Description

Dracula: The Lady in the Tomb              One-shot Comic
Featuring the first ever comic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula’s Guest”, the original opening chapter to “Dracula” that was cut by Stoker’s editors in an effort to shorten the book. All in Glorious Black & White. Awesome!!
Writer: Steve Jones
Artist: Robert Schnieders
Letterer: Brent Carpenter
Editors: Mickie Villa, Dan Danko & Chris Ulm
Cover by: Robert Schnieders

Dracula’s Guest is a short story by Bram Stoker and published in the short story collection Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914). It was written as the first chapter for Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, but was deleted prior to publication as the original publishers felt was superfluous to the story.

When the editor of Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel was finalizing the version that would ultimately see print, what was the infamous second chapter of the book that was removed and never included in the first official Dracula canon? Here is that tale, originally called “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker it is now adapted into its own complete standalone story. “The Lady in the Tomb” is presented in Glorious Black & White.

Now, Eternity Comics presents, “Dracula: The Lady in the Tomb”, Ignoring local legends, Jonathan Harker’s walk through a haunted woods lands him in a deserted cemetery during a violent storm. He seeks shelter in an empty tomb, disregarding that it is Walpurgis Nacht – the night the dead rise from the grave…

Story/Spoilers
“Dracula’s Guest” follows an Englishman (whose name is never mentioned, but is presumed to be Jonathan Harker) on a visit to Munich before leaving for Transylvania. It is Walpurgis Night, and in spite of the hotelier’s warning to not return late, the young man later leaves his carriage and wanders toward the direction of an abandoned “unholy” village. As the carriage departs with the frightened and superstitious driver, a tall and thin stranger scares the horses at the crest of a hill. After a few hours, as he reaches a desolate valley, it begins to snow; as a dark storm gathers intensity, the Englishman takes shelter in a grove of cypress and yew trees. The Englishman’s location is soon illuminated by moonlight to be a cemetery, and he finds himself before a marble tomb with a large iron stake driven through the roof, the inscription reads: “Countess Dolingen of Gratz / in Styria / sought and found death / 1801”. The Englishman is disturbed to be in such a place on such a night and as the storm breaks anew, he is forced by pelting hail to shelter in the doorway of the tomb. As he does so, the bronze door of the tomb opens under his weight and a flash of forked lightning shows the interior, revealing a “beautiful woman with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly sleeping on a bier”. The force of the following thunder peal throws the Englishman from the doorway (experienced as “being grasped as by the hand of a giant”) as another lightning bolt strikes the iron spike, destroying the tomb and the now screaming woman inside. The Englishman’s troubles are not quite over, as he painfully regains his senses from the ordeal, he is repulsed by a feeling of loathing which he connects to a warm feeling in his chest and a licking at this throat. The Englishman summons courage to peek through his eyelashes and discovers a gigantic wolf with flaming eyes is attending him. Military horsemen are the next to wake the semi-conscious man, chasing the wolf away with torches and guns. Some horsemen return to the main party and the Englishman after the chase, reporting that they had not found ‘him’ and that the Englishman’s animal is “a wolf – and yet not a wolf”. They also note that blood is on the ruined tomb, yet the Englishman’s neck is unbloodied. “See comrades, the wolf has been lying on him and keeping his blood warm”. Later, the Englishman finds his neck pained when a horseman comments on it. When the Englishman is taken back to his hotel by the men, he is informed that it is none other than his expectant host Count Dracula that has alerted his employees, the horsemen, of “dangers from snow and wolves and night” in a telegram received by the hotel during the time the Englishman was away.

Comic is bagged & triple 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: Eternity Comics
Publication Date: January 1991
Format: BW, 32 pages, Comic, 10.20″ x 6.65″
UPC: None Stated

Collectible Entertainment note: One-shot Comic is in Fine – to Fine condition.  Nice!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Bram Stoker, Dracula and/or Horror collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Very Highly Recommended.

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