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Tomb of Dracula #62: Review

Jan 1978
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Story Name:

What Lurks Beneath Satan’s Hill?

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Tomb of Dracula #62 Review by (December 7, 2021)

Review: Well, this is different. The first few pages look like they are merely a recap of the Dracula-Janus hostility but then four dead and hairless women enter the picture, as does something with red tentacles who is carrying on a running one-sided conversation with an unidentified master. And several other characters also converge on the sinister mansion but again we have no clue as to what will happen next. Kudos (again) to Marv Wolfman for his frequent inventions within the confines of a vampire tale. And also for bringing back a character we had likely forgotten, the psychic Topaz.

Comments: Part one of three parts. Topaz previously appeared in issue #18, crossover with WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #15, her usual home. Mary Jo Bently, the woman killed by the tentacled monster, will be mentioned again in issue #64. Issue contains a strange reference to the short-lived television series THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS from 1977-78. There is a glimpse of the Augustus of Prima Porta, a famous statue of the first Roman Emperor housed at the Vatican.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Tomb of Dracula #62 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The dead baby Janus has been resurrected and possessed by the Golden Angel to become an adult; he and Dracula continue to quarrel over Janus’ duty and destiny to destroy Dracula while Domini is torn between her husband and her son. Janus goes out in the form of an eagle and locates his sire as he preys on an innocent victim. Janus is too late to prevent her death but he cleanses her so she will not rise as a vampire in three days. Dracula calls down lightning on his son; Janus absorbs it and hurls it back, destroying a tree. Dracula escapes, postponing their reckoning for another day….

An unseen creature, in service to an unnamed master, sends out crimson tentacles and kills a woman as a pawn in the game….

An ambulance heads to a hospital, carrying the bodies of four women who have lost all their body hair though an unknown means. Dracula, still hungry, swoops down and causes the vehicle to crash in his search for bottled blood. He is unnerved by the sight of the four dead women and demands to know what happened to them; the EMTs have no answer so Dracula flies off. Then the men discover that the women’s bodies are gone and they faint….

Dracula pursues the four dead women who walk the streets until they arrive at a sinister mansion atop Satan’s Hill. He follows them in to discover that the inside resembles an ancient Roman villa. He hears a woman scream upstairs and goes to investigate; he finds Topaz, onetime companion to Jack Russell, Werewolf By Night and demands to know why she is there. She has used her psychic powers to call on him to protect her….

While with Rachel van Helsing, Frank Drake suddenly goes into a trance and heads for Satan’s Hill….

Janus, in the form of the golden eagle also arrives at the mansion….

And the crimson tentacled monster awaits his victims….



Gene Colan
Tom Palmer
Michelle Wolfman
Gene Colan (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Palmer (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Joe Rosen.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.


Plus: Domini, Janus Tepes (Son of Dracula), Topaz.

> Tomb of Dracula: Book info and issue index

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