The Monster of Frankenstein

The Monster of Frankenstein
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Great Nostalgia Comics

The inspiration for Alex Ross's new comic.

A GREAT TRIP BACK TO GOLDEN AGE HORROR COMICS!

Amazing piece of visual story-telling

A "Terror-ific" Graphic Novel

The Monster of Frankenstein
Dick Briefer , Alicia Jo Rabins , David Jacobs , and Edward Robinson
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1419640178
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Book Description

The early 1950s were the Golden Age of horror comics. One of the most legendary titles of the era was Dick Briefer’s MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN, the first continuing series to feature a creature of darkness in a starring role. Veteran comics pro Briefer pulled out all the stops to create a truly great version of the Frankenstein Monster. Now, over a half-century later, these timeless, hard-hitting tales are collected for the first time in a big bonanza volume to delight monster lovers and comics fans alike. Combining bold visual flair and inventiveness with impressive storytelling abilities, Dick Briefer here claims his rightful place with such great writer/artists as Chester Gould (DICK TRACY) and Jack Cole (PLASTIC MAN).

Customer Reviews:

Great Nostalgia Comics.......2007-09-04

Dick Briefer's The Monster of Frankenstein was a comic book which scared the willies out of me in the 1950's. This collection of Briefer's work is outstanding both in variety of plots and in Briefer's unique drawing style. The three introductions to the book are informative, especially the one written by Briefer's granddaughter, Alicia Jo Rabins, who ironically is part of a klesmer band called Golem. The Jewish Medieval legend of the man of mud who was brought to life (the Golem) to defend the Jews of Prague from a pogrom is probably one inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

I would be interested in seeing reprints of another comic Briefer wrote and drew, "Pinky Rankin," the Nazi fighter, for the American Communist Party's paper The Daily Worker.

The inspiration for Alex Ross's new comic........2007-08-14

KINGDOM COME's Alex Ross, comic artist extraordinaire, will be featuring Dick Briefer's rendition of Frankenstein in his newest book SUPERPOWERS!

I am a big fan of Briefer's artwork but never had the opportunity to see a full run of his MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN, back-issues are hard to find and very pricey. I'm very thankful this collection is available and that Alex Ross will continue Briefer's Monster into the 21st century.

A GREAT TRIP BACK TO GOLDEN AGE HORROR COMICS!.......2007-05-12

This is one of the better pre-code horror stuff! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the missing color format it was originally done in! The stories are superbly done! Briefer was a master at this kind of art! I would love to see an archives edition in color similar to the DC Archives on both the humor and serious Dick Briefer Frankenstein!

Amazing piece of visual story-telling.......2007-01-02

The artist and writer respondsible for this collection, Dick Briefer, is a unique talent whose dynamic and important work in this field deserves to be showcased to today's generation of comic fans and horror aficionados. (The recent 2006 Comics Art Exhibition, held jointly by Los Angeles's Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, has already focused new critical attention and appreciation for many of Briefer's contemporaries.) But this is no quaint, nostalgia-driven reprint venture - these tales kick butt! Briefer's version of the Frankenstein Monster, one that can hold its own with the best of the filmic and graphic renditions of the character, is a pre-code 1950s horror protaganist of the purest ray serene, and one of the best - a fresh, unique creation that can easily stand right up there with better-known E.C.'s horror line. It's rough stuff, with strong narrative and visual content - these tales haven't dated - they contain a raw power and visceral punch that speaks to today's readers.

I'm sure you will enjoy this "lost horror classic" as much as I.

A "Terror-ific" Graphic Novel.......2006-12-21

The Monster of Frankenstein was an incredible comic book in the 1950's, and I am ecstatic that someone put together a graphic novel of Dick Briefer's work.

The 1950's were an amazing time for comics...the Allies had been victorious in WWII, America had it's first atomic weapons, and the comic book industry was hungry for material that represented the new age of horror in comics. The Monster of Frankenstein fit the bill in his battles against werewolves, zombies and man.

A must have for all fans of comics or horror.

