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Morbius: The Living Vampire (2013) #1-9
Morbius: The Living Vampire: The Man Called Morbius
Somewhere inside Doctor Michael Morbius is a good man who just needs a second chance. NO W!, after escaping from the Raft, Morbius the Living Vampire is scraping desperately through each day, on the run and desperate to quell his vampiric tendencies. Will he be able to resist the siren song of blissful bloodsucking, or will Spider-Man sling him straight back into the slammer? And will his redemption turn out to be worse than his sin? As Morbius tries to stay under the radar, a new threat arises, and they want Morbius dead. But after inciting a gang war, will Morbius be able to protect the new friends? COLLECTING: Morbius: The Living Vampire 1-9, Amazing Spider-Man 699.1. Also include s exclusive AR video content!
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2013
21 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
January 17, 2020
Oooooh! Sony's making a movie about this little weirdo?
Well, this was one of those odd little titles I saw while scrolling around on Marvel Unlimited that I decided to read on a whim. Mostly, it worked out for me.
The first issue was really good. It had nice art, snappy panels, a few jokes, and a good intro into what Morbius was doing and why he was doing it. I especially appreciated that it explained he was fresh from a prison break (The Raft) and trying to stay low.
Now, considering everything I know about Doctor Michael Morbius (aka The Liiiiiving Vampiiiiire) comes from that old Spider-man cartoon on Fox, I seriously thought that he slurped plasma out of his victims with those octopus-like suckers on his palms. Don't laugh. It never occurred to me that this was a censorship thing on the part of Fox to keep kids from getting a healthy dose of Imma rip out your fucking throat with their Saturday morning cartoons & sugary breakfast cereal.
But hey! Turns out Morbius gets his blood fix like any other genetically altered in a lab to look like a vampire creature, and just chews a great chunk out of whoever pisses him off.
Ok. While I don't regret reading this and will probably start looking for whatever else I can find on him (and other monsters) in the future, the title lost steam midway through and farted out a really weak ending. It went from a fun and informative look at a c-list character to a stupidly convoluted story about some mysterious Corporation that was trying to use him to make property values go down...then up...or something?
OHMYGODITWASSOLAME.
But. This made me want more of Mike and the rest of the Marvel Monsters, so it wasn't all that bad. At worst, I'd say this was a middling story. And at best, I'd say it was something a little different than your normal Marvel comic.
Well, this was one of those odd little titles I saw while scrolling around on Marvel Unlimited that I decided to read on a whim. Mostly, it worked out for me.
The first issue was really good. It had nice art, snappy panels, a few jokes, and a good intro into what Morbius was doing and why he was doing it. I especially appreciated that it explained he was fresh from a prison break (The Raft) and trying to stay low.
Now, considering everything I know about Doctor Michael Morbius (aka The Liiiiiving Vampiiiiire) comes from that old Spider-man cartoon on Fox, I seriously thought that he slurped plasma out of his victims with those octopus-like suckers on his palms. Don't laugh. It never occurred to me that this was a censorship thing on the part of Fox to keep kids from getting a healthy dose of Imma rip out your fucking throat with their Saturday morning cartoons & sugary breakfast cereal.
But hey! Turns out Morbius gets his blood fix like any other genetically altered in a lab to look like a vampire creature, and just chews a great chunk out of whoever pisses him off.
Ok. While I don't regret reading this and will probably start looking for whatever else I can find on him (and other monsters) in the future, the title lost steam midway through and farted out a really weak ending. It went from a fun and informative look at a c-list character to a stupidly convoluted story about some mysterious Corporation that was trying to use him to make property values go down...then up...or something?
OHMYGODITWASSOLAME.
But. This made me want more of Mike and the rest of the Marvel Monsters, so it wasn't all that bad. At worst, I'd say this was a middling story. And at best, I'd say it was something a little different than your normal Marvel comic.
August 31, 2021
This started off really strong with Morbius going to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville to hide out from the cops. (They do try and make Brownsville sound like it's in the middle of nowhere.. It's in the middle of Brooklyn right next to Cypress Hills, where Ghost Rider hangs out. They missed an opportunity not having him show up too.) Ultimately, this devolves into a D-List Spider-Man villain making a play to gentrify the neighborhood.
Richard Elson's art is really good. It was a real downgrade when Valentine De Landro filled in for two issues.
Richard Elson's art is really good. It was a real downgrade when Valentine De Landro filled in for two issues.
January 24, 2014
Spider-Man vampire villain Michael Morbius escapes the Raft, Spidey’s version of Arkham Asylum, and decides to lay low in a small town called Brownsville - there he becomes the downtrodden’s champion against the street gangs that rule the place.
