The Failed Superhero Version of Dracula - Comic Tropes (Episode 55)

[@TheEndKing]

Dracula the vampire, famous for his brilliant cape. You're turning him into a superhero. What feature should you focus on?

[@AztecCroc]

I mean Dr. Dracula here wanted to clear his family name of the legend, so it kind of makes sense that he'd go for the least vampiric-looking costume he could.

[@JamesMC04]

His fangs, with which he injects a knock-out potion to put criminals under until they can be brought to justice. Dracula should be relocated to Latveria.

[@RawbeardX]

"a potion to cure brain damage" gotta love that kind of non specific alchemy

[@johnbockelie3899]

" There, The villain is empty of blood, you are safe now!!!, .......remember next time to call on me.....DRACULA !!!". ( Don't forget the Vampire bat signal.)

[@johnbockelie3899]

I thought this guy would be led by the ghost of Bela Lagosi.

[@johnbockelie3899]

Dracula ( devil's son.) As a Super hero. Batman, ........" Here Alfred, .......hold my beer."

[@johnbockelie3899]

" Hey guys , here comes Dracula !!!!, .....quick break out those wooden stakes, holy water and those silver crosses !!!!, this'll fix em !!!!." " Yea boss, who needs bullets ??."

[@Sewblon]

I can come up with a better origin story right now: Dracula: "They laughed at my theories in university. But if I am right, then this potion will turn me into a real vampire. Like my mythical ancestor." Eval: "Now that I have invaded this country, my missiles are within striking distance of London and Moscow simultaneously. Now I hold both the capitalist world and the socialist world hostage. I can re-define the world-order as I see fit." Dracula: "I may be a scientist and not a soldier. But I won't permit my country to be invaded. The choice is clear. I must test my serum on myself. I am Count Dracula. Vampiric protector of Transylvania." Dracula kills Eval and his men one by one by drinking their blood. Dracula: "one monster is dead. But what of me? The monster who survived? Only time will tell..."

[@nonedefense8296]

I'm picking up what you are putting down. Nice origin in a hurry. Tragic yet heroic.

[@GenreChowderStudios]

Gregory Bogosian 👏👏👏

[@gustavgnoettgen]

The original "I am legend" twist - _and the reason for it's title_

[@kennethjames4197]

Dude... Well done

[@RobertWilkinsonJKekMaloy]

Writer here. I’m in. Who’s your artist?

[@ARMIV4]

A guy whose only ability is to turn into a bat seems like he should have been called something entirely different. Like, a man who can become a bat should've been more aptly named... but to what I do not know...

[@nonedefense8296]

I like where you are going with this thought. Maybe his name should have been "flying mammal guy" putting fear into the hearts of small insects everywhere.

[@DarthPerkins]

Pipistrelle Guy. Perfect.

[@PHAToregon]

Fear the batman

[@austinreed7343]

Chirosapien?

[@AquaFan1998]

Vampire man!

[@HyperspacePictures]

Hey! Where's your comics code authority?! Drinking while reviewing a comic! That's it! I'm calling DRACULA to bring you in!

[@ComicTropes]

Joseph Grau That’s fair.

[@Ektalon]

All you need is a net to counter Dracula's "superpower".

[@jameswalker4397]

Dell didn't join the comics code authority because their bread and butter was Disney. Wholesome personified.

[@richardranke3158]

No one could make parents doubt Disney comics

[@GenericProtagonist118]

With all of Dracula's powers the one power this guy shares is literally the LAMEST vampire power out there. Don't get me wrong it's better then sparkling but not by much.

[@peterhuntervogel]

At the same time they also launched Frankenstein and the Werewolf as superheroes. A year later, in the anthology comic Super-Heroes (awarded "World's Most Obvious Title") they also created The Fab Four a team that, I thought at the time, actually had promise. There was a backup story in one issue that was about three kids/friends who could communicate telepathically and called themselves (as I remember) "The Tyros".

[@cliffarroyo9554]

I think you're thinking of the Tyro Team (a short one shot in Charlton Premier # 1..... I'm not sure how I feel about knowing that.

[@someotherstuff1018]

Chris, you are so insightful and entertaining. I hope the next generation of comics writers utilizes your work to keep making books better.

