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Tomb of Dracula #49: Review

Oct 1976
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Story Name:

And With the Word Shall Come Death!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Tomb of Dracula #49 Review by (September 7, 2021)

Review: An offbeat tale, having Dracula pulled into the mental landscape of a madwoman who was trying to conjure up the central character of Bram Stoker’s novel. He is naturally miffed at being taken for a fictitious character (wouldn’t you be?) and throws his usual arrogant angry fit. There are a few odd literary moments to give me pause. Dracula was the first book read to her? That’s not a novel for children. Didn’t they have Dr. Seuss at home, or any kids’ books? Not even Little Women? Seems like Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March would make better companions than a band of men who live by violent heroics (minus Tom Sawyer, who was a harmless kid). Maybe that’s a hint concerning her husband’s death: that she feels the need to surround herself with men who can protect her from danger. Or does it more accurately reflect the mind of Marv Wolfman who found it easier to populate the story with male heroes because that would make for a more exciting issue as they battled Drac. I dunno, I think I might have liked an issue where Dracula fought the March sisters. And Anne of Green Gables. The other questionable bit is the portrayal of Frankenstein’s Monster as a shambling, inarticulate brute. Anyone who has read the novel knows that the Creature is highly educated and well-spoken; maybe Angie only saw the movie and is lying about reading that fairly unreadable book.

Comments: Dracula confesses that Domini is “gentle on my mind;” is Drac a Glen Campbell fan? Harold H. Harold appears to be a fan of the King Family, stars of a musical variety show of the 1960s.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Tomb of Dracula #49 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Cult leader Anton Lupeski asks Dracula for money to advance the Church of the Damned and the Count writes him a list of his wealthy followers who would gladly obey any of Dracula’s commands. Dracula then departs to be with his bride Domini—but as soon as he arrives home, a bright light pulls him away from her and he vanishes….

Blade and Hannibal King, on the trail of Deacon Frost, come face-to-face with—not Frost but Blade’s exact double, only a vampire. The two Blades fight and when they touch, the two meld together, a process which goes on until there is only one Blade: the vampire one. And now he’s stalking King….

In an elegant mansion, containing a library holding an endless number of books, the elegant Angie Turner converses with her old friend, the Frankenstein Monster, taking him to meet another friend, D’Artagnan of the Musketeers, just two of many fictitious characters given life by her secret powers. Tom Sawyer and Injun Joe join them and she reveals the one friend she has never been able to conjure up, the central character of the first book that was read to her: Count Dracula. She tries again, suffering pain as she concentrates—and for the first time, Dracula appears….

Frank Drake and Harold H. Harold head to the home of Anton Lupeski and break in, searching for the Satanist. They interrupt a ritual and Lupeski orders his followers to seize them. Frank and Harold fight back and outside Rachel van Helsing arrives, having secretly followed them….

Angie believes she has conjured up the fictional Count Dracula and he is angry at having been plucked from his wife’s side and brought to this place. Angie and her friends are all confused that Dracula does not love her like they do and in fact he knocks her down, calling her mad. D’Artagnan, Tom, Joe, and the monster are joined by Robin Hood and Zorro is fighting Dracula, who is insulted that they believe him to be merely a character in a book like them. He kills D’Artganan with his own sword and Angie is convinced that this Dracula is evil, unlike the nobleman in the novel so she throws he book into the fireplace—and Dracula vanishes, only to reappear beside Domini….

At the asylum, attendants hear Angie Turner scream, as she always does after reading Bram Stoker’s novel. They leave her to her fantasy world, all she has since her husband and child died. And so Angie is comforted by her friends, including the resurrected D’Artagnan….



Gene Colan
Tom Palmer
Michelle Wolfman
Gene Colan (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Palmer (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: John Costanza.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

> Tomb of Dracula: Book info and issue index

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