Arriving on stands in June, 1973, the third issue of Marvel Comics’ new “Marvel Monster Group” of black-and-white titles got off to a strong start with a spectacular cover by Neal Adams. Over a year prior, the star artist had begun backing away from a long stint as the most prolific cover artist for Marvel’s primary rival, DC Comics — a tour of duty extending back past the turn of the decade, and one which at its productive peak had seen him turning out ten or more covers a month. Of course, Adams had kept his hand in the cover game (at Marvel as well as its chief competitor) even after curtailing his commitment to DC; but the painting that graced Dracula Lives #3 represented a new phase for the artist, one which would see him produce a number of covers in that medium for Marvel (though not in any sort of quantity approaching that of his earlier output at DC), primarily for black-and-white titles that weren’t even out yet as of this issue’s release (e.g., The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu) — titles which, when they did eventually make it to the magazine racks, would end the present horror-centric hegemony of the Marvel Monster Group.
Behind its cover, Dracula Lives #3 continued to follow the same basic format established by the magazine’s first two issues: three new Dracula stories (only one of which was set in the present day); two stories reprinted from the pre-Comics Code horror titles of Marvel’s “Atlas” days; and a couple of text-and-photo features. The only notable modifications to this format were the abandonment of the (very) occasional use of the color red in the otherwise black-and-white artwork, and the elimination of the last vestiges of humor in the full-page text-and-photo story introductions utilized by Marvel to eat up page count on the cheap:
The actual story prefaced by the preceding unsourced movie still is a direct sequel to the previous issue‘s “That Dracula May Live Again!”, and thus may be considered the second half of the origin narrative of Marvel’s Dracula. Like the first part, it’s written by Marv Wolfman, the regular scripter of this magazine’s color comic companion title, Tomb of Dracula; unlike it, it’s drawn by John Buscema (with inks by Syd Shores), rather than by Neal Adams:
The raving (and naked) Vlad Dracula goes on to offer a brief recap of the preceding chapter, filling in any readers who’d missed it about how he, previously the cruel and violent (but human) ruler of Transylvania, had been turned into a vampire prior to taking vengeance on the Turkish soldiers who’d raped and murdered his wife. We rejoin our story as Dracula, having wrapped up his summary of recent events, returns to the theme of extending his bloody vengeance to the whole human race…
(Is anyone better than John Buscema at drawing a guy slouching in a chair? I don’t think so.)
Dracula, as you can probably imagine, isn’t all that keen on bowing down to anyone, “king of vampires” or not. He challenges Nimrod, and the latter accepts, stating that on the next evening, they will battle each other to the death in the “Tournament of Stakes“…
The spurned Lala immediately makes an angry exit, leaving Drac on his own for the next few hours until sunup. Transforming himself into a bat, he flies to the Roma camp into whose safekeeping he’d delivered his infant son at the end of last issue’s installment. There, he confirms by silent observation that the child is safe and well…
Dracula manages to rise, and lunges again at Nimrod with his stake — but the Lord of Vampires turns into mist (a trick Drac hasn’t learned yet), and the weapon passes through him harmlessly, to then become wedged in a crack between two rocks. Now unarmed, Dracula works to elude Nimrod’s own thrusts; meanwhile, the watching Nala, fearing that her lord is starting to weaken, decides to take matters into her own hands…
The concluding half of Dracula’s origin* isn’t quite as satisfying as the first (at least not for this reader), for a couple of reasons: one, the preceding installment’s account of how the human Dracula becomes a vampire is inherently more dramatic than this one’s narrative of how he deposes another vampire to become lord of them all (or all in the immediate vicinity, anyway); two, the art by Buscema and Shores (who, it must be said, probably aren’t the greatest penciller-inker match to begin with) while perfectly fine on its own terms, simply can’t match the brilliance of Neal Adams’ inspired work in issue #2. All that said, it’s still a good story.
Up next is a reprinted story which, though it bears no credits, is identified in the Grand Comics Database as having been originally published in Adventures into Terror #29 (Mar., 1954), as well as having been drawn by Larry Woromay. “The Vampire-Man!” is the tale of Tom Malverne, a turn-of-the-century Londoner who, bitter at being rejected by the mass of humanity due to his hunchback, wants to become a vampire. As it turns out, the local vampires are looking for recruits, but their leader tells Tom that “for those not born with 
the blood lust, to become a vampire is difficult!” They give him until New Year’s Eve to kill another human being and drink their blood; if he manages to do so, he can join the ranks of the undead, but if he doesn’t, they’ll kill him. Over the next months, Tom takes a stab at it — in fact, he takes nine of them — but though he has no compunctions against murder, the idea of drinking blood is just too gross. In the end, he fails, and is killed by the vampires — and the story’s final panel gives us the twist ending — Tom Malverne was Jack the Ripper! This one’s not a bad yarn, exactly, but I have to call it forgettable, since I had very definitely forgotten it in the half-century since I first read it.
