Longbox Junk Halloween Retro Review - Dracula (1962)

Welcome back to Longbox Junk, where I write comic book reviews whether you ask me to or not!

It's that time of year again!  That's right, folks. . .it's October!  Leaves turning beautiful colors, the weather turning cool and crisp, and the sweet smell of pumpkin spice hand sanitizer!

We've been having a little Longbox Junk Retro Review Halloween party lately, but then I realized SOMETHING was missing!  What kind of Halloween party is it without that debonair creature of the night, Count Dracula?  In my humble opinion, it's not a party at all!

Let's go ahead and invite the dastardly Count into the house! 

DRACULA

DELL (1962)

COVER:  L.B. Cole (?) or Vic Prezio (?)

THE COVER:

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  In my extremely humble opinion, Dell and Gold Key comics had some of the all-time BEST comic covers!  Don't try to fight me on it, I'll defend that hill until the end! 

 This is another in a long list of fantastic painted covers from Dell.  It makes regular appearances on the Halloween version of my "Wall O' Covers" in my office at work.  What can I say about it?  Just LOOK at it!  THIS is what a Halloween comic cover is all about right here!  

THE STORIES:

Under that beauty of a cover there's one full comic story taking up most of the issue, along with three one page space fillers.  Let's take a look at them each in turn. . .

THE RUSALKI, WATER MAIDENS OF DOOM

(One Page, Black and White)

SCRIPT: Bernhardt J. Hurwood (?)

PENCILS: Robert Jenney (?) or Max Elkan (?)

Basically a one page piece on a mischievous Russian folklore creature similar to a siren.  Actually pretty interesting and well-illustrated.  It would have been nicer in color, though.  Not a bad appetizer for the main course.

On to the main story!

THE VAMPIRE'S CURSE

SCRIPT: Bernhardt J. Hurwood

PENCILS: Robert Jenney (?) or Max Elkan (?)

Our tale begins on a dark and stormy night as physician and staunch man of science, Sir Basil Shawcross speeds to the home of  Professor Janos Tesla, expert in literature and folklore, and a good friend of Shawcross. . .

Upon arrival, the distraught Shawcross demands Professor Tesla tell him everything he knows about the legendary creature known as the Vampire.  Tesla proceeds to inform Shawcross (and the reader) about the history and known powers of Vampires.  Shawcross seems reluctant to accept that such a supernatural creature can exist, despite his friend's belief. . .

Tesla asks Shawcross exactly why he's come so late and asking such strange questions.  Shawcross hands over a telegram announcing the death of his son, Bruce, in Transylvania, where he had been working as an artist.  

He continues with descriptions of his son's letters home, which started off normally until the night he met a mysterious, beautiful woman in a village graveyard, a woman named Irina who immediately captivated the young man over the course of the nights they met. . .

Bruce's final letters home spoke of his intent to marry Irina, as well as a strange illness that had come over him with a terrible weakness and vivid horrific nightmares.  Then the letters stopped, except for the telegram with the news of his death.

Shawcross is determined to travel to Transylvania to collect his son's body and find out what happened.  He wants Professor Tesla to accompany  him.  Tesla fears that Shawcross will be in grave danger travelling alone, so he reluctantly agrees. . .

Having some idea of the supernatural creatures they may encounter, Tesla makes preparations over the next couple of days before the two friends travel to Transylvania.  Upon arrival, they find suspicious villagers and discover that the body of Shawcross' son has gone missing!  

They decide to start their investigation at the inn where Bruce died.  Shawcross takes his son's room over the objections of the innkeeper.  That night, Shawcross wakes to find his supposedly dead son standing at the end of his bed!  

Bruce demands that his father accompany him at once and alone.  Shawcross reluctantly agrees, but as the pair set off in a carriage in the dead of night, they don't realize that Professor Tesla is following them. . .

