Feb 1974
Death Rides the Rails!
by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, Tom Palmer, John Costanza, Roy Thomas
The vampire hunters pursue Dracula through Europe. Dracula finds Blade waiting for him in Paris next to one of the coffins whose location has been discovered. Blade and Dracula fight. The vampire wins the bout and bites Blade before leaving him unconscious and possibly dead.
Dracula takes refuge in Versailles with a farmer who is Dracula’s unwilling servant. The vampire departs after getting some rest and boards a train bound for Transylvania, unaware that Rachel Van Helsing and Frank Drake are also on board.
Two more passengers of whom Dracula is unaware, Ludwig Gruber (a courier) and Granét (Gruber's bodyguard) are also aboard the train. Gruber recognizes the vampire. He carries documents that must not fall into the wrong hands. Both men are killed in separate encounters with Dracula. Gruber dies jumping, with his case of precious documents, from the speeding train.
Doctor Sun and his followers test the specimen they retrieved from the morgue, the vampire known as Brand. He proves to be much more capable than the previous twelve they tested, none of whom survived the tests. Doctor Sun is pleased with the results
Rachel and Frank also cross paths with Dracula aboard the train. Frank wounds the vampire with a wooden stake. Dracula decides to run rather than risk defeat. He flies from the train before it reaches its destination.
The issue ends with one of the followers of Doctor Sun finding Gruber’s body and retrieving the case of documents.
Thoughts
I love the cover to this issue. It is fairly simple but very well executed by Gil Kane.
The train starts its journey in France and passes through Germany, Austria, and Hungary on its way to Transylvania.
Maybe Frank and Rachel weren't aboard the train when Dracula boarded. I would think he would use his supernatural abilities to scan the passengers before boarding to see if any of them posed a danger to him.
This installment felt a bit rushed. There was a fair amount of exposition packed into it. Hopefully the story will slow down in the next issue.
Notes
Jack Russell, the star of Werewolf by Night, appears very briefly in this issue. An editor's note promises that he will appear in the next issue.
Brand first appeared in Tomb of Dracula 9 (Jun 1973). This is the sixth issue in which he has appeared. He was a biker before getting turned into a vampire by Dracula in Tomb of Dracula 11 (Aug 1973). He appears in a few more issues of this series before dropping out of sight.
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