Following the first of this issue’s two reprints is the first of its two text-and-photo features: “Bela Lugosi: Dracula of Stage, Screen, & Coffin”, which is probably most notable for being one of the first credits in a Marvel publication for a young writer named Doug Moench. Moench had been a prolific contributor to the black-and-white horror comics of Warren and Skywald for several years at this point, but he was just getting started at the House of Ideas.
The issue’s next feature is its second new story; it’s also the book’s highlight, and the primary reason I’m posting about Dracula Lives #3 at all. This one’s by the team of writer Roy Thomas and artist Alan Weiss, who previously contributed the second story in the first issue of Dracula Lives, “Suffer Not a Witch…”. And “Castle of the Undead” might almost be seen as a companion piece to that earlier story, seeing as how they’re practically set in the same period. (Okay, so there’s actually about a hundred-year span in between the two stories… but Puritanism figures heavily into both tales, so that’s something, right?)
There’s something that sets this story distinctly apart from its predecessor, however, and it’s indicated in the credit line that acknowledges not one but two prose authors: Bram Stoker and Robert E. Howard. Because “Castle of the Undead” isn’t only a Dracula story; it’s also a Solomon Kane story.
Cover to the Solomon Kane collection, Red Shadows (Donald M. Grant, 1968). Art by Jeffrey Catherine Jones.
Solomon Kane, for those who might not know, was created by pulp author Howard in the late 1920s, and thus predates his much better-known fantasy hero Conan by about four years. Like Conan, Kane is a wandering adventurer who fights demons and monsters across his known world; unlike Conan, his world is that of an actual historical period, the 16th century, rather than an imaginary prehistoric epoch such as Conan’s Hyborian Age. As of 1973, Howard’s stories of Solomon Kane had received relatively little circulation (at least when compared with those of Conan), having first appeared in the magazine Weird Tales from 1928 to 1932, and having only been reprinted in limited editions or by relatively small publishing outfits since then. Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas was evidently a fan, however (as he clearly was of most things Robert E. Howard), and he’d secured the rights not only to adapt the original Kane yarns, but to use the character in new stories, as well.
From “Skulls in the Stars” in Monsters Unleashed #1 (Aug., 1973). Tet by Roy Thomas; art by Ralph Reese.
“Castle of the Undead”, it should be noted, wasn’t quite the first Marvel Comics appearance of Solomon Kane; that had occurred three months earlier, in the first issue of Dracula Lives‘ companion magazine, Monsters Unleashed. For reasons now lost to time, however, my fifteen-year-old self had opted to pass on that issue when it showed up on the magazine racks, and thus, this story was the first time I’d ever laid eyes on Howard’s dour puritan protagonist.
The inks for Alan Weiss’ pencils in this story are credited to the “Crusty Bunkers”, which (as we’ve covered in a previous post) was a pseudonym used by Neal Adams and a rotating cast of mostly young artists (including Weiss himself) who were connected with him through the Continuity Associates commercial art studio run by Adams and Dick Giordano. According to the Grand Comics Database, the majority of the Bunkers’ work in this story was most likely contributed by Adams himself, as well as by Giordano, who had previously inked Weiss’ pencils for Dracula Lives #1.
At the Count’s mention of bandits, Kane proceeds to describe how he himself was, only a short time ago, beset by a small band of such outlaws — deserters from the Turkish army, or so he assumed. While he’d managed to hold off three of the “infidels” by means of his superior swordsmanship, a fourth had laid Kane low by slinging a stone that caught him in the back of the head, knocking him semi-conscious. But rather than rob him, the four brigands had immediately fled the scene, as though they were scared of the dark. Kane wonders at this, telling his benefactor: “In sooth, it was almost as if they feared…”
Besides doing his thing in a historical “real world” setting, Solomon Kane also differs from Conan in that, being a pious Puritan, he never, ever beds the young women he encounters. (If I’m to be honest, this somewhat limited his appeal to me as a teenager, titillating sequences like the present one notwithstanding.)
