Clifton Graves (Earth-616)

Clifton Graves was once a friend of vampire hunter Frank Drake, though their relationship was anything but close. When Frank came into possession of a million dollar inheritance, Graves felt that he had found himself a goldmine. Graves and Drake's friendship was strained however when they both vied for the affections of the same woman, a girl named Jeanie Ovington. Ultimately, Drake won Ovington's heart, and Graves began to develop a deep resentment towards his friend.^{[citation needed]}

When the money from Drake's inheritance ran out, he grew desperate. Graves learned that the only remaining asset from the inheritance was a crumbling old family castle in the mountains of Transylvania. When Graves discovered that the castle once belonged to the infamous Count Dracula, he encouraged Drake to open it to the public as a tourist attraction.^{[citation needed]}

Graves, Drake, and Ovington traveled to Transylvania to inspect the estate. By this point, Graves intended on killing Drake in order to take control of the castle. While wandering the dank catacombs, Graves fell through a weak floorboard and plunged down into a secret chamber – a room that contained the skeletal remains of the vampire, Dracula. Graves never gave much credence to the old legends, so he pulled the wooden stake from the corpse's chest, little realizing that in so doing, he enabled the Lord of Vampires to return to life.^{[citation needed]}

Dracula rose from his tomb, and raked Graves across the face with his clawed hand. He then hurled him into the vast Pit of Death, a cavern filled with skeletons of past victims. Miraculously, Graves survived the fall. Drake eventually found Graves and pulled him free of the pit. He offered up a feeble excuse for himself, never revealing the part he played in Dracula's resurrection.

Unfortunately, Ovington did not have the same luck as Clifton Graves. Dracula encountered her and turned her into a vampire.^{[citation needed]}

Having narrowly escaped Dracula's clutches, Graves and Drake returned to London. Dracula and Jeanie tracked them down, and Ovington used her vampiric powers of hypnosis to make Graves her unwitting slave. She enforced her influence over Graves by telling him that he was the only one that she truly loved. She convinced Graves to drug Frank's coffee cup, rendering him insensate. Dracula arrived to finish Frank Drake off, but he managed to shake off the drug's effects long enough to repel Dracula with a crucifix.^{[citation needed]}

During the melee, Ovington attacked Graves and was prepared to kill him, but Drake saved his friend's life, even at the cost of his true love. Picking up a broken piece of wood, he drove the sharpened end into Ovington's back, piercing her heart. Just as sunlight began pouring through the window of Frank's apartment, Ovington's body turned to ash.^{[citation needed]}

The friendship between Graves and Drake was beyond repair however. Dracula knew that Graves was a being that he could easily control, and he used his vampiric influence to make Graves his personal valet.^{[citation needed]}

Graves was present on board the luxury liner Michele when Dracula faced off against the vampire hunter known as Blade. Dracula ordered Graves to set off a series of bombs across the ship designed to kill Blade, but Graves was caught in the explosion and appeared to have died.^[2]

He resurfaced a short time later as an agent for the criminal mastermind, Doctor Sun. Sun's surgeons healed many of Graves's injuries, and Sun used him as a pawn against his former master, Dracula. Drake eventually tracked Dracula down once again, this time assisted by fellow vampire hunter Rachel van Helsing. Van Helsing fired a crossbow bolt at Dracula, but the vampire lord grabbed Graves and used him as a human shield. The bolt hit Graves in the chest, killing him instantly.^[3]

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