Tomb of Dracula #10

History

Writer Marv Wolfman came up with the concept for Blade on his own and brought him to Tomb of Dracula only three issues into his own tenure on the book, which had already cycled through multiple writers before Wolfman stabilized the series starting with issue #7. Wolfman conceived Blade fully formed — including the signature bandolier of wooden knives — and then worked closely with penciller Gene Colan over the phone to define the character's look; Colan modeled Blade's features on a composite of Black actors including Jim Brown, and designed the leather jacket and overall heroic silhouette himself. The issue's cover was drawn by Gil Kane with inks by Tom Palmer, while interior art was inked by Jack Abel — one of the few issues in the run where Tom Palmer did not ink Colan's pencils. Roy Thomas served as editor. Wolfman would later acknowledge in interviews that he pulled Blade back from the book for a stretch after this debut, partly because he felt his dialogue for the character needed work and partly because he feared Blade would eclipse the series' other protagonists.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Blade (Eric Brooks), the vampire hunter, in the story titled 'His Name Is… Blade!' — cover-dated July 1973, with an on-sale date of April 17, 1973.
• Created by writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan; inked by Jack Abel; cover by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer; edited by Roy Thomas.
• In his debut, Blade is depicted as a human vampire hunter armed with teak-wood (not yet teakwood-and-garlic-infused) knives — the dhampir/half-vampire origin is not present in this issue and would be introduced in Tomb of Dracula #13.
• The issue establishes Blade's defining character tension: he holds Quincy Harker's decades of failure to kill Dracula in contempt, refuses to work within the group, and departs to hunt on his own terms after the dockside vampire fight.
• Clifton Graves — Dracula's treacherous human minion who had appeared throughout the series — meets his apparent death in this issue when Dracula abandons him aboard a bomb-rigged cruise ship; he would make one further appearance in issue #20.
• The cover, dominated by Blade's figure pulling focus from the titular Dracula, was the first public image of the character ever published.
• The issue has been reprinted extensively, including: Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 (2004, black and white), the Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 1 (2008), Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2017), a Marvel Facsimile Edition (January 2020), Marvel Masterworks: Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 (2021), and the Blade: The Early Years Omnibus (2023).
• Blade was later portrayed by Wesley Snipes in three films (1998–2004) whose commercial success is widely credited with revitalizing the superhero film genre; the character also appeared in the MCU film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

Cast · 6 characters

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