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 4 (Marvel Essentials)

Average customer rating:

Graphic SF Reader
Surprisingly good.
Reprinting all of Marvel's black & white "Dracula" stories

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 4 (Marvel Essentials)
Marv Wolfman , Steve Gerber , Doug Moench , Gerry Conway , Gene Colan , and Tony Isabella
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785117091

Book Description

The Essential Tomb of Dracula series continues featuring tales of Dracula through the ages - from when he first became a vampire and eventually Lord of the Undead to his resurfacing in modern times. Collects stories from Tomb of Dracula Magazine #2, 4-6, Dracula Lives! #1-13 and Frankenstein Monster #7-9.

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

The end of the Tomb of Dracula series is contained in this volume. There are other things like Dracula magazines and other bits and pieces put in to fill it out.

Note that it has been discovered that the excellent original artwork has been altered and censored in some cases. That sort of prudishness in very disappointing in something that was always aimed at adults.

Surprisingly good........2006-10-02

This volume could be suspected of being solely for completists, since it reprints little-known short stories from Marvel's many horror mags. In fact, before reading it, I feared it might feel like a lot of inventory material. I was quite happy to be proven wrong.

Editorial care was taken to present these stories in chronological order, giving them a biographical flavor (we follow Dracula from the late XVth century to the present). The artwork is unequal, but we're treated to some good work by Neal Adams, John Buscema and Alan Lee Weis, by many Filipino artists whose art never looks so good as in black and white, by a young Paul Gulacy and by Dracula's best illustrator ever, Gene Colan.

This final Essential Dracula tome can not compete with the previous three, since they presented the brilliant run of the main Dracula title by Wolfman and Colan; however, it certainly makes a welcome companion. And as ever, at the price, it's a bargain.

Reprinting all of Marvel's black & white "Dracula" stories.......2005-05-10

I was surprised there was a Volume 4 of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" because once they got to the end of the run of the Marvel comic book mostly written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Gene Colan, I figured that was it. But there were some black & white magazines being put out at the same time and it is largely the Dracula stories from those titles that are collected here. However, there is also the original pencil art for the pages that Wolfman and Colan had to excise from "Tomb of Dracula" #70 when the finale was finally decided to be a double-issue. Half the pages have dialogue and there is an issue break, so you can have some fun figuring where these pages would have gone. But at least fans of the comic book get a little something new here even if they are familiar with all of the reprints.

What we have in Volume are stories from issues #2-6 of "Tomb of Dracula" magazine, "Dracula Lives" #1-13, and "Frankenstein Monster" #7-9. However, the neat thing about this collection is that the stories are, for the most part, arranged "chronologically" according to the "life" of Dracula. After an article on "Bloodline: A Probable Outline of the Career of Count Vlad Dracula" compiled by Peter Gillis we go back to 1452 with the Marvel origin of the character in "That Dracula May Live Again" by Marv Wolfman and Neal Adams. There are six stories from the 15th century, another dozen before Stoker's "Dracula" in 1890, a three-part encounter with the Frankenstein Monster in 1898 (already reprinted in the "Essential Monster of Frankenstein"), and then 20th century stories from 1903, 1926, and 1944 (the Nazis meet Dracula) before we get to "Today" and the final eleven stories.

This is an uneven collection of stories, which is to be expected with other Marvel writers and artists getting into the act in telling Dracula stories. The best of the bunch are "Sanctuary" by Roger McKenzie and Colon, the Adams drawn story mentioned above, "Suffer Not a Witch" by Roy Thomas with art by Alan Weiss and Dick Giordano, the Civil War tale "A House Divided" by James Shooter and Colan (okay, any time Colan draws a Dracula story it just looks so much better than, say, Frank Robbins), the short "Bounty for a Vampire" by Tony Isabell and Tony DeZeuniga," and "A Night in the Unlife" by Gerry Conway and Alfredo Alcala." But "This Blood Is Mine," a story that has Dracula meeting up with the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, is particularly disappointing as do most of the attempts to introduce the Count into a particular time and place (e.g., the Fascist Rome of 1926 passing for gangland Chicago).