I’m pretty sure that there weren’t any actual “vampire trials” in this era, although it’s a logical enough extrapolation from the historical European witch trials, especially in a fictional universe where Dracula and other vampires are real.
I have no idea if Alan Weiss ever studied fencing, or if he’s pulling this stuff from memories of old Errol Flynn movies — but it’s certainly convincing, at least to me.
The ending may be downbeat, but it could hardly have gone differently, since at this point Marvel was evidently averse to letting Dracula be killed in their stories, even on a temporary basis.** And it doesn’t prevent “Castle of the Undead” from being a thoroughly satisfying reading experience, in any event.
Interestingly, it would take Marvel — or, as I should probably say instead, Roy Thomas — two years to follow up on 1973’s two appearances of Solomon Kane, with his next comic-book adventure (an adaptation by Thomas and Weiss of Howard’s short story “The Hills of the Dead”) not turning up until the second and third issues of Kull and the Barbarians, which were released in May and August of 1975, respectively. Was the delay due to a tepid response to the character by Marvel’s readers? Perhaps; or perhaps Thomas simply wanted to continue working on the strip with Weiss, and the artist (who wasn’t exactly what you’d call a fast worker) couldn’t get to it before then… though that’s just speculation on my part, of course.
Following “Castle of the Undead” comes this issue’s second text-and-photos feature — which, as it happens, is itself a work of fiction, albeit in prose rather than comics format. “I Was Once a Gentle Man…” is a short story by Chris Claremont — another young writer who, like Doug Moench, was just beginning to establish himself at Marvel. Claremont’s tale purports to be a memoir by Abraham van Helsing, and is copiously illustrated with still photos from the Dracula movies of Hammer Film Productions, featuring Peter Cushing as the famed vampire hunter.
The second reprinted story comes from another issue of Adventures into Terror, #27 (Jan., 1954). Drawn by Chuck Winter, “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” is essentially a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in five pages, with a slight tweak; instead of the murderous protagonist being told by the three witches that he can’t be killed by anyone “born of a woman”, the prophecy is that he can’t be slain by “any mortal man”. So in the climactic scene, instead of Macduff revealing that he was delivered by C-section, the stinger he delivers is rather different…
Yes, it’s completely outrageous that Marvel sought to pass off this “Classics Illustrated (abridged)” adaptation of one of the world’s great plays as a twist-ending horror story. On the other hand, you kind of have to admire the chutzpah; plus, Winter’s artwork is really quite good.
This brings us to the third and final new story of the issue:
“Shadow in the City of Light!” was written by Gerry Conway, who certainly needs no introduction for the regular readers of this blog, its artist, however, may be rather less familiar, at least to some. Speaking only for myself, I couldn’t place the name of Alfonso Font at all when I recently re-read this story in preparation for this blog post. After doing a bit of research, I learned that he’s a native of Barcelona, Spain, who — like a number of other artists from that area — had a go at the American black-and-white horror comics market in the early 1970s. Unlike such artists as Esteban Maroto and José González, however, who became stars at Warren Publishing, Font never accrued more than a handful of U.S. credits: five strips for Skywald, two for Marvel (the second coming in Monsters Unleashed #6), and one for Warren.
Cover to English language edition of Alfonso Font’s Historias negras (Dark Stories), published by SAF Comics in 2016.
But that fact shouldn’t be construed to mean that Alfonso Font was less successful than his aforementioned peers; rather, it only signifies that after his brief flirtation with American comics he chose to concentrate almost entirely on the European market. There, the artist (who continues to be active at age 76) has had a long and highly successful career, winning a number of prestigious awards along the way. Font is, in fact, a big deal in the international comics universe; it’s just that relatively little of his work is available in the English language. I don’t know about anyone else, but your humble blogger finds this a useful reminder that American comic books, swell as they may often be, are hardly the be-all and end-all of the medium. It’s a big world out there, folks.
As the footnote in the third panel of the page shown above indicates, this story is in continuity with the present-day-set stories of the previous two issues, following directly after Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, and Dick Giordano’s “The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans!” in issue #2 — which, in its turn, followed from issue #1’s “A Poison of the Blood”, by Conway, Colan, and Tom Palmer.
As Dracula carries Hélène Dubois away, the scene briefly shifts to Notre-Dame Cathedral, where we see a stone gargoyle apparently come to life and attack a watchman. Then it’s back to Drac, who at last manages to place Hélène under his mental control. Looking for an appropriate place where he can listen to her story, he spies a nearby cafe and reflects, “It has been many years since last I tasted a good French wine.” (Waitaminnit — you mean Count Dracula does drink… wine?)
