In 1972, as the Comics Code started to loosen and Stan Lee became Marvel’s Publisher, making Roy Thomas the new editor-in-chief, Marvel launched new horror titles like Ghost Rider, The Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, and The Tomb of Dracula.
Written by Gerry Conway, plotted by Roy Thomas, and drawn by Gene Colan (who fought to get this assignment), The Tomb of Dracula #1 introduced the famous vampire created by author Bram Stoker into the Marvel Universe. The concept seduced the readers, but the writing not that much. Conway rapidly left the book, Archie Goodwin then Gardner Fox took over for only two issues each before Marv Wolfman assumed the writing duties and received critical success–he also introduced Blade and other vampire hunters.
Like most of Marvel’s horror books, The Tomb of Dracula was not part of the Marvel Universe until issue #44 which was a crossover with Doctor Stange (concluding in issue #14 of the Sorcerer Supreme’s series). The series ended with over-sized issue #70 but was quickly revived as a black & white magazine. That didn’t last.
Some of The Tomb of Dracula‘s characters came back in regular Marvel books like Doctor Strange. Dracula himself reappeared with Rachel Van Helsing in 1982 in Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Then in 1991, The Tomb of Dracula was revived for a 4-part miniseries. A few years later, Dracula came back in more Marvel series. Since then, he occasionally appeared in stand-alone stories or full storylines, finding a place in the Marvel Universe.
Dracula: Marvel Comics Reading Order
The Tomb of Dracula
Through the years, Marvel reprinted The Tomb of Dracula series multiple times. Today, the best way to read it is with the omnibus collection, the Complete Collection, and now the Masterworks Collection.
The Dracula Lives! series is not a sequel to The Tomb of Dracula. It was a Black and White magazine series offering flashback stories or non-continuity stories.
The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Collection
The omnibus collection is composed of three massive hardback books:
- Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects Tomb of Dracula #1-31, Werewolf by Night #15, Giant-Size Chillers #1, Giant-Size Dracula #2-4. - Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects Tomb of Dracula #32-70, Giant-Size Dracula #5, and Dr. Strange #14. - Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 3
Collects Tomb of Dracula Magazine #1-6, Frankenstein Monster #7-9, Dracula Lives! #1-13
Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection
The Complete Collection is composed of five big paperbacks, almost 500 pages each. It’s the most complete collection of early Marvel Dracula stories for now.
- The Tomb of Dracula – The Complete Collection Vol. 1
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #1-15, Dracula Lives! #1-4 - The Tomb of Dracula – The Complete Collection Vol. 2
Collects Tomb Of Dracula (1972) #16-24, Werewolf By Night (1972) #15, Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, Giant-Size Chillers #1, Giant-Size Dracula #2, Frankenstein #7-9 and Dracula Lives! #5-7. - The Tomb of Dracula – The Complete Collection Vol. 3
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #25-35, Giant-Size Dracula #3-5, Dracula Lives! #8-11. - The Tomb of Dracula – The Complete Collection Vol. 4
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #36-54, Doctor Strange (1974) #14, Dracula Lives (1973) #12-13, material from Legion of Monsters (1975) #1. - The Tomb of Dracula – The Complete Collection Vol. 5
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #55-70, Stoker’s Dracula (2004) #2-4; material from Marvel Preview (1975) #12, Savage Sword of Conan (1974) #26.
Tomb of Dracula: The Masterworks Collection
The Masterworks Collection is a prestigious collection of hardback books, around 320 pages each.
- Tomb of Dracula Masterworks Vol. 1
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #1-11, material from Dracula Lives (1973) #1-3. - Tomb of Dracula Masterworks Vol. 2
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #12-22, Werewolf By Night (1972) #15, Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, and material from Dracula Lives #4 and #6. - Tomb of Dracula Masterworks Vol. 3
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1972) #23-30, Giant-Size Chillers (1974) #1, Giant-Size Dracula (1974) #2-3; material from Vampire Tales (1973) #6; Dracula Lives (1973) #10-11; Marvel Preview (1975) #12, 16.
