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Tomb of Dracula #64: Review

May 1978
Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

Story Name:

Life After Undeath

Review & Comments

Rating:
3.5 stars

Tomb of Dracula #64 Review by (December 21, 2021)

Review: Satan and Dracula yell at each other as the former espouses some pretty unChristian theology for all its pseudo-Christian trappings. Eternal good requires eternal evil? All must be kept in balance? Does that mean the good guys should lose as often as they win for everything to be okay in the universe? Later in the issue, Satan knows when his end will come, God having decreed it. And according to the Bible, not all humans are the “children of God,” only those who submit to the Savior, Jesus Christ, whose power has been tacitly assumed more than a few times previously. Next issue takes us back to more comic book concerns as Dracula is now human again. See you in thirty.

Comments: Part three of three parts. First appearance of Cowboy Brown, who shows up in the next two issues and then never again. Topaz next appears in DOCTOR STRANGE (1974 series) #75-81 where we learn she lost the battle with Satan and was trapped in Hell; nearly all of her subsequent appearances are in Dr. Strange titles. Freelance colorist Francoise Mouly went on to be the co-founder of RAW and art editor of THE NEW YORKER; she is married to Art Spiegelman, author of MAUS.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Tomb of Dracula #64 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Satan has drawn Dracula and Topaz into his presence. The Lord of the Undead is unimpressed and keeps interrupting Satan’s speechifying. Satan tell Topaz that her powers are nearly developed and she can then destroy Satan but she has no idea what he’s talking about and he’s certainly not going to tell her. He invites them both into Hell and shows them an example of the damned: one Arthur Tweed, always hurrying to acquire more wealth, he is now frozen in time for eternity. Dracula still doesn’t know why he is there; Satan explains that God only allows him (Satan) to exist because he can offer the choice of evil so that people can decide for or against God. And now the important point: Dracula’s son Janus throws the whole system off balance and only when Dracula is dead can Janus return to Heaven and everything will be cool again. So, Satan zaps Dracula laying him out on the floor of Hell….

At the home of Quincy Harker, Rachel van Helsing and Frank Drake are talking with Domini. Quincy insists Dracula is pure evil. Domini reveals that Dracula is dead and she pities his new existence. Domini also tells off Rachel, accusing the woman of never having known love, just hatred, nagging until Rachel admits it is true. Domini then says she had never known love until she met Dracula….

In New York City, a wealthy man named Bently, whose daughter Mary Jo was killed by a vampire and then returned as one herself, hires a hitman named Francis Leroy “Cowboy” Brown to track down and kill the monster responsible….

Back in Hell, Satan reveals that Dracula is not dead but changed for the worse. And Topaz has the empathic power to channel love to the entire world and bring in a utopia. Satan tries to destroy her but her powers manifest and she withstands his attack. Satan then realizes that God has tricked him into bringing about his own defeat and then all goes boom….

Back in Boston, Rachel locates Dracula in an alley and discovers he is no longer a vampire….



Gene Colan
Tom Palmer
Francoise Mouly
Gene Colan (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Palmer (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Denise Wohl.

Characters

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> Tomb of Dracula: Book info and issue index

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