[@cheritripp9470]

Actually it was the combination of the serum and mineral water that caused the transformation. And doing the transformation by will power in later issues (only one more) may had been his body adjusting to the serum. In the third issue (relocted to the US) Dracula decided to go in another direction seeing the city he lived in had another superhero (Dell's Frankenstein Monster). He would go after supernatural criminals. That last issue was also when he attained a female sidekick. Fleeta (German word for bat) Reason I know all this was because I brought the third issue on a whim years ago from a comic bargain box.

[@richardranke3158]

I bought those Monster-comics off the stands in 1966,:-) I kept them for years and still have the issues now.

[@HCC788]

This is hilarious! LOL'd at "What's this supposed country called? Springfield?". Nice voice acting for the Boris Eval character. :)

[@gustavgnoettgen]

**Yellow skinned characters intensify*

[@HetLedie]

@@gustavgnoettgen orange skinned characters intensify

[@silverlightsinaugust2756]

Personally I always liked characters with really specific or minor powers other people would make fun of to see all the ways that these seemingly useless abilities aren’t so useless... as long as you’re creative about it.

[@ianfinrir8724]

That's a recurring idea in My Hero Academia, not all powers are amazing and flashy but it's not what your power is it's what you can do with it (granted, that gets thrown out the window pretty quickly)

[@silverlightsinaugust2756]

@@ianfinrir8724 I don’t feel like it gets thrown out the window. As late as the Class A versus Class B arc, we’re still seeing people use their powers in ways nobody else thought of, and surpassing the limits other people considered them to have.

[@elijahblechman8633]

Dell also did a "Superhero" version of Frankenstein. Could be a nice topic for a future episode.

[@AquaFan1998]

Dracula vs Frankenstein: dawn of horror

[@kylecarter1599]

It's like MyCocaine said in that Batman movie - "Some men just wanna watch the world burn"

[@JK-kt3tk]

I wonder why you picked that voice for Eval...

[@mau_victorino]

The JK4 Network lol awesome Trump impersonation

[@mikemutant9083]

BadPeople1100 this reply aged wonderfully didn’t it?

[@captainh5329]

yo bruh you annihilated any chance of a comeback

[@heartbust4624]

Mike Mutant and why didn't it?

[@presterjohn71]

One year later we now know that pretty much none of what Trump says he does actually happens and is just a con man conning the rubes of America.

[@DavidSmith-ov1tt]

dude this is your funniest video so far and really the drink just accentuates that, good job and sweet channel

[@harrietr.5073]

Fun fact: Doctor Doom of marvel does not recognise Count Dracula as a count. He also has a piece of the cross Jesus in his armour incase Dracula attacks.

[@thomasleblanc9024]

I love the way he reads this one I'm fuckin dyin

[@VegaStar1010]

Dell released Ghost Stories #1, 1962 that remains ,until this very day, the scariest comic I have ever read. How about going over that one for us one of these days.

[@jasonscott3579]

I actually kind of like this guy. I do have a soft spot for underdog characters with weird or minor powers who are still trying to make it as a superhero with all the heavy hitters. Dracula decides he wants to do good, and trains himself for that purpose. Sure, he does it too quickly in a montage, but that's quite common in fiction. The basic idea of using one's powers for good and bettering oneself through discipline and training is still solid. And turning small and flying is unimpressive, but there's a DC character Blue Jay who does exactly that and still has, or had, stories told about him. The Wasp has that power set, though she's pumped up by having her wasp's sting. Give this super-scientist the ability to control bats, which he kind of already has, and he'd be a version of Ant Man. The costume's silly, for sure, but a few tweaks to the head piece and it would've looked something like the Phantom, who also has a purple body suit. Overall, I like to think something interesting could've been done with this guy through some sharper, funner art and writing. Again, though, I am more inclined to give characters like this a pass.

[@StewyAdamRules]

We need a superhero team with this guy, 711, Civilian Justice, and NFL Superpro.

[@EmoEmu]

>Having nuclear weapons. >Being afraid they'll tip over from some bats flying around. When he wears the suit and turns into the bat, does the little bat wear the suit? If not then why have the suit at all since he'll just be a regular human in a stupid suit?

[@thekingofcheese9005]

Ah yes, as the descendant of Dracula, the source of his powers should naturally be: science potion and weightlifting.

[@PokeMaster22222]

Tonic water? I've never been able to tolerate the bitterness of it; I like to call it "toxic water", changing one letter, to emphasise how disgusting I find it.