A Morbius mini-series seems like a really weird choice to be a part of the first wave of Marvel NOW! launches (they went with Morbius over Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and a dozen others?!) but it’s surprisingly ok, for at least half of it. Too many Marvel NOW! titles have as its premise, the end of the world, with the stakes being the death and extinction of everything and everyone, blah blah snore. In Morbius, he’s basically a bum, living on the streets and eating garbage, and the entire premise is this homeless vampire has to save this miserable little town from a guy who looks like a Road Warrior extra. I appreciate those surprisingly low stakes and prefer them over yet another tedious end of the world storyline (Jonathan Hickman, I’m looking at you!).
I also like that Morbius isn’t even that good of a hero – besides the unheroic act of killing people, he’s also really vulnerable to bullets. The number of times he gets shot in the chest and has to spend several pages recovering was comical to me. The action scenes played out like this: Morbius sees injustice. Morbius fights injustice. Injustice shoots him in the chest. Injustice escapes. Morbius lies in the dirt in pain. This happened a few times and made me chuckle at its repetition. Spidey ain’t got nothing on poor ol’ Morbius, lying there with adamantium bullets in his chest – he’s not mumbling some crap about “that old Peter Parker luck”!
He’s also something of a tragic figure – he was trying to cure his childhood disease when the cure he created turned him into a vampire, forcing him to kill to survive. He doesn’t want to kill, he doesn’t want to be a vampire, but he’s trying to do some good in his situation nevertheless. It’s that classic Bruce Banner setup (and if we’re totally honest, DC’s Kurt Langstrom/Manbat) which I like as it makes him a more complex and interesting character.
Things take a turn for the worse in the second half. It’s like the Marvel editors saw the low sales for Morbius and decided Joe Keatinge’s take on a homeless vampire in a Podunk town wasn’t going to fly anymore so they decided to make the series a generic Marvel comic. Superior Spider-Man is shoved in for no reason, there’s a plot about some devastating weapon AIM have stolen, and I totally lost interest in the book. At least it was doing something different in the first half, even if it was kinda weird and un-Marvel-like – the second half is just cookie-cutter Marvel comics.
Morbius the Living Vampire isn’t a must-read but among the good and bad of the Marvel NOW! books, it’s definitely somewhere in the middle. It’s an interesting anomaly with some good moments, showcasing a character who rarely gets a turn in the spotlight (which wouldn’t turn him into dust, by the way!). Don’t expect much with it and it’ll surprise you.
A Morbius mini-series seems like a really weird choice to be a part of the first wave of Marvel NOW! launches (they went with Morbius over Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and a dozen others?!) but it’s surprisingly ok, for at least half of it. Too many Marvel NOW! titles have as its premise, the end of the world, with the stakes being the death and extinction of everything and everyone, blah blah snore. In Morbius, he’s basically a bum, living on the streets and eating garbage, and the entire premise is this homeless vampire has to save this miserable little town from a guy who looks like a Road Warrior extra. I appreciate those surprisingly low stakes and prefer them over yet another tedious end of the world storyline (Jonathan Hickman, I’m looking at you!).
I also like that Morbius isn’t even that good of a hero – besides the unheroic act of killing people, he’s also really vulnerable to bullets. The number of times he gets shot in the chest and has to spend several pages recovering was comical to me. The action scenes played out like this: Morbius sees injustice. Morbius fights injustice. Injustice shoots him in the chest. Injustice escapes. Morbius lies in the dirt in pain. This happened a few times and made me chuckle at its repetition. Spidey ain’t got nothing on poor ol’ Morbius, lying there with adamantium bullets in his chest – he’s not mumbling some crap about “that old Peter Parker luck”!
He’s also something of a tragic figure – he was trying to cure his childhood disease when the cure he created turned him into a vampire, forcing him to kill to survive. He doesn’t want to kill, he doesn’t want to be a vampire, but he’s trying to do some good in his situation nevertheless. It’s that classic Bruce Banner setup (and if we’re totally honest, DC’s Kurt Langstrom/Manbat) which I like as it makes him a more complex and interesting character.
Things take a turn for the worse in the second half. It’s like the Marvel editors saw the low sales for Morbius and decided Joe Keatinge’s take on a homeless vampire in a Podunk town wasn’t going to fly anymore so they decided to make the series a generic Marvel comic. Superior Spider-Man is shoved in for no reason, there’s a plot about some devastating weapon AIM have stolen, and I totally lost interest in the book. At least it was doing something different in the first half, even if it was kinda weird and un-Marvel-like – the second half is just cookie-cutter Marvel comics.
Morbius the Living Vampire isn’t a must-read but among the good and bad of the Marvel NOW! books, it’s definitely somewhere in the middle. It’s an interesting anomaly with some good moments, showcasing a character who rarely gets a turn in the spotlight (which wouldn’t turn him into dust, by the way!). Don’t expect much with it and it’ll surprise you.
