One week ago, we had a look at Tomb of Dracula #44, which, as regular readers will recall, ended with not one, but two cliffhangers. To find out what happened next in regards to the second of those, which promised a face-off between Blade, the Vampire Slayer, and Hannibal King, Vampire Detective, we’ll have to wait another few weeks — but as to the first, which saw Doctor Strange succumb to the fatal bite of Count Dracula, all we have to do is turn past the cover of the comic that’s our topic today to pick up things up right where they left off. (Although, if we’re to be honest, Gene Colan and Tom Palmer’s cover illo kind of gives the game away, at least as far as Doc’s survival is concerned — but, really, what else could you expect?)
While the first half of this crossover was produced by the regular Tomb of Dracula creative team of writer Marv Wolfman and artists Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, this closing installment is brought to us by the regular Doctor Strange creative team of writer Steve Englehart and… artists Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Still, the fact that the same artists illustrated both chapters doesn’t necessarily mean that the artwork will look precisely the same in both…
Three months after the crossover’s publication, in the letters column of Tomb of Dracula #47, a reader named Chris Robin noted that Gene Colan’s layouts for the two halves appeared different to his eyes: “They seemed to be straighter in Drac’s book than they were in DR. STRANGE.” To which the anonymous Marvel Bullpenner handling the books lettercol responded:
Chris, the changes in layouts between DRAC and DOC are deliberate. Marv has asked Gene to keep the DRACULA panels straight up-and-down to give the book a gothic feeling, while Strange’s mag takes the more bizarre approach. But however the layouts are done, Gene does ’em beautifully, so what the hey!
My eighteen-year-old self was struck by this exchange when I first read it back in ’76, because, despite being a regular reader of both series, I hadn’t consciously registered the different approach to layouts Colan employed for his two regular gigs before this. As you can imagine, soon thereafter I was pulling my copies of ToD #44 and DS #14 off the shelf to check for myself; and, of course, I immediately discovered that Mr. Robin’s observation was spot on.
We’ve actually discussed in previous posts how Colan’s Doctor Strange panels tend to become more jagged-edged when he’s actively using magic, traveling through dimensions, and so on. We see the artist using a variation of that approach here, as scenes that feature Dracula in his typically Gothic milieu feature a more standard rectangle-based panel grid, with things becoming freakier once Strange starts doing his thing…
And so Colan’s layouts will go, from rectangular to jaggedy and back again, through the rest of the story.
Frustrated by his predicament, the Sorcerer Supreme slams his fist into a wall… though, being in his astral form, he simply passes straight through it. Proceeding on out into the dark Boston night, he continues to stew over his existential plight: “I’m the world’s foremost practitioner of an art without rules! Nothing is certain for me — ever! Every moment of my life is a gamble, and no man wins every time!”
While Marv Wolfman’s script for Tomb of Dracula #44 had ignored Doctor Strange continuity more or less completely (forget the stuff about Doc having watched the Earth be destroyed and recreated in his last two issues; Wolfman didn’t even bother to explain why Wong was in Boston), Steve Englehart actually moves the main ToD narrative significantly forward with this scene, as the deconsecrated church introduced here will play a major role in the upcoming issues of that title.
Dr. Strange might not appear in person on the page above, but those jagged panels provide a visual clue that “Doctor Sun” isn’t quite what he appears to be…
Reassured that Doc Strange remains as dead as the proverbial doornail, Dracula shouts his defiance to the supposed shade of Dr. Sun before retiring to his coffin for the night, er, day. Time now for a time-jump…
Once again, as “Maria” does her spooky thing, Colan’s page layouts skew towards the less conventional…
As Dracula metamorphosizes into a bat, a narrative caption tells us that while most of the ordinary Bostonians who witness the event refuse to credit the evidence of their eyes — much as many others have done all across Marvel-Earth when confronted with such an impossible sight — “some do believe. As with flying saucers, the reports have begun to mount up!”
Regarding the transition to “Third night!“, I think the storytelling is a little more confusing here than it needs to be — that terse caption notwithstanding, the space-and-time jump from Dracula crashing through the roof on Cape Cod to his opening the cellar door back at Dr. Sun’s place in Boston is so abrupt as to be disorienting, even for an attentive reader.
“I’ve called on — many gods — in my life!” I’m pretty sure that I hadn’t encountered the term “Tetragrammaton” prior to my first reading of this story in 1976; on the other hand, I was quite familiar with the name “Jehovah”, so I figure I got the gist of what Dr. Strange was up to here, even before I managed to get to my Baptist college’s campus library to look up the previously unknown word… at which point I suspect that I was even more impressed.