In the carriage, Bruce introduces his father to Irina, informing him that they have been married.  Irina explains that they are travelling to meet her Uncle, Count Dracula, at his castle.  Upon arrival, Shawcross is introduced to Dracula while Tesla observes unseen. . .

As Dracula offers wine to Shawcross, Tesla rushes in shouting that they are all vampires and he's fallen into their trap!  Dracula admits that the game is up, and that he wanted to make Shawcross an offer. . .as a doctor, it will be easier to provide the vampires with blood than by hunting.  He offers Shawcross riches in exchange for his services.

Shawcross refuses and Dracula attacks, intending on turning the doctor into a vampire and forcing him to do the Count's bidding.  Tesla rushes to his friend's defense, using garlic and wolfsbane to drive the vampires back. . .but he's too late to save Shawcross, who has a heart attack during the fight.

As Shawcross lays dying in Tesla's arms, he asks him to save his son.  As the sun rises and Tesla brings Shawcross' body to the village, he decides to honor his friend's final wish and work toward finding a cure for the curse of the vampire. 

The End.

Okay.  Hmmmmm. . .

Not bad. Not bad at all.  A pretty good read.  The ending seems a bit rushed compared to the slow burn build up at the beginning of the story.  It looks like this was originally pointed toward an ongoing story with Professor Tesla vs. Vampires (that was abandoned in favor of the infamous "Superhero Dracula" series that came a few years later), which would explain the sort of dangling nature of the ending.

Other than that, I can't find much to fault in this creepy little tale.  It's well written, it has interesting characters, and I want to see what happens next.  Unfortunately, this is all we get of this story.

On the art side of things, I was pleasantly surprised to find some decent art in a Dell comic. . .which is a bit of a rare occurrence.  Dell may have had some of the best painted covers that have ever graced a comic rack, but the art inside is pretty consistently disappointing.  Is it the best comic art I've ever seen?  Not even close.  But compared to a lot of Dell's art, this stands as an exception to the standard "Great Cover. . .Lousy Interiors" I automatically assume whenever I see one of those great painted covers.

Overall, a nicely done story.  A good amount of meat on the bone to be found here.

Let's check out the final bits. . .  

THE HUNTERS OF THE FOREST

(One Page, Black and White)

SCRIPT: Bernhardt J. Hurwood (?)

PENCILS: Robert Jenney (?) or Max Elkan (?)

A one page article about the strange Slavic forest spirit called the Leshy.  Another pretty interesting read with some decent illustrations.  Like the first of these, it would have been better in color.  Other than that, not a bad little space filler.

AND FINALLY. . .

WITCHES' SABBATH

(One Page)

SCRIPT: Bernhardt J. Hurwood (?)

PENCILS: Robert Jenney (?) or Max Elkan (?)

Another one page space filler. . .this time concerning the Witches' Sabbath, and in color, unlike the other two one pagers in the issue.  This one has a lot more text, but I found it the most interesting of the three.  Not a bad finish.  Not quite a cherry on top, but not bad.

CONCLUSION

One of the best parts of these "Retro Reviews" for me is taking the opportunity to learn a little bit while I'm in the process of writing a review.  I look up the artists and writers, read up on them and what else they've done.  I check out whatever I can find on the comic itself to see if there's anything interesting or possibly controversial about it.  

During the course of writing this review, I DID discover something worth remarking on. . .but not about the comic itself, more about the modern information to be found on it. 

 It seems that about half of the sources of information on this comic (Including the specific Wikipedia page on Dell's Dracula comics) cite this issue as being an adaptation of the 1931 movie.  As you can see from the synopsis above, it is not.  I'm not sure if different sites simply copy and paste information without checking (that seems the case), but here at Longbox Junk we actually READ the comic at hand.  This is an original story, NOT an adaptation of the movie.

ANYWAY. . .

As for the comic itself, I found it to be well written and entertaining.  It's too bad this storyline was abandoned by Dell as they tried to move their line more toward superheroes, including their ill-advised attempts to turn Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man into costumed heroes.