This has to be the last volume in the collection and it certainly qualifies as complete from my perspective. I appreciate having "The Tomb of Dracula" completed, but if they would just get further along with the "Essential Fantastic Four," "Essential Thor," and "Essential Daredevil" I could be even happier.

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)

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Graphic SF Reader
The end of Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine
The Dr. Sun storyline comes to a head in "Tomb of Dracula"
One of the high points in comic book history
The Dr. Sun storyline comes to a head in "Tomb of Dracula"

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)
Marv Wolfman
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785114610

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

There is some classic work here, as the team of vampire hunters is working solidly together, and Dracula runs across some powerful antagonists of his own, in the weird Dr Sun, and the powerful sorceror Dr Strange. Rachel Van Helsing, Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and others are still trying to put wooden arrows into him, giving him further problems to deal with, as he runs into more Marvel characters, including the Silver Surfer.

The end of Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine.......2005-10-16

Dracula first appeared in the Marvel Universe in the early 1970s when "The Tomb of Dracula" first appeared. Penciler Gene Colan, the perfect artist for the comic book, was there from the beginning, but Tom Palmer, who would ink the vast majority of issues did not arrive until the third issue, and writer Marv Wolfman did not take over the scripting duties until the seventh issue. By that point most of the cast of characters had been established: Frank Drake, the American descendant of Dracula himself, Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, and Taj, her mute servant from India. But Wolfman immediately added the final member of the core group, Quincy Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina Harker, now an old man in a wheelchair (because of an encounter with the Count), who brings a scientific approach to vampire slaying.

More importantly, Wolfman took the long view towards the characters and the comic book. There is an inherent problem in that your basic comic book story for "The Tomb of Dracula" requires the heroes NOT to kill the villain, otherwise the comic book turns to dust along with Dracula. Wolfman and Colan portrayed Dracula as a vampire with a plan, who was out to do more than kill the vampire slayers before they killed him. This comic book took its time, a fact that was best indicated by the Doctor Sun plotline, where for issue after issue we were treated to a page or less of scenes showing Chinese minions acting out the orders of the mysterious Doctor Sun. Wolfman milked the set up for all it was worth before finally revealing the Doctor Sun was (gasp!) a disembodied brain. Wolfman also created off beat characters for a vampire comic book, such as Hannibal King, the Vampire Detective, Blade (#58, "Undead by Daylight!"), and the quirky nebbish Harold H. Harold, author of "The Vampire Conspiracy" (#56).

In the first story in this collection, "Where Soars the Silver Surfer" (#50), we have one of the few times that Dracula interacted with other characters from the Marvel Universe. Previously it had been the Werewolf from "Werewolf by Night" and Dr. Strange, both of whom make sense for a horror comic, while the Silver Surfer is the rare exception of a more traditional superhero. However, it is his purity in contrast to the vampire's cursed soul that makes their conflict particularly dramatic. In the end, the idea that "The Tomb of Dracula" is out of the mainstream of the Marvel Universe is preserved.

The end-game for the comic book that plays out in these issues has to do with Janus, the son of Dracula born to his wife, Domini. When Dracula got married and his new bride conceived a child as a result of an arcane ritual, that was certainly strange enough. But Wolfman was interested in playing out the battle between good and evil on a larger scale, which culminated in a confrontation between Dracula and Satan himself ("Life After Undeath," #64) at which point the vampire is turned back into a human being by the Prince of Darkness. However, do not fear: the final fate of Dracula will come down to a last battle between the Lord of Vampires and the humans who have been pursuing him for a half-dozen years in the pages of these comic books.

As good as Wolfman was in plotting these tales he was helped by having the perfect artist for "The Tomb of Dracula" in Gene Colan. Nobody could have illustrated Dracula's transformations better than Colan, with his swirling lines as the vampire morphed into a giant bat. Add rain into the picture, as Colan does on the cover and throughout #60, and you ample proof of this perfection. Palmer's best ink work was done over Neal Adam's pencils, but his partnership with Colan on this comic book is a more substantial body of work and when another inker stepped in, the results were always less impressive. Fortunately, in Volume 3 the only example from this is when Bob McCleod inks Colan's pencils for a "Tomb of Dracula Magazine" story, which ends up being arguably the best of the non-Palmer inked Colan stories because it was intended for a black & white magazine.

