Descrizione
A.S.E. – GLI ALBI DEI SUPER – EROI EDITORIALE CORNO
DRACULA N. 4 – LA LEGIONE DEI VAMPIRI
ALBO ORIGINALE DEL 1974
CONDIZIONI : OTTIME, L’ ALBO NON E’ DI BUSTA
GRANDISSIMA DISPONIBILITA’ DI TUTTI I SUPEREROI CORNO E NON
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“Night Of The Death Stalkers!” / LA LEGIONE DEI VAMPIRI !
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Featured Characters:
- Frank Drake
- Rachel van Helsing
- Quincy Harker (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Taj Nitall
- Edith Harker (First appearance)
Villains:
Other Characters:
- Saint (First appearance)
- Jonathan Harker (Only in flashback)
- Lucy Westenra (Only in flashback)
- Buckley Crainger (Death)
Locations:
- London
Synopsis
Dracula has returned to London on a snowy night, seeking out a fresh
victim in his bat form under the cover of snow. Dracula would happen
upon Edith Harker, who unknown to Dracula is the granddaughter of his
old foe Jonathan Harker. When Dracula attempts to attack the girl, he
finds that she is wearing a crucifix. Unable to feed upon her, Dracula
knocks her out and summons rats to feast on her as he goes out to seek a
new victim elsewhere. Edith is rescued by her father, the wheelchair
bound Quincy Harker and his dog Saint, who fight off the legion of rats
and take Edith home. Quincy decides to get in touch with Rachel van
Helsing to tell her that Dracula has returned to London.
Elsewhere, Dracula returns to his hideout, where his slave
Clifton Graves waits for his masters return. Dracula surmises that his
foes Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing will find him soon, and when
Graves offers his aid Dracula angrily strikes him away calling him a
coward.
Dracula’s anticipation turns out to be correct, as Rachel, Frank
and Taj receive a telegram from Quincy Harker at the home of Lord and
Lady Dering and head into London immediately. On the train ride in,
Rachel explains Quincy Harker’s family background and how both the
Harkers and van Helsing’s have been working together to fight vampires
over the years.
Arriving at Quincy’s home, Frank is introduced to the crippled
vampire hunter, who shows Frank and the others the various devices he
uses to hunt vampires even though he is confined to a wheelchair. Quincy
explains his family’s legacy fighting Dracula, and asks Frank if he
will join their fight to vanquish Dracula once and for all. Frank
agrees, telling Quincy that he will fight with them until the end.
That night, in Dracula’s hide out, Clifton goes to awaken
Dracula, who angrily pushes the slave away and begins his next plot
against the vampire hunters that seek to destroy him. Going out into the
town, Dracula comes across a group of children playing ball and uses
his hypnotic powers to put the children in his thrall, intending to use
them as an army of assassins against his enemies. Dracula takes them
back to Clifton’s residence intending to use them later.
Later in the evening as a drunk man stumbles home from the pubs,
Dracula has an army of rats herd the man to where he can attack and feed
upon his hapless victim. The mans dying screams alert Quincy Harker and
the others, who go out looking for Dracula. Quincy’s dog Saint finds
Dracula first and soon, the other vampire hunters are upon the vampire
king as well. Their attack fails to stop Dracula who turns into mist and
escapes in bat form. They all pile into Quincy’s car, to chase after
Dracula, leaving Edith behind to man the radio in case they need
back-up.
Chasing Dracula back to his hide out, the vampire hunters wait
for Dracula to retire for the coming dawn and break into the mansion.
Finding Dracula’s coffin they attempt to put a stake through Dracula’s
heart when they find him apparently sleeping in his coffin. However,
this turns out to be a trick as they soon find Dracula standing behind
them laughing how easily he fooled them with a dead body disguised to
look like himself.
Dracula then calls forth his army of hypnotized children to
attack Quincy and the others, and escapes. Before Dracula can get away
however, Quincy manages to strike him with a wooden dart laced with a
lethal poison. Dracula does get away, leaving the heroes to deal with
the children who now prepare to attack them.
Notes
- This is the first issue of Tomb of Dracula written by Marv Wolfman, who would continue to be the writer until the series cancellation.
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“The Hell-Crawlers” / GLI ESSERI DELL’ INFERNO
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Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Taj Nitall
- Edith Harker
- Dr. Heinrich Mortte (dies)
Villains:
Other Characters:
Locations:
- London
- England
Synopsis
Dracula has left the vampire hunters to die at the hands of an
army of hypnotized children, however not before Quincy Harker has struck
Dracula with a poison tipped dart. Although it cannot kill Dracula, it
has indeed poisoned him and will continue to poison him for all eternity
unless he can get it expunged from his system. When Clifton Graves
tries to offer his master aid, Dracula angrily swats him aside and
escapes in his bat form.
