What about the Supernatural?

[Lee Stone]

Tomb of Dracula #10 July 1973
"His Name is Blade!"

While I love that digital has removed barriers for current readers to discover and enjoy comics from the Bronze Age and earlier...
I sometimes abhor the liberties they take with recoloring the books. This appears garishly bright and over-saturated to me. And the shading in the woman's hair and on Dracula's face don't blend because they're too high in contrast.
I wish that they would take into consideration tone and mood when they recolor. Maybe make the whites a bit less bright and mute the colors a tad to bring in some warmth and make it feel less cold and clinical.
Those open areas of blue, green and purple are also missing the texture of the paper and possible halftones that added depth to the colors.
I'd rather see them just use scans that are touched up.

I edited the last page of your post in photoshop to give an example of what I'm talking about...

Original-


Edited-


I adjusted the brightness & contrast, lowered the saturation, layered it over a faded paper texture that I de-saturated, added a warming photo filter, added a slight film grain, added a slight halftone pattern, raised the vibrance a bit to adjust the colors, and then fine-tuned the brightness & contrast again.

Modern readers may prefer the brighter high saturated colors, crisper separations and clean blacks...
But I think the muted colors and textured 'paper' pull you in and is more fitting for a horror feel.

Of course, it could just be me. I'm not really sure.

I do know I had to edit an old JSA story in photoshop just so I could read it. It was way too bright, over-saturated and clean for my tastes.

[Midnight_v]

Kinda wish they do something more than hit the "Monster squad" beats you can get anywhere else.... damn.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Werewolf by Night #14 Feb 1974
"Lo, the Monster Strikes!"
Topaz sides with Jack against Taboo, who responds by using the Skull of Daimon to take direct control of her soul

and complete the spell to give Algon the power of transmutation. Algon fights the Werewolf, turning everything he touches to gold,
accidentally causing the death of Taboo when a transmogrified statue becomes too heavy and collapses on top of him. T
he Werewolf defeats Algon by knocking him into the brazier with the Skull of Daimon, which also frees the souls of Topaz and his step-father.

The next day, Jack learns the true story of his mother's death from Philip,

that not only is Philip his father's brother, but that it was the Committee that was responsible
for his mother's accident over Philip attempting to stop their blackmail payments.

After reconciling with his uncle/step-father, Jack leaves with Topaz for Transylvania, where his problems all began.

Script by Len Wein, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Jim Mooney

[Zero Hunter]

I have said before that I think Marvel should do a book featuring a team the handles the smaller supernatural stuff while Doctor Strange deals with the big stuff. They could be Strange's boots on the ground team. While Strange is dealing with Dormammu and his latest incursion his team could be investigating some weird cult out in the midwest or something. A good 4 or 5 members would be perfect all of whom have been touched in a bad way by the supernatural. Not sure if they should be the Monster Hunters or the Nightstalkers.

Elsa Bloodstone
Danny Ketch
Caretaker (Sara)
Devil-Slayer (Danny Sylva)
Casey Kinmont

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Werewolf by Night #15 Mar 1974
"Death of a Monster!"
Story continued from Tomb of Dracula #18....

Travelling to Transylvania to try and find clues to cure his werewolf curse,
Jack Russell and Topaz have found themselves in the home of Count Dracula,
and the vampire lord had kidnapped Topaz only to face the Werewolf in it's full feral fury.
Struggling within Castle Dracula, the Werewolf is easily over-powered by Dracula who then prepares to feast upon the beast,
when Topaz's uncontrollability to cause Dracula pain hits him again, allows the Werewolf to fight Dracula off.
Being knocked off a balcony to the outside of the castle Dracula escapes to find a fresh victim elsewhere.

With Dracula occupied with feeding on a young woman, Topaz manages to lead the Werewolf out of Dracula's castle
not wishing to be there when the vampire king returns. As they leave, Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing
arrive near the castle in a helicopter, searching for Dracula in the hopes they can destroy him once and for all.
They spot Dracula in his bat form returning to his castle and give him chase.
Dracula spots them and flies into their helicopter, attacking Frank. This causes their helicopter to spin out of control.
Frank and Rachel get the chopper back under control and just barely manage to avoid a crash.
However Dracula has escape them in the confusion.

The next day at Russoff manor, when Jack has awakend back in his human form,
he and Topaz decide to give the diary of Gregory Russoff some closer inspection.
Topaz uses her magics to release the locking mechanism in the diary and they begin reading it's pages.

He learns of a story about his ancestor Gregor Russoff, who's first wife was slain by Dracula in the 1700's.
Wanting revenge, Russoff would go to Dracula's castle during the day and drive a stake through the vampire lords heart.
Lining the coffin with garlic and tossing it into a river, Russoff would then return to Dracula's home and wreck the place.
In his rampage, he would find a woman named Lydia locked up in one of the rooms.
She would explain to him that she was made prisoner of Dracula and taken from her parents.
Freeing the girl and taking her out that night, the full moon found Lydia
transformed into a werewolf, who bit Gregor infecting him with the curse of the werewolf.
Finishing the diary passage the two come to realize that Dracula likely confined the girl, and subsequently
had to physically fight Jack in werewolf form because the vampire lord had no power over the werewolves.

Meanwhile, in Dracula's castle, Rachel and Frank continue their search for Dracula.
Frank vocalizes once more his determination to destroy Dracula once and for all.
As they talk, Dracula sneaks into the room in his mist form and attacks Rachel, and then Frank, before fleeing
as he has learned that Jack and Topaz have found old Russoff's diary and that the vampire lord seeks to obtain it himself.
However, before he goes to retrieve it, he plans on sabotaging their helicopter.

