"Demons of Denak....No!"

Hey everybody. Miss me? Well my computer, which has needed to be cleaned up anyway, had a gazillion viruses on it, and had to be taken to the computer repairmen to be fixed. It was so bad, that the whole c-drive had to be completely erased! So basically Heather and I are starting over from scratch, trying to work the bugs out and all. We still haven't re-intalled everything, and while we did back-up a majority of programs, I think my Paint.net program is gone. This was my go to poor man's version of Adobe Photoshop I've used to make the skits and strips you all love so much. I don't know when everything will be fixed up, probably by the end of the week, so please bear with me as I sort shit out. This has really sucked ass for me, because my streak of contiunous posts has been broken. Don't worry though, I'll get back on the saddle again.

So, since I can't post new skits/strips, what's left to contribute to this humble blog? RANDOM COMIC REVIEW.....REVIEW.....REVIEW......

Is there an echo in here? Anyway, here's my contribution for today's post:

The Tomb of Dracula: Lord of the Vampires#44

Yes folks, as you can clearly see from the cover, Dracula battles Dr.Strange. I think this is the first official battles between the two; it certainly seems like it from the way they talk to each other. They would go on to fight each other again and again in other titles, until Dr.Strange used the magic book, The Darkhold, to kill every vampire on Earth. Of course, as we all know, that didn't last long, and Dracula and his crew have since returned in the pages of the X-Men. In case you didn't know, Dracula's had his share of run-ins with the X-Men before. In Uncanny X-Men#159-160, and again in UXM Annual#6. I myself only have UXM#159, and might review that particular issue some day.

Back to the review......

We start off with Dr.Strange looking intently and solemnly at a crystal orb. Seems he can't find his manservant Wong, and he's really worried. His worries are justified when he discovers that Wong's dead. Using the Eye of Agamotto to keep Wong in a form of suspended animation, Dr.Strange uses his astral self to peer inside Wong's mind to discover what happened. It appears that Wong interrupted Dracula while he was enjoying a late night's snack, and Dracula decided to teach Wong a lesson. Hey I can't say I blame the guy. I mean who doesn't hate to be bothered while trying to eat right? It's just plain rude! The sight of the savage attack on Wong causes Strange to leave Wong's mind and return to his own body. With this, Strange goes on to get revenge for Wong and fight Dracula. The story then goes to the offices of Midnight Publishing Co., where the readers are treated to the love story between love-sick writer Harold and the traget of his affections, Aurora Rabinowitz. Yeah, since I'm not a regular reader of this series I don't get why they're here in this story, but they are. Basically hot-looking Aurora is being asked out by nerdy Harold. Yeah, you know where this is going......Harold wants to know why Aurora isn't returning his calls, and Aurora let's him down easy. Well, not that easy. Here's how it went:
"Harold, you're a really nice, sweet person"
Wait for it........
"And poor little me should be flattered that a big-time writer like you thinks I'm ravishingly cute....
And here it comes.....
"But, frankly, Harold, I think you're a nerd!"
What a way to let a guy down huh? At least she's honest, but still, damn that's cold!
Anyway, the reader's attention is lead away to a creepy, old man stalking Dracula outside his then new home; his old now dead enemy, Dr.Sun's mansion. The old man reveals he has fangs too, and takes off to fight Dracula another day. Dracula is inside, trashing some computer monitors and other equipment. He does all this while go off on a triade that "Dracula still lives to fight another day, another foe", and stuff like that. That's just like old people who don't understand modern technology to just go and trash it physically and verbally. Oh yeah, and Blade's in this issue too. He's stalking some prey of his, but more on that later.
Back to Dr.Strange, who uses his Eye of Agamotto to track Dracula down to his new home. He finds him, and....the shit....is.....on! "By the omnipotent Oshtur! You killed my servant vampire, now you face Doctor Strange!" Strange blasts Dracula, temporially blinding him. Dracula quickly recovers and lunges at Strange. Strange counters, sending out the binding spells of the Rings of Raggador and the unbreakable Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Dracula. And of course Dracula breaks them. Strange then attacks Dracula's mind, making him face his past. We see Dracula back when he was a human prince of Transylvania, fighting who he thinks is an old turkish enemy of his. Strange mystically stabs Dracula and he falls. Dracula wakes up in the midst of a magially-induced nightmare, as Strange pleads for fang-face to help him heal Wong. Dracula's having none of this, and hypnotizes Strange into letting him bite him. "My eyes, Strange. Gaze deeply into my eyes! Let my will become yours!"
Dracula bites Strange, and seemingly kills him just like Wong. We're hit with the old "to be continued" bit, and wouldn't you know it, the story's continued in Strange's own comic. Dr.Strange#14 to be exact. We see Blade again getting ready to bounce on a vampire. The vampire turns out to be Hannibal King, Vampire Detective. The reader's promised to see the outcome of that fight next issue.
And that's that.....

Now, I don't have Dr.Strange#14 on me, but I think it's safe to say he gets better after this issue's cliffhanger.

Until next week.....