In issue one, on page 9, there's a caption that talks about the "golden glare of lightning." Funny, I always thought lightning was either silver or white. Must be something in the Transylvanian air.
On page 10 is a caption that reads, "Softly at first, than with increasing loudness..." I'm not sure, but I think Gerry Conway meant to say, "...then with increasing loudness..."
Frank Drake, a descendent of Dracula, his best friend, Clifton Graves and Drake's current girlfriend, Jeanie (Graves' former one), all travel to Transylvania to check up on the Drake family castle, the Castle of Dracula. It's Graves (what an ironic name there Gerry) who discovers Dracula's corpse with a stake in it. Now the plans that Drake and Graves have in mind is to turn Castle Dracula into a tourist attraction. The perfect centerpiece for such an attraction would be Dracula's corpse with a stake in it, wouldn't you think? But what does Graves do? He takes the stake out. No explanation for why he does this was given, either.
Upon his resurrection, the good Count must surely be hungry. Yet, for some reason, he doesn't immediately feast on Graves' blood. Instead, he attempts to su<k the blood of Drake's girlfriend, then having failed that, he goes to the nearby village and drinks the blood of a barmaid. I dunno. If I were just waking up from being asleep for up to a hundred years as Drac was, I don't think I'd be that picky about who I'd feast on. The first neck full of red blood cells would nicely do for me.
Page 15, as reprinted in The Essential Tomb of Dracula Volume 1, is either reprinted from a torn copy of the comic, or the original that was used for the printing process was torn. There's a rip in the page that starts just above the middle of the page and extends down to the bottom of the page on the left hand side. This iss really sloppy. My copy of #1 is in better shape than that.
On page 18, Drake hits his girlfriend, Jeanie to keep her from going to Dracula; to also break Drac's spell of hypnotism. Apparently Drake's stronger than you'd think. He later on the same page, says that Jeanie's nearly dead. Nice going slugger!
By the end of the issue, Jeanie has had her blood sucked by Dracula. On the last page, we learn that she has already turned into a vampire. I thought that took longer than a few minutes to happen. Like three days.
"I never drink... wine."
Here's a couple of more nits I forgot from #1:
On page 8, Frank Drake reads from a book - a series of handwritten accounts regarding Count Dracula. Three different people are supposed to have written in it. One is by the Count's son, the other by his grandson. The third is by Van Helsing. I can see the two Draculas not only have access to the book, but also writing their journals in it. But Van Helsing? Shouldn't his be in a separate volume?
Also, letterer John Constanza tries to give all three authors a different handwriting style. He's largely successful where Dracula's son and grandson are concerned. But Van Helsing's handwriting still looks too much like the Count's grandson's. The differences are very superficial.
Frank Drake is a descendent of Count Dracula. Yet, the Count continuously refers to Drake as "cousin". I don't believe that's accurate. Of course, Drac could be calling Frank that as a sign of disrespect.
"I never drink...wine."
Tomb of Dracula #2
In issue one, the local Transylvanian villagers torch Dracula's castle, presumably burning it to the ground. The series' second issue reveals that much of the castle remained standing. Who put the fire out?
Also in the previous issue, Clifton had been thrown into a pit to await Dracula's desire to feast on him. Luckily for Cliff, the fire didn't cause some of the castle's rubble to fall on top of the door to the pit he was in, otherwise, he'd be buried forever.
On page 6, Drac goes to visit a man - Von Harbou - who had been a servant. Von Harbou served Dracula, when he was a child. Van Harbou must be rather old. Later issues will reveal that Drac had been lying in his coffin with a stake in his heart for about a hundred years.
In #1, we see Drac cringe from the sight of a mirror. However, in this ish, a mirror has no effect on the Vampire Lord.
Tomb of Dracula #3
For the first two issues of the series, Drac has sported a goatee. Now all of a sudden, the beard is gone. What happened to it?