[@samt5911]

Interesting that Hanna Barbera is mentioned in this same vid. They actually made a cartoon called Drac Pack in which Dracula decides to become a good guy to atone for past evils. He recruits one of his descendants, Drac Jr., and a descendant of the Frankenstein monster and the wolfman. Together they battle against some evil scientist guy and his minions

[@Xehanort10]

"Evil vampire who kills innocent people by drinking their blood and turning them into vampires themselves." Dell Comics: Hero material there. And instead of a vampire we'll make him a guy who turns into a bat after the formula he created to cure brain damage falls into his water. At least Morbius being an anti hero made sense because he realised that he might never be cured so he decided to kill and drink from evil people instead of feeding off people at random.

[@tonebone7449]

Dell didn't adopt the comics code, and did very well during the code years, because they were such a trusted brand name. They were identified with the Disney brand, and to a lesser extent, the Looney Tunes brand, and were a trusted household name among parents. the comics code didn't kill them, the loss of their licensed properites did.

[@HeroJournalism]

That's fascinating that they didn't adopt the code, did not know that thx for sharing

[@richardranke7878]

Not even Dr.Wertham could make parents doubt Disney.:-)

[@Quixotepr]

I remember that they also made Frankenstein as a superhero. I had an issue called Frankenstein against the tricky computer, or sort of. Then I thought it was pretty neat to see the monster of Frankenstein as a superhero. The story was not that bad, but I think they cancelled after a few issues.

[@Relfar2]

Boris voice was *chef's kiss*

[@thelongtony]

There's also a comic anime which presents Dracula as hero

[@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj]

It was a big thing during the period after the Wertham crusades to show kids scenes of their heroes exercising, taking care of their diets, and studying. I think it might have been an effort to be seen as a positive influence.

[@richardranke7878]

I wish you'd covered the next two issues of Dracula. I fondly remember all of these Monster-Superhero comic books and regretted that they only lasted three issues each. (At the time I was in 7th grade.)

[@Collector261]

What about the Dell super hero's version of ''Frankenstein'' and ''Werewolf'' ? They came out at the same time and all lasted for three issues.

[@MichaelRBrown-lh6kn]

Actually the Dell-Western partnership, Dell provided the money and Western actually had most of the talent. So when they split, Western had no problem creating Gold Key, whereas Dell had to get new talent. Others have delved into it.

[@DwellerHollowMusic]

The low-key Drumpf imitation for the bad guy...nice touch

[@gypsysyah]

Haha!! Boris's voice. So fitting. I love it.

[@CollegeDroputPowerpoints]

He makes Boris sound like a cool villain. Competent at least

[@mau_victorino]

That cover looks like a hybrid between Batman and the Phantom lol 😂 And right as I think that, I hear you say "this guy is a wimp, not dangerous at all" - TALK ABOUT SHATTERED HOPES lol

[@alysilent3807]

i loved the comic actually, but for a very wrong reason . the main hero is so careless, goofy and cute lol. especially when he's in a bat form. i couldn't stop "awwing" at that cute bat face and his little paws. and that bat trainind! AAAWWW soooooo adorable!!! ty for this beautiful video

[@GodKaiserHell]

Your voice of General? Eval just cracks me up. Thanks for the video.

[@adamsmashups4839]

I was too distracted by the Warrior and Santa panel.

[@timwenburg3393]

Was the assumed name Alucard?

[@TOTALLYUNFOUNDEDFOOTAGE]

Tim Wenburg Ha, Son Of Dracula, Atlas Comics, Fright#1, Frank Thorne

[@naturesinterface6663]

Wikipedia claims "Al U. Card."

[@richardranke7878]

@@naturesinterface6663 Yeah, I remember those stories. I was under 12 when I read them and looking back I was surprised I didn't get the secret identity name for years.(Aloysus Ulysees Card.)

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Let _me_ pay that... with my trusty _Alucard_ 🎩💸

[@gustavgnoettgen]

@@richardranke7878 "Emit Flesti" in a certain Wim Wenders movie I love. Hint: it's neither 'Platoon' nor Raimi's '01 'Spiderman'...

[@Mgauge]

"With my powers of turning into a small flying mammal and recently starting a mild fitness routine, I can be the hero the world needs!"

[@Agamemnon2]

speaking of Disney comics, a fun future episode might be the Scrooge McDuck adventures of Don Rosa, phenomenally popular in parts of Europe but very unknown in the States. In interviews here, Rosa used to joke about how he has two hundred people lining up for a signature in Finland, but in the US, his next door neighbor didn't know what he did for a living.

