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Hey everybody, welcome back to another week in Ye Olde School Cafe’. In this week’s edition, we’ll get to see Dracula’s number one enemy, Blade! That’s right, in The Tomb of Dracula #10, we finally see the character that would give Dracula his toughest challenge so far, and in the following issues, also see Dracula’s revenge against Quincy Harker and his group of hunters.

This issue begins with two young lovers scurrying to the boat docks. They are running away to get married in America, and are intent on stealing a boat ride in the morning. Before they can even get near the vessel, they are attacked by Dracula’s Legion. The Legion are vampires that are totally loyal to Dracula, even without his mental persuasion. The Legion quickly attacks the young couple, but just as they are about to feast, they are called off by a voice nearby. The voice belongs to none other than Blade, the vampire killer! Blade quickly dispatches two out of the three vampires before the young couple can even blink. Blade is startled, though, by the presence of Quincy Harker and his daughter Edith. Harker tries to tell Blade that these vampires would have led him to Dracula if not for Blade killing them, but Blade tells Quincy that he’s had his chances for the last sixty years and failed.
Meanwhile, on an ocean liner out at sea, we see some of society’s rich and famous squandering their money with booze and drugs. The ship’s owner tells one of his hookers that he is going to now show the main attraction of the voyage. He introduces Clifton Graves, who then pulls back a curtain to reveal his master – Count Dracula! Of course, the people think he’s some actor, but are intrigued by his presence nonetheless. Once Dracula answers some of their questions, he excuses himself, and heads to his room. On the way there, he spots a beautiful young woman and sweet talks her into his room for a “night cap.” Once he has siphoned off some blood, he tells Graves to keep an eye on her while he tends to other matters. Dracula then goes to the ship’s bridge and pimp slaps the captain out cold. Dracula then steers the boat wildly, and the passengers are tossed around like rag dolls. Dracula tells the prisoners that they will pay tribute to him or die. Well, one of the ship’s entourage doesn’t like it and is packing heat. He tries to shoot Dracula, but it doesn’t work, and then the dude gets tossed overboard for his trouble. After this display of power, no one else dares to try anything.
As this turmoil is happening, a scuba diver is heading towards the boat. The diver is Blade, and he’s on a mission to stop Dracula once and for all. Dracula is confronted by a man with a crucifix, and the mob also then dog-piles on Dracula. They try to subdue him, but he just turns into mist and gets away. He reappears and tells the people either submit, or die. Blade gives the answer for them, though, and Dracula is surprised by his enemy showing up without him knowing. The two battle ferociously, and Blade even lands a kick to the jimmy that stuns Dracula for a moment. Dracula eventually gets the upper hand, and stands ready to kill his enemy. Just as Dracula is about to deliver a killing blow, the woman that Dracula bit and has hypnotized comes towards him. She’s so enthralled by him that the urge forces her to him. Blade then uses this opportunity to escape his grasp, then the crew also moves to stop Dracula. Realizing his plan is lost, Dracula splits and tells the people that a bomb has been planted by the hypnotized captain, and it will go off in mere moments. Everyone jumps off except Clifton Graves, who is begging Dracula to save him. Dracula shouts at Graves that his usefulness has come to an end, and he should die for his incompetence. As Dracula flies away, the ship explodes with the passengers watching from the water.

Next, we see Dracula heading to a wooded area where he has his own personal mortuary. He then creeps inside thinking about his previous night’s debacle. He also yells for Clifton, but then remembers his demise the night before. Dracula finds his coffin and as he slinks inside of it, he plots his next act of terror against the biker gang that attacked him recently while he was weak with blood-loss. Not very far away, a man named Lucas Brand, who is the leader of the biker gang, is taking orders from a man named Jason Faust. Faust is an invalid who is confined to an iron lung and wants revenge on those he thinks wronged him. Faust tells Brand who his next target is, and the gang then heads out to find him. On the way, the gang sees Frank and Rachel walking along the street and decide to splash water them. Frank of course gets mad, and Rachel tells him to take it easy. The biker gang then proceeds to abduct their next victim, and returns him to Faust’s home. Once there, the man is told why he is there and what is going to happen. We then see Faust use a voodoo doll to kill the banker.
As night is upon the city, Dracula swoops in and drains a mugger of his blood to replenish his strength. He then searches for one of the members of the gang and finds him at a nightclub. He interrogates the dude, and finds out that the gang is heading for a town called Dover. Dracula follows their trail and is eventually led to the home of his nemesis Quincy Harker! The gang is there to kidnap Harker because he somehow wronged Faust years earlier. The gang starts to beat down Harker, but then Dracula intercedes. Dracula puts a whooping on the gang and then commands most of them to jump their bikes off of the nearest cliff. Dracula then bites Brand and sends him to kill his master. As Quincy tries to regain his senses, Dracula tells him that they will meet again very soon and on his terms. As Dracula flies away, we see Brand return to Faust’s home. Faust anticipated trouble with Brand, so he made a voodoo doll of him as well. He tries to use it, but is bitten by Brand. Although he is dying, he uses his last bit of strength to plunge the needle into the doll’s chest, and Brand crumples to the floor.
That’s it for now, but come back next week because we’ll see the emergence of one of Dracula’s most bizarre enemies, and also Dracula’s most heinous act against Quincy Harker!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net