Count Cagliostro has been mentioned in both of the present-day stories preceding this one in Dracula Lives. But he hasn’t been seen, even in flashback — and that pattern continues here, as well…
Dracula tells Jacques Dubois that Cagliostro has lied to him; his destruction will have no affect on Dubois’ own affliction. But Dubois refuses to believe this, and in a rage, he pursues Dracula across the Parisian skyline until they reach…
I’m not sure what I made of this story when I first read it in June, 1973, but upon re-reading it today, my main response is… confusion. Has Jacques Dubois simply been hanging around Notre-Dame night after night for the last 205 years, never making a peep before now? Did Hélène Dubois decide all on her own to devote herself to the cause of avenging (and curing) her ancestor, or was she magically manipulated by Jacques in some fashion? Perhaps we’d have learned, had Hélène been allowed to finish telling her own story back in the Cafe de la Gorge. But in deciding to have Dracula himself take over the narrative mid-flashback, writer Gerry Conway seems to have literally lost the plot, so that these very obvious questions never receive any kind of answer.
Ah, well… at least the pictures are nice, right?
Dracula Lives would continue for another ten issues (plus one all-reprint annual), but I think it’s fair to say that the title would never exceed the quality achieved by its first three issues. That’s not to say that there wasn’t plenty of worthwhile material in later installments; just that the work of a number of the writers and artists featured in these first three editions — most especially Adams, Colan, Thomas, Weiss, and Wolfman — set an awfully high bar.
I’m hoping to return to the series at least one more time over the next two years, but just in case I don’t, I’d like to wrap up this post with an appreciative nod to the most prominent highlight of the magazine’s later issues: Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano’s extraordinarily faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, which ran in Dracula Lives beginning with issue #5 and continued through #6, 7, 8, 10, and 11. Following the cancellation of DL, one more chapter appeared in Legion of Monsters #1 (Sep., 1975) — and then the serial abruptly ended, with much of the novel’s story left to tell. So did matters remain for twenty-nine years, until 2004, when Marvel published the four-issue miniseries Stoker’s Dracula — which not only reprinted all of Thomas and Giordano’s work on the project to date, but also allowed the two creators to complete their adaptation, at long last. That made for the kind of real-life happy ending we don’t see enough of in comic-book history, if you ask me… but since there’s a chance I’ll have a later opportunity to share this work more fully, I’ll refrain from further commentary… at least for now.
*Dracula Lives #4 would feature one more tale of the new Lord of Vampires’ early days; but though it follows more or less directly after “Lord of Death… Lord of Hell!”, “Look Homeward, Vampire!” is by a completely different creative team (writer Gerry Conway and artist Vicente Alcazar) and functions more as a standalone sequel than as a continuation of the origin narrative… or so it seems to this reader, anyway.
**Although it took them almost five years, Marvel eventually published a direct sequel to “Castle of the Undead”. In The Savage Sword of Conan #26 (Jan., 1978), writer Don Glut and artists David Wenzel and Mariliitz presented “Retribution in Blood”, a rematch between Solomon Kane and Count Dracula whose climax featured an unambiguous slaying of the latter by the former via a pointy-ended wooden cross… though the story’s denouement strongly implied that a band of wandering Roma would be resurrecting the vampire lord within a few minutes of the concluding panel’s “Fin”.
Solomon Kane looks much more like eye candy in that story than I usually visualize him. I like Kane, partly because Howard describes him as Conan the Puritan, channeling the Cimmerian’s lust for adventure into godly-approved channels.
The idea of Dracula telling someone vengeance is bad is … do as I say, not as I do, I guess.
Though it has absolutely nothing to do with Marvel’s licensed version of the character, allow me to begin with a plug for the surprisingly good Solomon Kane movie that came out in 2009, starring James Purefoy as Kane, as well as Max Von Sydow and Pete Postlewaite. It’s absolutely at straight-to-DVD affair, but the director is well aware of his budgetary restrictions at the outset and instead of trying to extend his film beyond them, instead tries to tell the best story he can within them. Largely, he succeeds and I recommend the film, though I warn you, don’t set the bar too high.
