Tomb of Dracula #51

The cover of this December 1976 Marvel issue sets the stakes high: Dracula — caped and commanding — grapples mid-air with Blade, who strikes back with a wooden stake while wielding a blade of his own, as a shocked crowd of onlookers watches the chaos unfold below. A chilling speech bubble from the Lord of Vampires himself warns Blade that his newly turned nature means obedience or destruction, framing what promises to be a ferocious confrontation. Gene Colan's pencils and Tom Palmer's inks bring a kinetic, gothic energy to "The Wildest Party" that shows this long-running horror series firing on all cylinders in 1976.