Last issue, Clifton and Frank Drake took Drac's coffin with them to London. In this ish, we find that Drac wants it back. It's not because he has to sleep during the day in that particular coffin. (Any coffin with some Transylvanian soil in it will do.) It's because the Vampire Lord has stored some gold coins in the bottom of the coffin. Clifton, who is now a slave of Drac's, gets the aid of a hotel porter to help him return the coffin to Drac. The porter comments on how heavy it is, even empty. You'd think Frank and Cliff would have noticed the same thing. Apparenly they didn't.
In #1, Frank's girlfriend gets bit by Drac, and she immediately becomes a vampire. In this ish, the night porter gets the bite, but doesn't turn into a bloodsucker until later the next night.
"I never drink...wine."
Tomb of Dracula #4
Dracula's castle was bought by one Ilsa Strangway. She wants to cut a deal with the Lord of the Vampires. She'll give him back his castle. In return, he must turn her into a vampire so that she become young and beautiful again. The first five pages of this issues were apparently a narrative by Ilsa's butler, Whitby. Except, that Whitby could not give an eyewitness account of those pages. He doesn't arrive on the scene until the fifth page and the final panel of that page. So he'd have no idea what transpired before he entered the room.
Ilsa also proposed to give Drac a black mirror. It has the mystical properties that allow someone who recites the proper incantation to travel anywhere in time. But only if there is a mirror in the exact time and place the traveller wishes to journey to. In this case, the incantation will send Drac to another world/dimension. Yet, in the next issue, we find that Drac knows the correct spell to chant that will send him to 19th Century Transylvania. If he knows that spell, why didn't he use it in #4, when he first steps through the mirror?
The issue ends with Taj, Rachel Van Helsing's servant, (yes, she's the grand-daughter of Abraham Van Helsing) being pulled into the mirror with Dracula. Only Taj's hand can be seen as Frank Drake and Rachel enter the room. #5 opens with Rachel and Frank entering the room and we can see the heads and shoulders of Dracula and Taj going into the mirror.
Tomb of Dracula #5
Dracula and Taj are trapped in a demonic dimension. Instead of trying to re-enter the mirror they just exited, they go off in search of another black mirror. Luckily for them, there is another with the exact same mystical power as the one that brought them to this dimension. (What a coincidence!)
In 19th Century Transylania (this time, Drac knows the proper incantation to say that will transport him to whatever time period he wants to go to), Drac imprisons Taj in a coffin with a very heavy lid. He tells Taj that the Hindu mute will remain in the crypt until Dracula's hunger has a need for the mute, or Taj suffocates. My money's on suffocation. If Drac ain't sucking out Taj's blood then and there, the Vampire ain't hungry. And a coffin has a rather limited supply of air.
At the time that Drac has gone back to, he is presumed dead, killed by Van Helsing and Harker. However, when Drac strikes dead a young girl, the villagers realize that the Lord of the Vampires is very much alive (so to speak). They then begin to debate whether they should wait for Van Helsing to return from Budapest (in a week) or attack Dracula (during the daylight hours). Of course, the fools debate until a decision is reached. And that doesn't happen until dusk. They decide to attack Dracula. Bra-vo. Attack Drac just as he's about to wake and when he'll be the least vulnerable. You'd think a daylight attack would be a no-brainer. But not for these villagers. Yeesh!
Rachel and Frank use Ilsa's mirror to follow Drac to Nineteenth Century Transylvania. There they hear a knocking from inside of a coffin. The damned fools, of course, lift the lid of the coffin. It never once occurs to them that Dracula or some other vampire might be in it. Luckily, it's just Taj, who hasn't suffocated after all.
Okay, at this point, I have to question Rachel Van Helsing's intelligence and, more importantly, her sanity. Insanity is often described as doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. In Rachel's case, her weapon of choice against vampires - and Dracula in particular - is a crossbow with a wooden stake for an arrow. Everytime this moronic woman...well, first of all, she takes time out to give a speech that warns Drac that she's about to shoot him. (Word of advice, dear. Shut up and fire the damned weapon!) But more importantly, everytime she shoots, Drac turns into a mist. You'd think after the third or fourth time, she'd reconsider and chose another, perhaps more effective, weapon. But nope. Like an insane person, she sticks to the crossbow and warning Drac she's about to shoot him.
