DC’s Bronze Age Vampire Tales are a lot of fun. When you think of vampires you might think first of Marvel Comics, with Morbius and their Tomb of Dracula title but DC has had their own franchises with “The Creature Commandos” in Weird War Tales and “I, Vampire” in The House of Mystery and the later American Vampire. DC holds the title for having the first vampire too. Siegel & Shuster did a strip (even before Superman) about Dr. Occult who took on a vampire master back in 1936.
These thirteen blood-thirsty tales aren’t that old. They are from the Golden Age of my youth, the Bronze Age where the DC anthology comics met their final stake. You get great writers like Jack Oleck, Robert Kanigher and George Kashdan, but even better the artwork of masters like Berni Wrightson, Alex Nino, Jess Jodloman, E. R. Cruz and Franc Reyes.
I haven’t included any of the “I, Vampire” stories here because they had a story-line that ran through them. These are all individual vampires who usually meet a ghastly end.
1970s
“Bat Out of Hell” (House of Mystery #195, October 1971) was written by Jack Oleck. Adam Leach is a terrible drunk who beats his wife and children. Desperate for shelter they take up residence in an old castle. In a fit of rage, Adam kills his wife. Later he is set upon by a giant vampire bat. He tries to kill the bat but falls to his death. In the end we learn his wife was the vampire and how she feeds her young.
“Vampire” (House of Secrets #105, February 1973) was written by Maxene Fabe. A father kills his son on a tour of an old silver mine. With the boy dead, he will inherit the child’s trust fund of two million dollars. Unfortunately the old miner is not what he seems.
“The Taste of Blood” (Secrets of Sinister House #13, September 1973) was written by Jack Oleck. Kraken, the last of vampires, goes underground when humanity wipes itself out with nuclear war. Rising ages later he finds new men to prey on. Too bad they evolved from plants! Alex Nino is the perfect artist for this one, having an SF edge to it. The eye-popping color work was also done by Nino.
“Ms. Vampire Killer” (House of Secrets #121, July 1974) Donald F. Glut is always a favorite. He gives us this short four-pager. The men of Transylvania are surprised when Professor Zarko turns out to be a woman. She hunts down their “male chauvinist vampire” and stakes him. It turns out she is also a vampire and eats the guy who hired her.
“Never Rouse a Vampire” (House of Secrets #124, October 1974) was written by George Kashdan. Bronson’s circus is failing because they don’t have a good headliner. Miss Evelyn convinces Amos, the homely grounds keeper to become “The Geek” and play a blood-thirsty vampire. Bronson doesn’t pay Amos and Evelyn is in on the con. Later Amos, who is lovestruck, sees Bronson and his gal having sex. He turns into a real vampire kills them. Turns out, Amos had been fighting a family curse…
“The Vampire” (House of Mystery #248, December 1976) This one is by Jack Oleck again. Arnold Brandon and his family move into an old castle reportedly haunted by the Vanderhoff vampire. When their son is attacked by a neck-biting fiend, Arnold goes in search of the creature. Too bad for Arnie he is related to old Vanderhoff, and is the actual vamp. Sunlight ends his suffering.
“The Vampire of Broadway” (House of Secrets #144, February-March 1977) was written by Robert Kanigher. When vampire victims show up on Broadway, detective Vic looks into it and ends up dead. His partner, Steve, also looks into it. When they find his corpse he is clutching silver bullets. The giant billboard vampire, once a beautiful white-faced woman, has turned into a shriveled corpse.
“Grave Situation” (Secrets of the Haunted House #6, June-July 1977) was written by an unknown author. A vampire is hunting a meal but has poor luck. The first woman he tries is saavy to vampires and attempts to stake him. The second one seems unconcerned. The sun comes up suddenly. Turns out there was an eclipse that morning. Some great Gerry Talaoc art here.
“Blood of the Vampire” (House of Mystery #256, January-February 1978) was written by Michael Fleisher. The Twilling family has been cursed by Count Dracula at his death. A vampire is haunting London and Percival Twilling fears he is that creature. Turns out his wife and her paramour cooked up the idea to drive Percy insane. Too bad it is true.
1980s
“My Ghost-Writer, the Vampire” (The Unexpected #197, April 1980) was written by Scott Edelman. Prentice Vaughn makes his living writing trashy horror novels. He becomes a huge success when he takes on a silent partner, a real vampire. When Vaughn is going to have a big publicity party he tells the vampire to scoot. The vamp is indignant that he isn’t getting any of the fame and fortune. Vaughn destroys him with a silver cup. Later a guest spills blood on the ashes and revives the vampire. The party is about to become more exciting…
“Vampire of the Apes” (The Unexpected #210, May 1981) was written by George Kashdan. In the Carpathian Mountains, a group of villagers find corpses drained by vampires. They find tracks leading to an ape in a coffin. They stake it, then learn that the creature was trained to kill only vampires, like those of Count Karmov. They are doomed now that they have destroyed their protector.
“Act of Contrition” (The Unexpected #222, May 1982) written by Martin Pasko. Cops are on the trail of a vampire killer. When they trap him they find he has killed himself by clutching a crucifix until bursting into flames. The vampire, before his curse, had been a man of God.
“Government Vampire” (House of Mystery #321, October 1983) was written by J. M. DeMatteis. Jonathan Colbert is a vampire. The Feds recruit him as an assassin for the government. Later he saves the President from a sniper. Meeting the man, Colbert expresses his disgust with the political system. Colbert gets a promotion to presidential adviser, as he and the president chow down on a room full of reporters.
Conclusion
It would be a little foolish to expect great innovation in the 1970s and 80s from DC’s Bronze Age vampire tales. Horror comics had been using vampires for decades. (Literature much longer.) Working under the Comics Code, the old DC horror tales were never as gruesome as the 1950s stuff. That aside, these comics do reflect the attitudes of their time. Readers are sophisticated so a feminist vampire or a vampire assassin are not hard sells. My favorite of this bunch is “Vampire of the Apes” because it does do something a little different. (Could primates, being our closest relatives, be turned into undead stalkers?) The Jess Jodloman art is a favorite as well. The old anthology comics never really made it big again after 1983 so this being the end of an era makes them all that much sweeter.
