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.
If Dracula likes it, i wouldn’t disagree!
The problem with this “curse” is that it does bother the cursed one.
It is really bad though.
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
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?
Wow, Ben, that is indeed craptacular! Thanks so much for sharing the link, I love it.
@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.
But now I may never know: Who Is The Awesome Screamer?
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.
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.
@”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.
Thanks for the corrections fellows.
The Awesome Screamer? I dated her in college.
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.”
Holy garlic, Jeff, he now is “Vampire-Bat-Man”!
About the Frankenstein cover: Is that spider making a fist? Because if it is….
Dan Gonzalez, well said, sir. Well said.
@Jeff: That Frankenstein picture Ben posted better be next week’s costume article!