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jaydonsjam · 1 year

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Morbius II

Here we are again to talk about the first five issues of Vampire Tales specifically the five Morbius stories! I know I keep saying it but these horror comics are enthralling and engrossing in the best way. Plus, following a villain is a lot more interesting than your run-of-the-mill superheroes. I did some research after noticing the non-existent stamp of the Comics Code Authority and found out (thanks Wikipedia) that since Vampire Tales was published as a magazine it didn’t fall under their judgement. Which is why there’s more violence and all around edgier content in VT than most Marvel comics of that era. After reading these five issues, Morbius has definitely jumped up the list of my favorite Spidey villains. Morbius’ struggle for humanity in the face of his endless need to feed on humanity makes him so interesting to me. I love the writing here because they manage to keep Morbius villainous and yet put forth other villains for him to face that make you root for him. The art is all in black-and-white but I think it really suits the horror genre and makes it feel like a 30’s universal horror film. My experience with black-and-white comics are really only with manga or The Walking Dead series.

“Morbius”

Steve Gerber wrote the first Morbius story in Vampire Tales #1 and Pablo Marcos did the art which looked absolutely beautiful with an eerie sinister undertone with a bit of watercolor effects. I love the fact that these comics actually have blood, because seeing the bites happen makes it more horrific. Also Morbius is seriously terrifying to look at. Morbius is searching for his love Martine and meets a girl named Carolyn so she leads him to Madame Laera who might be able to find out her location. They look through a crystal ball and Morbius sees Martine stabbed through the chest and throws the crystal ball shattering it. A demon named Nilrac is freed and fights Morbius but Michael defeats it. He tries to feed on it but finds there’s no blood so he attacks Laera and feeds on her, killing her. Carolyn, a child of Satan, is fascinated by this and takes Morbius to her place. Morbius leaves so that he doesn’t feed on her. I liked the fight with Nilrac but it wasn’t anything special. The best part of this issue was how good of a vehicle it served for Morbius and it even references previous stuff we had seen in Marvel Team-Up with the X-Men. I love how the story opens on an unsuspecting person walking down LA and they look up and just see Morbius pouncing them. Another thing that is referenced several times (and it’s a little unbelievable) is the fact that Morbius looks like a bat faced crazy man and when people ask him why he’s wearing a mask, he always says, it’s not a mask. It’s funny but I don’t buy the fact that people just think it’s a mask. One of the things that make Morbius so interesting is the idea that he doesn’t want to feed on people and when he does, he hates himself for it. He’s got a piece of humanity but he just can’t fight his hunger. He’s of course a monster but there’s something else there too.

“The Blood Sacrifice of Amanda Saint!”

The next Morbius story in Vampire Tales #2 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Pablo Marcos. I love the title page (pictured above) with a bat serving as the background but at the same time resembling the shape of a human heart. One technical issue I had with this scan on Marvel Unlimited was the fact that some of the lettering was hard to read and there was like a pixelated look to some of the images. I don’t blame the art cause I think it’s just a digital scan issue. Anyways, Morbius decided on his next victim Amanda Saint, who has also been chosen by a satanic cult named Demon-Fire as a sacrifice. Morbius leaps down, feeds on one of her would-be captors and stops the kidnapping, saving his victim from her fate. There’s a cool fight that he has with one of the cloaked figures who’s wields a scythe. Morbius disarms him and then runs away with Amanda. They come to her house and her sister, Catherine is waiting for her. We find out that Amanda is with a man named Justin and he planned for her to get kidnapped and sacrificed but Morbius stopped it. Catherine looks an awful like a female masked figure that we saw earlier in the issue (we find out in a later issue that her sister was that figure). Justin has roommates who are involved in drugs (which comes back later). Morbius feeds on a taxi driver and Amanda gets kidnapped by Demon-Fire. Morbius tries to stop it but is thrown out of a two-story window and is forced to flee.

“Demon Fire”

The third Morbius story was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Klaus Janson. This issue had the same technical problem as the last one where the digital scan made some of the lettering hard to read. Morbius heads to the place where the cult took Amanda and finds a coffin that serves as a secret entrance to an underground lair. We get the Catherine reveal here along with Justin revealing himself to Amanda. At the top of the atrium in this underground lair is a giant demonic spider named Arachne with which they sacrifice people to. It’s quite ironic that Morbius fights a spider in this issue with his superhero nemesis being Spider-Man. I loved how creepy and sinister the black and white art added to the giant spider. It webs Michael and takes a bite but then runs away dying from whatever is in Morbius’ blood. The spider’s death throes cause the whole lair to start falling apart and Morbius escapes with Amanda as the whole cult is crushed except for sweet, silly Justin. We get an epilogue of police brutality. They were trying to hit Justin’s drug dealing friend but instead hit Justin and it ends with the cops dragging his unconscious body out of the apartment. Overall I dug this issue a lot. It’s ironic that Amanda is saved by the vampire who wanted to feed on her. It’s also funny that she didn’t know everyone around her was involved in a cult (including her mother and sister and boyfriend). I really felt bad for the taxi driver who was in the midst of a Watergate rant when he was killed by Michael. It’s also interesting that Amanda has no idea Morbius is a vampire even though he’s leaping and moving with obvious powers and he has a bat face. I just find that unbelievable. I get that she’s often not paying much attention or indisposed every time but I really feel like she should’ve known by the time she actually does find out.

