2016 Comic Challenge 145 Planet of the Apes & Dracula Lives #90 UK release

TITLE-Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives #90

PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I had heard of various UK b/w weeklies that reprinted and even published new stories featuring all kinds of stuff Marvel had the rights to over the years. But I had never seen or heard of a title that combined Planet of the Apes with Marvel's take on Dracula.

 Under the cover there is this nice pin up on the inside front cover. It is signed in the bottom right corner but I have no idea who it is.

 I am guessing this lead off story is reprinted from the Marvel Planet of the Apes magazine.Doug Moench handles the story chores. And the always great Mike Ploog does the art duties. There is 7 pages of Ploog's gorgeous artwork. And these 7 pages just confirmed that I need to track down more issues of the POTA magazine from Marvel.

 Dracula Lives has been reprinted,but slightly censored,in the Essential Tomb of Dracula trades. I have read the color comic,but never this B/W magazine.This 8 pager has Doctor Sun and even Blade,looking nothing like he does now.The late Gene Colon and Tom Palmer get the art credits. And Marv Wolfman,who also wrote the color comic,gets the writing credit. It is not a bad little story. I wish there was more. But I can understand that with this being a weekly title they gave you short pieces of more stories.

Third is the Man Thing story NIGHT OF THE LAUGHING DEAD!!This was originally in the color Man-Thing series.And was even made into a Power Record read-along record.The late Steve Gerber wrote the story. And Mike Ploog is once again doing the art. IIRC this story was 2 issues of the comic. So getting only 6 pages is kind of a rip. I still can't hate on a comic that got CCA approved,and made into a read along record for young kids,would have this sequence.

Yep a circus clown wanders out into Man-Thing's part of the Everglades. And the clown commits suicide.

Kazar is not only the last comic in the title,but also has the most pages with 10 pages.The final page is on the inside back cover. Never been a Kazar fan. No clue what this is reprinted from.I am guessing made from some of the Kazar stuff in the Astonishing Tales magazine. Gerry Conway is the writer. And John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala are the artists. The art is nice,but the story is blah.

One of the things that really stood out to me in this comic is how few ads there is.In the 33 pages there is 2 ads. Yeah 2 ads.

I remember having a few Corgi diecast cars. But never knew there was a Kojak's Buick model.

I really have no clue what this is. If anyone remembers this product or knows more about it please contact me here on the blog.

Outside of the Kazar story,this was a good read. Good to great artwork. And I like the format of getting a mixture of genres.

Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives #90 gets a Buy.