I'd certainly recommend this one to anybody wanting a decent Silver Age vampire story under a fantastic painted cover.  It might be a bit pricy to find a copy in decent condition, and it doesn't look like it's been collected or reprinted, but keep your eye out!

Up Next. . .

The Longbox Junk Halloween party keeps going!

The paper time machine is heading back to the Golden Age again for a look at 1953's Beware #13.

Be there or be square!

Longbox Junk Halloween - Frank Frazetta's Dracula Meets The Wolfman

Welcome back to Longbox Junk for some more Halloween comic fun!

So far through this month, I've posted about DC Superheroes in sort of Halloweeny situations. . .A comic book sequel to The Fly II. . .Lovecraftian Sea Creatures. . .Twilight Zone-ish tales from the 1960's. . .Alien Vampire boobs. . .and DC Elseworlds Horror.  A pretty interesting mix, in my extremely humble opinion.

BUT. . .

There seems to be SOMETHING missing.  I see a sort of big hole in my Longbox Junk Halloween that needs to be filled with classic monsters. . .I'm talking about some old school Dracula and  Wolfman.  Let's do it!

FRANK FRAZETTA'S

DRACULA MEETS THE WOLFMAN

IMAGE (2008)

SCRIPT: Steve Niles

PENCILS: Francesco Francavilla

COVER: Frank Frazetta

There was a time when Image Comics partnered up with Frank Frazetta and they put out a line of one-shots (and a couple of mini-series) where they took a classic Frazetta painting and built a story around it.  It's actually a pretty sweet idea.   I'm not sure of the sales numbers, but I'd venture a guess that Death Dealer was probably the most popular, since they ran 6 issues from it. 

The cover. . .I've never seen this particular painting before, and to tell the truth, it doesn't look like one of Frazetta's best. . .but in my book, even so-so Frazetta is still better than most.  It's good enough to hang on my office wall, so there's that.  Let's get inside and see what's happening.

Here's how the story goes:

Moldavia. . .1849.  In a small village, a young man named Nicolae and a beautiful young woman named Marta are in love.  Unfortunately, it's a doomed love that can only be from afar because Nicolae happens to be cursed as a werewolf, and it's too dangerous for them to actually be together.

The good thing is that the villagers seem to be okay with Nicolae's curse.  Everyone knows about it and instead of hunting him down and burning him at the stake, as one usually does with the werewolves, they simply trap Nicolae when he changes and hold him captive until the full moon passes and then they release him and village life returns to normal for the rest of the month.

On this particular full moon the story takes place during, Marta has been invited to dine with a passing nobleman.  The whole situation (and the old castle he's staying at for the night) is a bit creepy to Marta, who was sort of forced into it against her will, but the nobleman assures her that he only wants some feminine company. . .AND HER BLOOD!  Yep, it seems that Marta has the bad luck to be having dinner with the one and only Count Dracula.

It's a good thing that Nicolae's family witnessed the sketchy nobleman heading toward the old castle with Marta and decided to release Nicolae, who shows up just in time to interrupt Dracula's dinnertime. . .and he is NOT happy with what he sees.

An epic battle ensues between Nicolae and Dracula.  When Marta sees Dracula getting the upper hand on her love, she jumps in and stabs the vampire in the back, but Dracula swats her away and she falls onto a sharp piece of the room's wreckage and is impaled.  Nicolae is distracted enough by Marta's death that Dracula is able to kick him over a cliff. . .resisting the urge to shout, "THIS IS SPARTA!"  and Nicolae the Wolfman falls to his death.

The End.

BUT WAIT. . .

We skip forward about 150 years or so to modern times and get an epilogue where Nicolae confronts Dracula at an airport and the two resume what appears to be a battle that has been going strong since that fateful night they first met.  

The End?

Okay.  Not bad.  Short and sweet, and to the point.