The cover art is taken from the cover of the final issue of "The Tomb of Dracula," #70. In addition to the final issues of the comic book (#50-70), there are also stories from the black & white "Tomb of Dracula Magazine," which, the back of this collection is quick to say, were "unrated by the Comics Code Authority!" Just so you know, Volume 1 of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" contains issues #1-25 of "The Tomb of Dracula," along with a cross-over story in "Werewolf By Night" #15 and the "Giant-Size Chillers" #1 story that introduced Lilith, Dracula's daguther. Volume 2 has issues #26-49 of "Tomb of Dracula," a cross-over with "Dr. Strange" #14, and a quartet of less than stellar stories from "Giant-Size Dracula" #2-5. You really have to get all three volumes so that you can appreciate how Wolfman, Colan, and Palmer crafted what is still from a qualitative standpoint the best "fear" comic book since the days of E.C.

The Dr. Sun storyline comes to a head in "Tomb of Dracula".......2005-10-14

The horror comic book died a horrible death when E.C.'s celebrated lineup of "Tales from the Crypt, "The Vault of Horror," and "The Haunt of Fear" fell victim to the creation of the Comics Code of America, a censoring board created in 1955 in response to Dr. Fredric Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocent" and the resulting public outcry against horror and crime comics. A decade later a few publishers but out black & white magazines with color covers, such as Warren's "Creepy," "Eerie," and "Vampirella," to evade the Comics Code. If anything, they were more violent than the precode comic books. DC Comics continued the anthology tradition with "House of Secrets" and "Tales of the Unexpected," and eventually released "Swamp-Thing." When Marvel introduced "The Tomb of Dracula" in the early 1970s it was a rather modest entry into the horror market. But because of the success of this comic book it would be followed up with "Werewolf by Night" and "The Frankenstein Monster." But it was "Tomb of Dracula" that would end up proclaiming on its cover that it was "Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine, starting with issue #43, which comes near the end of "Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 2.

This second volume includes #26-49 of "Tomb of Dracula," a crossover with "Dr. Strange" #14, and a quartet of less than stellar stories from "Giant-Size Dracula" #2-5. By this point the comic book has put together a team of fearless vampire hunters: Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula himself, Rachel Van Helsing, the great-granddaughter of the professor in Bram Stoker's novel, Taj, her mute servant from India, and Quincy Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina Harker, now an old man in a wheelchair (because of an encounter with the Count), who brings a scientific approach to vampire slaying. Joining the group in this volume are the vampire slayer Blade and the writer Harold H. Harold, and their are visits by Hannibal King and Brother Voodoo. Consequently, "Tomb of Dracula" was basically a quest to track down and stake the King of the Vampires.

Of the three volumes reprinting "The Tomb of Dracula" in black & white this one has the best stories, mostly dealing with mysterious Dr. Sun. We begin with the search for the Chimera (#26-28), a device of power the Dr. Sun's minions are tracking down. We then find out the tragic story behind's Taj's muteness (#31), but the larger story arc her is towards the final confrontation between Dracula and Dr. Sun. There is a problem since Dr. Sun kill Dracula before that point (#39), but one of the advantages of having a vampire for the villain is that he can die and be brought back to his undead life. With the Dr. Sun storyline writer Marv Wolfman does what has to be the longest set up in the history of the Marvel universe. For years we were tantalized with a page of panels about Sun's minions doing strange things with vampires before we started having entire issues devoted to the machinations of the living brain. Perhaps the payoff was not as great as the years of anticipation (we are talking "living brain"), but the bits and pieces as Dracula was tested and cornered by Dr. Sun were excellent. By the time you get to the end of this volume Wolfman is already into the final giant story line with Domini, the bride of Dracula, and the Church of Damned.

