Fighting Vampires and... Children? Part 2

 

Depending on the source, this cover is credited to Gene Colan, Rich Buckler or John Buscema

Tomb of Dracula #8 (May 1973) starts with last issue's cliffhanger and breaks off into two seperate stories. Both stories are strong, with Gene Colan's excellent art giving life to tales that heavily center around death. Marv Wolfman is the writer.

The two storylines are intertwined throughout the issue, but we'll discuss them one at a time. The vampire hunters were trapped in the basement of Dracula's hideout, being attacked by knife-wielding children. The kids are under Dracula's mind control, so they are relentless in their efforts to slaughter the adults. 

It's a brilliant plot devise. The killers are children who aren't responsible for what they are doing. The idea of hurting or even killing them to stop them is in of itself as horrifying as being killed by them.

Quincy has radioed his daughter Edith for help. She shows up in the nick of time in a helicopter equipped with a sonic device that knocks out the kids. They'll wake up later with no memory of what happened to them. Quincy, it turns out, has a high-level contact in the House of Lords, giving him access to cool equipment when he needs it.

Dracula, in the meantime, has to deal with the poison dart that hit him at the end of the last issue. The nature of the poison isn't spelled out, but I suppose it could be garlic-based or maybe involves holy water. In any case, Drac is in pain. 

He visits a doctor who is himself a vampire, though the doc hides this condition from his family and patients.

The doctor gives Dracula a complete blood transfusion, curing him of the poison. But Dracula's not done with him yet. The doctor has also invented a projector that can raise the dead into an army of undead. Dracula plans to use this to create a world-conquering army.

This leads to a battle between the two as the doctor, horrified by Drac's intentions, finally breaks away from his control. The bat vs. bat aerial battle that follows is pretty cool, though it ends tragically with the doctor's death.

Wolfman's dialogue here is great, highlighting both Dracula's lust for power and the pathos of the doctor's situation. Colan's art is, of course, fantastic. Like the puppet-children story, this part of the issue involves someone forced to do evil. In this case, that person rejects the evil, even though it costs him his life.

So both storylines in this issue are wonderful, interlinked thematically but each telling a short but strong horror tale.

Next week, we'll jump to the DC Universe and visit with the Elongated Man.