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Tomb of Dracula #56: Review

May 1977
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Story Name:

The Vampire Conspiracy!

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Tomb of Dracula #56 Review by (October 26, 2021)

Review: Well, it’s certainly different. A change-of-pace comedy issue is mildly amusing but there’s only one joke and it is belabored heavily: Harold presenting himself as the wise and heroic genius. TV Tropes calls this a Mary Sue (for a male it’s either Gary Stu or Marty Stu, depending on whether you want the initials or the rhyme) and it is not used as a compliment. Still, nothing by Wolfman and Colan is all bad and this is a nice diversion. But again I ask, why is Harold still in this comic?

Comments: Technically, Dracula does not appear in the issue. The letters page includes one by Ed Via, future publisher and editor-in-chief of Claypool Comics.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Tomb of Dracula #56 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Harold H. Harold is writing his novel to be called “The Vampire Conspiracy.” It tells of a beautiful but helpless woman named Aurora who moves into a sinister mansion and encounters ghostly threats, followed by an appearance by Dracula who wants her for his bride. She calls the great, brilliant, and heroic ghost chaser Harold who arrives with his cowardly and dim-witted assistants, Frank and Rachel, to battle the vampire. Dracula, it turns out is the cringing lackey of Satan who manifests himself as a black panther (the animal not the superhero). On Satan’s orders, Dracula attacks Rachel in a room filling with blood and kills her with his bite—but Harold arrives to drive a stake through her heart and prevent her becoming one of the undead. Satan attacks Aurora but Harold rushes to the scene and kills the huge cat body with a karate blow, forcing Satan back to the nether realm. Dracula attacks Harold with rats and storms but the hero withstands all of his blows, finally using a kung fu throw to hurl Dracula onto a conveniently placed tree branch. An adoring Aurora falls into Harold’s arms….

Harold heads to the corner to mail his completed manuscript to the publisher. He runs into the real Aurora Rabinowitz and asks her out on a date…but she’s already meeting a guy and brushes him off….



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.


Plus: Aurora Rabinowitz.

> Tomb of Dracula: Book info and issue index

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