Tomb of Dracula #10: Review

Jul 1973

Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan

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Story Name:

His Name is…Blade!

Review & Comments

Rating:

Tomb of Dracula #10 Review by Peter Silvestro (August 17, 2020)

Review: This issue is notable for the introduction of vampire-hunter Blade, whose introductory actions are quite impressive, with his climactic confrontation with Dracula also thrilling. And the best part? Unlike Luke Cage, also introduced around this time, he doesn’t sound like a middle-aged white man’s idea of how a cool Black dude should sound so it doesn’t feel like a big joke all these years later. It’s the plot in-between that has the problems: Dracula wants to bring all these VIPs into his power so what does he do? Prey on each of them one by one under cover of darkness, slowly subjecting them to his will so they can serve him under cover of their normal activities? Nah, he crashes the ship and confronts them all at once, yelling about how he is going to possess them all, demanding their submission, leading to a big fight. And the girl in pink foils all of Dracula’s plans by appearing on deck—but how? She doesn’t do anything but call Drac her love. Then Drac blows up the ship—but why? He didn’t know his shoddy plan would fail. But then earlier, Quincy Harker was upset that one of the dead vampires was a teenager—but why? It’s not like there was a cure. The one thing that makes sense is Drac’s abandoning Clifton Graves to his death as he had outlived his usefulness—but he was always an idiot, when was he ever useful to Dracula? There’s enough action to distract the casual reader from asking these questions but if you were a casual reader, you’d be reading comic books, not about comic books. For the rest of you…hi! Hope you like it here!

Comments: First appearance of Blade. Clifton Graves will appear one last time in issue #20. And that is not a typo: the rich guy’s name is Garbiel, not Gabriel. And his girlfriend’s name seems to be Moniker, which is a slang term for “name;” my only guess is that her name is Monica and that’s his pet name for her.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Tomb of Dracula #10 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

At the London docks, a young couple plots to stow away on a ship—but they are assaulted by a trio of vampires, intending to take their lives. Suddenly, Blade the Vampire-Killer arrives and, using his famed teak-wood knives, kills all three of the predators, with one revealed to be merely a teenager. Quincy Harker and his daughter Edith Harker arrive, warned of Blade’s presence. Harker is angry that Blade has killed vampires that would have led him to Count Dracula; Blade is not embarrassed, treating Harker’s poor progress over the decades with contempt. He then leaves to follow up some clues….

Aboard the ocean liner Michelle, a party of wealthy and empty socialites is celebrating, the guest of Garbiel Trulaine; the wealthy wastrel announces his surprise: a celebrity guest on board. Out comes his man-servant Clifton Graves, to introduce…Count Dracula! He leads the crowd to believe he is merely a descendant of the legendary count, and that vampirism is merely a blood disease, nothing like in the legends. Dracula’s scheme is to control the minds of these important and foolish society types in order to further his sinister plans. He begins by luring Trulaine’s girlfriend, a vapid blonde, to his cabin and feasting on her blood but leaving her alive. He then hypnotizes the ship’s captain into changing course and then confronting the guests to announce his plans to control them all. A rich guy balks, shooting at Dracula, and he is thrown overboard. A Mideastern Christian produces a cross, causing the vampire to recoil and several others attack him but Dracula can defeat them easily. Blade, who boarded the ship via scuba equipment, leaps out to take on Dracula and there is a big battle, ending with the vampire lord seizing Blade in a death grip. But the girlfriend suddenly appears on deck, calling to her new love and distracting everyone thus foiling Dracula’s plans. He reveals that the captain is about to set off explosives destroying the ship and flies off as a bat. Blade has everyone jump overboard and swim for their lives so Cliff Graves, abandoned by his master, is the sole casualty….

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