In his 2013 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — Doctor Strange, Vol. 6, Steve Englehart observed:
Doc had always called on gods who existed only in his Marvelous world, so calling on a non-comics God was a touch of real magick, and a nod to Doc’s continuity — and exactly what Dracula was built to wilt before. Very satisfying.
As suggested by Englehart’s comment, having Dracula be susceptible to symbolic representations of the power of the God of Abraham was nothing new — indeed, it was traditional. But in having Dr. Strange invoke the Tetragrammaton — a “magickal” concept he seems likely to have pulled from the same Kabbalistic writings where he’d found “Adam Qadmon” (as seen in Doctor Strange #13) — he made that folkloric and literary tradition “work” in the series’ context in a way that Strange brandishing a common crucifix simply wouldn’t have.
Recalling his and Marv Wolfman’s original planning process for the Dracula/Dr. Strange crossover, Englehart wrote in his Marvel Masterworks intro:
The one thing I do remember, clearly, is that when we worked out who’d do what to whom, Marv would end his issue with Dracula killing Doc, and I would end my part with Doc killing Drac. Just a little fun between friends,
Of course, while Englehart’s resolution to the untimely demise of his protagonist had to be part of the crossover itself, the resurrection of Dracula was something Wolfman would get to deal with Tomb of Dracula #45. That meant that if you weren’t a regular reader of that title, you could just assume that the Sorcerer Supreme had finished off the Lord of Vampires once and for all… which, presumably, is what Doc himself would believe, at least until his and Drac’s paths crossed again, several years hence.
Of course, you won’t have to wait that long to see how Count Dracula gets better, as we’ll be taking a look at ToD #45 just a few short weeks from now. As for Doctor Strange, his next couple of issues will find him grappling with the most unique existential crisis in the history of the Marvel Universe; after all, how would you deal with knowing that everybody you knew on Earth had been destroyed and replaced with an exact doppelgänger… and nobody knew about it but you? The Sorcerer Supreme’s response will, in the end, take him literally to Hell and back… though, naturally, we’ll need to postpone discussing the details until a future post, coming your way in April.
I thought Wolfman did a great job explaining Drac’s survival. I made so much sense I wonder why no one else has gone to that well.
I don’t specially recall the mechanics of it, but yes, it made sense to me as well when I picked up the next TOD.
Now that’s what the “Doctor” ordered!
Loved this one as a kid and still do as gray-haired adult. I say that because this is one of those issues where the good Dr. Strange acts like a “good doctor.” Or perhaps surgeon to be more accurate. After having befallen to the fang in Tomb of Dracula, aside from a break moment of near panic, Steven Strange asserts himself and approaches the problem methodically, using the tools at hand to achieve a successful outcome. I suppose I could quibble about it determining last minute to call upon Jehovah – that being something he would have deducted well before tackling Dracula in person. I also enjoyed his messing with the Lord of the Undead’s head before that confrontation.
Artwise, another absolutely stellar job from Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Good eye on Alan’s part noting the variations in Colan’s panels when the magician does his magic thing. For me, this is simply a perfect example of two true talents at the top of their game delivering one beautiful page after another. Perhaps the only aspect of Colan’s depiction of both characters – and something someone pointed out in last week’s comments – is how in the world do either Doc or Drac see a damned thing on either side of them with those super-starched capes sticking up so high? But hey, it looks great on both, so I’ll just assume magic allows them peripheral vision.
A fun review to start this Valentine’s Day!
A wild tale mixing horror and sorcery, although, in truth both Doc & Drac have been steeped in both aspects from the beginning. After all, wasn’t Dracula’s transformation from a mere man to a an undead mythic vampire an act of sorcery from some sort of ancient spell, giving him many magical powers of transformation and control over others, but also leaving him with magical weaknesses to sunlight and religious symbols and consecrated places, which are essentially other forms of magic within the vampiric mythos. And from Dr. Strange’s first recounted tale, taking on the demonic Nightmare, many of Dr. Strange’s tales echo aspects of Marvel’s old weird/horror stories, while many Hulk stories echo other aspects, mainly a man transformed into a monster, often fighting other monsters. And, of course, what could be more horrifying that the world coming to an end, even if Dr. Strange was able to get that “fixed” but living with the psychic of horror of being the only person alive to know that it happened. Even the concluding portion of the Avengers/Defenders conflict, wherein Earth was slowly being merged with the Dark Dimension and ordinary people began to be transformed into monsters brought to the fore the horror aspects of Dr. Strange’s milieu into what was otherwise straightforward superhero fare. Just some idle musings.
