I had picked up a few Tomb of Dracula books, but mostly only when it had Werewolf by Night or Frankenstein appearance. My Universal Monsters love made me do that even though Marvel's versions were significantly different, but it was only a peripheral interest.
That was until the crossover with Dr Strange. It was during that story arc that I realized just how much I enjoyed Gene Colan's work.
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| Dr Strange and Dracula fight over who has the best cape. |
I never thought about his work on the earlier Dr Strange series. My eight year old brain didn't need much other than cool four color adventure and the former Strange Tales title certainly delivered that. However, as I got older and my ability to delve deeper into just what was on the immediate page in front of me, I realized just how much Gene delivered on those books.
The tone and impact of Dr Strange owed much to Gene. His visual look was as important to Strange as Steve Ditko's and possibly more so. The crossover between Tomb of Dracula #44 and Dr Strange #14 only cemented my enjoyment of Gene's work. His sense of style and dynamic action made me seek out the older books to read. It was then I realized that his work defined how I judged other's work on both Dracula and Dr Strange.
Gene Colan was a true and fabulous talent who defined Marvel Horror. I'll never look at any Dr Strange or Dracula comic work without thinking of him fondly.
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