“Lighthouse of the Possessed”

This issue in Vampire Tales #4 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled and inked by Tom Sutton. This issue opens with one of the most brutal kills Morbius does in these issues yet (pictured above). They really do a great job of showing that you’re reading a story about a villain. Morbius with Amanda has started staying at a boarding house. There’s a really weird eugenics mention after Morbius sees two grotesque people living there. I was taken aback but then I remembered that Michael is a murderous psycho so whatever. We also meet two characters one named Brock Kilbride an idealistic politically minded guy and his friend Arlene Randolph who spends both issues trying to make Brock see that the politician, Duke Mannery isn’t what he seems. We also meet another sect of Demon-Fire but this time they are led by a mysterious being called Blood-Tide. We also meet Amanda’s mother who was mentioned before having her husband leave her because she was a member of a cult (Demon-Fire) but there’s a reveal about that later. Amanda is prattling on and on about politics to Morbius but they are interrupted by Oliver barging in trying to cut them with his hook hand. Morbius throws him out of a window and he’s cut by shards of glass. Morbius with his bloodlust taking over feeds on poor Oliver. Amanda sees him and realizes he’s a vampire and freaks out. This is a big reveal but again, it makes Amanda seem kinda dumb for not already figuring it out. She runs out the door right into an axe swing from Mrs. Agnes. They are then mobbed by seafarers who are trying to kill them. At this point they run into Brock and Arlene knocking them over as they are chased by a giant mob of people. Mrs. Agnes catches Morbius still swinging her axe. Morbius flings the axe away and then slams Agnes’ head into the axe. It’s definitely the most brutal death in these five issues for sure. Morbius takes off Mrs. Agnes’ mask and it’s revealed to be Amanda’s mom. Like a true scoundrel, Morbius takes her wedding band and plans on giving it to Amanda someday. Lots of action in this issue and also plenty of dirty deeds done by Morbius. Reading these issues really makes me realize that while they call Man-Thing a monster or Jack Russell a monster, the real monster here is Morbius. You guys know I see him as a tragic figure but he is a murderer who constantly feeds on innocents (also bad people). I also appreciate the idea that is he trying to save Amanda to wipe out the stain of all the evil he’s done as a living vampire? It’s a good question.

“Blood Tide!”

The next Morbius story from Vampire Tales #5 was written by Don McGregor and pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Ernie Chua (he was also credited under Ernie Chan in his career). I gotta start off by saying the art is the best in this issue out of the five stories. The scan was fantastic and I had no issues reading this one (same with the last one). Morbius and Amanda see a film and get attacked by Blood-Tide! Brock and Arlene investigate a shadowy figure who works with the politician and it leads them to the same theater. There’s a cool moment where Blood-Tide and Morbius fight behind the screen and he tosses Morbius through the projection. There’s a moment where he’s about to pierce Michael with his staff but Brock kicks him in the head and leads Morbius and Amanda out of the theater. In a conversation with Arlene and Brock we get another moment where Morbius tells them it’s his face that looks like that not a mask. I’m starting to like this throughline joke. They follow The Godfather character to outside the lighthouse and Morbius decides to be stealthy and try to sneak into the lighthouse. There’s a cool fight between Morbius and Blood-Tide!

Blood-Tide has a really cool design with glowing eyes that seem to control people. There seems to be merit because of the mob of people who all want to kill Morbius and Amanda. He uses his gaze to freeze Morbius in place and is about to stab him with his staff when Brock distracts him. Morbius takes advantage of the distraction (he’s also freed from the gaze) by throwing one of the cult members out of the lighthouse window. He takes down Blood-Tide and unmasks him revealing him to be Duke Mannery the politician that Brock believed in. The guy is so taken aback and disgusted that he doesn’t realize that Duke has a pistol. In another gruesome kill, Brock has his brains blown out.

I was shocked by the gore in this moment but we did see Amanda’s mom get axed in the head last ish so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. I actually felt bad for Brock cause he did seem like he had his heart in the right place just supported the wrong guy. I will say that I’m not super into the Scooby Doo type reveals with both Blood-Tide and Mrs. Agnes. I feel like that trope got overused in this story especially in such quick succession. Overall though, Vampire Tales was a fun read and definitely the goriest, bloodiest and darkest Marvel comics I’ve read from this era so far. Marvel does horror really well. Like I said, I’m glad it’s not colored cause the black and white art adds so much to the horror genre. I’d love to read a black and white Man-Thing comic now. Next up we’re back to Adventure Into Fear #17-18! Thanks for reading this whole thing. I hope you enjoyed my moronic thoughts about funny books!

#morbius #morbius the living vampire #marvel #marvel comics #vampire tales #horror comics

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