Speaking of the Kane story in this issue, especially as we all seem to be rediscovering Alan Weiss together, it’s almost a shame he’s inked by the Bunkers in this tale. Not that the art isn’t beautiful, but because Adams and Co. tend to make everyone’s art look like Adams and we don’t get to see what Weiss’ original work looked like. Still, though I absolutely detest Drac’s Shakespeare meets Super-hero outfit (the codpiece is a nice touch, though), it is a nice change from the tux and opera cape look he usually sports and that the art here is really something.
I wonder how many of the SF/Fantasy/Horror characters I’ve enjoyed in literature I have to thank Roy Thomas for? With chain bookstores only just getting started in the seventies and the dearth of SF and fantasy and horror stories to be found in the few stores that did exist at that time in central Mississippi, I wonder if I would have ever discovered Conan or Solomon Kane or Kull without Thomas’ earlier fandom leading the way? And wasn’t Thomas also responsible for bringing John Carter and the ERB books to comics? Dracula, surely, I would have discovered through the movies, but I distinctly remember reading the book in 1978 or 79 after reading a reprint of one of Thomas’ old Dracula stories. In fact, all of the characters I’ve listed above, I discovered them in comics first and then, because I enjoyed the comics, in their original books and stories. I suppose we’re all in Roy’s debt more than we realize. Thanks, Alan.
“And wasn’t Thomas also responsible for bringing John Carter and the ERB books to comics?”
I think Thomas was instrumental in Marvel’s getting the ERB license — but DC had gotten to John Carter & co. first: https://50yearoldcomics.com/2022/02/26/tarzan-207-april-1972/#mars
Thanks, Alan. Couldn’t remember which came first.
The naked Dracula (who should be called Vlad at this point still. I guess I’ll be googling when he started using his AKA) was very distracting. Not in a sexy kind of way like Weiss’ shirtless Kane but because under no circumstances could there be any kind of manhood under the small and smooth shadow Buscema used. I don’t expect Wally Wood levels of perviness but come on. The man is basically a Ken doll. It really does explain Drac going full on eeeevil. I think I would too if becoming a vampire made me a eunuch. Still, I am and was glad Buscema drew this. I have never been an Adams fan at all. Even back when I bought any and everything, Adams on interior art would have me not buying a book.
Googling is done and Vlad Tees was actually given the name Dracula in life since it means ‘son of the dragon’ if Google is correct.
Tepes was never a name Vlad III used but was a nickname, meaning “impaler” by which he was often referred to, mainly by his enemies. His father, Vlad II, obtained the sobriquet “Dracul” due to his membership in the monarchial chivalric group the Order of the Dragon. Back in those days, nearly 600 years ago, surnames weren’t as nearly universal as they are now, and nicknames often morphed into family surnames and as far as I’ve been able to determine, Vlad III’s family went with Dracula and none went with Tepes, although many people still refer to Dracula as Vlad Tepes. But then many famous people from history are referred to by nicknames or titles they never used while they were alive, some of which they may have been aware of but hated and which no one who wanted to keep on good terms with him would have used to his face.
Fascinating collection of Drac, etc., stories. Hadn’t heard of Chuck Winter before, one of the few comicbook artists I’m aware of born in the 1800s (not counting comic strip artists whose work was reprinted in comics). Also notable to me is Marvel’s inconsistency regarding the impact of wooden stakes on vampires — reducing some to dust from whence they will never return, reducing others, including old Vlad himself, to skeletal remains that will flesh up again once the stake is removed, even if there should be no organs left to hold the stake in place within those remnant bones. Basically, it’s whatever suits the needs of the story, including making Drac pretty much impossible to permanently kill. Funnybook immortality.
Also interesting in the Solomon Kane story that uber-Christian Kane apparently didn’t have a cross upon him to use against Vlad, or, rather, Thomas & Weiss chose not to use that as an element of their story, rather relying on swashbuckling swords play and plays on “honor” to determine the outcome of the conflict. I can sympathize with your younger self’s not appreciating Kane’s rejection of the vampiric temptress’ attempted seduction. My younger self would also likely have been thinking “nooooo” too, but as my current self perused those initial scenes with the gorgeous woman entering through the window, without even requiring an invitation, my immediately thought was, “this doesn’t bode well! How is our ultra-pious hero going to respond to this?” Wasn’t much surprised Solomon bade her go away and then had to fight her to the death. He may have looked like a rock star as drawn by Weiss, but he dealt harshly with groupies!
More fun exploring graphic yarns of fifty years time ago.
