Veteran comic book scribe Marv Wolfman has at one time or another written almost all the top superhero characters at DC and Marvel, but it's two of his longest-running creative collaborations which have defined some of his best work. When he teamed with artist George Pérez to launch New Teen Titans, they put the superteam on a par with Marvel’s X-Men at the time, and their interpretation is how many longtime fans still think of the Titans (it’s also an inspiration to many current creators).

Wolfman’s other long collaboration was with the late artist Gene Colan. Reaching well beyond superhero comics, their run on Tomb of Dracula is often the first horror comic sited when fans are asked “What’s the best ever…?”

Tomb of Dracula reads like such an organic collaboration that it’s almost incomprehensible that Wolfman didn’t write the first three issues (Roy Thomas came up with the series, Gerry Conway wrote #1 and 2, Archie Goodwin wrote #3). That didn't stop the synergy between Wolfman and Colan from becoming evident in stories ranging from the introduction of Blade to a crossover with Doctor Strange (Colan drew both parts, Steve Englehart wrote the Doctor Strange issue, which Wolfman edited). When the series ended, they wrapped it up with a boom.

Following ToD, Wolfman and Colan worked on other series together, DC’s Night Force, and then in 1998 they got back together for a three-issue mini-series entitled The Curse of Dracula at Dark Horse. It was an energetic, moody and thoroughly different take on Dracula and it seemed to just demand a follow-up… but one never came. And one would still be welcome.

While a trade paperback collection was issued in 2005, Curse has never been collected in hardcover until now. The new deluxe hardcover edition is due in comic shops in February 2013, so that seemed like enough of a cue for us to talk to Wolfman about it.

Scoop: How did the opportunity to write The Curse of Dracula originally come about?
Marv Wolfman (MW): I seem to remember that Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson asked me if I'd like to do a new Dracula series with Gene Colan. Obviously, once I started to realize I could come up with a new approach to Dracula than I had done in the past I jumped at the chance.

Scoop: You had a fantastic, highly acclaimed run on Tomb of Dracula. When you started working on Curse, did you have any trepidation revisiting not only the vampire genre but the character of Dracula in a different series?
MW: I had a lot of concerns. Tomb was already considered a classic by a lot of the readers and you are always nervous about ruining something you were known for; it says you're not as good as you used to be. But when I started to come up with a new approach that I really liked, that I felt was more up to date and spoke to me, those concerns began to disappear. I've had this happen to me twice now. With Dracula I got to create a brand new take on the character as well as invent a new supporting cast, and with the New Teen Titans I got to do a graphic novel 25 years later and found all new ways to approach characters I had written for so long. But you approach these things with great trepidation. As I say, you don't want to screw up.

Scoop: As a writer, did you have to guard against any of the characters merely being substitutes for your Tomb cast?
MW: Oddly it wasn't a problem to create new characters that owed nothing to the Tomb of Dracula characters. I obviously wanted to make sure there were no similarities but because the world of the Curse of Dracula book was so different than the world of Tomb, I was never led down the wrong roads. The new supporting cast was definitely created for the new view of Dracula.

Scoop: One of the things we enjoyed most about Curse was the pacing. Was that just the story you wanted to tell or did that come about because of the mini-series format?
MW: My goal was to do a mini-series that would be complete but also open for future stories. The pacing followed the story as it always does.

Scoop: On Tomb of Dracula, there seemed to be such chemistry between your words and Gene Colan’s art. You also worked together on other projects. Was that something that we readers just imagined or did the collaboration feel that way to you as well?
MW: No, our chemistry was real. As was the chemistry between me and George Pérez on Titans. Somehow we just clicked. Of course I was a huge fan of Gene's art, so I catered the stories to what he did best, which was real life characters, but it was his art that led me in that direction which strengthened me as a writer. I loved working with Gene on both Dracula series as well as Night Force and even The Simpsons among others.

Scoop: Was it similar working on Curse or was it a very different experience?
MW: Because Gene and I have done many projects together there was absolutely no difference working with him on Curse than we had with TOD. After all it's not a book you're working on, it's a relationship and that stayed the same.

Scoop: Another element on Curse that was really enjoyable was the coloring. What did you think of the results?
MW: I actually thought the coloring on Curse was the best we had ever had. It was truly gorgeous and moody.

Scoop: We heard it described as a really good modern take on a 1970s Dracula movie. How did you see it?
MW: I don't think it's a new take on what we'd done before; if we tried that it would have failed creatively. I went back to the Bram Stoker novel and tried to re-imagine that. Remember, I wasn't the first writer on Tomb of Dracula. I was the fourth. And I didn't create the original framework, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway had. This was my chance to create it from the ground up.

Scoop: When it was initially released, everyone we knew who read it enjoyed it, but we knew plenty of folks who missed it. What kind of reaction did Curse get when it came out?
MW: Those who read Curse seemed to like it. But sadly I think it just wasn't seen by most people and most didn't have a clue it came out. The comic shops at the time were 100% geared to super-heroes and a horror comic fell through the cracks.

Scoop: What do you think of the new hardcover package?
MW: I was totally thrown by the package; it was so much better than I had expected. It's gorgeous.

Scoop: What else do you have coming up?
MW: The same-o, same-o. Some comics, though I wish I could do more. Animation and videogame writing and who knows what else. I'd love to do more Curse books, sadly with another artist, but I hope I just continue to work.