While back at the Russoff manor, Jack prepares to change into the Werewolf once more with the coming full moon.
He tells Topaz to guide the feral Werewolf during the coming
battle with Dracula and the two set out to find the vampire lord.
The Werewolf finds Dracula at the helicopter just before Dracula has a chance to wreck it and the two begin to fight.

During the fight Dracula sees that Topaz has the book he seeks
and he throws the Werewolf aside so that he might collect the book from the girl.
Taking it from her, Dracula is about to escape when an arrow fired
from Rachel van Helsing's crossbow knocks it out of Dracula's hand.
When Rachel grabs the book, Dracula attempts to retrieve it but finds himself once more attacked by the Werewolf.
When Dracula finally fights off the beast again, he is too late to stop Frank
and Rachel from returning to their helicopter and flying off into the sky.
Furious at himself for not wrecking the helicopter when he had the chance,
Dracula turns into bat form and flies after them, leaving Topaz and the Werewolf behind.

Script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Chiaramonte

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Werewolf by Night #16 Apr 1974
"Death in the Cathedral"
At the airport in Paris, Jack and Topaz get held up by a hunchbacked hijacker.

The Werewolf faces the hijacker in a battle that carries them to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral.


Script by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Chiaramonte

[pageturner]

I only have one foot in this camp. I am not into monster stories per se but an Elsa book or stories using Moonkinght, Morbius and a few others I like and they get into that area.

The support crew in Superior Spiderman is kind of fun as was the Shield team a years ago.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Team-Up #80 Apr 1979
"A Sorcerer Possessed!" Part 1 of 2. Guest-starring Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Clea.
A frightful werewolf ambushes Peter Parker and Cissy Ironwood during an evening walk in Central Park!

After Peter fights off the beast, he finds the amulet of Dr. Strange!

Is something wrong with the Master of the Mystic Arts?
Perhaps something to do with the battle against Silver Dagger three issues ago?
In order to find out, the web-slinger pays a visit to Stephen Strange's townhouse and ends up in a donnybrook with the good doctor!

Can Clea and Spider-Man discover a cure for the Sorcerer Supreme?

Script by Chris Claremont. Pencils by Mike Vosburg. Inks by Gene Day.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Werewolf by Night #17 May 1974
"The Behemoth!"
Jack and Topaz return to California

only to find Baron Thunder and The Committee

have sent the Behemoth to capture Jack.

Script by Mike Friedrich, art by Don Perlin

[Factor]

It's a crime they aren't publishing a Midnight Sons book. Such a cool name and untapped potential.
I'd love a book starring characters like Blade, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, Satana and Elsa Bloodstone.

[Lee Stone]

It's a crime they aren't publishing a Midnight Sons book. Such a cool name and untapped potential.
I'd love a book starring characters like Blade, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, Satana and Elsa Bloodstone.

Anne Rice may be beyond their budget... but they could get her son to do a Midnight Sons event to spin titles out of.

[mikelmcknight72]

A lineup I'd like to see:

Leader: Frank Drake
Blade - Daywalker, Vampire Hunter/Expert, Avengers Liaison
Ghost Rider - Johnny Blaze with elements kept from the Ketch incarnation
Druid - A young Anthony, nature magic expert, power upgraded some
Jennifer Kale - General magic expertise & abilities
Magik - Spellbreaker, Teleportation, X-Men Liaison
Recurring: Leonard Samson as team psychologist, Wong as liaison with Dr. Strange/refers cases from him
Other Specialists could appear here & there as plot demands - Hellstrom, Loki (Kid version) or another Asgardian, etc.

They wouldn't get all their missions from Wong, but a lot would come their way. They'd handle stuff not quite big enough to merit the Sorceror Supreme's time. The liaisons would open up organic intros for a yearly crossover - X-Men one year, Avengers the next, that sort of thing. In the very least, an Avenger or an X-Man could easily join a mission as a non-sorceror specialist. Overall, the team would play well with other super-teams.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Team-Up #81 May 1979
"Last Rites" Part 2 of 2. Guest-starring Spider-Man, Satana, Doctor Strange and Clea.
The demon sorceress, Satana, arrives at Doctor Strange's townhouse
to help the web-slinger and Clea revive the Master of the Mystic Arts!
But hold on, this may not be the kind of help they want. Can Satana be trusted?

Spider-Man has no choice as Satana weaves her web of arcane magic!

It's a surreal ending as Satana must choose between saving her life or Dr. Strange's soul!

Script by Chris Claremont. Pencils by Mike Vosburg. Inks by Steve Leialoha.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Werewolf by Night #18 Jun 1974
"Murder by Moonlight!"
Lt. Hackett's questioning of Jack is interrupted by Ma Mayhem, another agent of the Committee, who kocks out Hackett

and attacks Jack just as he turns into the Werewolf.
Their fight crashes through the wall of Jack's reclusive neighbor, Ray Coker, whose meditation is disrupted,

revealing he suffers from the Werewolf's curse as well. As the two Werewolves fight off into the woods for the rest of the night,
Ma Mayhem notices Lissa among the terrified onlookers and seizes the moment to kidnap her.

Jack returns to his apartment the next morning to find the Committee's ransom note.

Script by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Mike Royer

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Blade continues to be disrespected at the comics level. It's shameful.

The books got a new artist and they're pressing on. good news, yes?

Yes, that was good news and nowadays he is featured in the Avengers series with a power upgrade.