All of "The Tomb of Dracula" issues in Volume 2 are scripted by Wolfman, penciled by Gene Colan and inked by Tom Palmer. If Wolfman was the perfect writer for this comic book then Colan was the perfect artist (when you look at the "Giant-Size Dracula" issues drawn by the Don Heck and Nestor Redondo this point will be underscored). I still tend to think that Palmer's inking was at its very best when he was working with Neal Adam's pencils but what he did will Colan is the proverbial close second. Reading the entire series again made me appreciate how these comics were character driven, making comparisons with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" not only obvious but accurate, and the nice thing about having these reprint volumes is that it is a lot easier to read "The Tomb of Dracula" now than taking the originals out of plastic.

Volume 1 of the "Essential Tomb of Dracula" contains issues #1-25 of "The Tomb of Dracula," along with a crossover story in "Werewolf By Night" #15 and the "Giant-Size Chillers" #1 story that introduced Lilith, Dracula's daughter. Volume 3 has "Tomb of Dracula" #50-70 and stories from "Tomb of Dracula Magazine" #1-4. I understand there is going to be a Volume 4, which hopefully would continue to reprint some of the stories from Marvel's black & white "Dracula Lives" magazine. Obviously you need to get all three volumes of the "Essential: Tomb of Dracula" so that you can appreciate how Wolfman, Colan, and Palmer crafted the best "fear" comic book since the days of E.C.

One of the high points in comic book history.......2005-01-03

Wolfman and Colon were really at their best when they were working on this series. Marv kept the series moving with tight characterization and nobody could draw Dracula like Gene: the bat fluttering on the breeze, the bat transformations, the face foating in the mist, and the overall imperial air. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up with the work load and the giant-size issues were handled by others and weren't quite as good.

The Dr. Sun storyline comes to a head in "Tomb of Dracula".......2004-11-23

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

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Graphic SF Reader
Dracula, Marvel-style
The best Marvel horror title ever crafted
An interesting bit of comic book history
Back to the Beginning

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)
Marv Wolfman , Roger McKenzie , Gene Colan , and Frank Robbins
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 078510920X

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

In the beginning, this series was just finding its feet. When the editors hit on the combination of Wolfman and Colan to take over, it started producing gold.

A team of vampire hunters come together with a descendant of Dracula to pursue and frustrate the Lord of Vampires all around the world.

Dracula, Marvel-style.......2007-05-14

Though it's a little more common nowadays, comic books that starred villains instead of heroes have always been something of a rarity. In the 1970s, Marvel gave it a shot with such books as Werewolf by Night and Supervillain Team Up, but the former wasn't so much a villain as a good-guy-turned-beast (not unlike the Hulk), and the latter - with a rather brief run - actually co-featured the Sub-Mariner, who is much more an antihero than a villain. No, the best Marvel villain book - both in terms of length-of-run and quality - was The Tomb of Dracula.

Volume One of the Essential Tomb of Dracula contains the first 25 issues of the title along with a couple associated issues of Werewolf By Night and Giant-Size Chillers. The star of the book is, of course, Dracula, a vampire with a monstrous ego and the powers to back it up. He is not merely misunderstood (like the Frankenstein Monster) or unable to control his powers (like the Werewolf). He is out-and-out evil, relishing the violent death he dispenses. In Issue #1, he is safely staked, but that is soon rectified when his descendent Frank Drake comes to claim Castle Dracula. Drake's duplicitous friend pulls out the stake and is rewarded by being enslaved by the Count. After Drake is forced to kill his newly vampiric girlfriend, he is quite despondent until he is brought into the fold of Dracula's hunters.

These hunters include Rachel van Helsing and Quincy Harker, both descendants of characters from Bram Stoker's novel. They are assisted by the mute Indian Taj and later by Blade the Vampire Killer. The stories deal primarily with the hunter-and-prey relationship between this group and Dracula, with both groups serving in both roles. Soon another villain will come into the mix, the mysterious Dr. Sun, whose own schemes seek to eliminate both sides. Dr. Sun's first story arc is in this volume, with a more significant arc in Volume 2 (which I had actually read first).

With writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan responsible for most of the issues in Tomb Dracula's run, there is a pleasant consistency in quality that often evades other works. This is a story with little in the way of superheroics (Blade is around as close as it gets, and even he is strictly human); instead, this is a chronicle of supernatural horror. If this is a genre you enjoy, Tomb of Dracula is the best in the comics field.