Dracula seeks out a doctor named Heinrich Mortte, crashing into
his office window when the pain becomes too great and passes out as he
resumes his human form. The horrified people witnessing the spectacle
are sent away by Heinrich.
While back in Grave’s home, the hypnotized children advance on
Quincy Harker, Frank Drake, Rachel van Helsing and Taj. Not wanting to
harm these innocent victims of Dracula, Quincy orders Rachel to snuff
out the candles in the room so they they can escape the children under
the cover of darkness. They send Rachel out a window to run around and
unlock the door to the room they are trapped in while the others fend
off the children. Rachel runs into Clifton Graves who tries to stop her
to no avail.
Unlocking the door to the room the others are trapped in provides
a distraction enough for the others to break free. Locking the children
back in the room, they make their escape, Quincy expressing a need for
haste as the children will likely break free of the room and continue to
follow Dracula’s orders to kill them.
While at Dr. Mortte’s office, Dracula demands that Heinrich
perform a total transfusion to cure him of the poison. When Heinrich
initially refuses, Dracula threatens to reveal to his daughter Adrian
that her own father is also a vampire. Not wishing his daughter to know
his shaming secret Heinrich agrees to perform the transfusion on
Dracula. As the operation is being done, Quincy and the others get to
Quincy’s car to find that the car will not start. As Quincy calls for
help, the others continue to futilely start the engine as the children,
having broken out of the room, descend on them.
While back at the doctors office, the operation is a success and
Dracula is free from the poisons effects. The king of vampires then
demands that Mortte dismiss his waiting patients and his daughter as
well. With them gone, Dracula orders Heinrich to take him to a device
called the Projector. Unable to disobey Dracula’s commands, Heinrich
takes Dracula to his lab hidden in a cemetery mausoleum, where he gives
Dracula the Project. The device would allow Dracula to raise the dead
from the graves to create an army of zombie vampires to do his bidding.
While back at Harker’s car, the children attempt to break into
the car, but to no avail until they start throwing rocks at the
windshield. Their attack is stopped however due to the timely arrival of
Edith Harker who arrives in a helicopter equipped with a sonic device
that knocks out the children. After the others are rescued Quincy
assures his daughter that the children will awake back to normal and
free of Dracula’s control. With the threat ended, Quincy orders the
others to go back to Dracula’s fortress to wait for his return.
While in the graveyard not far away, Dracula and Heinrich are
about to use the Projector, when Heinrich is spotted by his daughter who
had come to prey at her mothers grave. Caught by his daughter, Heinrich
is forced to explain that he is a vampire and must bow to Dracula’s
rule. Dracula uses the Projector to raise the dead as an army of
vampires and orders them to kill Heinrich’s daughter. Horrified,
Heinrich grabs the projector and flies off in bat form. Furious, Dracula
turns into a bat also and chases after Heinrich. As the two fight,
Heinrich drops the Projector on the ground smashing it to pieces. With
the device destroyed, all the newly risen vampires dissolve into dust.
With the menace over, Heinrich, no longer wishing to live the
life of a vampire then impales himself on the pointed fence posts on the
cemetery fence. With his opponent dead, and his plot foiled, Dracula
flees the scene leaving Adrian to mourn her fathers death.
Notes
- For some reason, Heinrich does not dissolve into bones when he
impales himself on the cemetery fence, nor does he return to unlife
after his daughter removes him from the fence. This is in direct
contradiction of the lore states in Bram Stoker’s novel which specifies
that a vampire can return to life if the stake is removed.
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“I Saw a Martian” / HO VISTO UN MARZIANO !
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Synopsis
A distraught man walks into a police station with photographs of
space aliens and tries to convince the officers on duty he has witnessed
the landing of a spaceship. They listen to him for awhile but then
threaten to toss him out. “But what about my photos?”, he says, and the
cop replies “I’ve seen better pictures in my son’s monster mags.”
“Nothing like that could have come in without being detected on radar.”
the other policeman states. “But what if it came in too low to be picked
up on radar?” “We’ve got work to do. Are you going to leave or do we
have to toss you out?” The “man” leaves, and after discarding his
human-like mask, radios his superiors waiting in the armada stationed in
orbit “You may descend and infiltrate when ready. Even if a human does
detect you, he will not be believed until our agents have taken their
places and it will be too late.”
