The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Vol. 1

The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus #1

by Marv Wolfman, Archie Goodwin, Gardner Francis Fox

He rose from the grave in 1972, ushering in an Age of Horror like nothing seen before or since! Now behold the Prince of Darkness' first encounters with his most implacable enemies of the era, including legendary Blade the Vampire Hunter! With ghosts, mutants, mad scientists and more! Plus a tour of the Lord of the Vampires' earlier U.S. activities, with such stops as the Pool of Blood and the Devil's Heart! Featuring Werewolf by Night and Lilith, Daughter of Dracula! Collects Tomb of Dracula #1-31, Werewolf by Night #15, Giant-Size Chillers #1, Giant-Size Dracula #2-4.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Supernatural

776 pages, Hardcover

First published January 7, 1975

About the author

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the horror comics of the 1970s. I loved them at the time and still love them now. I favor the DC anthology books but Marvel had its own take on the horror classics that are well worth reading. I'm also concurrently reading the Marvel Horror Omnibus, Werewolf By Night Omnibus, Man-Thing Omnibus and the Son of Satan Classic Complete Collection. Also, reading now the Howard the Duck Complete Collections. Having a lot of fun reading this group of books right now.

The first chapter sets up the old-time standard vampire rules: Dracula cannot enter a dwelling unless invited; a garland of garlic will stop his transformation into mist/wolf/or/bat and et cetera. Then the book goes and brakes those rules in about every issue without pause or explanation. Still, even with plot holes and other weaknesses, it remains a loveable mess guided throughout by Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colon. It's Gene Colon that breathes life into the venture and it is the main reason most will enjoy the long run.

A sublime classic. Highly recommended to all.

[Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing and artwork are both great, but some of the actual plots didn't excite me very much. Also, there were just too many diversions from the main story arc for my taste. I'm a big fan of Dracula and horror in general, so I guess I just expected a lot more from this series. I've heard it gets better in the second omnibus, but this one was just okay to me. It probably would've gotten three stars if not for the fantastic artwork by the late, great Gene Colan.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is amazing, the characters are interesting and each of the principal cast undergoes a specific character arc which develops over time. Dracula himself is one of the more complex Marvel characters and the series does a great job of humanizing Dracula without undermining his status as a villain. The political incorrectness of the book may offend people in modern times but very much a product of it's time, lots and lots of text. In a completely old man way, they tell more story in one issue than you find in a six issue trade these days. I highly recommend checking this series out. Absolutely brilliant series though and Dracula is a great bad guy.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't know what to say, except I am surprised the series ran for seventy issues. The artwork was all over the place (and not in a good way), the stories were bad (they could not even follow their own 'guidelines' regarding what affected vampires and what did not), and the character development left a lot to be desired. Blade was probably the best part of the first part of the series, to be honest.

There are so many "similar stupid moments" that it was insulting (in my opinion). The writers constantly reference how Dracula has to be in his native soil each day in order to survive, yet he constantly is away from his native soil for days at a time. For example, he supposedly is "trapped" on a mountain in Europe with Rachel van Helsing and they have to spend a few days/nights in caves while a blizzard rages outside. How is he able to survive this time when he supposedly has to sleep in his native soil from Transylvania kept that is kept in coffins? Not only that, but Rachel's leg is broken and Dracula has to set it to keep her alive (to use as a potential source of food). Yet, later that issue, she is walking around as if she no longer has any broken bones. How did that happen? Is she some kind of "secret mutant" with some kind of healing factor or something? In another issue, Dracula flies as a bat well over three hundred miles from London to some town because he believes a vampiric minion is going to blow his cover; why would he not have just traveled in the coffin he had shipped to this town instead of flying all night and trying to beat the coming dawn of a new day? The coffin supposedly arrives, safe and sound, awaiting his arrival. The authors could easily have had a group of mind-controlled humans under his sway safely transport him instead of trying to create a false impression of "impending doom" that Dracula might not make it in time to beat the clock. The guy has supposedly lived for five hundred years! He cannot possibly be as stupid as they make him out to be, and the writers "later" end up implying he has been active in the early to middle parts of the twentieth century, "retconning" his history but not explaining why he would be as unfamiliar with the technology he encounters in the early 1970s if he was truly "active" in the 1960s. At the end of one issue (referring to Dracula's being trapped in the mountains with Rachel), Francis Drake gets into the helicopter with Rachel to escape Dracula with some sort of ancient, important book, yet the next issue has Rachel with a black pilot who dies after the helicopter crashes due to Dracula's interference. Quincy Harker supposedly designs all sorts of technological devices to capture and either defeat or kill Dracula, but none of them work. He even created some sort of device involving garlic that would prevent Dracula from changing form and thus allow him to be killed more easily; they never use it. It's idiotic. Dracula goes from being "super smart" to "super stupid." He could have easily killed "the heroes" who opposed him, yet he continually allows Harker, van Helsing, Drake, and others to live. Dracula continually flees because of "the coming sunrise" when he could have easily sliced them open, to the bones, and allowed them to bleed to death before he fled the scene, but he never kills them. It's ridiculous. He knows they are opposing him, that they mean to kill him, and yet he never kills them when he has numerous chances to do so. The authors try to "humanize" Dracula a few times; it is horribly done and cannot possibly work to counter the "fact" that he assaults primarily women to satiate his blood-lust, that he attacks mostly beautiful young women to satisfy his "hunger." It quickly gets annoying, how incompetent the writers make both Dracula and his foes. It is "amusing" how much "power" they give certain elements of different religions (like the Star of David when it comes to Jews, or various elements of Christianity (more Catholicism in nature), such as holy water, the crucifix, being inside a church itself, etc.) and yet that "power" is inconsistent and fails when it is needed most. After Dracula "finally" kills off his "main servant" (Clifton Graves) in an earlier issue, the authors reveal he has multiple servants scattered around Europe at his beck and command. If that is so, and these other "servants" are "so much better, more intelligent" than Clifton Graves ever was, why did Dracula keep Clifton around as much as he did?

