Tomb of Dracula #56

A wonderfully clever conceit anchors this 1977 installment of Marvel's most atmospheric horror series: the cover presents a lurid paperback novel — "Dracula: Lord of Vampires, by Harold H. Harold" — as if the Count's terrifying legend has crossed into pulp fiction. Gene Colan and Tom Palmer's cover art leaps right off that fictional book jacket, showing a snarling, cape-swirling Dracula lunging at a red-haired woman clutching a golden cross, while a curly-haired man thrusts another cross upward from below and a dark demonic beast lurks to the left beneath a full moon. It's a richly layered image that plays with the idea of Dracula as both monster and myth, perfectly setting the stage for Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's ongoing collaboration on "The Vampire Conspiracy!