Description

Blade II: The Official Comic Adaptation                                             Trade Paperback
Featuring the Official Comic Adaptation of the 2002 Hit Film!  Awesome!!
Based on characters and a whole fantastic vampire world created by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan.
Cover by: Tim Bradstreet

Marvel Comics presents, Blade II, the movie adaptaion. The vampire killer’s second movie hit in March of 2002 – and here’s trade paperback for all his fans! Back in print at last – the stories that inspired the first hit movie! Blade has long thirsted for revenge against Deacon Frost, the vampire lord who killed his mother. But Frost has created an evil duplicate Blade, and if the real DayWalker can survive his deadly double, he’ll still have to face Dracula himself! Featuring Bonus Material including Blade’s comic book beginnings in Tomb of Dracula (reprinting #45-53, 58). Awesome!!

Blade II: The Official Comic Adaptation contains:Blade II: The Official Comic Adaptation
Adapted by: David Goyer
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli
Colorist: Hi-Fi Design
Letterer: Paul Tutrone
Editors: Mike Raicht, Mike Marts & Joe Quesada

A new breed of vampire stalks the night in Prague, a bloodthirsty creature that preys on other vampire as well as humans. Elsewhere in the city, Blade has, after three years of searching, tracked down the body of his partner and mentor, Abraham Whistler. Although Whistler had apparently killed himself after a vampire attack, his body was stolen by them, and kept alive in a twilight state, not quite vampiric. Blade returns with Whistler to his warehouse base, providing his friend with a cure, over the objections of Scud, Blade’s new assistant/mechanic/engineer. Before long, a pair of vampires displaying ninja-style skills invade the warehouse, but, after a brief conflict, offer Blade’s team a truce in a bid for help. The pair, Nyssa and Asad, lead them to the Caliban Industries facility, a front for a vampire stronghold. There, they are introduced to the leader, Damaskinos, Nyssa’s father. He asks Blade to work with his elite vampire strike team, the Bloodpack, to track down and eliminate the new vampire breed, which he calls Reapers. Blade agrees, and later, they enter the House of Pain, a vampire night club. Before long, they are set upon by Reapers, who prove extremely difficult to kill, with UV light being the most effective weapon. One of the Bloodpack succumbs to a Reaper’s bite, and is dispatched by Reinhart, another Pack member. Meanwhile, Blade duels the original Reaper, Nomak, to a stalemate when the latter escapes to avoid the dawn. After an autopsy of a fallen Reaper reveals their unique anatomy to the team, they agree to conduct a search-and-destroy mission in the sewers below the club.

Soon, they are underground, armed with their individual weapons as well as UV grenades. The begin to wipe out the Reapers they encounter, but before long, they realize they have underestimated their enemies’ numbers. Several of them die in the struggle, leaving Blade, Whistler, Nyssa and Reinhart to face impossible odds. Blade orders the others to escape down one tunnel while he goes to set off a UV bomb that succeeds in wiping out the Reapers, but also injures Nyssa and Reinhart. Then, armed vampire troops rush into the sewers to capture Blade and Whistler. They are returned to Caliban, where Damaskinos reveals that the Reapers did not evolve naturally but were bioengineered by his scientists to become the next stage in the species. Scud reveals himself as a familiar, sent to spy on Blade, and Blade kills him before being subdued by Reinhart. Blade is then nailed to an autopsy table where Damaskinos intends to drain his blood for use to improve the Reaper strain by making them invulnerable to sunlight. Nyssa, who had come to share a mutual respect with Blade, objects to this betrayal, and also demands to know the connection between Damaskinos and Nomak. Her father explains Nomak is her brother. It is then Nomak appears, leaving a trail of dead vampires as he makes his way to his father.

In the confusion, Whistler frees Blade, who plunges into a blood pool, replenishing his strength. He defeats a squad of guards, then kills Reinhart. Damaskinos attempts to escape with Nyssa but are trapped by Nomak as he locks down the facility. Nomak kills his father, then bites Nyssa. Blade arrives and the two engage in a brutal fight. Blade manages to pierce Nomak’s heart with his sword, and the Reaper burns to ash. The bitten Nyssa asks Blade to take her outside to see the sun rise, so she can die as a vampire. Blade complies, and she burns to ashes in his arms. Before long, Blade resumes his crusade.
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Tomb of Dracula (1st Series 1972 – 1979) Issues #45-53,58.
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Gene Colan
Inker: Tom Palmer
Colorists: Tom Palmer, Michelle Wolfman & Marie Severin
Letterers: John Costanza, Denise Wohl & Gaspar Saladino
Editor: Marv Wolfman