There were actually some "good/clever" moments in the series; I will not deny that. The authors explain (reveal?) that Dracula has scattered numerous coffins around Europe filled with his native Transylvanian soil in case he ever finds himself in need of using one while in a particular city (some cities have more than one soil-filled coffin). I thought that was a clever idea that was built upon from the book, in which Dracula also had soil transported to England in coffins for his use (and survival) there.

I thought it was poetic justice, on the one hand, when Dracula turns a "crime boss's henchman" into a vampire and has that henchman return to the crime boss to bite the crime boss. The "crime boss" is sucked dry, which will turn him into a vampire as well. The intent is that this villain who would oppose Dracula (albeit indirectly) will die a second, final death with the rising of the sun, because the villain is paralyzed from a prior injury and encased in an iron lung. When the sun comes up, the sunlight will shine through the open windows of the house where he lives and he will die a second, horrible, painful death in the warm light of the sun. Granted, everybody else, it takes three days for them to turn into vampires. This guy, it will take less than eight hours before he dies his second, more painful death.

Also, another form of "poetic justice" was an aging film actress who wanted to regain her lost beauty. She tries to make a bargain with Dracula, that he turn her into a vampire in exchange for some kind of enchanted/magical mirror that will be to his benefit to use. She believes that by turning into a vampire, she will regain her lost youth and lost beauty. Her plan backfires on her, though, because of her advanced age when she became a vampire. She might have "eternal strength" but she will never regain her beauty. When she realizes this, she begs the vampire hunters to kill her because she cannot go on living like she is, an old, "ugly" undead monster who preys upon the lives of innocent people so she can "live forever."

I did not care for some of the "more occultic moments" in some of the stories. I know it is a 'horror comic' and all, but I felt like some if it crossed some lines that did not need to be crossed. Some of the "Elder Gods" "stuff" was a little too far out there for me, too. Call me squeamish about some things, if you must, but it got a little "nasty" for me in some of the stories.

I was really disappointed with this collection. I realize it is not quite "my cup of tea," but it was recommended to me by some friends who also collect comics, so I took a chance on reading it. I may see if my local library has the other two omnibuses available so I can finish the series, but I may just skip it altogether, anyway. The "inborn stupidity" of some of the characters and Dracula's "inconsistencies" with his "character" took away from whatever narrative the authors were trying to create, and I felt like parts of my soul got a bit sullied during the reading. Can't say I am too happy I took a chance on reading this one. If anybody were to ask my recommendations, I would recommend a "hard pass" on reading it.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.5/5
I feel like a nitpicky old bastard for having the stones to ONLY give this book 3 stars, despite the masterful Gene Colan's art, not to mention Tom Palmer's inks and some absolutely gorgeous colour work. But it's the writing that unfortunately fails to live up to the standards set by said others.
Marv Wolfman does a commendable job. It's a long way from terrible. Some issues are really rather good. If anything, it is more a victim of circumstance. Had this been created in the late eighties, then that typical silver/bronze cheese that rears its head too often here would be a thing of the past, and this would have been an out and out banger. Alas, the issues I commonly have with superhero stories of this time period are present and accounted for here, too. I did have a god time with it. Just not as good as I was hoping. 3.5/5


