Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of Marvel Snapshot! In this character spotlight, we’ll be checking out one of Marvel’s horror characters, specifically one that I just purchased their first appearance of in comics! The vampire Hannibal King is the subject of today’s spotlight, so let’s get right to it! King was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan in 1974 (Tomb of Dracula #25).
In the epic Tomb of Dracula series, Wolfman and Colan dominated the pages with a cast of characters that were were full of raw emotion. In his first appearance, King was posing as a normal private investigator when he was approached by a woman named Adrianne Brown. She begs him for help in solving her husband’s murder at the hands of some man or beast, as she claims. Her husband was slain by Dracula, because he knew of some of his financial dealings.
After that, King eventually joined Harker, Blade, Drake, and the others, as they fought Dracula to death’s doorstep. A story in Dr. Strange was another one that involved the Montesi Formula, and its ability to destroy all vampires when invoked. King was right there beside his vampire hunter cohorts to help Dr. Strange get the job done!
There were a few other scant appearances of King throughout the times until his next regular book, The Nightstalkers. In this series, King would assume a more vampiric form, and it was great! Instead of the normal looking Joe, he was a seriously scary looking vampire that showed more of the traditional traits than they usually do. Also in that series was a really good rivalry between King and Blade. That sometimes rocky relationship, and a great issue showing a confrontation with Morbius, are just two of the reasons to check that series out.
As usual, check out my recommended reading list, along with some great books featuring this great character! Enjoy!
Recommended Reading
Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 & 2 – Tpb
Nightstalkers #1-18 (series – 1992)
Morbius #10, 11, 16, 17 (1993)
Ghost Rider #31, 44, 45 (1990)
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
This totally washes away the Ryan Reynolds portrayal in Blade Trinity
Oh that foolish movie. It made the vampire hunters look like a bunch of knuckleheads. **sigh**