Creepy Comics Cavalcade: Dracula Crosses The Wrong Hero In ‘Superman’ #180

The biggest constant in comics fandom is who will win in a fight. In 2002’s Superman #180, perhaps one of the biggest versions of that question was answered, and it made for an incredibly fun issue.

Superman in the early 2000’s was going through a renaissance. The line was generally one of the most well-received periods of its publication from the Brainiac 13 virus story that relaunched the line through the Our Worlds at War crossover until it ended in 2004. Several points were higher than others, and unfortunately the immediate aftermath of Our Worlds at War wasn’t one of them.

A bright spot in that slightly more aimless point was this one-off story in which Superman encountered Dracula. The line was trying to set up a new version of General Zod, who had taken over a small Eastern European nation. It was easy to make a jump from Zod to another famous Eastern European ruler.

Jeph Loeb, Geoff Johns, Ian Churchill, Norm Rapmund, Tanya & Richard Horie, and Comicraft creep Superman and Lois out in Castle Dracula.

Lois, Clark and Jimmy have traveled to Transylvania chasing a story. General Zod is amassing an army at the border of Pokolistan, and the trio want to see what they find at its neighbor. However, they might be in over their heads as Count Rominoff might actually be another famous Eastern European Count…

This issue is genuinely creepy through most of its page time. The creative team paces the story well, with a fantastic build up over such a short time. The Count and his companion both give off eerie vibes, even if their designs are extremely of their time (the soul patch!). I don’t know that Churchill was the right artist for this story but he does make Castle Rominoff look incredible, and his Lois looks incredible (a must for any Dracula story).

I think the two strongest points are Loeb’s narration and the Hories’ colors. Loeb takes the themes and general feel of a Dracula story, and combines it with his characterization of Lois. She’s still strong and resilient, and that makes the clouding of her mind by Dracula even more horrific and tense.

The Hories are fantastic color artists who have sort of vanished, and that’s a shame. When Dracula is on the page, the colors washed out, leaving only grey and red. When the sun comes out, color bursts onto the page, subtly showing what is going to be Dracula’s undoing- Superman’s solar powered body.

Yes, the ending is a bit cheesy- Superman defeats Dracula without doing anything but getting bitten. His solar powered cells do the rest. What leads up to it is tense and well written though. This is an issue absolutely worth picking up this Halloween season.

Superman #180 can be found in various collections, and is available digitally and in the back issue bins of your local comic store.