August 5, 2020
Terrific start. 5 stars. Then it completely fizzled and limped along for another 150 pages. 1 Star. Characters monologuing at each other, people doing things inconsistently, an inability to just “go there”... the dude is a living vampire, fer cry! Lean into that!
I can only imagine how much better this would’ve been in Al Ewing’s hands. His Immortal Hulk run does both body horror and existential angst right within the framework of the Marvel universe. Plus, the entire scheme is down to manipulating property values? Really? The ultimate evil is... gentrification? The hell?
I also don’t get why they keep talking about Brownsville like it’s some out-of-the-way place stuck on the ass-end of Cape Hatteras. (That’s in North Carolina, five hundred miles from NYC. I didn’t pick that place at random: Cape Hatteras is called “the graveyard of the Atlantic.” See? Vampires, graveyards. Themes, people!) No, this is set in Brownsville, which is in Brooklyn. My dad grew up in Brooklyn. I’ve been there a lot. Brownsville isn’t unreachable for NYC-based superheroes who travel throughout the galaxy: it’s between Captain America’s apartment and Spider-Man’s house. If Spidey can get from Queens to Manhattan in fifteen minutes, he can stop in Brownsville, ffs.
The art is all over the place at times, too. It mostly does the job, but it flinches away from the gore and makes the story feel even more disjointed than it is.
I can only imagine how much better this would’ve been in Al Ewing’s hands. His Immortal Hulk run does both body horror and existential angst right within the framework of the Marvel universe. Plus, the entire scheme is down to manipulating property values? Really? The ultimate evil is... gentrification? The hell?
I also don’t get why they keep talking about Brownsville like it’s some out-of-the-way place stuck on the ass-end of Cape Hatteras. (That’s in North Carolina, five hundred miles from NYC. I didn’t pick that place at random: Cape Hatteras is called “the graveyard of the Atlantic.” See? Vampires, graveyards. Themes, people!) No, this is set in Brownsville, which is in Brooklyn. My dad grew up in Brooklyn. I’ve been there a lot. Brownsville isn’t unreachable for NYC-based superheroes who travel throughout the galaxy: it’s between Captain America’s apartment and Spider-Man’s house. If Spidey can get from Queens to Manhattan in fifteen minutes, he can stop in Brownsville, ffs.
The art is all over the place at times, too. It mostly does the job, but it flinches away from the gore and makes the story feel even more disjointed than it is.
November 8, 2021
Mooooooooooooooooooorbius versus...
...
...
...gentrification, or something?
Chill, Mike, I'm just telling it like it is!
Still, it was an amusing spell with Marvel's favourite "Living Vampire".
...
...
...gentrification, or something?
Chill, Mike, I'm just telling it like it is!
Still, it was an amusing spell with Marvel's favourite "Living Vampire".
March 4, 2022
Mais um encadernado do Morbius que a Panini agendou para o ano passado achando que o filme do personagem iria estrear em breve nos cinemas. Mas que nada, o filme atrasou para poder melhorar seu desempenho com o público. Depois da grande decepção que tive com o encadernado de Morbius mais recente, ao ler este, mais antigo, da época da inciativa Nova Marvel, tive outra grande decpção, embora um poquinho menor com este aqui. Morbius acaba se tornando um comandante de um bairro de uma pequena cidade cheia de crime e tráfico, se distanciando das histórias místicas que o personagem esteve envolvido nos anos 1990. Além da trama qualquer coisa, os desenhos são bastante irregulares, trazendo artistas de estilos variados para compor a narrativa do vampiro-vivo. Se você está curioso por histórias do personagem, vá atrás das que ele contracena com o Homem-Aranha e não daquelas em que é o personagem principal.
April 28, 2021
No conocía el personaje, así que entiendo que esta es una introducción tan buena como cualquier otra. El enemigo final sorprende, y el cómic resulta tener una carga social mayor de la que uno esperaría.
Es recomendable. No es una historia que te cambie la vida, pero se lee con agrado y te deja buen sabor de boca.
Es recomendable. No es una historia que te cambie la vida, pero se lee con agrado y te deja buen sabor de boca.
October 25, 2015
Surprisingly good. Good ideas, good writing, good art, good length. Morbius is not a character I was familiar with, and yet he came off well and is a story I would follow. Which is even more surprising since he's basically a vampire with bad luck or maybe even bad karma. Not an idea book, just a decent story - but the ideas may follow.
August 17, 2020
Poor Morbius. Great concept blown with poor planning and a weak story. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome without Tina Turner. The art is weak and the characters are so poorly fleshed out and uninteresting. I love Morbius, and unfortunately he even gets a substandard Spider-man to deal with.
July 8, 2022
i miss when morbius was with his bf jack russell aka werewolf 😢
July 13, 2023
This was a different take on Morbius. I prefer the more horror oriented stories, but I have to give the creative team credit for trying something new. But for whatever reason, the series never quite grabbed me.
