My Rating
“The Moorlands Monster!”
Through space and time Count Dracula and his consort Lenore are pulled. Then in mere seconds the two emerge from a demonic portal formed by the network of black mirrors. The vampire lord breathes a sigh of relief as he reflects back to the demon dimension which almost imprisoned him. After a series of hand to hand battles with unholy monsters of that realm, Dracula found a secondary mirror resting in an otherworldly mausoleum.
From there he jumped to a place from his past, but only briefly. As he attempted to assassinate the man who drove a stake through his heart, Dracula was forced to retreat through the black mirror once again or risk being slayed by Frank Drake and his friends in 19th century Transylvania. The so-called vampire hunters had Whitethorn arrows after all. At least he recovered his faithful servant, the vampire woman named Lenore.
As Dracula and Lenore begin their nightly feeding, they discover, not only have they returned to the present, but their surroundings have changed. From the marshy grounds under their feet, to the thick fog bank hanging in the air, this was the English moors. Considered a dreadful place for some, but for the undead, it proved an excellent hunting ground. Tonight however, as a blood frenzy overtakes their senses, both Dracula and his protege fail to notice the thing which stalked them from the shadows.
Can Frank Drake, Taj, and Rachel Van Helsing track Dracula through the network of demonic mirrors? What dark secret has Lord and Lady Dering kept hidden from the residents of the moorlands? How lethal is Whitethorn wood to vampire flesh? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Wow, talk about false advertising. Come on, Stan! In 1973 the cliff-hanger ending is live in well in issue six of Tomb of Dracula. I love Gardner F. Fox’s writing in this series. Comic book storytelling really has devolved over the past fifty years. If you are a younger horror reader looking for solid story arcs, check out Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night, or even the Frankenstein Monster. You may find yourself getting hooked on the past.
Even though Stan Lee tells us “we can get a good look at a T-Bone by sticking our head up a bull’s ass” (i.e. the thing that scares a vampire never even meets Dracula in story), the plot was solid. I’m giving this issue three out of five stars. The black mirrors are a great edition to the Marvel horror mythos. If I remember correctly, one shows up in the Midnight Sons miniseries from 2022.
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