[@johnminehan1148]

Dell had GREAT war comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including some great work by Sam Glanzman.

[@rickehall4535]

So good ol Dr drac here studied brain damage victims? After hearing the story here the creator must have been speaking from experience.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Imagine Bruce Wayne's background story but twisted and bend like comrade Superman. A young vampire looses his clan or some and ends up living a vigilant double identity as a human. Feel free to decide who his foes would be, the potential is vast.

[@johnminehan1148]

They reprinted a lot of those about 1972. It had a lot of attempts at Marvel Julie Schwartz-at-DC-type Continuity. It was your basic attempt to cash in on Batmania.

[@CougarLeonII]

Since we never learn what his first name is... I vote that we start calling him "Maurice Dracula".

[@aldi404]

His first name is obviously "Count" :)

[@coolcoolercoolest212]

Dracula is weirdly endearing.

[@martinchristain4964]

Oh my God! You had me laughing so hard I had tears running down my sides. Glad I 'm a subscriber. 🤣😂

[@vincentfranklin17]

Dell tried the same thing with Frankenstein , and The Wolf Man.

[@Rometiklan]

hahA! Love the history lesson. These titles blazed the way for future comics. Keep these gems coming!

[@JosephCantu-qq1yr]

When Dracula said it was a miracle the box was unharmed I have expected the next panel to be a random bat just blinking knowingly like a 70 sitcom because he had somehow got in the box and flown it to safety before the crash Winking bats are tight

[@jamescole7930]

This is super bad, but it is a product of its time. If you can ( and not to take shots at anyone) but look in an honest and unprejudiced look at , the big three of marvel tales of suspense and take to astonish . Captain America, Ironman and Thor. Stan lee ( yes the father of marvel writers) and pay attention to how bad, hokey and overly wordy all these books are. Again Stan , Jack, Don and Steve are the very solid foundation of marvel. But hookey smokes!! What a disaster in the script portion of these early marvel comics. So the 1960’s for most companies were so bad. But we do love ( most of) them. Great job on the video again Chris.

[@spinchsprimkle6541]

At 10:45, Instead of "I.. I forgot something", I would have said, "I... I need to make a boom-boom"

[@needfoolthings]

"...a potion to repair brain damage" - The Irony.

[@owenoulton9312]

Actually, I enjoyed the first issue of Dell's The Werewolf, which involved a super-powered spy with a real wolf sidekick. Mind you, I was nine in 1966...

[@almightytallestred]

5:44 Those pesky bats with their useless sonar, always bumping into things....... hey, wait a minute!

[@philiphunn194]

Liking the use of that Trump voice for the villain :)

[@deadpilled2942]

Somebody was enjoying their jin and tonic. This was hilarious

[@adinocc2042]

Also, I psyched to see this episode because I'd read a funny top 10 list called "10 Naff Comics" years ago in a magazine called amazing heroes, and this was one of the 10! He calls himself Al U. Card later on! C'mon!😂🤣😂🧛‍♂️❗

[@RealRoknRollr3108]

You crack me up man, thus I have subscribed!

[@kurumais]

well dell came out with frankenstein and werewolf so they must have thought these were going to grab and audience.

[@MrYTGuy1]

Dude you're getting a Dell! 🖥 Yeah that's about what I imagined a Dell Dracula would be. Turns out getting a Dell is disappointing whether you're talking about computers or comics 😈👻

[@strattgatt5303]

Your Baldwin impression is spot on.

[@owenmadden7577]

I read these when they were reprinted in the early 70s. I loved ir!

[@luismangiaterra1031]

Even better than a Batman or x-men comic. Anything Is better than Marvel or DC. How many x-men comics do you wanna read a million?

[@owenmadden7577]

@@luismangiaterra1031 no. I don't judge things like that. Batman & X Men are everywhere. Every story of significance is in one collected edition or another. Something like this Dracula, though; perhaps collected together with the other "monsters as heroes" from the same line, would make for a delightful graphic novel that I would buy in a heartbeat.

[@luismangiaterra1031]

@@owenmadden7577 I was reading Marvel in the early 60s off the rack so by the early 70s I was already burnt out on them and read anything but Marvel and DC.

