"Morbius the Living Vampire" Omnibus by various artists and writers (Part 2 of 2)

 

(oversized hb; 2019; graphic novel)

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review. Part 1 of the review is here.

Morbius is a fun, distinctive (he’s a living vampire!), and overall good read, although the artwork, between its various illustrators, varies in quality (mostly it’s good). Its main characters (despite the era-familiar/sexist damsel-in-distress female players) are mostly consistent and generally interesting—in this second half of original-run Morbius-featuring issues, the living vampire is (for the most part) a more consistently humane (relatable) character, making for better overall writing, between the adult-oriented Fear and Vampire Tales magazines and kid-friendly mainstream comics. Worth reading and owning, this sometimes-melodramatic omnibus.

The original run of the Morbius stories ran from October 1971 and January 1981.

 

Review, issue by issue

Fear: “Night of the Vampire Stalker” (#27): While Martine and Morbius hole in up the supposedly haunted Mason Mansion near Boston, Massachusetts, an ex-CIA agent and monster hunter (Simon Stroud) looks for Morbius, thinking the living vampire is responsible for a string of bloodletting.

 

Fear: “The Doorway Screaming into Hell!” (#28): Boston, Massachusetts. While Morbius recovers from the events of the previous Fear issue, Police Chief Warner (introduced in the previous issue) tells Martine and Simon Stroud about Letitia Mason, former owner of the Mason Mansion, who told the police about strange supernatural happenings at her residence. This information compels Stroud to interview Letitia.

Later, Morbius and Stroud are thrust into a bizarre realm where furry eyeball, fanged creatures torment Morbius while they say the name of their master (Helleyes).

 

Fear: “Through a Helleyes Darkly” (#29): Escaping an ocean of blood they were cast into, Morbius and Simon Stroud—still at violent odds—try to survive bizarre-world oddities like singing, pinching crabs and the eyeball-covered Helleyes.

 

Fear: “The Vampires of Mason Manor!” (#30): Returned to Mason Mansion, Simon Stroud and Morbius wage war on a mini-army of undead vampires (as opposed to the science-experiment vampire Morbius is). Stroud and Morbius’s battle takes them to the Boston Police station, where Martine might be in danger as well.

 

Fear: “The End of a Vampire!” (#31): Martine, now a vampire, fights Morbius and Simon Stroud, even as the latter two try to give her a shot to cure her unnatural vampirism.

 

Vampire Tales: “A Taste of Crimson Life!” (#10): Painesville, Pennsylvania (Pop. 93). In a separate-from-Fear storyline, Morbius takes revenge on this mining town after his kind boardinghouse landlady (Alicia Twain) is attacked.

Again, it’s worth noting that many of the Vampire Tales stories are more complex, darker, and for mature audiences.

 

Vampire Tales: “Death Kiss” (#11): With help from a mysterious wealthy woman (Morgana), Morbius confronts the London-based upper class Brotherhood of Judas, who seek to fill the political and religious seats of power with bloodsuckers like themselves. Morbius being who he is, he makes melodramatic declarations at key moments.

 

Marvel Preview – The Legion of Monsters: “The Madman of Mansion Slade” (#8): In this Hound of the Baskervilles-esque story, Morbius visits Cupar Fife, Scotland, to see an old scientist friend (Ronson Slade), again to find a cure for Morbius’s unique vampirism. Ronson is distracted by problems of his own, though—specifically his “insane” son (Jeremiah), who might have something to do with recent grisly deaths in the nearby Fenwick Moor.

The events of this relatively gory, black-and-white read aren’t shocking, but it’s effectively atmospheric, solid.

 

Marvel Premiere: “There’s a Mountain on Sunset Boulevard!” (#28): After a mountain rips through Sunset Boulevard, Jack Russell (moon-transformed, from the Werewolf By Night comics), Ghost Rider, Morbius,  and the Man-Thing find themselves fighting for or against a golden alien warrior (Starseed), in a conflict that’ll cost them plenty. Palpable sense of comic book-y heartbreak in this excellent issue.

 

Marvel Two-in-One: “The Return of the Living Eraser!” (#15):  The Living Eraser, last seen in Tales to Astonish #49 (where he battled Henry Pym, aka Giant Man, and the Wasp) returns to Earth to conquer it by making more people vanish into thin air. Fortunately, Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) and Morbius are there to stop him.