The Comic is called "Dracula Meets The Wolfman" and that's pretty much what happens.  The story is extremely slim, but well-written.  The ending sort of leaves you hanging like a denied high-five,  making this feel like it SHOULD have been the first issue of a mini, but even so this is a pretty fun read.

I'm sort of half and half on the art.  Francesco Francavilla is one of my all-time favorite comic artists.  Normally, it's my opinion that he can do no wrong.  

THAT SAID. . .

This is not some of his best work.  It seems rushed and even unfinished in many places.  It's a lot rougher and more sketchy than what I would expect from Francavilla.  

Even so-so Francavilla art is still good in my book, and his trademark cinematic style IS present and there are some really good panels scattered throughout. . .but between the sketchy lines and the odd choice of sepia tone through the whole thing (maybe trying to evoke the look of old movies?), what this really reminds me of are animated movie storyboards. . .almost like something not completely finished.  Being a fan of Francavilla, it's just sort of strange.

CONCLUSION

On the one hand, you have an extremely fast-paced story centered around an epic battle between two classic creatures, illustrated in cinematic style by one of the best artists in the business (in my extremely humble opinion).

On the other hand, you have a story that ends too quickly and feels unfinished, that is illustrated in a rough and sketchy manner. . .making the whole comic feel like it was done in a hurry.

Overall, despite its faults, Dracula Meets The Wolfman is a decent little piece of Halloween Longbox Junk.  There's not really much to it, but what IS there is a quick, fun read.  Don't pay full price, but go ahead and pick it up if you run across it for cheap.

Up Next. . .

October ain't over yet.  There's still a bit more Halloween fun to come.

Be there or be square!

Longbox Junk - Two Shots: Hellboy, Zorro & Friday The 13th

Two shots! Longer than a one shot, shorter than a mini!
Do they even make these any more?

Let's do this!

HELLBOY: THE ISLAND

Dark Horse (2005)

WRITER: Mike Mignola

ART: Mike Mignola

COVERS: Mike Mignola

ISSUE 1

Hellboy is washed up on a mysterious, haunted island where he meets a Greek Goddess and gets beaten down by a huge monster. But first, he drinks rum and sings sea chanties about pretty young cabin boys with dead pirates. . .wait. . .what?

From the letters column, I learn that this is Mignola's return to Hellboy after a 4 year absence where he was paying more attention to the B.P.R.D. comics.

The art is reliably Mig-Tastic. Yeah. . .I just made that word up, but the story is a hot, confusing mess. I guess this is another mini that's a sequel to one that came before and a prequel to one that comes after, so coming in cold I was more than a little lost.

In other words, if you aren't familiar with the ongoing Hellboy continuity, then you might not enjoy this two-shot.  If you're a huge Hellboy fan, then you're gonna love it.

All in all. . .fantastic art. Confusing story.

ISSUE 2

Hellboy learns the secret history of the world and where his stone right hand came from. Then he defeats an ancient monster from before the time of man with a tiny bell given to him by an African witch doctor.

Oooooookay. . .I want some of what Mike Mignola was smoking when he made this two-shot.

Once again, we're treated to some extremely strong Mig-Tastic art, but it's in service to a confusing (yet strangely entertaining) story that skips back and forth in time until neither Hellboy or the reader is sure of what's real.

Hellboy manages to punch his way through his confusion with the help of a deus ex machina that is never really explained (I think it came from a previous story). Too bad I couldn't do the same.

All in all, this issue had the same strengths and weaknesses as the first. . .extremely nice art. Extremely confusing story.

CONCLUSION

I'm a huge fan of Mignola's art, but I had a bit of a hard time getting through this one.  If you aren't familiar with Hellboy, then I'd definitely suggest you don't start trying to get familiar by starting with this two shot.  It's for established fans only.