In part #1, “Crossfire!”, Following a lead on Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his mother, Blade has come across vampire detective Hannibal King. Recognizing Hannibal as a vampire, Blade attacks him right away, initially ignoring King’s mention that they are both looking for Deacon Frost. However, Hannibal’s superior strength and skill allows him to easily defeat Blade and pin him down. Letting Blade up, Hannibal explains that they are looking for the same man, King seeking to destroy Deacon Frost because Frost is responsible for turning him into a vampire. Hannibal then suggests that the two work together to destroy Deacon Frost so that they both can get their desired revenge. Blade attempts to attack Hannibal again, but Hannibal stops him cold once more. Turning on the light, he shows Blade a fresh victim of Deacon Frost. While deciding to work together, King explains to Blade that although he is a vampire, he’s never fed upon a living victim or spread the curse of vampirism to someone else. With this imparted, Blade begrudgingly agrees to work with Hannibal. While at the hideout of Doctor Sun, Dr. Strange has just finished his battle against Dracula and cured himself and Wong of vampireism. Believing Dracula to be dead, the two would leave, however Dracula would return to life, having tricked Strange with another bit of hypnosis. Returning his attention to a deconsencrated church that he saw earlier, Dracula flies there intending to use it as a staging ground to start a new religion to gain followers that will do his bidding. Dracula finds that the church has been stripped of all it’s religious artifacts except for an oil painting of Jesus. Furious that it is still there, Dracula attempts to take it down, but finds that some force prevents himf from doing so. Dracula next goes to visit Harold H. Harold, who is busy typing away a new vampire story. Dracula has come to ask Harold to provide him with the name of whomever is the leader of the local group of Satanists. Harold looks up the information in his files and tells Dracula that the Bostonian sect of Satanists is led by Anton Lupeski and provides Dracula with the man’s address. Off once more to find Lupeski, Dracula stops and drops down to feed on an old woman. The woman recognizes Dracula as she encountered him in 1903 when she was a little girl. Unafraid of death, the woman turns her back on Dracula and walks away, leaving the vampire lord howling with indignation and fury, although he does not feed upon her. Witnessing Dracula flying in the night sky from their hotel room Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing discuss their old foe. Quincy is feeling less than optimistic that they will kill Dracula once and for all, however Frank refuses to give up. The conversation is ended when Rachel has Frank take her out for supper.

Along the way, Rachel expresses her concern that Frank’s sudden desire to be a hero might lead him to making stupid mistakes and the two have a romantic moment. While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a Satanic church, Anton Lupeski prepares a ceremony offering his loyal follower, a woman named Domini, to Satan to be his bride. Putting her on an inverted cross and setting it ablaze, Lupeski calls to Satan to appear for him. Dracula appears and poses as Satan, and orders Lupeski to free the woman as he intends to feed upon her. However, when Lupeski reveals that she is intended to be “Satan’s” bride, Dracula decides that instead he will accept her as such. With Domini’s acceptance of Dracula as her husband-to-be, Dracula boasts that in three days time they will be married and those gathered will worship Dracula as their new dark lord before vanishing in a swirl of mist. While back at the apartment where Blade and Hannibal King had met, the two wait for Deacon Frost’s most recent victim to rise as a vampire. When he does, Blade and Hannibal subdue him and have this new vampire explain what happened to Deacon Frost. The man explains that he was a grave digger hired by Frost to help exhume a coffin from a nearby graveyard. Upon unearthing the coffin and bringing it back to the apartment, the young man would demand to be paid for his services. Deacon Frost gives him payment all right: turning him into a vampire. With the story done, Blade demands to know what was in the coffin that was dug up. The vampire tells both men, to their astonishment, that the coffin had an exact copy of Blade inside and that Deacon Frost mentioned that that duplicate would allow him to take over the world. The story continues next issue #46…

