"The long awaited merger of Marvel's mightiest mags" headlined the first combined issue of Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives. Not sure by whom, but indicative of the way the British comics market operated. When a comic starts failing merge it with another title to boost readership.
I'm not sure what readers would have thought of this odd mixture of intelligent apes and vampires but here with long convoluted title it was.
Both comics had been launched in the same week back in 1974, with Dracula Lives lasting for 87 issues and for me much better than the US parent title as I think horror comes over much darker when printed in glorious black & white.
Gene Colan's artwork certainly suited the format.
It goes without saying that the two main strips were Planet of the Apes (by this time reprinted from Marvels black & white magazine as the four colour comic was long gone) and Dracula Lives.
The other features were Man Thing and Ka Zar.
Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives soldiered on until March the following year, when it ended up being merged with Marvel's long running flagship title Mighty World of Marvel.
Only the Apes survived....for a while longer.
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