ZORRO VERSUS DRACULA

Topps (1993)

WRITER: Don McGregor

ART: Thomas Yeates

COVERS: Thomas Yeates

ISSUE 1

Zorro travels to Spain to have a sword made by a legendary master craftsman. On his return voyage, he makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Carmelita and the mysterious Count Dracula. Later, he discovers Dracula in the act of drinking Carmelita's blood and that sets off a battle between Zorro and Dracula.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this first issue. It's pretty densely-written for such a simple story and the art is very nicely done.

The whole thing reminds me a LOT of old 70's monster comics. From the 3rd person narration full of hyperbole, to the dynamic art that is a pretty damn good Neal Adams imitation.

It's not perfect, though. It's a little TOO wordy in places, and sometimes the background colors obscure the narration, but all in all, a pretty good start.

ISSUE 2

After their first battle at sea, Zorro tracks Dracula to the crypts beneath Notre Dame Cathedral in France, where an epic confrontation between good and evil decides the fate of the beautiful Carmelita.

I liked this second issue even better than the first as the action leaves the ship where Zorro and Dracula first meet and moves to the crypts beneath Notre Dame Cathedral, where Zorro defeats Dracula using. . .er. . .Jesus' Crown of Thorns. It's good Monster-rific 70's style fun, so just roll with it!

The art on this second issue was even better than on the first. I think the artist is more comfortable with dark crypts and passages than he was with the swinging battle through the ropes and masts of the ship in the first issue. There's a full page shot of Zorro on a gargoyle on the side of Notre Dame at night above Paris that I'd like to have as a poster. Very nice!

All in all, despite the Deus ex Machina of having a handy artifact of Christ just laying around, this was a fun conclusion to this short story.

CONCLUSION

I'm a BIG Zorro fan.  Between that and the throwback nature to the monster comics of the 70's that I ALSO love, I really liked this two shot.  It was a little too wordy in places and Dracula was defeated with a handy plot device in a laughable way, but this was all pretty good fun.

If you're a Zorro fan or love those old monster comics, you're definitely going to want to check this out.

FRIDAY THE 13th: BAD LAND 

Wildstorm (2008)

WRITER: Ron Marz

ART: Mike Huddleston

COVERS: Mike McKone

ISSUE 1

In a story split between the past and present, the tale of how the land Camp Crystal Lake stands on became cursed by innocent blood is told.

This is really two stories that mirror each other. . .the first is set during the days of the Old West and tells about 3 trappers coming across an indian hut during a blizzard where they rape and kill a young indian woman and her baby.

The second story is set during present day when 3 hikers stumble across a Camp Crystal Lake cabin during a blizzard.  So the first story is about evil being done.  The second is about some poor suckers who pay the price hundreds of years later.

I liked the way the story switched back and forth between past and present, and the art was pretty good. . .nothing spectacular, but it did its job. I also liked the way that the background of Camp Crystal Lake being cursed long before Jason and his mother showed up (which was hinted at here and there in some of the movies).

Really, the problem here is that the very simple story seemed stretched out to fit into two issues. This could have easily been a single 40 page one shot. It's a pretty obvious money grab.

Overall, an underwhelming story filling in some interesting history with okay artwork, padded out to fill two issues. Decent, but not really that great.

ISSUE 2

Blood and gore galore as the two stories of Camp Crystal Lake past and present come together.

After the relatively bloodless setup of the first issue, the carnage begins for real in this one as the husband of the raped and murdered indian woman in the past stalks and kills the trappers who spilled her innocent blood.

In the present, Jason stalks and kills the three teens who took refuge in the Camp Crystal Lake cabin. . .playing out the same trail of bloody death that began hundreds of years ago.

Once again, I liked the IDEA of telling how Camp Crystal Lake became a cursed place of death and blood long before the movies, but the execution of that idea isn't really that great.

If you're a big fan of the movies, then this is somewhat interesting. If not, then it's just going to seem like gore for gore's sake in two issues that really should have just been a single long one.

CONCLUSION

As I said above.  I like the idea that Camp Crystal Lake has a bloody curse on it from the past, but the execution in telling the tale wasn't that great.  This story is definitely for Friday the 13th fans only.  I really can't think of anyone else who would be even slightly interested.

