Tomb of Dracula help

[Mr. Satanism]

First off, hello hello to everyone! It's been a long time since I posted!

So, with the upcoming release of the Marvel Horror Omnibus I've decided to pursue an old goal of mine: owning all of the 1970s Marvel horror output featuring continuing characters. With the purchase of the Omnibus (which I pre-ordered yesterday!), a couple of trade paperbacks, and a handful of single issue B&W magazines, I'll have basically everything, including the third and fourth-rate characters (Hodiah Twist, anyone?) and the one-offs who were clearly considered as possible ongoing characters but didn't even come close to making it (Lady Daemon, Manphibian). Only two things are stymieing me: the lack of a comprehensive Morbius collection (although I suspect one may be coming, as a similar Man-Wolf collection is scheduled for release this fall), and friggin' Tomb Of Dracula.

Why Tomb, arguably the most famous, best-written of them all? Because there are so many collected variations I can't figure out which one to buy, especially when they all seem to have their problems. The Essentials are off the table since I want the color comics in color. There are three Omnibuses which appear to collect everything (including the B&W magazine material, which I want), but two of them are out of print and fetching absurd, delusional Amazon seller prices. Another TPB collected edition seems to have been discontinued halfway through the series, and the current "Complete" TPB collection isn't complete (yet) so there's no way of knowing if the magazines will be included. And, of course, the first "Complete" volume is already OOP.

So, finally, my question. Those of you who have purchased any of the above: What are your opinions of the version you have? Are you happy with it? Is it relatively complete, including the Giant Size and magazine appearances? Would you trade the version you have for another, if possible? In short, which version do you think is the best/most comprehesive?

[Mr. Satanism]

I'm definitely going to get both B&W series, either in a reprinted Omni or at least the Essentials

Captain Comics said:

Richard Willis said:

To add insult to injury, one of the few Essentials I bought (Howard the Duck) has a detail in a panel that was originally printed in color ink. Instead of making sure that it was printed in black ink, they dropped the ball. It's just a blank space where the art should be.

I had the same experience with a Showcase Presents: World's Finest volume, where important text on the cover of one issue was in red ink on the original, and was simply a white space in the B&W collection. I went online to mycomicshop.com to look at the cover in color to find out what was written there, but still. A little quality control, please?

As to Tomb of Dracula, I have to beg off as well, as I have all the originals and have never felt the need for duplication. I will say that it's the series Gene Colan was born to draw. Also, if any collection includes Dracula Lives material, you should snatch it up. Some of it was mediocre, but some was very good. Roy Thomas and Neal Adams crafted an origin for Vlad Tepes involving the historical Turkish attacks on Wallachia, and it delighted the Lil Capn. I assume it holds up.

[Mr. Satanism]

I feel that way about all the good 1970s monster comics. Drac, Werewolf, even the Frankenstein Monster although the later is certainly the weakest of the Big 3. I think the short-lived Mummy strip was better than average, too, and very underrated.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

In my own defense, as far as the b&w ToD is concerned, it's not just the Gene Colan artwork (I did replace Gene Colan Daredevil Essentials with Masterworks, after all), but also the subject matter. For me, reading a ToD Essential is like watching an old Universal Studios horror film.

[Richard Willis]

The slightly annoying part of Werewolf by Night to my too-familiar-with-jurisdictions brain was that the LAPD was going all over the place to locations not inside the City of Los Angeles. I have the same issue when watching reruns of Columbo and The Rockford Files.