Puritans shunned the crucifix as a Catholic symbol that was also idolatrous. A plain cross, i believe was acceptable but it’s possible Kane hadn’t had one of late or didn’t feel the need for such a showy display of faith.
Ah, that makes real-world sense. My mother converted to Catholicism at age 55. Her father was a Baptist minister who died about a month before the turned 11. During my childhood, my parents had a very popular portrait of Jesus hanging on a wall in our homes (we moved around a lot, dad being in the Navy) but prior to her conversion, she wasn’t all that explicitly religious. Within a few years afterwards, however, her and my stepfather’s home was heavily decorated with religious icons, including a wall in their front parlor covered with a variety of crosses. A very showy display of faith. Very distinct from many Protestant sects, particularly in the early era of the Reformation.
The Jesus portrait itself disappeared somewhere along the way after my parents divorced. Most likely my dad put it in storage, along with many other personal items, at a shack near his mother’s home near Paris, Texas. Those, including nearly all of the family photographs from my childhood, were ultimately damaged by flooding.
At the time the Solomon Kane stories are set, a lot of this would have been in flux. Kane is a “Dissenter,” He is a follower of people who are trying to start a more “Reformed Church.” Some of these people followed the model of Calvin and some followed the model of the Hutterites.
Since the Rnglish Reformation was fairly undefined under Henry (essentially a church that was doctrinally Catholic other than Papal Supremacy) it became a more Reformed Church under Edward and Lqady Jane Grey. The Catholic Church was re-Established under Mary Tudor. Under Elizabeth, the “Broad Church” starts to form, with room for “Dissenters” in the “Low Church: and near-Catholics” in the “High Church.”
All of this means that what (if any) Cross someone like Kane would carry ios up to the author. Additionally, since he is in Eastern Europe in the Story, he might find it hard to find a Cross not done in an Orthodox or Eastern Rite Sytle. Since he is probably fighting on the Reformed side of one of the Wars of Religion, he might be more threatened by human foes by carrying the wrong Cross.
Thanks for another interesting post Alan. I thought I would add some historical notes and personal observations. Unfortunately Syd Shores passed away around this time 50 years ago. I’m not sure if it was from a heart attack or a brief illness but it was sudden and took Marvel by surprise since he was getting quite a lot of work from Marvel during this time. In fact as I recall he was in the midst of working on a Frankenstein story for Monsters Unleashed when he passed and the story had to be completed by someone else. I’m not sure of the exact sequence of events since I only bought Monsters Unleashed 1 and 2 and missed other issues because of distribution issues where I lived. I heard about this through other sources. I must admit that I did not appreciate Mr Shores at the time and even when he inked Jack Kirby on Captain America and Gene Colan on Daredevil in the late sixties. I have come to appreciate his work more today but I must admit that although the first Dracula story in DL 3 is not bad and still holds up, it does pale in comparison to the previous issue’s Neal Adams story. Syd Shores had a long history as an artist going back to the Golden Age which I was not aware of until I read about this in an Issue of Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego magazine.
Another note regarding the four new (back in 1973) Marvel Magazines: at this time, all of these magazine would begin to run into major deadline problems in which they could not even keep up a bimonthly schedule in 1973. Perhaps Stan put out too many too quickly and there may not have been enough staff to handle them. Dracula Lives only came out with one more issue in 1973 which did not appear until September. When Dracula Lives 5 came out In January 1974 it was back on a bimonthly schedule till the end of its run. Monsters Unleashed missed an issue also and only came out with 4 issues as well in 1973. It also returned to a regular schedule in 1974. Tales of the Zombie went quarterly after its 2nd issue; it still had some deadline problems in 1974 and went quarterly briefly and then had to put a fill in story in summer 1974 perhaps again because of deadline problems. Vampire Tales also missed a month and only came out with 3 issues in 1973 before resuming a regular schedule in 1974.
As I noted earlier, I had problems finding some of these magazine occasionally. While I liked Dracula Lives and was a regular reader of Tomb of Dracula, Dracula Lives 6 would be my last Issue. I certainly liked the Dracula adaptation by Thomas and Giordano, but I simply could not find the next issue and there was no local comic shop near me at the time. I was certainly pleased when the entire Dracula adaptation was collected and completed some years ago. I thought it was some of Thomas and Giordano’s best work. I will be interested to see if you have anything to say about some of the other magazines which I may have missed.
The movie still at the beginning is from the 1960 Hammer Film “The Brides of Dracula”.
Minor typo: “knocking hum semi-conscious”