Up next. . .

It's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. . .but with blood, gore, and Simon Bisley!

Image's 4 issue "Bodycount" mini, where Kevin Eastman slowly raised his middle finger to the world.  Can it possibly be any good? Be there or be square!

Longbox Junk - Dracula: Vlad The Impaler

DRACULA: VLAD THE IMPALER

Since it's the end of October, let's take a short break from Dynamite's Green Hornet for something a little more in tune with the Halloween season.  I'm talking Dracula here!

But probably NOT the Dracula you might be thinking of.  I'm talking about the insane badass that Dracula was as a mortal man AND top ten contender for most awesome name in history. . .Vlad The Impaler.

Now, I'll admit I'm no historian, but the little I know about the subject from the History Channel's Halloween programming tells me that the actual historic figure that Count Dracula is based on is just as terrifying (if not more so, for having actually existed) as his fictional counterpart.  This 3 issue mini tries to do two things. . .tell the terrible true story of Vlad Dracula and then meld him with the fictional Count Dracula.  Does it work? Read on!

Topps - 1993
SCRIPTS: Roy Thomas
PENCILS, INKS & COVERS: Esteban Maroto
COLORS: Paul Mounts

ISSUE 1: "I AM DRACULA"

Vlad Dracula, young son of Vlad Dracul, ruler of Wallachia, is taken as a hostage along with his brother, Radu,  by Sultan Mehmed I to ensure their father's loyalty. During his captivity, he becomes friends with Mehmed II.

Later, as a young man, Vlad learns of his father's death at the hands of traitorous nobles and the Sultan makes him the ruler of Wallachia. He wages a cruel war to regain his lands and forces the surviving nobles to build his castle.

Overall, I found this issue to be a pretty good read. It's a bit wordy, and told mostly in caption boxes, as it is trying to tell an actual historical tale, but Roy Thomas keeps it from getting dry and scholarly. The art is very nice in the pencil and ink department. . .it's really good in some panels, with a detailed old school look to it.

The big problem with this book is the AWFUL coloring. While the art itself is very nice, the colors are heavy handed and entirely too bright. Each page of this dark tale is a veritable rainbow of yellows, purples, reds, and greens to the point of distraction. For an example of the interior art, just check out the cover above.  It's exactly the same.  Those colors. . .NO BUENO!

ISSUE 2: "DARK LEGEND A'BORNING"

Vlad Dracula rules Wallachia with cruelty and torture. He fights to keep his throne against the invading forces of his former friend, Mehmed The Conqueror and his own brother, Radu The Handsome.

After his forces are beaten back and Dracula is forced to retreat, his wife commits suicide and he is betrayed and taken prisoner by his former ally, King Matthias of Hungary.  In captivity, he descends into madness and plots his revenge. . .

This was another pretty good read. We get to see Dracula in full legendary "Cruel Bastard" mode. . .nailing turbans to heads, rounding up beggars in a building and burning them alive, feasting among impaled corpses, and so on.

Unfortunately, there's also a lot of random battles that only get a panel or two. I guess there was a LOT of fighting over this little patch of Eastern Europe at the time. Luckily, Roy Thomas keeps a steady hand on the wheel and doesn't let it turn into a documentary.

Once again, the line art by Maroto is very nice, with some panels being outstanding. Unfortunately, the color art is just as bad as the first issue, and possibly worse. Bloody battles are colored in bright shades of blue, yellow and purple. It's really distracting.  Once again, a look at the cover above will tell you what I'm talking about.

ISSUE 3: "TO RISE AGAIN"

Vlad is freed from captivity to fight the invading Turks for King Matthias of Hungary, but after once again regaining the throne of Wallachia, he is assassinated by a traitor in the ranks of his army.