More on the strange tale at hand, I hadn’t previously noted the distinctions Colan made in his art for Tod and Dr. S, or even in more mundane parts of a Dr. Strange story and the more mystic parts. I’ve only seen a few examples of Colan’s art from before he started working for Marvel as “Adam Austin” in 1965, but even at that time, on Iron Man and Sub-Mariner, his art was a weird blend of a greater sense of realism than was typical of either Kirby or Ditko, but also touches of weirdness, including some decidedly unrealistic human poses! All tending to heighten the sense of drama and excitement within the tale at hand. Naturally, the weirdness was more abundant in both Tomb of Dracula and Dr. Strange, and, soon to come 50 years ago, in Howard the Duck, all peaks of his comics work, IMO. This two-parter allowed a convenient means to compare the different approaches he used in the two titles, as well as the distinctions in Wolfman’s and Englehart’s writing styles. I rather liked how Doc was able to somehow delve into Drac’s mind to determine his fears and obsessions and play with them to lure the Vampire King so far out to sea as to nearly destroy him — of course, if Drac had been just a one-off baddie and not the title character of his own mag, we might have seen Drac turned to ash by the rising sun long before he even got back anywhere near the shore. But, comics being comics, even that wouldn’t have been the final end of Dracula!
Overall, an enjoyable tale, and fine review, Alan!
I’ve never been partial to vampires. Even as a little kid the whole thing just struck me as ridiculous and gross. I remember reading this waaaay back when and thinking thank goodness it’s only one issue. I did, begrudgingly, buy TOD #44. I may hate vampires but I was a Dr. Strange completist. Anyway, despite my misgivings it is a good story. I think popping Wong back to normal at the end was a bit too tidy a wrap up, but hey, nothings perfect. Colan and Palmer’s art is as usual superb. That alone was worth the price of admission!
But let’s get to the real reason for this particular post. That being my seeing Englehart putting the word “clod” in Dracula’s mouth. Twice even. Clod! I love this word and it seems to have fallen out of use in today’s society. Such a useful word too, perfect for describing a number, indeed, a great number of the simpletons making their way across the world stage these days. So, I’m bringing clod back. I hope others will join me in my new crusade as well!
You don’t like vampires???? Clod!!!
“Clod” is probably the standard Gem insult in Steven Universe.
I wonder if the Comics Code Authority had any problems with a reference to The Ineffable Name of
G-d?
Englehart seemed to really take an interest in a variety of mystical traditions to give Dr Strange more of a grounding.
I’m pretty sure I never read the issue of ToD that preceded this one, but I distinctly remember this one, for no other reason than the fact that Strange called on the power of the Actual God (your mileage may vary) of Jehovah and the Israelites to stop Dracula. Like you, Alan, I was not familiar with the termTetragrammaton, but for a good ol’ Sunday School attending Southern Baptist church boy like me, it was a turn I always enjoyed seeing. I’m not sure what made me pick up this issue of Strange in the first place–I liked Strange OK, depending on who was drawing him, but I had no love for the Marvel version of Dracula at all–but Strange’s invocation of the God of my own belief system is certainly what made me remember it all these years later.
From a story point of view, I thought Englehart, once he’d used Wong to get Strange into this mess in t he first place, gave short shrift to the sorcerer’s faithful manservant, circumventing his own vampirism by storing him in a handy nearby parallel dimension. Poor story-telling, but obviously Englehart wanted to spend most of his time on the Big Ticket match between Strange and Dracula, so we won’t hold it against him.
All in all, the idea of using Dracula’s own mythology against him; calling upon the power of God and the religious iconography that’s always been so deadly to him was a nice nod to the origins of the character and his place in literary history. Thanks, Alan!
Hi, Alan,
I really did want to leave a lengthy comment about TOMB OF DRACULA #44 last week – I really did! But life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. So here I am, writing about both your write-ups in one comment. (I really do want to comment a little more frequently going forward. Especially since we’re approaching the end of Marvel’s Second Golden Era. But that’s a subject for another time,)
At the time of this crossover, I was a big fan of both books. DR. STRANGE, of course – Englehart could do little wrong in my eyes. But I was also digging TOMB OF DRACULA, and had been for more than two years by this point. I really appreciated what Wolfman was trying to do with TOD – putting the focus less on Dracula and more on the humans hunting him. I also enjoyed the stylistic risks he would take with the storytelling – the issues featuring Dracula’s diary, for example, or the WONDERFUL hard-boiled pastiche back in #25 that you wrote up. And of course, the art was to die for. (so to speak.)
That said, I was a bit disappointed by the first part of this crossover. I sorta resented that Wolfman made sure he had his subplots going, crossover be damned. (It’s good to be the king, I guess.) The Aurora/Harold scene was silly, and though I had been anticipating a Blade/Hannibal King encounter for a while, I felt that setting it up NOW felt gratuitous. On top of that you have the inconsistency of Wong just happening to be in Boston that was never explained. (And then you had that condescending note in the letters page about there “not being space to explain it.” Well, maybe if you hadn’t decided to spotlight two of the most superfluous characters in the series, you’d HAVE the space!)