Dracula in The Marvel Universe
Post-Tomb of Dracula, the famous vampire started to appear in other Marvel books, he even got killed by the “Montesi Formula” in the pages of Doctor Strange with all the other vampires. But like a superhero, he was revived.
The following is not an exhaustive list of all of Dracula’s apparitions, but the ones that are notable and easily available to readers:
- Avengers / Doctor Strange: Rise of the Darkhold
Collects Marvel Spotlight (1971) #3-4; Werewolf By Night (1972) #1, #3 And #15; Tomb Of Dracula (1972) #18-19; Marvel Chillers #1-2; Avengers (1963) #185-187; Doctor Strange (1974) #59-62, #67 and #81; Thor (1966) #332-333; and material from Dracula Lives #6; Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22; X-Men Annual (1970) #12; and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #9-13 and #15. - Tomb of Dracula – Day of Blood, Night of Redemption
Collects Tomb of Dracula (1991) #1-4. - Dracula: Lord of the Undead (1998) is the only other Dracula miniseries from the 1990s, but it was not collected.
- Bloodstone (2001) is the introduction of Elsa Bloodstone. The 4-part miniseries is available on Kindle & Comixology.
- Tomb of Dracula (2004) was a 4-part miniseries. It is available on Kindle & Comixology.
- X-Men: Apocalypse/Dracula
Collects X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula (2006) #1-4. - Blade by Marc Guggenheim: The Complete Collection
Collects Blade (2006) #1-12 and Wolverine Vs. Blade Special #1. Dracula is not in all the issues, only #1, 10-12. - Captain Britain and MI13 – Vol. 3: Vampire State
Collects Captain Britain And Mi13 #10-15. - Death Of Dracula
Collects Death of Dracula #1 and Tomb of Dracula (1972) #54-55 and #59-63. - X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – X-Men vs. Vampires
Collects X-Men: Curse Of The Mutants – Storm & Gambit, X-Men: Curse Of The Mutants – Smoke & Blood, X-Men: Curse Of The Mutants – Blade, X-Men Vs. Vampires #1-2 And Uncanny X-Men #159. - Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula
Collects Hulk (2008) #37-41, Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #1-3. - Deadpool: Dracula’s Gauntlet (made-for-digital)
Collects Deadpool: The Gauntlet Infinite (2014) #1-13. - Deadpool: World’s Greatest Vol. 8: Til Death Do Us…
Collects Deadpool (2015) #28-29, Spider-Man/Deadpool (2016) #15-16, Deadpool & the Mercs for Money (2016) #9-10. - Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 4: Old Monsters
Collects Old Man Logan (2016) #14-19. Dracula is the old monster in issues #14 and #15.
With Blade now a member of the Avengers, it was only a question of time before Dracula appeared in the book by Jason Aaron. The following storyline led to the establishment of the Vampire Nation.
- Avengers by Jason Aaron Vol. 3: War of the Vampires
Collects Avengers (2018) #13-17. - Wolverine by Benjamin Percy Vol. 1
Collects Wolverine (2020) #1-5. Wolverine crossed Dracula’s path in issues #3-5. - Wolverine by Benjamin Percy Vol 2
Collects Wolverine (2020) #8-12. The story continues in issues #11-12. - Death of Doctor Strange: Blade #1 is a one-shot tie-in to The Death of Doctor Strange event series.
- Blade: Vampire Nation #1 collected in Unforgiven.
Most of the time, Dracula is a recurring villain, but when the sky goes black and vampires all over the world ally to take control, Dracula is forced to side with the heroes to stop the one who took the power and control over the blood-sucking monsters. It’s the Blood Hunt summer event of 2024:
- Blood Hunt
Collects Blood Hunt (2024) #1-5. - Dracula: Blood Hunt
Collects Dracula: Blood Hunt #1-3 and Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1-3.
More to come…