Next in issue #2, “Let Us Be Wed in Unholy Matrimony”, In the deconsecrated church taken over by Dracula, Satanist leader Anton Lupeski performs a Satanic wedding between Dracula (whom the Lupeski and his followers believe to be Satan himself) and Domini one of Lupeski’s most loyal followers who had been offered up to be the bride of Satan. As the ceremony carries on, all are oblivious to the sight of the oil painting of Jesus Christ (the only religious symbol left in the damned church) shedding a single tear as Dracula and Domini are wed by mixing of blood. Elsewhere at the head office of American Chemron Industries, a chemical company that has been dumping chemical waste into Boston Harbor, Windom an employee confronts his boss Mr. Slammerkin about the environmental impact their company is making. When Windom demands that the company stop polluting the water in the city, Slammerkin instead shoots Windom in cold blood. Consulting to his fellow board members, Slammerkin tells him that the murder had to be done because any environmental assessment initiated from Windom’s demands would cut into their profits. His fellow board members would then decide to dispose of Windom’s body and they all take part in carrying it to an acid filled disposal pipe, believing the acid would destroy the body. However, by some strange twist of fate Windom’s body is not destroyed. However all it’s face is wiped clean and the body reanimated, and Windom rises from the waters seeking to get revenge on those who were responsible for his death. Meanwhile, Blade and Hannibal King continue their hunt for Deacon Frost, the man responsible for killing Blade’s mother and turning Hannibal King into a vampire. With information gained from a vampirized grave digger, the two head to the location the now-dead vampire provided them. Along the way they wonder how Frost intends to take over the world with a duplicate of Blade. Back at Dracula’s church, the vampire lord announces to all gathered that he will make a son for them all to worship and tells them all that this child will be born on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. Domini would agree to birthing this child and Dracula partially transforms into his bat form so that he may carry off his bride to consummate their marriage.

As they fly off into the night sky, Windam – the Faceless Man – tracks down his first victim, Jack, the Chemron employee who suggested that they dump Windam’s body in the acid disposal. The Faceless man bursts through the door while Jack’s wife is in the shower and kills him. In the process Windam takes Jack’s eye, literally absorbing it into his body making Jack’s eye appear on his face. Windam steals some of Jack’s close and leaves Jack’s body to be found by his wife. As Windam continues stalking his other victims, Dracula brings his bride to the former home of Doctor Sun. However, before they consummate their marriage, Dracula needs to go out and feed once more. He goes out into the city and begins stalking women to find the idea victim. It turns out to be the woman named Jean, another implicated in the murder of Windham. While Dracula hunts, Windam finds his next victim Fred Anderson who has made his regular visit to a health spa. There Windam kills Anderson and takes his right eye to add to his mostly blank face. Windam’s next victim is Eli Harris, who is returning from a party with his wife Dolores. The Faceless Man takes Eli’s mouth. Jean arrives at the home of Wallace Slammerkin and as they share a kiss, Dracula appears at the window and hypnotizes Jean and orders her to invite him in. When Dracula enters the room, Slammerkin attempts to kill the vampire lord with a gun, but to no effect. Before Dracula can kill Slammerkin they are interrupted by Windam who demands Dracula leave his victims alone, he then kills Jean, taking her nose. Dracula refuses to be ordered around, however the Faceless Man manages to over power Dracula and tosses the vampire out the window. When Dracula comes back, he arrives just as the Faceless Man has succeeded in taking Slammerkin’s hair and heart. Before Dracula can get revenge against Windam for killing his evening meal, Windam begins to melt. The Faceless Man realizes just before his final death that vengeance never accomplishes anything. With Windam now dead as well, Dracula himself is denied his own desire for revenge and is left even more furious than before. The story continues next issue #47…

Next in part #3, “Birthrite: Death!”, In Dracula’s church, his new bridge Domini notices that Dracula has a longing look on his face. Expressing her concern for her new husband, Dracula explains his 500 years of life, his second wife Maria and his subsequent transformation into a vampire by the gypsy vampire Lianda. He explains that even after all this time he still seeks to conquer the entire world, and that through his bond with Lupeski’s Satanists and his marriage to Domini he is but one step closer to his goals. Elsewhere, Blade and Hannibal King take a break from hunting Deacon Frost so that Blade can be reunited with his lover Safron, who has just arrived to Boston from London. Harold H. Harold also finally manages to get a date with Aurora Rabinowitz. Not everyone’s romances are going well however, as at a park Rachel van Helsing has a serious conversation with Frank Drake about his attitude since rejoining the vampire hunters in America. She tells him that she doesn’t like his attitude since he’s gone from being concerned about the group to having a devil-may-care macho attitude. When Frank tries to change the subject by kissing her, she pushes him away and tells him to leave her alone until he changes his attitude and leaves. While back at Dracula’s church, Lupeski and his minions begin the mystical ceremony that will allow Dracula to impregnate Domini so that she can give birth to his child. As the ceremony is taking place, a man armed with a shot gun kills one of Lupeski’s followers at the door and takes his costume to get closer to the ceremony. As it’s completed, the man shoots a number of Anton’s other followers and attempts to interrupt the ceremony. It ends before he has a chance and Dracula grabs their attacker revealing his face. Domini is shocked to see that it is her own father who has come to take her home. Anton stops her from getting in the middle of things and implies that he knows the truth about Dracula. Dracula meanwhile kills Domini’s father as he makes a final prayer before the oil painting of Jesus that is still in the church. With her father dead, Domini is easily to forgive Dracula for killing him. Looking upon the oil painting she is suddenly happy and tells Dracula to bring her home as the ceremony is completed. Dracula does so, taking her back to the former home of Doctor Sun where Dracula boasts about the eventual birth of his son on the twenty fifth of December. The story continues next issue #48…