The issue ends with Dracula taking himself and Lenore, his new slave, through another black mirror. He says another incantation. For some reason, he takes himself back to the 20th Century. Why not travel further back in time?
Tomb of Dracula #6
Rachel, Taj and Frank follow Drac through the black mirror. Miraculously, they arrive in the same century as Dracula and Lenore. Without knowing which spell the Vampire Lord chanted, I'd love to know how they managed that feat.
When the threesome pass through the mirror, Rachel states that Drac can't be too far ahead of them. They followed him through the mirror almost instantly. Yeah, well, as the previous three pages show, Drac's waaaay ahead of them. I mean, after all, he does have the ability to turn himself into a bat and fly. That alone, I would think would give him quite the headstart on the trio.
"I never drink...wine."
Tomb of Dracula #8
By the end of issue #7, Dracula's slave, Clifton Graves, had been captured by Quincy Harker and the other vampire hunters. He's bound and gagged by the group. Drac gets shot by a "poisoned wooden dart" from Harker's wheelchair, as he flees the group. Issue #8 opens with Graves following after Drac. Who untied Clifton?
"I never drink...wine."
Tomb of Dracula #9
Issue #3 seems to establish that it takes at least a day for someone who is bitten by a vampire to turn into one. Yet, in this issue Dracula puts the bite on a lady who becomes a vampire within seconds. She later bites her boyfriend, who also becomes a vampire in a matter of minutes.
Tomb of Dracula #10
In the credits, the inker's last name is misspelled. It's Jack Abel, not Able.
This issue introduces Blade. One thing I should mention about him is that as originally presented, Blade was not a "daywalker". To put it simply, Blade had no vampiric attributes. True, his mother was bitten by a vampire when she went into labor. But that bite only made Blade immune to the bites of vampires; that is, being bitten by a vampire would not turn him into one. Exactly when Marvel changed this premise, and decided that Blade was a vampire is something I'm not sure of.
On page 15, an Arab holds Dracula at bay with a crucifix. It seems to me that years later, in either Uncanny X-Men #159, or Uncanny X-Men Annual #6, it will be established that for the cross to be effective against a vampire, the one who is wielding it must be a believer in the Christian faith. So how is that someone who I presume is most likely a Muslim, able to hold Drac at bay with a cross? Then again, how is Taj, a man from India, and thus most likely a Hindu, able to use a cross against the Vampire Lord? Did these two gentlemen convert to Christianity?
The story takes place on a luxury liner. Drac is knocked off the boat, and he flies away across the ocean. Uh, isn't there something in vampire lore that prevents Drac from doing this? Or is it just running water that vampires cannot cross?
"I never drink...wine."
Tomb of Dracula #11
Dracula's nemesis, Quincy Harker, is targeted by a man, Jason Faust, who is confined to an iron lung, for revenge. As the motorcycle gang that has acted as Faust's agents of vengeance are about to punish Harker, Dracula leaps through the window to (ironically) save the vampire hunter. Hm. Don't, uh, vampires have to be invited into a place of residence before they may enter it?
At the end of the story, Drac has turned one of the bikers into a vampire. The vampire biker is then sent to Faust to put the bite on him and turn him into a vampire. (Because Faust is confined to an iron lung, and because the sun is about to rise, Faust will soon be truly dead. Thus, Dracula will have his revenge on Faust.) So, apparently one only needs to be bitten by a vampire and then one turns into a vampire in a matter of seconds? Yet, once again, ToD #3 seems to have established that there is at least a delay of several hours before that happens.
BTW, why doesn't Dracula kill Harker while he has the chance? In the story, Drac says it's because his lust for violence has been sated, but frankly that seems to be a poor excuse. Many times the Vampire Lord boasts of being a great warrior. If this was true, then surely he'd know that any time one can vanquish one's enemy is a good time to do so. It shouldn't matter if your bloodlust is sated or not.
'"I never drink...wine."