OmniBen.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally read this after years of sitting on my shelf. I can't say I was disappointed, since I kind of expected it. Definitely a lot more racy than what other Marvel comics got away with at the time. There is a lot of murder and implied sex. The the violence is covered up by those motion blurs that Colan does. And the blood that should be there is sort of avoided most of the time. The majority of the characters could have a little more personality, which would have made this ten times better. Earlier stories are standard, forgettable stuff. But the last third of the volume really improves in the writing department. Plots are more compelling and the requisite vampire hunter team is placed on the sidelines. What does Wolfman do instead? He centers more of the stories around Dracula, occasionally making him a reluctant hero. This always fails, because it's never convincing, but makes for more interesting situations. Also, new characters are introduced and this is a spoiler, but those new additions could die at any time.

[Evan Dossey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read about half of this book digitally last October, and then decided to make it a goal to find the very out-of-print volumes for decent prices before this October. It took a lot of luck and good timing, but I ended up finding all 3 volumes for a total of about $250, which given their $120 cover prices (and volume 2's usual selling price of about $500 on Ebay), makes this probably the best out-of-print omnibus acquisition I've ever had.

So how is the series?

I was a bit delayed in my October Horror reading this year due to Heartland Film Festival and my film commitments, so I rushed through volume 1 and the material I'd already read pretty quickly. I like this series, particularly the first half of what is contained in this Omnibus. Those adventures are written by a few writers before Wolfman takes over. Dracula is a dastardly villain, slowly creeping into anti-heroism of a dark sort.

I like Quincy Harker, Rachel Van Helsing, Blade, and the cadre of other heroes. I like the fact that this story takes place as a direct sequel to Stoker's book and dives into the various bits of lore contained in the novel that film adaptations often leave by the wayside for the sake of plot.

I don't know what it is about 70's Licensed Marvel that really, really engages me. Maybe it's the fact that when it comes to something like Dracula, culturally, they'd ever really draw from that original novel in any meaningful way anymore. This one does, and it also borrows from the Universal and Hammer depictions. Sometimes it feels like the 1970's were the last era in which Dracula was actually used in a remotely interesting way, even though that was also the area where the character became a major camp figures. It was the last time the people creating it had any interest in the book rather than just twisting around different cinematic depictions as their source material.

Eh, I'm rambling.

The first half of this volume is quite a bit of fun. The back half is more hit-or-miss, but I enjoyed the way the series became an anthology of strange horrors with Dracula as its nasty, pompous antihero.

I'm looking forward to volume 2, which is one of the rarest books I own.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique and innovative book, particularly for its time period. The ever growing and changing cast. The focus on a true villain. The brief asides with new characters. The growing mythology of Dracula itself. It all amounts to a book that's fun to read, because you don't know where it's going, and that's pretty enjoyable for some of the shorter stories. Definitely a great mood of gothic horror as well.

[Kirby Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this based on old reviews my best friend gave me in our '70s graduating high school class. The forward agreed with him, proclaiming this Marvel Comics line the best of the '70s. By the time I finished it, I agreed. I hope Marvel will reprint Volume 2.

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been the best thing Marvel ever did if its genre was horror only and not superhero.

[Η Cultσα · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αρκετό χαμένο potential. Εκεί που χτίζει την ωραία ατμόσφαιρα, ξαφνικά γίνεται κάτι «ό,τι να 'ναι» και σε ξενερώνει. Όσο περνάνε τα τεύχη, η ποιότητα πέφτει επίσης.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series slowly got its hooks into me. Glad I gave it a chance. Possible spoiler - Dracula is a bit of an asshole!

[Craig W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This got better as it went along and the Wolfman/Colan team settled in. Very engaging for a 1970s-era comic with an atypical ‘protagonist’.

[Miyuuko · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2⭐️

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never read a single issue of Tomb of Dracula before I bought this monster tome (pun intended), but I have always been a fan of Marv Wolfman’s writing and have enjoyed Gene Colan’s artwork in the past. Sure, not every single panel is “iconic”, and not every page features a “splash page” worthy t-shirt design, but there’s a lot of story going on here. Bronze Age titles are meant to be read in intervals, being far more text laden than their modern day counterparts. I really miss those third party narratives in today’s comic books. These lend to more characterization in less space, and thus, less “talking head” pages than we see today. This book ends on something of a cliffhanger.The production values on this book are astounding. The book lays perfectly flat, from the first page to the last. The paper and sewn binding is top notch in spite of the fact that this book was printed in China. Just don’t lick the pages, kids! I am very happy with the improvements that Marvel has been making in their hardcovers over the last couple of years. Maybe my crazy letters demanding no more glued bindings were actually read!