Next in part #4, “A Song for Marianne!”, A vampire named Marianne has come to Dracula asking for him to kill her once and for all. She explains her life story to both Dracula and his wife Domini how she has crossed paths with Dracula many times: The first time was in 1875, when she was only four years old, she was the daughter of Captain Cutlass a pirate that would attempt to rob a French ship. He would have the unfortunate luck of robbing the very one that Dracula was using as a transport ship, and her father would be turned into a vampire by Dracula for his troubles. The next time she would meet Dracula would be in 1903, having moved to Vienna, Italy, she would keep her father bound and steal blood for him so that he may continue living his unlife. After stealing some blood she would just happen to be Dracula’s random victim of the night. However, before Dracula could feed upon her, she would drop the bottles of stolen blood, causing them to smash on the ground. This would upset Dracula, and delay his feeding enough for Cutlass to break free. Cutlass would be killed fighting Dracula, who would lose his desire for killing and leave the girl alone to mourn the death of her father. Her next encounter with Dracula would happen in Rome in 1926, Marianne would be married to Count Marcos De La Triana. De La Triana would earn Dracula’s ire when he would refuse to help ship coffins to America making him a target for Dracula’s revenge. He would attack De La Triana when he is out on a drive with his new bride. Recognizing Marianne, he would spite her by killing her husband. Marcos would return three days later as a vampire to turn her into one as well. They would live happily for years living off stolen blood until Marcos was killed by Blade the vampire hunter days previous. With nothing left to live for, Marianne asks Dracula to put her to rest. Dracula agrees to do so for her, gladly accepting the stake she has prepared to commit the deed.

She would finish her story by telling him that…

Next in part #5, “Lost: One Vampire!”, Frank Drake is having a meeting with Harold H. Harold, Aurora Rabinowitz and Quincy Harker. Frank wonders what has gotten into Rachel who had issue with Frank when he was a coward and now more so now that he has learned to be brave while fighting Dracula. Quincy and the others offer no solutions, and Frank decides to instead focus his energy on hunting Dracula again. Harold is upset that Dracula never finished the interview he was promised and with some coaxing from Aurora, Harold agrees to accompany Frank in hunting down Dracula. They leave to go hunt the vampire king once more unaware that Rachel has watched their departure, and believes that Frank is heading for a failure and decides to go after them not wishing someone else to die due to Frank’s apparent foolishness. While back inside, Aurora leaves Quincy to write another article for her magazine, leaving Quincy alone. Quincy suddenly begins to suffer a heart attack but manages to take one of his pills. He reassures the worried Saint that he is going to be all right.

Next in part #6, “Doppelganger!!”, Blade and Hannibal King have resumed their search for Deacon Frost, their trail leading them to yet another apartment. Hannibal suggests that they enter in quietly, however Blade will have none of that and decides to kick down the front door and burst in with wood knives drawn. He is in for the shock of a lifetime when he finds out that the stories of Frost having a doppelganger of Blade are true, and worse this doppelganger is also a vampire! Face to face at last, the vampire doppelganger tells Blade that they will fight to the finish and that it will succeed in destroying Blade. The story continues next issue #49…

