Frank Drake is a fictional character appearing in Marvel Comics, most notably the Tomb of Dracula series created by Gerry Conway. This article is about the comic book company. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. ... Gene Colan (born September 1, 1926, the Bronx, New York City, New York) is an American comic book artist who sometimes worked under the name Adam Austin. ... Gerard F. Gerry Conway (September 10, 1952 - ) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. ... Quincy Harker is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. ... The Nightstalkers is a fictional trio in the Marvel Comics universe who had reluctantly banded together to fight occult and supernatural threats. ... The Midnight Sons was a short-lived team of supernatural heroes in the Marvel Comics universe. ... A fictional character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a work of fiction. ... This article is about the comic book company. ... Tomb of Dracula is a horror comic book published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. ... Gerard F. Gerry Conway (September 10, 1952 - ) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. ...

Frank Drake was a direct descendant of Count Dracula. However, his bloodline is based on one of Dracula's marriages before Dracula became a vampire. Throughout the generations, Frank's ancestors would eventually change their surname to Drake to remove themselves from the unwanted connotations of their ancestry. Dracula is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Vampires are fictional characters found in the Marvel Universe. ...

Fictional character biography

Frank Drake is introduced as a millionaire playboy who had squandered his inheritance and now had nothing more than an ancestral castle in his assets. Planning to sell it, Drake and friends traveled to Transylvania where the castle was located. it was discovered that this was the castle of Count Dracula, though Drake never truly believed in the Dracula legends. Drake and his friends stumble across the skeleton of Dracula and accidentally resurrect him. Drake narrowly escaped death when Dracula recognized Drake as a descendant. Drake eventually relocated to London.^[1] This article is about the region in Romania. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Broke and in despair, Drake attempted to commit suicide but was saved by Rachel van Helsing and Taj Nital, two vampire hunters.^[2] Through them, Drake met Quincy Harker, a descendant of Jonathan Harker whose tale was told in Bram Stoker's novel. Rachel, of course was a great granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing. Drake learned that Dracula had eventually caused the death of Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing some years after they had defeated him in the book's events. Quincy, Rachel, and Taj (whose family had been killed by vampires) were dedicated to killing Dracula and his vampiric followers. Frank Drake joined Quincy Harker's band of vampire hunters under the close tutelage of Rachel van Helsing and Quincy Harker.^[3] Rachel van Helsing is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. ... Quincy Harker is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. ... Jonathan Harker is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... Helsing and Van Helsing redirect here. ...

Drake soon encountered Blade,^[4] with whom Drake constantly clashed but would eventually become a valued friend. Later, alongside Brother Voodoo, Drake battled zombies sent by Dracula.^[5] Drake, Blade, Van Helsing, Harker, and Harold H. Harold even helped Dracula battle Doctor Sun.^[6] Blade (Eric Brooks) is a fictional vampire-hunter in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Brother Voodoo is a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Harold H. Harold is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. ... Doctor Sun is a supervillain in the Marvel Universe. ...

Another ally that Drake eventually met was vampire detective Hannibal King, whom Drake would come to trust because of Blade.^[7] Alongside Harker's vampire hunters, Drake battled Dracula, resulting in the death of Janus.^[8] Hannibal King is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Janus is a fictional comic-book character in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

Although a close friendship grew between Drake and van Helsing, their potential for romantic involvement remained shaky due to Frank's lack of self-confidence and Rachel's fear of intimacy.

Montesi Formula

Quincy Harker eventually made the ultimate sacrifice by detonating a bomb concealed in his wheelchair which destroyed him, Dracula, and much of the castle in which they met for the last time. Drake and Van Helsing discovered Harker's wheelchair, and the supposed death of Dracula.^[9] Quincy's final letter to Rachel and Frank urged the two of them to grow closer together and discover what they all knew was there all the time. As a result, Frank and Rachel did attempt a romance but due to Frank's later account, Rachel was an empty shell without Dracula to fight and the two shortly parted but not without deep regrets. Rachel would eventually be turned into a vampire herself and die mercifully at the hands of X-Man Wolverine.^[10] The X-Men are a group of comic book superheroes featured in Marvel Comics. ... For other uses, see Wolverine (disambiguation). ...

Frank, upon hearing of Rachel's death realizes that Dracula is back and teams up with Blade, Hannibal King, and Doctor Strange to fight his return from the grave. Drake, King, Blade and Strange battled Dracula and the Darkholders, and were responsible for casting the Montesi Formula which destroyed Dracula and all vampires and banished vampirism from earth.^[11] Drake, King (now cured of vampirism and the only vampire to survive the Montesi spell), and Blade decided to remain together and become private investigators, founding the firm of King, Drake, and Blade (aka Borderline Investigations). They would investigate any number of strange and not so strange cases, including a battle with the Darkholders. In their fist appearance, Doctor Strange helped them battle the Darkholders.^[12] This article is about the Marvel comics superhero. ...

