My schedule is super crazy right now and I'm easily distracted, but this is a goal I'll stick with.
I've only ever read the first two issues and that was probably six or seven years ago, so I'm going into this with practically zero knowledge. It's a gaping black hole in my Marvel reading, so here we go...
This first issue is cover dated April of 1972. It was written by the legendary Gerry Conway and drawn by the magnificent Gene Colan. It introduces Frank Drake, who is down on his luck and out of options. Well, mostly out of options. He's conveniently inherited an old family castle in Transylvania. Turns out his family's last name used to be "Dracula" until they changed it to avoid the terror and curiosity it caused. And this castle? Yup, the original Castle Dracula.
He and his best friend, Clifton Graves, have come up with a grand idea to re-open the castle as a tourist spot to capitalize on its infamy. Along for the ride is his girlfriend (and ex-girlfriend of Clifton... drama), Jean. The trip to the castle is anything but fun as they have car trouble in the pouring rain. They hitch a ride via carriage to within walking distance of the place because the locals won't go any closer.
Once inside they become separated and Clifton Makes a startling discovery...
Yes, it's true. There is only one "cat" that could be inside a tomb labeled "Count Dracula". Despite some dated dialogue and questionable exposition, which was a staple of comics for the longest time, the story deftly moves along. The Count is reanimated thanks to Clifton, who is quickly thrown into a pit to await an unknown fate at a later time.
Ol' Drac immediately sets to his old ways and finds a villager. He feeds on her in his trademark way and her body is discovered by the townsfolk. What does any average terrorized villager do? Grab a torch, organize a mob and set the castle on fire, of course!
During the course of this, Dracula manages to beat the crap out of his "cousin", Frank Drake. Using mirrors and the occasional crucifix, Drake manages to keep his weird, pale family member at bay. But he can do this for only so long and, in the end...
If I'm honest, while I did enjoy the story, it's nothing too special. It feels like it could have fit neatly into one of Marvel's horror, monster-of-the-month anthology books. It's in its infancy and I'm not entirely sure where it's going with its story at this point, but I am interested. That alone is the key.
As for its characters: Frank Drake just doesn't do a whole lot to get me to like him. Jean is a typical damsel in distress right up until the end when she turns. This is about the only time I find her remotely interesting. Clifton's a throw-away character at this point, but I'm interested in seeing what Dracula has in store for him, if anything. Dracula's the winner in this group. He's clearly the most interesting at this point, but he doesn't do much here beyond your stereotypical vampire bad guy.
I've read elsewhere this book doesn't really hit its stride until Marv Wolfman takes over the writing, which is by issue #7. Fortunately, Gene Colan stays with the book during its entire run. The art is appropriately dark and actually pretty creepy.
For a first issue, I'd give it an overall 3/5. It's interesting, but it's not quite stellar. Yet.
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