Count Crapula
Having a bad costume foisted on you is demeaning enough, but a far sadder spectacle is a bad costume the recipient actually likes:
This revamp (get it, re-”vamp”?! I just slay myself!) is from the Golden Age of comics, when an intrepid publisher tried to cash in on the whole super-hero fad by combining spandex and Dracula. It must be frustrating to have all the supernatural power of the night and still no fashion sense, but he’s really pulled it off here. From the Daredevil like horns and spandex mask to the gigantic bat buckle holding up his underwear, you’d think at least he’d be granted the mercy of not being able to see his own reflection in a mirror like a real vampire, but no. Even that is forbidden him, and he is forced to endure his own sartorial horror for all eternity.
Now that’s a curse you can believe in.
Update: As several commenters pointed out, this is actually from a Dell comic in the 1960’s. That’s important because they had to make him non-scary due to the pernicious Comics Code. Remember kids, censorship leads to bad art, that’s key.
February 17th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
If Dracula likes it, i wouldn’t disagree!
February 17th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
The problem with this “curse” is that it does bother the cursed one.
It is really bad though.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
You think that’s bad, you should see the treatment they gave Frankenstein’s Monster.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_75ptQuFbEv0/S0qe7cU7R_I/AAAAAAAAD2Q/Y8Y7KUgwk_0/s1600-h/df4.jpg
February 17th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
I found a mistake with the panel. Drac has no reflection, due to no soul, so even though he obviously doesn’t see himself in the mirror, neither should anyone else, right?
February 17th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Wow, Ben, that is indeed craptacular! Thanks so much for sharing the link, I love it.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:27 am
@MartianBlue: As I understand the character, he is a descendant of Dracula who wants to make-up for his ancestors evil deeds by doing good. He is not the evil undead count of Transylvania.
@the good Mr. Hebert: If I’m not mistaken, Dell’s Dracula (and Werewolf and Frankenstein) were published in the Sixties.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:15 am
But now I may never know: Who Is The Awesome Screamer?
February 18th, 2010 at 5:41 am
The Dell Dracula book is from 1962, so that puts it firmly in the Silver Age, not Golden Age of comics. That is actually of importance here, as the main reason that this was not a “scary vampire book” is the Comics Code not allowing depiction of the undead.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:40 am
I think the costume doesn’t completely suck. Yes, it’s an obvious batman ripoff, and I’ll be damned if I know what’s going on with his nose, plus I’m not sure if he’d gone with the bat motif or cat motif. But otherwise it might work. It just doesn’t look all that Vampirish.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:06 am
@”Jazzy” Jeff Hebert: This could be a good idea a character contest. We could: A)give Dell’s Dracula a new costume, or B)create a hero inspired by a monster.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Thanks for the corrections fellows.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:45 am
The Awesome Screamer? I dated her in college.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:16 am
I think the most telling thing about the whole panel is that the speech bubble correctly labels this as his new “suit.” I can’t help but read that as being sarcastic. Yes Dracula, your “suit” looks “great.”
February 18th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Holy garlic, Jeff, he now is “Vampire-Bat-Man”!
February 18th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
About the Frankenstein cover: Is that spider making a fist? Because if it is….
February 18th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Dan Gonzalez, well said, sir. Well said.
February 19th, 2010 at 11:34 am
@Jeff: That Frankenstein picture Ben posted better be next week’s costume article!