The random seeding of our first round had predictably chaotic results, with a couple blowouts and two of the closest races in the history of Longbox Graveyard’s competitions! Here are the results:

• Swamp Thing over Man-Bat 77/23
• Ghost Rider over Morbius 75/25
• Dracula over Son of Satan 74/26
• Vampirella over Fin Fang Foom 71/29
• Werewolf by Night over Blade 63/37
• Solomon Grundy over Monster of Frankensteain 63/37
• The Demon over Godzilla 51/49
• Hellboy over Man-Thing 50/50*

Those last two results bear special mention. The Demon triumphed over Godzilla by a single vote, while Hellboy and Man-Thing ended in a tie! For the first time in the history of Longbox Graveyard, I had to cast tie-breaking vote … and I picked Hellboy, in view of ergozen’s passionate defense of the character in our comments section (up to and including an offer to send Hellboy graphic novels to our voting public!)

Keep those last two matches in mind the next time you think your vote doesn’t count!

The remaining contests weren’t as close, but we still had a couple surprises. I didn’t expect Blade to lose to Werewolf by Night, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be such a blowout. And while it wasn’t much of a surprise to see Vampirella defeat Fin Fang Foom, it was a pleasure to see Dynamite Comics put out the call for votes on her behalf!

Here’s our bracket as we begin the Round of Eight:

The Match Ups!

Swamp Thing vs. Vampirella: Swamp Thing predictably defeated poor Man-Bat in the opening round. Normally I’d expect Swampy to handle Vampirella with ease, but if the Dynamite Brigade weighs in on Vampirella’s favor, then anything is possible!

Werewolf vs. Solomon Grundy: The Werewolf had a suspiciously-easy time with Blade in the first round, while Solomon Grundy came out of nowhere as a write-in candidate to knock out the Monster of Frankenstein. Both results seem a little fluky … which Cinderella will escape the second round?

Ghost Rider vs. Hellboy: Ghost Rider just ran right over Blade in the first round, while Hellboy needed a tie-breaking vote to prevail over Man-Thing. Hellboy is probably the more significant character, but will the infamous Longbox Graveyard Bronze Age Marvel Bias push Ghost Rider into the Final Four?

Dracula vs. The Demon: Jack Kirby may not have cared much about horror characters, but his Demon still made it to the second round by the narrowest of margins. But now Etrigan must face the Lord of the Vampires — who will prevail?

That’s a pretty solid Round of Eight! Get voting, and tell your friends, then come back next Monday for our Final Four. And as always, make the case for YOUR favorite monsters in the comments section, below!

TOMORROW: Marvel Value Stamps!