I guess for me, the biggest nit regarding Dracula is why he continued to wear the same outfit every night. I mean, I suppose the cape was supposed to form his wings, except no other vampire needed to wear a cape to have wings when they became bats. The costume Drac wore was such a dead (pardon the expression) giveaway of his identity. Me, I'd change clothes a few times. Try to blend in with the times. Drac's clothes alone mark him as an outsider and an anachronism. It makes it too easy to spot him.
"I never drink...wine."
For several issues, leading up to the events of Tomb of Dracula #39, 40, Drac's vampiric powers were being siphoned by Doctor Sun. The one thing that has been bothered me reading these issues is how Sun is able to watch Harker, Rachel and the other vampire hunters on a video screen. Exactly what kind of video equipment is Sun using that he can watch a conversation held in such disparate environments as a military base and a private home he didn't really know existed before? Much less that it would be used as a base for the vampire hunters?
"I never drink...wine."
Okay, so in Tomb of Dracula #39, Dr. Sun manages to have Dracula killed. However, the Drac pack, fearing that Dr. Sun, who now has Dracula's powers, will be a greater threat, decide to revive the Lord of the Vampires. Now, Drac had a stake driven through his heart and his bones burned to cinders. So the question becomes "How does one revive a vampire killed in such a fashion?" The answer? According to #41, "Either the blood or the tears of a virgin-pure can re-animate the ashes of a vampire damned." WTF? Why would purity revive something evil? I could see it happening if it brought Drac back as someone who was no longer evil or a vampire. But to reanimate Dracula as he was before his death? That just doesn't make sense to me.
"I never drink...wine."
I forgot this little tidbit from #41: As I've stated, Dr. Sun had been siphoning Dracula's powers. So once Dracula is dead, Sun now has the powers of hypnosis that Drac had. He uses this hypnotism to enthrall an army unit. Many from this unit are stationed around Sun's base to guard it. Issue #41 takes place on Halloween. Despite all the army guards, two kids are able to go up to the door of Sun's base and ring the bell to trick or treat. Does this makes sense? What kind of security do these soldiers provide if two little kids can just walk up to the door like that?
Why would Sun need to use soldiers from the Army in the first place, when he could in all probability summon a host of vampires to act as his servants?
"I never drink...wine."
Wasn't Dr. Sun a Doc Savage villain? (Yeah, yeah. Same name, different character.)
The story takes place on a luxury liner. Drac is knocked off the boat, and he flies away across the ocean. Uh, isn't there something in vampire lore that prevents Drac from doing this? Or is it just running water that vampires cannot cross?
If so vampires couldn't cross the ocean anyway. The ocean does have 'rivers'. The Gulf Stream has been described as a river in the ocean and there are lots of currents in the oceans.
Marvel is currently publishing a new Tomb of Dracula mini-series. In it, Blade teams up with Noah Van Helsing and Chastity Drake and some other vampire hunters. It seems that every one thousand years the current Vampire Lord can undergo a metamorphosis that will evolve the Vampire Lord into a state close to godhood. Of course, the current Vampire Lord is Dracula and it's now time for the transformation. It seems that the first Vampire Lord, Varnae from Atlantis, had a magician set up the spell whereby this transformation will happen. Except, it's never happened before, so how can anyone be sure that the spell will work, much less that it isn't anything other than an urban legend?
Never once in #1 or 2 does Blade mention that he's worked side by side with a Van Helsing or a Drake before. Yet these two new characters should clearly be related to Rachel Van Helsing and Frank Drake. (Chastity is said to be a descendent of Dracula just as Frank Drake was.)
Back in the original Tomb of Dracula series, Drac had been alive for 500 years. In this series he's been alive for 600. Apparently this mini-series takes place in the future. No mention, btw, is made of the Mortesi Formula which supposedly rid the Earth of vampires in the '80s.
On page 14 of ToD #50, the Silver Surfer states, "And so, man has currupted the animal..." Apparently the power cosmic doesn't give the Surfer the ability to spell. The word is "corrupted".
"I never drink...wine."