So as much as I appreciated the ending of the issue, the first part didn’t quite do it for me. Now THIS issue was much more to my liking, right from the story’s title. The idea of Dr. Strange “haunting” Dracula was a great touch. And though Englehart didn’t feel the need to bring in Clea or DEPICT Doc’s state of mind after last issue, he made sure it was covered in the script. THIS is how you can keep continuity going without disturbing the flow of the immediate story. Plus, Stephen’s frustration would pay off in the next two issues with his crisis of confidence. It does make me wonder if it might have played differently if DR. STRANGE was still bi-monthly at the time of this crossover.
I had actually encountered the Tetragrammaton before, in (of all things) an Ellery Queen mystery called THE PLAYER ON THE OTHER SIDE. It was a bit wild to have Doc call, not on the Hoary Hosts of Hoggarth but on – well, God. And it would happen again only two months.
A fine story, if not the best. I was happy that both titles continued the following month on their stellar runs.
Thanks, Alan!
Never apologize for having a life, Bill. Only reason I’m responding now is to escape housework for our guests this evening. 😉
Ah yes! “Sorry, Debbie, I can’t do the laundry now. I have to respond to Rick!”
Somehow, I don’t think that explanation will work when my principal asks why my lesson plans aren’t done…
Don’t worry, Bill. If your principal was like mine, they never read your lesson plans. I taught high school for twenty years and I don’t think anyone other than me ever read them. I used to put cartoons and jokes in them just to see if anyone was paying attention and never had a member of the admin comment about a single one of them.
Guys, you came to the right place. I work for the teachers union (NEA). You let me know if those principals give you any grief. Which is true. But unless you’re in one of my locals in central Iowa, not sure how much help I’d be. 😊
“Deconsecration” sounds so ominous but all it really means is that the church moved all the holy things (e.g., the altar) out so now it’s just a building. There’s little difference between “abandoned” and “deconsecrated” As a reporter, I asked about this when a local church closed to move to a bigger, newer building. I was disappointed there wasn’t any ritual (I’d have loved to cover it), just declaring nope, no longer a church.
In Catholicism, the Anglican Communion and Judaism, it requires more administrative and legal process than ceremony. The keys are insuring the needs of the members of the institution are meet and the building is put to a worthy purpose.
In Southern Baptist circles, it just means locking the doors and selling the building to a local community theatre.
Not a fan of referencing Abrahamic beliefs anywhere, be it in fiction or elsewhere – it is a no-win situation IMO, if for no other reason because after the cat is out of the bag you would have to wonder why it is not used again.
But if we ignore that (I do), it is an interesting, perhaps unavoidable tale of the meeting of two natural enemies. And this part specifically has Doc acting out of character but with a very good explanation for that. It is not often that we see Stephen literally haunting prey, and which prey could be more satisfying than Dracula? I also like the use of Doctor Sun.
It is not particularly easy to explain how come Dracula can have a regular feature in a world that has Doctor Strange available to fight him. Perhaps the best that can be done is indeed having the two meeting and having some explanation for why it is neither decisive nor a regular occurrence.
In that respect, this second part is successful; Stephen won, but it took much out of him, arguably tainting his very soul to an extent that he dares not risk a second time. It could even explain some of his behavior in the Peter Gillis run to come some 11 years in the future, when Doc became a very dark character.
Then again, balancing those tensions caused by the shared universe has been a regular occurrence for certain books, notably Hulk’s.
Now to wait a couple of years for comments on “Ghost Rider” #26-31… or perhaps Hulk #206-207 later this year.
Copppla’s 1992 version of Dracula also uses a lot of specific Romanian Orthodox and Catholic imagery and background (rather than the more generic Anglican backgrounds of the Universal film from 1931 or the 1950s and ’60s Hammer films),
The marriage ceremony between Ryder and Reeves was realistic enough that the two have wondered if they were accidently married, as the actor playing the priest was a Romanian Orthodox Priest in real life and the scene was filmed in a Greek Orthodox Church.
The myths and folk tales of the Balkans are heavily influenced by the traditions of Judaism, Islam, Roman Catholicism,. the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and the interactions of those populations, particularly as the power of the Romaioi/Constantinople/Eastern Roman Empire failed after about 1200 CE.
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. intercommunity friction only increased.
All of this is the background for Stoker’s book . . . .
This was magnificent. And I like the idea of one killing Doc Strange the other killing Drac in their respective books. I didn’t see these back in the day but I think I read the Dracula issue where the Vampire Lord comes back…