Next in part #7, “And with the Word There Shall Come Death!” Anton Lupeski seeks an audience with Dracula to express his worries about the cult’s financial future, however Dracula allays these worries assuring him that while their cult is slow growing, he has influences with many people of wealth that can fund their enterprises. Dracula then leaves to go spend time with his wife, as Lupeski watched Dracula fly away, he muses about how Dracula is playing right into his hands and he is preparing to destroy the vampire. When Dracula arrives at his home and greets his wife, both are shocked when some unseen force teleports Dracula away. Meanwhile in a nearby apartment, Blade fights his vampire doppelganger, and is shocked to find that the two are beginning to fuse together upon physical contact. Hannibal King tries to rush to Blade’s rescue, however he is too late to stop the merging from completing. With the vampire doppelganger in full control of their unified body, it sets it’s sites on King and prepares to attack. While elsewhere in a mansion a woman named Angie Turner, who has the ability to bring fictional characters to life and brought together the Frankenstein’s Monster, D’Artagnan, Tom Sawyer, and Injun Joe together to live with her.

Her next effort causes her a great deal of effort and a little pain, but she manages to summon Dracula to her presence. However instead of summoning the fictional character in Bram Stoker’s novel, she instead brings the real Dracula who is confused to find himself around an assemblage of fictional characters. However, Angie is most impressed as of them all she loves Dracula the best. Meanwhile, Frank Drake and Harold H. Harold go to the home of Anton Lupeski, their only lead on finding Dracula. Breaking into the Satanists home they begin spying on a Satanic ceremony that is being carried out. However, Anton Lupeski spots them and sicks his followers on them, however Drake refuses to go down without a fight. As he and Harold defend themselves, outside Rachel van Helsing — who has secretly been following Frank to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble — arrives on the scene. While back in Angie Turner’s manor, Dracula realizes that Angie had summoned him and other fictional characters and that she has a love for Bram Stoker’s novel. Dracula shows her utter contempt toward her love of Stoker’s “inferior” adaptation of his diaries, and knocks the woman aside. This prompts the other fictional characters to come to her aid, Dracula finding it easy to fight them off. Even when she summons Robin Hood and Zorro to help stop the fight, Dracula is still the superior over them. Realizing that Dracula in real life is nothing like her beloved character she tosses her copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula into the fireplace, which surprisingly causes Dracula to be painfully sent back to where he came from, appearing before his worried wife once more. As it would turn out, the manor wasn’t a real place at all, and that Angie is a mental patient who has been locked in a padded room ever since the death of her husband and child drove her insane. With the banishment of Dracula from her fantasy world she would let out a scream prompting nurses to check on her and see that she is all right. All is well indeed for Angie, for in her own little fantasy world she lives happily with the fictional characters she has come to love. The story continues next issue #50…

Next in part #8, “And with the Word There Shall Come Death!, “Where Soars The Silver Surfer!”, Dracula goes out into the night to seek another fresh victim, however before he can finish feeding he is attacked by a mob of people coming to save his victim. Dracula easily beats them back, but doesn’t wish to waste his power on mere humans and flees into the night. While at the home of Anton Lupeski, Lupeski meets with four of his fellow Satanists and they agree that now that Domini is impregnated with Dracula’s child, they no longer require the vampire lord and begin plotting Dracula’s death. While elsewhere, the Blade Doppelganger attacks Hannibal King, and despite his savage fury, he is easily fought off by King who stabs the faux-Blade in the chest with one of his own wooden daggers, sending the imitator out a window allowing Hannibal to escape. While on Three Ridges, Lupeski’s minions cast a spell to summon the Silver Surfer, the being they hope to manipulate into destroying Dracula. The Surfer is soaring the sky following a fruitless trip to Latveria to search for his lost love Shalla-Bal. Along the way he is fired upon by humans on the ground and decides to teach them a lesson. However, before he can he is teleported to Three Ridges instead. Knocked out by the mystical teleportation, the Surfer is then implanted with knowledge of Dracula’s existence and his need to consume the blood of innocent victims to survive, and given the command to destroy Dracula. Meanwhile, Dracula and his wife Domini have returned to Dracula’s church where they allow for their followers to make offerings to Dracula. Domini tells Dracula that she knows their child will grow up healthy and strong, when Dracula inquires how she could know, she states that she received the “word” that he would. Dracula is oblivious to the fact that Domini is looking at the oil painting of Jesus Christ as she says this. The Silver Surfer meanwhile revives and with the implanted memories about Dracula, decides that it is up to him to end the creature’s abominable life. Arriving at the church and materializing out of the oil painting, the Surfer attacks Dracula in front of his wife. Reminded of his wife Maria’s life ending at the hands of Truac, the furious Dracula stops the Surfer’s attack quickly. Both agreeing that they should take their battle outside where Domini cannot be harmed by the fight, the two beings fight on. While the Surfer commands the Power Cosmic, Dracula’s supernatural powers make him a hard target to defeat. Dracula soon unleashes an army of rats upon the Surfer. Trying one final assault on the Dracula, the Surfer fails to harm Dracula who has changed into his mist form and is able to sneak up on the Surfer. Besting him in battle, the Surfer agrees to battle another day and Dracula departs. While at the home of Anton Lupeski, Frank Drake and Harold H. Harold are brought before the Satanic cult’s leader. Lupeski decides to keep the men as his prisoners. However, before anything else can be done, Rachel van Helsing enters the room having come to save her comrades. The Silver Surfer meanwhile has realized that he battled Dracula without previously knowing of his existence until this day and wonders if the vampire lord did not manipulate him. Returning to Dracula’s church, the Surfer attempts to attack him again but is stopped by Domini. Recognizing Domini’s natural goodness, the Surfer wonders why she protects such a horrible creature. She tells him that she knows how everything will end, the Surfer notices the oil painting of Jesus reflecting in Domini’s eyes, and turns to look at the painting itself. The Surfer decides to take her word for it and departs. When Dracula inquires what the Surfer saw in her eyes, and Domini tells him that it was the future, and it was good. The story continues next issue #51…

