MARVEL MONSTERS: DRACULA LIVES! NO. 1 (PART 1)

DRACULA LIVES!
Vol. 1 No. 1
June 1973
Publisher: Stan Lee, Marvel Comics Group
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Boris Vallejo
Pages: 72

After the "Golden Age" of monster magazines waned in the 1960s, the next decade saw their next phase re-emerge from the most unlikeliest of sources ... comics. Granted, comics had always been fertile ground for all manner of beasts and the supernatural, but, beginning in the early 1970s, it was Marvel Comics Group that heralded the "Bronze Age" (as comics are classified from 1970-1985) of monster magazines.

Marvel's publisher, Stan Lee had dabbled during the 60s monster craze with MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH and MONSTERS UNLIMITED, but these were essentially humor magazines. Reintroduced with titles and characters such as TOMB OF DRACULA, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN, GHOST RIDER, and the always-ready for resuscitation, MAN-THING, monsters had a new home, and a new lease on, er, life. Their popularity quickly spread and suddenly, monsters were hot again. Ever on the prowl to exploit a new commodity, Marvel decided to expand some of their more popular titles into magazine format.

The first issue of DRACULA LIVES! appeared with the cover date of 1973 (no month is given, but the release date was June). Using the winning combination of new strips, reprints from 1950s monster titles, and text and photo stories, there was enough for any monster fan to feast on. Edited by the reliable comics maven, Roy Thomas, and with help from writers and artists like Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, Dick Giordano and Pablo Marcos, DL appeared to be a hit right out of the coffin.

Contents:

A Poison Of The Blood (Gerry Conway/Gene Colan & Tom Palmer).

Suffer Not A Witch! (Roy Thomas/Alan Weiss & Dick Giordano).
Dracula Is Alive And Living On Madison Avenue (Roy Thomas).
Zombie! (Writer unknown/Tony DiPreta) reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #5 Feb. 1953.
Ghost Of A Chance! (Writer unknown/Artist unknown) reprinted from Adventures Into Terror #8 Feb. 1952, original title ‘The Miracle’.
What Can You Say About A Five-Hundred Year Old Vampire Who Refuses To Die? (Marv Wolfman).
Fright! (Stan Lee/Russ Heath) reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #5 Feb. 1953.
To Walk Again In Daylight! (Steve Gerber/Rich Buckler & Pablo Marcos).