Working with writer Marv Wolfman, (himself achieving a high watermark on this series),
Gene Colan imbued the lead character, a cunning monster in human form, with all the dignity, malevolence and high drama he could.
Dracula's series took the immortal character to entirely new levels, sometimes even clashing with such Marvel heroes as Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer.
Colan's Dracula was all swirling capes and smokey mists. Like a ghost trying to live amongst humans.
The scripts called upon Colan to conjure up haunted houses, nighttime cityscapes, demonic horrors and a grand design for Dracula, the proud Prince of Darkness, former king and corrupter of souls.
All of which Colan handled with masterly skills.
Credit must be given also to Tom Palmer, who inked Colan's painterly pencils with such precise attention.
In the last two years or so of the book's run, Wolfman introduced an epic story involving Dracula's takeover of a Satanic cult, his subsequent affair and marriage to a cult member, the birth of his child Janus, battles with Christ and eventually the Devil himself.
Gene Colan of course presented the storyline with all the skills at his command: suspense, haunting atmosphere, horrific scenes of terror, melancholy, action.
Above all, a passion for storytelling, moving the story forward with maximum dramatic effect.
No stone was left unturned in the unspooling of this supernatural odyssey they took Dracula on.
Tomb of Dracula #70 – nice way to end the best comics series of the 1970s.
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