Next in part #9, “The Wildest Party”, Rachel van Helsing has come to the home of Anton Lupeski to save Frank Drake and Harold H. Harold from the clutches of Lupeski’s Satanic cult. As she attempts to do so, Dracula arrives to see what the commotion is and Rachel manages to strike him with an arrow. Although it strikes true, it doesn’t pierce into Dracula hard enough to kill him. In extreme pain, Dracula allows the three vampire hunters to leave. Dracula asks Lupeski to pull the arrow out, and Lupeski realizing that he has no choice because it would reveal to his followers that Dracula is really a vampire and not Satan (which would work contrary to his plans) pulls the arrow out, saving Dracula’s life. When the vampire hunters return home they find Quincy Harker has collapsed due to his heart condition and call him an ambulance. While the vampire hunters are tending to their leader, Dracula and his wife Domini throw a party in an attempt to gain followers among the wealthy and elite. Dracula puts on a display of his powers, and when one woman calls out their Satanic Cults evil intent, he uses his hypnotic powers on the crowd to convince them to join his cause. While mingling with the crowd, Dracula swears that he sees someone that he encountered long ago, but when he chases the shadowy figure he finds nothing there. Dracula simply dismisses the notion that it was the person he thought it was, while Lupeski takes note of the fact that there is someone that exists that can put the fear into Dracula.

Not far away, Hannibal King is still fleeing from the vampire doppelganger of Blade and their fight crashes into Dracula’s party. Deacon Frost is among the crowd and he watches eagerly as this is all part of his on going plan. Furious of Blade’s interruption of his party Dracula attacks and is shocked to find his long time vampire hunter foe is now a vampire himself. As the battle rages, Anton takes Domini, already visibly pregnant somewhere safe. While at the hospital, Frank and Rachel get into an argument over Rachel’s outward emotions toward Quincy’s condition. However, as the two argue it becomes apparent that they are really talking about their feelings toward one another and how their changes in personality of late (Frank’s brazen attitude and Rachel’s emotionlessness) and the two decide to bury their differences and make up with a kiss. Back at the party, as Dracula and the Blade doppelganger battle on, Hannibal King spots Deacon Frost and chases him around the banquette hall of the party. However, before Hannibal can capture his foe, Frost turns into bat form and escapes into the night sky, leaving Hannibal to wonder what to do next. Dracula and the faux-Blade’s fight procures them wooden stakes from smashed furniture and the two duel with them, Blade manages to impale Dracula in the chest but not hard enough to kill him. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, Anton Lupeski reveals to Domini that he knows that Dracula is not Satan, but a vampire and asks for her help in destroying him as he views Dracula as a hindrance to his Satanic Cult. Domini in turn reveals that she knows all about the truth, and regardless of the facts she warns Lupeski that she is loyal to her husband and will see to it that no harm is done to him. While downstairs, Blade appears to have the upper hand when he stabs Dracula in the back with one of his wooden daggers. However, Dracula turns around, and mocking the fake Blade’s inferior skill to the original impales the vampire doppelganger in the chest with a stake killing him.

