‘Dracula’ is rising again in comics
Ahorror classic comes back to life this month as IDW rereleases the early 1990s comic-book adaptation of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”
Perhaps best-known as the creator of “Hellboy,” Mike Mignola was the artist for this adaptation, with writer Roy Thomas. The comics originally were presented in color from Topps Comics; IDW’s reprint edition will share the art for the first time in black-and-white.
If this long-out-of-print story whets your appetite for more from the vampire lord, what are some other places you can catch Dracula in comics?
Dell Comics had the license for the Universal Monsters back in 1962, and they created a comic for their Classic Movie series focusing on the vampire. While the Comics Code Authority banned most depictions of vampires at the time, Dell, using its position in the industry at the time as the purveyors of Disney and Little Lulu Comics, never signed onto the Comics Code, instead holding itself to its self-regulated “Pledge to Parents” that its comics wouldn’t contain objectionable material.
Dell’s first Dracula story took place in “Dell Movie Classics” #212 in 1962 based on the 1931 Universal film. Later, Dell lost the license. But they didn’t give up on the idea of adapting the public domain inspirations for the Universal Monsters.
After losing the license to the Universal Monsters, Dell adapted the public domain characters Dracula and Frankenstein, and the not-quite-the Wolfman “Werewolf,” into superhero characters.
“Even Dracula was a superhero for a while in the mid 1960s, although his character was so diluted from the book and film versions of the story that he may as well have been called Avoiding Intellectual Property Lawsuit Man,” wrote The Oklahoman’s Ken Raymond when reviewing “The League of Regrettable Superheroes” in 2015.
In 1971, the Comics Code Authority relaxed some of the rules specifically banning supernatural horror. Marvel jumped on the trend, with characters like Morbius and the Living Vampire, and titles like “Tomb of Dracula.”
The long-running “The Tomb of Dracula” series is most likely the most famous adaptation of Dracula in comics. Gene Colan was the artist for the series’ entire run, beginning in 1972. Marv Wolfman took over as writer with issue No. 7 and stayed on through the series’ conclusion in 1979. This Dracula wasn’t officially licensed from Universal, but was instead based upon the public domain character from the novel.
This series introduced Blade the vampire hunter and is one of the longestrunning horror series in Marvel Comics’ history; it’s been reprinted in a variety of formats, including earlier this year, as six Gene Colan “Tomb of Dracula” stories were presented in an oversize format showcasing the original art as part of IDW’s Artist’s Editions.
Dracula also has popped up at DC Comics, perhaps most notably in “Red Rain,” where he turned Batman into a vampire in a tale by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones. “Red Rain,” along with the two sequels, “Batman: Bloodstorm” and “Batman: Crimson Mist,” are collected in the “Batman: Vampire” trade paperback.
In 1993, Dan Vado and movie poster artist Jonathon D. Smith adapted the original “Dracula” film for Dark Horse Comics under the title “Universal Monsters Dracula.”
Shortly after the Coppola adaptation, Topps continued its dive into vampire lore with “Dracula: Vlad the Impaler,” also in 1993.
In 2006, Dark Horse again had the comic-book rights to the Universal Monsters, and released a collection of its 1993 releases featuring art from Tony Harris, Art Adams and Eric Powell, telling the original stories of the Universal Monsters — Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Several noted comics artists have been involved with illustrated versions of the original novel, including Ben Templesmith, Becky Cloonan and J.H. Williams.
For more comicsspecific stories as opposed to illustrated versions of the novel, Steve Niles and Francesco Francavilla teamed up for “Frank Frazetta’s Dracula Meets the Wolf-Man,” based on a Frazetta painting featuring a vampire battling a werewolf. The Wolfman in this issue is Nicholae Bulinski, not an official version of the Universal character.
Dynamite has in recent years released “Dracula” comics by writers including Leah Moore and Kurt Busiek. In 2012, Dynamite had Dracula face off against another wellknown fictional vampire, Vampirella.
Also in 2012, Ian Brill examined a conquering vampire faction in “Dracula World Order.” And Action Age released “Dracula the Unconquered” in 2015, written by Chris Sims with a more humorous bent on the character. Marvel’s ubiquitous Deadpool even found his way to the character, facing off with Dracula in 2014’s “Deadpool: Dracula’s Gauntlet.” And the original Dracula actor, Bela Lugosi, has made his way back to comics as part of “Bela Lugosi’s Tales from the Grave” from Monsterverse.
Those are just a few of the dozens of takes comics have had on the world’s most famous vampire, who’s managed to claw his way into comic pages even when he was officially banned from doing so.