150 years later, one of Vlad's ancestors reunites his severed head and body, then brings Vlad back to life using dark magic and blood. Vlad The Impaler has become the immortal Vampire, Count Dracula. . .

This final issue was probably the best of the three. Not only does it depart from the history books to tell the tale of how Vlad The Impaler rose from the dead as a vampire, but the coloring. . .while in places still just as God-awful as before. . .is much more muted and appropriate for the dark story at hand.

All in all, a very nice wrap up for the series.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I enjoyed this little mini.  Comic veteran Roy Thomas did a fine job at giving a pretty good sketch of the life of the historic figure of Vlad Dracul, while also getting monster-ific at the end of things with the transformation into fictional vampire Count Dracula.  

The line art and inking by old school comic veteran, Esteban Maroto, was solid through the series and outstanding at times, with a great bronze age throwback style that I really liked a lot.

If that all there was to it, this would be a GREAT mini-series.  

Unfortunately, the color art was heavy handed and inappropriately bright for the dark story at hand.  Finely-drawn panels are splashed liberally with bright purples, yellows, oranges, and reds to the point that it really detracts from the quality of the series.  The last issue toned things down to a more tolerable level, and it's plain to see that if the same restraint had been shown on the first two issues, this would have been a MUCH better product.

Despite the awful coloring of this series, I'd suggest picking it up for a pretty good read.  I found all three issues in a comic shop dollar box, so it's definitely Longbox Junk, but decent Longbox Junk.

Up Next. . .

Back to Dynamite's Green Hornet for some REAL horror as the series flies completely off the rails.

Be there or be square!

Wayback Wednesday - The Occult Files Of Doctor Spektor #1

WAYBACK WEDNESDAY

THE OCCULT FILES OF DOCTOR SPEKTOR #1

After the Golden Age of horror comics (the 1950's) came to a screeching halt, thanks to the Comics Code Authority, pretty much any comic book horror material was to be found in titles slipping through a CCA loophole in the form of larger-sized black and white "magazines".  

But in the 1970's, publishers began to push against the CCA and there was a major resurgence of horror comics in color. . .Swamp Thing, Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, and many others.  Unfortunately, the horror resurgence was pretty short-lived and didn't really last far into the 1980's.

From what I understand, the short life of the 1970's horror resurgence was mostly due to the fact that the comics weren't particularly horrific. . .99% of them would more properly be described as "Supernatural Comics" rather than "Horror Comics", mainly because they still adhered to the CCA even though they were skirting around the edges of it.  

What we have here for this edition of Wayback Wednesday is a NON-CCA horror comic that came out in 1973 as part of that big horror resurgence. From what I've been able to find out about it, Doctor Spektor is a practically forgotten character, and remains little more than a footnote in horror comic history.

So let's take a closer look at this artifact from the 70's, shall we?

THE OCCULT FILES OF DOCTOR SPEKTOR #1 (Gold Key)

So right off the starting line, this comic has a VERY nice painted cover.  It's a bit deceptive as to the actual story inside, but that was pretty much par for the course when it came to horror comics in general.  I couldn't find a credit for the artist, but it LOOKS like the same artist who did the interiors (Jesse Santos).  In any case, no matter who did the cover, it's 70's-tastic in every way!

Inside, there's two stories.  "Cult of The Vampire", the longer main story, and a 4 pager in the back by the same creative team called "Little 'Ol Coffin Maker".  I'll take a look at them separately.

So when I take a look at the art and script credits, something catches my eye.  The name of the writer (Don Glut)  seems familiar, but at the same time, not familiar for some reason.  I look up his name and it hits me.  He wrote one of my favorite books. . .one I read at least a dozen times when I was younger. . .the novelization of "The Empire Strikes Back".  

BUT I DIGRESS!

The main story quickly introduces us to the main character. . .Doctor Adam Spektor, his assistant. . .Lakota Rainflower, and the general series setup. . .he's a scientific investigator of monsters and the paranormal and she's a paranormal skeptic.  Like I said, it's all done very quickly.  The info-dumping takes up about 2 pages and isn't intrusive or annoying.  The writing in general moves at a snappy pace through the whole book, but I really liked how the introductions were handled.

