Dracula Lives #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDracula Lives #4 marks the first appearances of Louis Belski and Liza Pyne, two supporting characters whose brief but memorable arcs — as a delusional B-movie actor who briefly believes himself the genuine vampire lord and the actress he victimizes — demonstrate the magazine's willingness to use Hollywood self-mythologizing as horror fodder. Because the title published outside the Comics Code Authority as a black-and-white magazine, Marv Wolfman and Mike Ploog could push the Count's predatory menace further than the color Tomb of Dracula comic allowed, giving the 'Fear Stalker' story an edge rare for Marvel's 1974 output. The cross-title thread seeded here — Belski and Pyne rising as newly turned vampires — carried directly into Werewolf by Night #19, an early example of Marvel's Bronze Age horror line weaving its black-and-white and color titles into a shared, self-reinforcing continuity. The issue also exemplifies the anthology DNA of Dracula Lives, packing a 76-page package with original stories by multiple creative teams, reprinted pre-Code Atlas horror strips, and editorial journalism from writers (including a young Chris Claremont) still early in their careers.
In "Fear Stalker," a 1974 Marvel classic, a village's terror turns inward when a young woman is accused of being a vampire—only for her lover to race against time to save her, uncovering a shocking truth: her brother is the true bloodthirsty predator. Joe Maneely's dynamic art brings the haunting tension to life, while Earl Norem's cover captures the dread with chilling precision.
In "When Calls the Vampire!", a young woman named Jo finds herself at the center of a village’s terror, accused of being a vampire while her lover desperately tries to protect her. As the mob closes in, the truth unravels: it’s her brother, not her, who feeds on the living, and when she tries to stop him, the horror turns inward.
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Dracula Lives was published not by Marvel Comics directly but by Magazine Management, its corporate sibling, under the Marvel Monster Group brand alongside sister titles Vampire Tales and Monsters Unleashed — a structure that exempted the line from Comics Code oversight. Issue #4 (cover-dated January 1974, on sale November 1973) was edited by Roy Thomas, then Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, with Marv Wolfman co-editing; Wolfman also scripted the lead 'Fear Stalker' story, which was penciled by Mike Ploog and inked by Ernie Chan — credited at the time under his Americanized name 'Ernie Chua.' The issue followed the format established by earlier numbers: multiple new stories by different creative teams, reprints of vintage Atlas horror strips, and text features covering Dracula's cultural history, with the painted cover supplied by Earl Norem.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Louis Belski: a washed-up Hollywood B-movie actor who played Dracula on screen and briefly goes mad believing himself to be the real vampire lord.
- First appearance of Liza Pyne: actress at Mallet Studios and co-star of Belski's film 'The Fangs of Dracula,' introduced as a victim of both her abusive producer McGruder and, ultimately, the Count himself.
- Both Belski and Liza Pyne are turned into vampires by the end of the issue's lead story, rising from the Los Angeles city morgue as the final scene.
- The lead story 'Fear Stalker' was written by Marv Wolfman with pencils by Mike Ploog and inks by Ernie Chan (credited as 'Ernie Chua'); the painted cover is by Earl Norem.
- The issue contains two additional original stories: 'This Blood is Mine!' (script by Gardner F. Fox, art by Dick Ayers) and 'Look Homeward, Vampire!' (script by Gerry Conway, art by Vicente Alcazar), plus reprints of pre-Code Atlas stories 'When Calls the Vampire!' and 'Of Royal Blood!'
- A text piece in the issue features a review of Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu's book 'In Search of Dracula' written by a young Chris Claremont.
- Belski and Pyne's story continued across titles: Belski hides on the studio lot between the story's two halves (referenced behind the scenes in Werewolf by Night #17), and both vampire characters return in Werewolf by Night #19, where they are destroyed by Jack Russell.
- The lead story was reprinted four times: in Dracula Lives (Marvel UK) #25 (April 1975), Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 4 (2005), The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 3 (2010), and Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2017).
Cast · 3 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Adventures into Terror #10 (1952), Journey into Unknown Worlds #29 (1954)
Reprinted in Dracula Lives #25 (1975), Dracula Lives Annual #1 (1975), Essential Tomb of Dracula #4 (2005), The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus #3 (2010), Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection #1 (2017), Marvel Masterworks: Tomb of Dracula #2 (2022), Dracula #4/1974, Dracula lever #3/1974, Dracula Lives! #4
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