Next in part #10, “Demons in the Mind!”, With the death of the Blade doppelganger, Blade’s friends believe that Blade himself is dead as well and have the body buried in a nearby cemetery. As the men bury the body, Rachel van Helsing tries to console Blade’s girlfriend Safron, while Hannibal King tells Harold how Blade had died. After they leave, Blade’s grave is visited by Dracula who has come to mock his opponent. While there, Dracula spots the being whom he saw earlier at the party thrown for him by Anton Lupeski. He demands that the being reveal who he is, but gets no answer. Dracula departs the scene wondering why this being would reappear in his life after all these years and thinks back to their previous encounters: The first time was centuries ago when Dracula ruled a province in Spain and had ambitions to take over the entire country by killing it’s king. Dracula would eventually flee the province when this strange figure would visit him as he is about to execute an accused spy. They would cross paths again in 1870 when Dracula attempted to lead a vampire invasion of Venice, which would also end in Dracula calling a retreat.

His recollection done, Dracula wonders why he felt compelled to retreat and he is shaken by these thoughts. Not wishing his wife to see him like this, Dracula would decide to spend his time examining humans to by taking in a movie. Forcing the ticket girl to give him a ticket to see a film adaptation of Dracula, the vampire lord finds being among the humans intolerable. After witnessing the stranger having followed him to the theater, the increasingly agitated Dracula would kill a woman in the theater when she scolds him for bring rude to a child, causing everyone to flee. The stranger then confronts Dracula and reveals his true face, that old a golden skinned male. The golden being tells Dracula that his mission to stop Dracula will take longer than his previous encounters, and as a show of power reveals his eyes. They illuminate a powerful light that sends Dracula reeling backwards into the movie screen. The golden one tells Dracula that his masters have decreed that the vampire must be destroyed. Assuming that the being was sent by Satan, Dracula accepts the challenge, boasting over how he believes that Satan has always been afraid of him. The two battle on, with the golden one’s superior power giving him the upper hand. Their fight takes them to a near by carnival where the golden one hopes to defeat Dracula publicly before the humans that Dracula has nothing but contempt toward.

As the fight rages on, elsewhere Hannibal King visits with the grieving Safron and tells her that he got an idea that just dawned upon him. As Dracula continues to battle this golden being, he realizes that it will take more than just strength to defeat his attacker, and so he uses his hypnotic powers to make the viewing crowd begin to fight each other to the death. Wanting to stop this madness, the golden one uses his powers to stop the senseless fighting. While the golden one is distracted, Dracula manages to sneak up being him and impale him in the back with a piece of metal. As the golden man begins to die, he corrects Dracula’s assertion that he is a demon from Hell, telling the vampire lord that he works for a higher power than that. Dracula begins to realize who just as the soul of the dead man rises from his body and flies off. Dracula chases after it and finds that it is leading him back to the church he has taken over. Arriving there, he finds nobody but Domini within. Dracula notices that the eyes on the oil painting of Jesus Christ are glowing with the same light that came from his attackers eyes, and screams in frustration. The story continues next issue #53…

Next in part #11, “The Final Glory of Deacon Frost”, Hannibal King has sought out Daimon Hallstrom to help him resurrect Blade from the dead, finding that there could be a way to restore the vampire hunter back to normal. Digging up Blade’s grave, the two men remove the stake that has been rammed through the doppelganger’s heart. Changing into his Son of Satan form, Hellstrom casts a spell that separates Blade from his doppelganger who has been resurrected as soon as the stake is removed from his heart. Before the evil doppelganger can do any more evil, Hannibal once more rams the stake into the impostors chest. With Blade resurrected, the duo thank the Son of Satan for his assistance. While elsewhere, Dracula bids good night to his wife before going out to find a fresh victim to feed upon. He initially chooses a woman, however when he sees that she has a child he refrains from killing her. He instead opts to feed off of a lone man walking by himself. Blade reunites with Saffron and the two share a brief reunion before Blade and Hannibal go to Deacon Frost’s hideout to deal with him once and for all. Arriving at Frost’s lair, Hannibal King explains to Blade what he’s learned about Deacon Frost’s past: That he was a brilliant chemist who lived in Germany. In the year 1868 he had developed a serum from a dead vampire that once injected into a person would turn them into a vampire as well. Experimenting on a dead girl named Ilsa, Deacon would be attacked by her husband and in the struggle Frost would accidentally be injected with his own serum, turning him into a vampire.