The best Marvel horror title ever crafted.......2006-01-19

Before Werewolf by Night, or Ghost Rider, or even Monster of Frankenstein, there was the Tomb of Dracula. Debuting in the 70's and the beginning of Marvel's foray into horror comics; Tomb of Dracula began with longtime Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway at the helm with the legendary Gene Colan providing the pencils. The series begins with Frank Drake, a living descendant of Count Dracula, inheriting Castle Dracula, and unwittingly awakening the vampire lord. Eventually, Drake has to make a big sacrifice, and the writing reins are soon taken over by Archie Goodwin, and later by Gardner Fox. It wasn't until Marv Wolfman took over the series that Tomb of Dracula really took off, as new characters like Rachel Van Helsing and later Hannibal King (in the last issue of this Essential title) are introduced that would have a huge impact on the series until it's end. What Wolfman is the most credited for with Tomb of Dracula, is the creation of the mysterious vampire hunter Blade, who makes his debut in the tenth issue of the series. Later on, there is a cross over with Werewolf by Night, and the first appearance of Dracula's daughter Lilith. Gene Colan's pencils are simply gorgeous, and when he's teamed with inker Tom Palmer, it's really something to behold, even in black and white. All in all, like many of Marvel's other Essential titles, Essential Tomb of Dracula is a deal for the price if you don't mind the brittle black and white pages, and it's the beginning of the best Marvel horror title you'll ever read.

An interesting bit of comic book history.......2005-12-06

Before buying this I had no idea Dracula was such a big part of the Marvel Comics universe. Now I know better. More importantly, it's a fun read. It reminds me of those classic Hammer horror movies. Not so much violent as creepy, atmospheric, and just a touch old-fashioned.

Dracula and his hunters are the stars here. Drac is an especially complex character. The stories are a little repetative. Hunters track down Drac. Drac escapes. But the stories are still fun, still interesting.

Two parts are especially worth noting: The first appearance of Blade in comics (before he became a dull half-vampire cliche). And Drac vs. Werewolf by Night.

Recommended especially for comic fans looking for some history. Or anyone else just interested in a little old-fashioned scary storytelling.

Back to the Beginning.......2005-09-14

I started reading this comics series shortly before it was discontinued and it was interesting to go back and see how it all began, as well as viewing the various artists' work. Too bad it's in black and white, but great just the same.

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 3 (Marvel Essentials)

Average customer rating:

Drac is back
Graphic SF Reader
Dracula Goes Domestic!
A Letter I Wrote To Marv Wolfman
The end of Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine

Essential Tomb of Dracula, Vol. 3 (Marvel Essentials)
Marv Wolfman , Roger McKenzie , and Frank Robbins
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785115587

Customer Reviews:

Drac is back.......2007-10-07

Its volume 3 of Essential Tomb of dracula, and the fun and excitement never stop. In these twenty some reprint issues of the popular horror comic, Frank Drake, Blade, Rachel Van Helsing and others must fight Dracula as he seeks to dominate mankind.
In this issue, he continues his quest to take over a Cult of Satan worshipers. Yet his life gets more complicated as he takes a bride!! The stories are fresh and unique, and continue to surprise me with their plot twists and turns!
This is also Gene Colan's art at its best! I feel his art is best viewed in black and white, it adds to the atmosphere and overall tension of the story.
I recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of horror comics!

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Gene Colan is fabulous, and black and white is the way to see this man's art. Granted, a bunch of 70s cheese, here, but it it is fun vampire hunting stuff, with Dracula, again, as a character that has understandable motivations. He is a complicated man. Ok, well, he is a complicated undead vampire. He does have his own code of honor, even if it is sometimes rather twisted, and a vampire still has to eat, too.

Dracula Goes Domestic!.......2007-08-26

In the early issues of The Tomb of Dracula - chronicled in Essential Tomb of Dracula Volumes 1 and 2 - the title character is clearly a villain, essentially a lone wolf character who is friendless and is perfectly happy that way. As Volume 3 opens, however, the situation has changed drastically (a carryover from the end of the previous volume): Dracula is happily married and expecting a child.

