Tomb of Dracula #23

Dracula looms enormous and menacing across this August 1974 cover, his cape spread wide like bat wings as a terrified woman in pink flees toward a brooding haunted house below him — a beautifully composed image from the pencils of Gil Kane, inked by Tom Palmer. The cover copy promises exorcism, the Lord of Vampires, and a "soul-shuddering secret" in the story "Shadow Over Haunted Castle," setting an atmosphere of Gothic dread that Marvel's Tomb of Dracula delivered so well in this era. Inside, the creative team of writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan (also inked by Palmer) brings that chill to life in the story "Shadows in the Night!" — a fine issue for anyone who loves their horror comics with genuine atmosphere.