Tomb of Dracula #9

June 1974
"Death from the Sea!"
Marv Wolfman (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Artie Samek (letters), Roy Thomas (editor)

While Rachel and Frank practice their vampire hunting at Quincy's mansion, a badly wounded and unconscious Dracula is discovered in the ocean by a fisherman. Thinking the man is dead, the fisherman and a local young man named Dave take the "corpse" to the local church to eventually be buried. After everyone leaves, Dracula awakens to the sight of a cross and panics, escaping the church and shocking the locals. Dracula, going by the alias "Mr. Drake", convinces them that they were only mistaken that he was dead and tells them that he was weak from a blood transfusion and, after trying to cure himself with some "medicine" (actually the blood of a would-be victim), was attacked by a biker gang that tried to rob him and threw him into the sea. Dave offers to let Dracula stay at his house and confides in him that he desperately wants to leave his small, isolated town, but his girlfriend Andrea opposes this.

After "retiring", Dracula kills a woman and turns her into a vampire; she in turn "converts" a man. After Dave tries rather unsuccessfully to save Andrea from the two new vampires, Dracula intervenes to save Dave, who figures out that Dracula is a vampire. Unfortunately, the local priest also deduces Dracula's identity, and goes to lead an old-fashioned mob. The mob kills the two vampires, but Dracula eludes them, thanks to some deception on Dave's part. Dracula later appears to thank Dave and invites him to join Dracula as a vampire. Dave politely declines and Dracula, before flying off as a bat, vows that Dave will remain under his protection.

Comments

I really like this issue, as it makes Dracula a more complex character without softening him up and while building from scenes left by other writers that indicated that at the least Dracula still had an aristocratic sense of honor. Also it manages to reposition Dracula, not Rachel van Helsing and Frank Drake, as the real center of the series, which is a more interesting way to approach the series. Dracula is still saddled with the desire to take over the world that was introduced last issue, which I think is a mistake since it reduces Dracula to the same level as the average supervillain and isn't a compelling motive for such a classic character, but all in all it's the strongest, most original installment in the series yet.