Of course, this is not Father Knows Best. Dracula has set himself up as the object of worship for a Satanic cult, and his wife Domini is one of the members. The leader of the cult intends on using all three for his own sinister purposes. Meanwhile, Dracula's hunters - Quincy Harker, Rachel Van Helsing, Frank Drake (Dracula's descendant), Blade and the annoying Harold Harold - are hot on his trail.

After a brief confrontation with the Silver Surfer, the main plotline kicks in, with Domini giving birth, but the child winding up far different than anticipated, eventually transforming into an angel who is destined to kill Dracula. As if that isn't bad enough, Dracula is ensnared by Satan himself who exacts a terrible punishment for the Count's hubris, one that will not only threaten his lordship over vampires but his very existence.

This volume wraps up the original series, which ended after seventy issues. Also included are the first four issues of the Tomb of Dracula Magazine, which continues the story, albeit without many of the principals from the comic. Out of the various Marvel horror magazines of the 1970s, Tomb of Dracula is clearly the best, in large part because of the continuous influence of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan as the main writer and artist respectively. I can imagine that reading this as a bi-monthly comic was probably a little dissatisfying as the big stories took years to fully unfold, but in this compressed (albeit black-and-white) format, the whole Dracula tale can be read as one long, seventy issue graphic novel. If you haven't read Volumes 1 and 2, you will not get complete enjoyment out of this one. On the other hand, if you have enjoyed the previous volumes in this series - and I have - then this is a must-purchase.

A Letter I Wrote To Marv Wolfman.......2007-05-28

To the writer of this era of Tomb of Dracula:

Hi Marv, my name is Andy DiGelsomina and I have loved your writing since 1976 (well, that's when I discovered Tomb of Dracula!). I wanted to thank you; I never forgot the "Janus" saga, or your overall fascinating, anti-hero depiction of the Count (my favorite depiction, bar none).

This might sound really strange, but I'm a huge fan of Mozart and Wagner's operas, and I thought the level of complexity of your storyline in the classic TOD wasn't extraordinarily far from the great operas, especially in terms of plot development. I realize that there are people whom would ridicule this assertion, but who cares what they think ? I have just started checking out the full length TOD (available also in this digest) with Steve Ditko and Gene Colan drawing (Gene is my favorite of course!) and I'm enjoying them as well.

Bottom line for those curious: Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula is probably the greatest horror comic series ever published. Although I wasn't crazy about the no-colour format, it's at a nearly irresistible price.

The end of Comicdom's Number 1 Fear Magazine.......2004-11-09

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READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Most Thoroughly Annotated Edition Currently In Print.
fleshed-out....
An Open Door For The Curious Mind

The Essential Dracula
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: I Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires

ASIN: 0743498038

Book Description

Here is the complete original text of Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel, fully annotated with thousands of fascinating facts. Includes: background on Stoker's classic, and the literary history of the vampire novel; commentary by leading contemporary writers; a selected filmography of major vampire films; and dozens of illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Free SF Reader.......2007-09-04

Why do I like this so much? Maybe because it is a classic? Hard to say why, just really enjoy how that is done, the cast of hunters, etc. It is the one I have multiple versions of, including a hardback annotated, so that certainly says something. The style, told in letters and journals to large degree just seems to work for some reason, when it can be horrible elsewhere. Highly recommended.

Apart from that, the Essential Dracula has annotations and notes for each page, which are quite interesting. If you just want to concentrate on the novel, you may find this setup distracting, so try a plain version just for that.

Tells how about a Dracula walking tour in London, and other fun things.

READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2005-02-26

This book is an amazing classic full of romance, suspense, and horror. Everybody from 11 to 111 should read this awesome classic! Take my word for it,after you start this book, you won't be able to put it down(litterally!).