Marlene

Drake, wishing for a more normal life, eventually left the firm. Apparently, the friendship between King, Drake, and Blade had soured. Drake moved to Washington D.C. and married Marlene McKenna, a woman he had met sometime after parting ways with Rachel. During this time, Marlene seemed to come under the power of Dracula and scarred her face to resemble Rachel's facial scars. Drake, reluctantly called a hostile Blade and the two, assisted by Blade's friend Katinka, eventually aborted Dracula's resurrection again. This resulted in Blade's nervous breakdown and institutionalization. Drake, determined to live a normal life with Marlene, declined an invitation from Katinka, to stay in touch. Katinka suspected that things were only beginning.

Midnight Sons

With the weakening of the Montesi spell, Dr. Strange realized that not only were vampires returning, but also an increased occurrence of supernatural invasions. On this realization, Strange arranged for the release of Blade and for Drake (whose wife Marlene had again mysteriously fallen ill), to meet him and King back at their old Borderline offices where King, who had been running the business by himself had to eventually close shop due to the return of his vampirism. None of them too glad to see the other, but each having their reasons for getting back together, they form the Nightstalkers; by day, they are private investigators, by night, they fight any number of supernatural villains. Drake, armed with an anti-supernatural nanotech gun named Linda (after Linda Blair of The Exorcist) fights alongside Blade and King against various occult enemies. Linda Denise Blair (born January 22, 1959 in St. ... The Exorcist is an Academy Award-winning 1973 American horror and thriller film, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her daughter through an exorcism conducted...

In their fist mission, the Nightstalkers are hired by Lilith to kill the second Ghost Rider and John Blaze, and battled the Meatmarket.^[13] Ghost Rider and Blaze then joined the Nighstalkers, Strange, and the Darkhold Redeemers in battling Lilith and her Lilin.^[14] The Nightstalkers also battled HYDRA's DOA.^[15] Alongside the Punisher, the Nightstalkers battled Shiv and Casim.^[16] The Nightstalkers, with Ghost Rider, battled Stonecold.^[17] The Nightstalkers next battled Morbius,^[18] and battled Stonecold again.^[19] Lilith is the name of two fictional American comic book characters owned by Marvel Comics. ... Daniel Ketch, also known as Ghost Rider, is a fictional, supernatural superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Johnny Blaze, or John Blaze, is a fictional, supernatural superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Baron Strucker, retconned founder of HYDRA, wearing the HYDRA logo on his chest. ... This article is about the Marvel Comics character. ... Morbius the Living Vampire (Michael Morbius) is a fictional comic book character from the Marvel Comics universe, intended as a tragic anti-hero with vampire-like powers that actually had a biochemical origin. ...

The Lilin are children of Lilith, an ancient demonic being. Their involvement with her brings them into the group known as the Midnight Sons. This includes both Ghost Riders, Victoria Montesi and her team, Doctor Strange and other heroes. In one of the many adventures involving this team, Drake helps deal with Blade, who temporarily goes insane due to the use of the Darkhold. The Midnight Sons was a short-lived team of supernatural heroes in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Victoria Montesi is a fictional Italian-American doctor and occult investigator in the Marvel Comics universe, who first appeared on the pages of the comic book, The Darkhold #1 (October 1992). ... This article is about the Marvel comics superhero. ... The Darkhold, also known as The Book of Sins, is a fictional book in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

Eventually, they fight against the Atlantean vampire Varnae in which Drake overloads Linda causing an explosion that is thought to destroy him and Varnae (King having attempted to sacrifice himself by plunging a metal stake through his heart while fighting off vampire-lord Varnae's mental control). Blade escapes believing them to be dead but eventually runs into King in New Orleans who explains that Drake also survived but was left horribly scarred and crippled in both body and mind and would probably remain only a shell of his former self.

Powers and abilities

Frank Drake is a capable hand-to-hand combatant, and an experienced marksman. He has been known to carry conventional handguns. He also uses "Linda," a.k.a. "the Exorcist," a nano-tech weapon capable of disrupting occult energies, which he designed with help from "Silicon" Valle.

In other media

Frank Drake, who was one of the major characters in the Blade/Tomb of Dracula family of characters wasn't directly represented in the movies, probably to avoid confusion with the real life astrophysicist of that same name. In the 2004 movie Blade: Trinity, the main villain's (presumed, but not confirmed to actually be Dracula) cover name is Drake. This is a slightly ironic tip of the hat to the Marvel comic character Frank Drake. Blade: Trinity is a 2004 movie, directed by David S. Goyer, which is a motion_picture directorial debut for him. ... Dracula is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

References