[@PokeMaster22222]

7:29 Also, "a perfect a perfect". You're freaking *kidding* me; they couldn't even hire a decent grammar checker to review their milquetoast crap?

[@rcct44444]

I actually like the dell comics monster heroes. I even wrote characters like that into my story.

[@milmil5350]

lol this video was hilarious and well-done. And I love your impression of Eval 💕😆

[@PatrolOfficer161]

I wrote and drew a comic strip of me and my friends as commandos in WWII (ala Sgt. Fury) when I was 11 or 12. I wished I knew Dell was looking for good stuff then because this wasn't all that much better.

[@cliffarroyo9554]

As goofy as it is, I actually kind of love this character.... even the art. As a kid I didn't like Tallarico but later I saw a kind of primitive vitality that was missing in a lot of more 'polished' artists.

[@clintonrawls]

Dell should have taken a cue from Ed Wood and named this guy Dr. Acula.

[@paulwilkinson8977]

Lmao dude seizing the castle's real identity John F. Trump? Just started following the other day but your channel is great. Much love from Sacramento.

[@eerievibes6854]

Sacramento is strictly fly over

[@filosofenvacker1226]

Gay!

[@ianfinrir8724]

Remember parents, Dell Comics are GOOD comics.

[@CharcoalRabbit]

7:07 I like how you make Boris Eval sound like Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents. Dracula as a superhero can’t work, the original Dracula and the real one is a monster and a villain! There’s a reason why Dracula Untold didn’t work!

[@KardboardKenny]

can't be worse than Archie's take on The Shadow.

[@cheritripp9470]

I saw a panel of that somwhere. Ouch! 😑 And there's Dell's other two Universal Monsters superheroes; The Frankenstein Monster (a red clad strongman with green skin and white crew cut) and The Wolfman (a so-called special force soldier)

[@gr8kat1]

I cut my comics teeth on my dad's old Dell and Gold Key Disney comics.

[@bryedtan]

I think Boris is supposed to be Josef Stalin I think but yeah considering the hair of this guy I can see why you made the voice impression And those soldiers as you say look like Hotel doormen rather than soldiers

[@1971thedoctor]

Great history lesson about dell would like to learn more about the older comic companies.

[@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793]

I can't imagine what kind of lunatic would do this!

[@ghin1091]

Jesus, It is the same story as Young Frankenstein.

[@richardranke3158]

Fronkensteen.:-)

[@soterioncoil2163]

this was fun to watch. I laughed. I did not cry.

[@JoshuaEFinley]

This should have been how Universal should have started the Dark Universe!

[@dolphquick2686]

You know a comic book is terrible when you have to get liquored up to read it.

[@lardesouza]

I HAD THIS COMIC :) What a weird story take it was :)

[@joeltbb]

You do an awesome voice acting here, hahahaha

[@jamesmcdermott6919]

Might have been the inspiration for Dr Karl Langstrom the Man-Bat. Or Michael Morbius the Living Vampire.

[@pqcowboychanel]

Not really, they don’t have a lot in common

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

4:14 You are a regular Rich Little! Haha Haha

[@ianbeale5980]

Its horribly written but I like the visuals of the table scene, seems like a neat little nod to Bram Stoker and the subsequent films

[@thomasswafford250]

Wasn't there a comic called The Bat about 20 years ago? I saw an ad for it in a Preview.

[@theotakux5959]

Eval can't use Springfield for his plan, I hear Cobra has dibs.

[@CODBlackOps6WALKTHROUGH]

i wanted to put a joke about the super hero story dracula untold but then it just got sad

[@timeliebe]

OMG, I read the two episodes of this comic as a kid! I remember thinking, "Why does Dracula look like Mighty Mouse...?" One question-was cartoonist Tony Tallarico related to game music composer Tommy Tallarico, who used to co-host G4's ELECTRIC PLAYGROUND with Victor Lucas?

[@knyght27]

Does the comic have the word 'vampire' anywhere?

[@FayeMorgana]

I read that when it first came out.My older brother got me into reading comix

[@malusignatius]

"That's a pretty fast bat..." Maybe he's a Foxbat?

[@mikealstat148]

I like how you used your best Trump voice for Eval lol

[@808v1]

ahhh Mr.Gin and Mr.Tonic guest star on this episode!

[@DansBasement]

I love your animated chan intros. How do you create them?

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

What a trip! Not great but silly. I kinda wish this Drac was also public domain. He'd be much more interesting in the hands of other people