Fighting Vampires and... Children?

 

cover art by Larry Lieber

Tomb of Dracula had an uneven start for its first few issues, but once Marv Wolfman settled in as the regular writer, the book really took off. Gene Colan's art was  perfect for the title and the individual stories were strong, but it was Wolfman who brought cohesion to Dracula's modern comic book mythos.

When he came aboard for Tomb of Dracula #7 (March 1973), the main protagonist was Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula. He'd been joined by Rachel Van Helsing (the good professor's granddaughter) and the mute Indian strongman Taj Nital. With Wolfman's first issue, he added Quincy Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina. It's a brilliant idea.

In 1973, Quincy would have been in his 70s, so it was plausible that he could still be around. We meet him right after Dracula, who is currently hiding out in London, attacks Quincy's daughter Edith. Edith was wearing a cross, so the vampire couldn't put the bite on her. He leaves her to be eaten by rats, but Quincy arrives in time to drive off the vermin. He's in a wheelchair, but he's still active and quick-thinking.

He contacts Frank, Rachel and Taj. All of them get together at Quincy's mansion, where he explains he's been fighting vampires his entire life. He's gone high-tech in his anti-vampire weaponry, demonstrating a device that fires a garlic-lined net.

But Dracula is already plotting against them. He hypnotises a group of children, turning them into his mindless slaves. Then, using rats and himself in bat-form, he pursues some poor sap through the streets of London. He drives the guy to Quincy's mansion before attacking him.

The good guys attack. After a brief tussle, Dracula flees, luring the vampire hunters to his current hideout.

They enter to stake him in his coffin, but the guy in that coffin is a random corpse dressed as Dracula. The vampire springs his trap, sending in his small army of children to attack the humans. The good guys either have to fight (and possibly kill) innocent children OR allow the children to kill them.

Dracula laughs and leaves them to their fate, though Quincy manages to wound him by firing a volley of wooden darts out of his wheelchair. But Dracula still escapes and the heroes seem doomed.

Are they doomed? We'll look at the next issue next week. 

This issue is great. I love the idea of Quincy Harker (the only character from the original novel who can believably still be alive) becoming a key protagonist in the series. Frank Drake is a good character in his own right, but by himself I don't think he would have been a strong enough hero to balance out Dracula. The Quincy/Rachel/Frank/Taj team (occasionally joined by Blade or other guest stars) gave the book more variety and more... well, more pure coolness.