The story itself goes like this:

Doctor Spektor has been researching a drug that might possibly cure vampires.  He hears about a possible vampire in Transylvania, so he decides to go there, hunt down the vampire, and try to cure him.  The vampire in question is called Baron Tibor, who was defeated and staked about 40 years before, and has been revived by a cult who will serve him in exchange for immortality.

When Spektor and his assistant arrive in Transylvania, they are immediately targeted and attacked by the cult, leaving Spektor for dead and bringing Rainflower to Baron Tibor so that he can feed on her.

What the cult doesn't realize is that Baron Tibor doesn't WANT to lead a cult or feed on the innocent any longer.  While trapped between the world of the living and dead when he was staked in the grave, he realized he was a monster and deserved to be punished.  He's more than a little angry that his punishment has been interrupted, so he fights his blood thirst and flees the cult. . .but leaves Rainflower in their hands.

Doctor Spektor and Baron Tibor encounter each other, and after a short battle, Tibor tells Spektor the truth of things, he's a changed man and wants to do no harm, and will help Spektor rescue Rainflower.  In exchange, Spektor agrees to use his new drug on Tibor and try to cure him of his curse.

They rescue Rainflower with a ruse where Tibor pretends he's going to drink her blood, then make their escape and leave the cult in the hands of a mob that has gathered from the nearby village.  Spektor's cure isn't a full cure, Tibor is still a vampire, but the drug eliminates his thirst for blood.  They part ways as friends, with Tibor promising to make the best of his second chance.

Overall, I really liked this story quite a bit.  The writing was snappy and moved at a fast pace, and the twist of the vampire not wanting to be a vampire any more was unexpected.  I could definitely tell that this was a product of the 70's with some of the dialogue, but that didn't make the story any less enjoyable.  

As for the art, I found it to be very nicely done, with a dark and moody, detailed look to it that perfectly matched the story being told.  I had never heard of this artist, but compared to a lot of the other comics from the 70's I've read, he's really quite good.  I Wiki'd him up and found out that he wasn't very prolific, having only worked on a handful of comics before going into animation, but I think he could have stood toe to toe with any of the more well known artists at the time.  His work on this particular issue is outstanding!

As for the second story:

It's done by the same writer and artist, so it shares the same snappy writing and fantastic art as the main story.  It involves a hunted criminal who breaks into a coffin maker's shop to hide from the police.  He doesn't realize that the coffin he hides in was specially made for Count Dracula himself.  The coffin maker locks him inside, and when Dracula comes to pick up his new coffin, there's a little something extra waiting for him when he gets home and opens it up.

For being so short, the backup is really enjoyable.  I think in most part due to the talents of the writer and artist.  It COULD have fallen flat on its face, but it didn't.  It wasn't quite as funny as it was trying to be, but still a very nice little piece of filler.

CONCLUSION

I bought this comic at a flea market for $1 and had never heard of Doctor Spektor before.  Now I want to try and find more issues (it had a 24 issue run) of this title.  The story was unexpectedly good, the art was fantastic, and all in all I have to say that was probably one of the best dollars I've ever spent.  I only have one real negative with this book and it's that I feel the lack of a CCA seal was totally wasted here.  Being a horror book focusing on vampires, it was remarkably bloodless for not having CCA approval.  That small gripe aside, I would definitely suggest this issue to any fan of 70's horror comics that hasn't read it yet.

Up Next. . .

Back to Longbox Junk business as usual until next Wayback Wednesday.

I wondered what happened to those great anthology titles of the 1970's when I reviewed Marvel's 2009 "Astonishing Tales" mini.  So now let's take a look at one of DC's efforts to revisit the anthology. . .

Vertigo's 5 issue return to "Weird War Tales".

Be there or be square!