bit stupid to actually be conducting an organized search for anything and they seem as totally unobserved as the fire from the sky. And that’s ignoring the question of how Dracula, unconscious in Dr. Sun’s hideout, made it to a road on the outskirts of London, where he is again captured by Dr. Sun’s men. Oh yeah, and the Frank and Rachel stuff looks like it’s going to turn into a soppy soap opera.

So, what did I like? Quite a bit. Despite that quibble, the sight of the power of the Chimera is quite impressive. As is the revelation that Dracula is vulnerable to symbols of all gods, not just the Christian Deity, though it’s hard to imagine Drac being driven off by a Jedi or Scientologist with the appropriate gear. And then there’s the central debate: Dracula portrays the God of the Jews as a mad tyrant, responsible for evil; David counters with the doctrine (in both Judaism and Christianity) that God did not create evil but gave man the free will to obey or disobey. And David wins the argument as Drac admits that his statements were lies to distract David and they almost worked. So…more to come.

Comments: Part two of four parts. Chastity Jones’ next and final appearance will be in issue #36. Cemetery keeper Horatio Toombes was previously seen in issue #16; this is his final appearance, alive or dead. One of the letters in the letter column is by Dean Mullaney, future founder of Eclipse Enterprises. According to GCD, John Romita did alterations to Dracula’s face on the cover.



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