Tomb of Dracula #10 (1973)

"His Name Is...Blade!"

Before Blade became a box office sensation courtesy of Wesley Snipes, the vampire hunter made his debut in this 1973 issue of the milestone Tomb of Dracula horror comic.  Replete with 70s fashion and hairstyle, Blade made his first appearance sporting a bandoleer of sharpened wooden knives and a motivation for hunting the king of vampires entirely distinct and separate from the Harker/Van Helsing core group of characters.  As the character would grow and evolve over the decades, Blade would be brought into the more mainstream comic titles.  Yet, in 1973, it was this cover, artfully constructed by Gil Kane, that would introduce the world to the alternative vampire slayer:  black, independent, from the streets, and uniquely American, berating Dracula with 1970s slang while trying to end the vampire's reign of terror in the Marvel Universe.