Dell; July 1972
Cover by Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico

Title: “Dracula”
Synopsis: A descendent of Dracula uses science to create a bat-serum in hopes of helping humanity and rehabilitating his family name.

Writer: D.J. Arneson
Penciler: Bill Fraccio
Inker: Tony Tallarico

Review: This issue reprints Dell’s 1966 Dracula #2, a campy reboot of the vampire legend clearly meant to capitalize on the popularity of the Batman TV show. It was odd then and even odder as a Bronze Age reprint, as the tone of horror-themed books had already darkened with the loosening of the Comics Code. The issue features silly Cold War politics, with big bad Boris Eval seeming more appropriate for a Saturday morning cartoon. There’s a germ of an interesting concept here but, on the whole, this issue is simply a fun relic from the Silver Age.

Grade: C

Second opinion: This iteration of Dracula makes the list of heroes included in 2015’s The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris.

Cool factor: You kind of have to squint, but there’s some campy fun to be had here.
Not-so-cool factor: Seriously? Did you see that costume?

Notable: Credits for this issue come from Alter Ego #151 (March 2018).

Character quotable: “What kind of men live on this Earth? Men that will take what they want… men that will believe anything they hear about another even though there is no truth to what they hear. Is this what the world has come to?” – The new Dracula, wise to the modern world

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