Most Thoroughly Annotated Edition Currently In Print........2004-11-09

"The Essential Dracula" is the latest edition of "Dracula" to be annotated with copious footnotes by renowned "Dracula" scholar Leonard Wolf. In 1975, Wolf published the first thoroughly annotated edition of the novel, called, appropriately, "The Annotated Dracula". "The Essential Dracula" has retained and augmented the thousands of comments and explanations offered in that book, but lacks "The Annotated Dracula"'s more than 100 illustrations, most notably full-page artwork by the artist Sätty. Instead, the artwork of Christopher Bing introduces each chapter in "The Essential Dracula". There are also small illustrations scattered throughout, but "The Essential Dracula"'s illustrations are more decoration than material. Don't be misled by the blurb from Ingram on the back cover that oddly refers to the 1975 edition's "100 photos, maps, and drawings", not to this edition. Comments on "Dracula" by 19 writers and artists are an interesting addition between the chapters. Leonard Wolf or his publisher have perfectly chosen a handsome, modern, black and red cover to announce this novel's arrival in the 21st century.

Leonard Wolf's copious footnotes provide the reader with an ongoing lesson in social history. He addresses every imaginable allusion in the text, sometimes with short essays. The notes are more elaborate and cover a broader variety of subjects than the footnotes in the Norton Critical Edition of "Dracula". Some intriguing notes include: recipes for the Romanian dishes on which Jonathan Harker dines, population demographics for Transylvania in the late 19th century, translations of old Mr. Swales' dialect, explanations of Victorian figures of speech, and the particulars of Victorian typewriters that Mina employs so frequently. Leonard Wolf's annotations are blessing to "Dracula" fans. My only reservation about them is that the notes in "The Essential Dracula" cannot be easily read. Unlike its predecessor "The Annotated Dracula", which placed its sizable notes in the margins, "The Essential Dracula"'s notes are truly footnotes. They are written in a miniscule font at the bottom of the pages. One cannot simply peruse the notes, as I so enjoy with "The Annotated Dracula". It is too difficult to determine what text is being referenced. So you really do have to read these notes as you read the novel, which I find impractical and not as enjoyable as studying them later.

"The Essential Dracula" offers 3 Appendices. Appendix A is the legendary and entirely superfluous deleted first chapter of "Dracula", entitled "Dracula's Guest". Appendix B provides a selected Dracula filmography and a list of notable theatrical dramatizations. The filmography includes title, alternative title, director, studio, country, and leading performers for 71 Dracula films, 1920-1992, that feature Count Dracula but are not necessarily based on Bram Stoker's novel. Appendix C is a bibliography.

fleshed-out...........2003-12-09

Loved the Stoker's two-dozen spectacular line drawings and some interesting background on Bram and the legends of his subject!

An Open Door For The Curious Mind.......2000-11-09

This is far and away the best edition of the original novel you could read. In addition all it's footnotes and explanations provide a trail for any curious reader to explore for just about any particular aspect of the novel. From legends of Vampires, historical facts of Vlad Dracul III, all the way to obscure but curious details of the lendary Scholomance School Of Magic taught by the Devil himself!

The Essential Dracula: A Completely Illustrated & Annotated Edition of Bram Stoker's Classic Novel

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The Essential Dracula: A Completely Illustrated & Annotated Edition of Bram Stoker's Classic Novel
Bram Stoker , Raymond T. McNally , and Radu Florescu
Manufacturer: Mayflower Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires

ASIN: 0831729937

Customer Reviews:

Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Why do I like this so much? Maybe because it is a classic? Hard to say why, just really enjoy how that is done, the cast of hunters, etc. It is the one I have multiple versions of, including a hardback annotated, so that certainly says something. The style, told in letters and journals to large degree just seems to work for some reason, when it can be horrible elsewhere. Highly recommended.

Apart from that, the Essential Dracula has annotations and notes for each page, which are quite interesting. If you just want to concentrate on the novel, you may find this setup distracting, so try a plain version just for that.
Tells how about a Dracula walking tour in London, and other fun things.

[...]

Average customer rating:

The Essential Dracula

Manufacturer: ibooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739456105

Average customer rating:

THE ESSENTIAL DRACULA

Manufacturer: Crescent Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CSYX1W

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Essential Tomb Of Dracula Volume 1 Tpb
*
Manufacturer: DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIB
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K2TC9I

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