Also, Morbius meets a green-skinned princess from The Living Eraser’s homeworld—a princess grateful and attracted to Morbius, who is drawn to her too. This is a curious development, as there’s no mention of Martine (Morbius’s fiancée), last seen in the final issue of Fear (#31), and still engaged to the living vampire.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “Cry Mayhem—Cry Morbius!” (#7): Morbius, under the control of The Empathoid, kidnaps Glory Grant (Peter Parker’s co-worker and friend), compelling Spider-Man to rescue her—sans the ability to shoot webbing.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “. . . And Only One Will Survive!” (#8): The Empathoid, a bodiless parasite, attaches himself to Spider-Man, with surprising results. Meanwhile, Flash Thompson (a returned-home Vietnam vet) gets a rude shock when he tries to rescue Shan-Shan, a woman he loved during the war, from a seemingly cruel man.

 

The Spectacular Spider-Man: “Curse of the Living Vampire!” (#38): A stressed-out Peter Parker attends a big party hosted by one of Peter’s fellow college students (Chip Martin, who manifests alarming powers), and more importantly, a party crashed by a blood-thirst-crazed Morbius, headed for a big life-change.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “The Power of the Word” (#9): Jen Walters, struggling more than usual to control her She-Hulk rage-transformations, infiltrates a Los Angeles-based cult run by The Word (an assertive ex-editor of dictionaries) and his jealous, superhuman-strength daughter (Ultima).

Jen tries to help Randolph Harrison, a young ex-hippie, escape from the cult, at her clients’ request (Randolph’s parents).

Meanwhile, Jen’s friend (Zapper, crushing on her) consults Michael Morbius, humanized after being struck by lightning in The Spectacular Spider-Man (#38), about Jen’s bloodwork, possibly the source of her rage/She-Hulk health issues.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “The War—of the Word!” (#10): Jen, addled by her life-threatening, mysterious bloodborne illness, is railroaded by The Word into an immediate, day-after-last-issue’s-events legal trial, for which she is ill-prepared. Later, She-Hulk fights a violently jealous superhuman Ultima, The Word’s daughter, who mistakenly thinks Jen is trying to steal a brainwashed Chip Harrison from her.

Dr. Michael Morbius is mentioned but not shown in this issue.

Bearing in mind that this is a children’s mainstream comic book (not a lot of nuance in this genre) and The Word has strong manipulation/persuasion power (he gets an immediate, per his behest, legal trial), this issue might read as too comic book-y, unrealistic in writing/editorial and real-world ways. (Younger readers probably wouldn’t notice, but reading it as an adult, with writing/editing experience, I couldn’t help noticing this.)

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “In the Shadow of Death!” (#11):  Post-court debacle (see previous issue), a seriously ill She-Hulk is arrested by and imprisoned by LAPD, where her alter-ego’s father (Sheriff Morris Walters, unaware of Jen’s dual nature) rails at She-Hulk.

Meanwhile, at a UCLA “neuro-radiology center”, a pre-legal trial Dr. Michael Morbius creates a cure for himself and She-Hulk while students protest the former vampire’s presence. They’re not the only ones angry at Morbius—he’s stalked by a vengeance-seeking father of one of Morbius’s “dozens of” victims. Worsening these situations, can Morbius resist the urge to drink the small beaker of serum that can save She-Hulk’s exponentially declining life (and turn him fully human)?

This especially exciting, rings-realistic (within its genre) issue is excellent, a great entry in the She-Hulk series, a well-written turning point for its titular character.

 

The Savage She-Hulk: “Reason and Rage” (#12): Jen Walters, recovered from her life-threatening sickness, defends Michael Morbius, in serious need of the “stabilization serum” of the one he made for Jen, in legal court even as many around her revile her and her “mass murderer” client. 

Post-trial, the parents of one of Morbius’s “dozens of” victims (Helen LeClerc, his attack/her death not shown in the series), go Paul Kersey/Death Wish (1974) after Gemini (an identity-cognizant/dual-natured android)** accidentally gets pulled into Angela and Thomas LeClerc’s retribution-seeking. During this tripartite deliberation/conflict, Jen struggles to learn how to transform into She-Hulk (something that was impulse-instant prior to her drinking the serum; now that it takes conscious effort, it’s a challenge).

[** = Created by Scorpio, a foe of The Defenders (The Defenders, issues #48—50), he was later “almost deactivated” by Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Scorpio recounts this in She-Hulk #12, continuing with “But it wasn’t that easy. . . I was alive! The good guy all put in a kind word for me. . . I was finally released on my own recognizance.”)]

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This issue is a satisfying wrap-up to the original-run, almost-forty-issue Morbius storyline, one that doesn’t white-wash the living vampire and his unchronicled fate (he is suitably but humanely punished for his actions and hubris)—and it’s as close to a realistic happy ending as one might get, and one that rings true, character- and otherwise.