Hannibal’s research showed that Deacon Frost had additional powers that most conventional vampires did not, such as the ability to create doppelgangers. Just then, Frost would enter the room with an army of doppelgangers fashioned after both Blade and Hannibal King. Blade and Hannibal would destroy all their doppelgangers despite the fact that they are greatly outnumbered. With the battle over, Deacon Frost would retreat further into his lair with the two vengeful men following after him. Trapping Deacon Frost in his lab, the desperate vampire threatens to throw a jar of a lethal fungus as the two men. This doesn’t stop Blade from throwing two wooden daggers at Frost, causing the vampire to reel back into some machines. The machine would explode, killing Deacon Frost. Blade and Hannibal would then flee the scene and barely manage to escape before Frost’s lair explodes. Later, after Blade has regrouped with his fellow vampire hunters, he meets with Hannibal King one last time. With their revenge complete both men feel that they can move on to the next chapter of their lives. Hannibal says his goodbyes to his new found friends before leaving on a bus.

Finally in part #12, “Undead by Daylight!”, Blade confides in his girlfriend Safron that he doesn’t know what to do now that Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his mother, has now been destroyed. Even with his quest over, Blade explains that all he is really good at is killing vampires. Safron cuts in to say to Blade that she needs to tell him something. While not far away at the Boston General Hospital, a man named Musenda has his wife Lorraine brought in because she has been turned into a vampire with a strange twist: by night she is normal, but by day she grows fangs and becomes much like a vampire. Finding the case interesting, the doctor calls in the local expert, Rachel van Helsing to look into Lorraine’s condition. During the examination, Musenda reveals that he has had an encounter with Dracula in the past when he was a vampire hunter with Blade. Shocked to learn this, Rachel tells Musenda that Blade is in town and gives him Blade’s address. The two vampire hunters are reunited, and Blade agrees to go with Musenda back to the hospital to look at Lorraine. When they arrive they find that Lorraine has broken free and killed the doctor. Blade jumps in to attack. When the moon rises, Lorraine converts back to normal and passes out. With the threat over, Rachel theorizes that somehow, Lorraine is linked to a real vampire, and that when that vampire rests during the day it in turn transforms her into a vampire that walks in the day. Rachel suggests that the only possible way to save Lorraine is to kill the vampire that she is bonded to. After getting a device that tracks bats from Quincy Harker, Blade tests it out and finds that it actually works. The next day just before dawn, Blade and Musenda decide to allow Lorraine to wander freely so that they might track her, hoping that she would lead them to the vampire that is linked to her. When she changes into a bat, Blade and Musenda uses Quincy’s device and track her on a motorcycle. Chasing her to a water-side road, the two trackers are forced off the road by a car that is hogging the road. After pulling themselves out of the water and returning to Blade’s apartment, they begin to consider where Lorraine may have gone after they lost her. Blade gets an idea and the two men return to the scene where they lost Lorraine. Out at sea they spot a lighthouse and the two men swim to it’s location. Venturing inside, Blade is attacked by Lorraine and accidentally stabs her in the heart with his wooden dagger, killing her. Reminding Musenda that a vampire is instantly brought back to life when the stake is removed, they take her back to Safron’s home, and just before nightfall they pull the wooden dagger from Lorraine’s heart. She is restored to life and then reverts back into her human form. Blade theorizes that the vampire who has been manipulating her would not appreciate the interference and that theory stands correct when the vampire in questions arrives to kill them. The vampire arrives and vows to get revenge against Blade for his interference by turning Safron into a vampire. Threatening Blade’s girlfriend proves to be the worst threat the vampire could make, as Blade quickly kills it by driving a wooden dagger through it’s heart causing it to crumble to dust. With the vampire destroyed, Lorraine is restored to normal with no memory of what happened.
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Trade Paperback reprints/collects: Blade II – The Official Comic Adaptation (2002) One-shot & Tomb of Dracula {1st Series} (1972 – 1979) Issues #45-53,58.  Marvel Comics

Trade Paperback is bagged & double boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Printing
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Date: March 2002
Format: FC, 208 pages, TPB, 10.25″ x 6.75″
ISBN-10: 0785108971
ISBN-13: 9780785108979

Collectible Entertainment note: Trade Paperback is in Very Fine condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Blade and/or Vampire collector and/or enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Highly Recommended.

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