Morbius ends up in the town of Brownsville, NY. It looks like he's going to be playing the part of neighborhood protector. It's a trope we've seen before. Hero moves into a troubled neighborhood, unites everyone to get rid of the crime that had been running rampant. But then things get odd with some science fiction type subplots. It's like the book never quite found it's way. Not bad, just not my type of Morbius story.
Morbius ends up in the town of Brownsville, NY. It looks like he's going to be playing the part of neighborhood protector. It's a trope we've seen before. Hero moves into a troubled neighborhood, unites everyone to get rid of the crime that had been running rampant. But then things get odd with some science fiction type subplots. It's like the book never quite found it's way. Not bad, just not my type of Morbius story.
April 29, 2022
Ni héroe ni villano. Solo un científico con una necesidad especial: beber sangre. 🧛🏻 Me ha sorprendido gratamente este tomo sobre Morbius, ya que recientemente vi la película y quería saber más sobre el personaje. Su historia es oscura y trágica, pero al final consigue sobrevivir en las sombras aunque se cruce con otros héroes de Marvel en el camino. Ojalá vuelvan a retomar su historia. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
April 22, 2022
Morbius seemed like a dumb idea to me. Dracula as a Marvel character?
I gave the character a shot here, and I must say I was convinced. The opening is very strong, setting up a decent backstory and compelling main character. The main story arc of fleeing, finding yourself and your new connections while also figuring out what is going on in Brownsville, was good enough. The ending was one I appreciate as a RPG DM… resolution that upscales the stakes and pulls the character into new uncharted waters. Or the best for a book, but decent enough for a comic.
Overall, great art, good characters, ok story.
I gave the character a shot here, and I must say I was convinced. The opening is very strong, setting up a decent backstory and compelling main character. The main story arc of fleeing, finding yourself and your new connections while also figuring out what is going on in Brownsville, was good enough. The ending was one I appreciate as a RPG DM… resolution that upscales the stakes and pulls the character into new uncharted waters. Or the best for a book, but decent enough for a comic.
Overall, great art, good characters, ok story.
September 5, 2022
My favorite moment was when walter white pulled up and said its breaking bad but morbius replied with no. Its morbin time
December 10, 2021
I've always loved the character of Morbius, and I liked him in this volume. It was just a bit boring, sadly. It was just okay. Not upset I read it, but not real jazzed either.
August 22, 2022
indeed, it is morbin time
February 26, 2024
Note: The Goodreads star rating is a calculated average of the individual ratings I've given each of the stories in this book. This review covers the tie-in issue The Amazing Spider-Man #699.1, and breaks the Morbius series into three story arcs, with two arcs reviewed together.
“Enter: Morbius – The Living Vampire” (The Amazing Spider-Man #699.1): +6 Serving as a way to get Morbius out of Spider-man’s book through an escape from the Raft prison, this issue’s exclusive purpose is to leave an open-ended beginning for the spin-off title centred on Morbius.
For a singular spin-off issue in a Spider-Man book, he is not featured at all and the sole focus is on Morbius and his backstory which is rather disappointing. Morbius broke out of prison, you’d think Spider-Man or one of the numerous New York superheroes would attempt to track him down at least. Either way, Lizard asking Morbius what he will do with himself now that Morbius has broken out and has a reviled reputation is really cool, since Lizard positions himself as a ‘second voice’ questioning Morbius’s actions. The flashback sequence of this story is okay, definitely just a way to get readers to see Morbius has a tragic past and as a sympathetic villain/anti-hero. Emil’s introduction as Morbius’s best friend was the best part completely. I would have loved for Emil to return in some capacity in the future, but unfortunately he is .
Marco Checchetto’s art on pages 1 and 2 is decent, implicitly allowing for artstyle continuity between the main series and this issue. Additionally the first two pages show different shots of events we’ve already seen in issue #699 of ASM, but framed from Morbius’s perspective which is also quite welcome. Remainder of the pages are drawn and inked by Valentine De Landro, who has this cartoony artstyle with thick black lines - vaguely hinting about how Morbius perceives his own memories.
Despite me wishing this tie-in issue was more original with less rehashing of an already established origin story, it was still enjoyable and makes the series it leads into worth reading.
[Read in June 2022, read and reviewed in July 2023]
"Midnight Son" (issues #1-5): +10 A low stakes arc about a kinda-superpowered person, stuck to one community of people and Morbius genuinely had a reason to be there - having just got out of prison and wanting to cure himself once again. Watching the gang war almost erupt from Morbius’ involvement and then for the community to stand up against the gang violence was amazing to see. The comedic repetition of Morbius getting beat up constantly is fantastic as well and contributes to his well-deserved sappy sad story. was genuinely cool and I wanted to see what his motives were. The art was alright, I did like the character designs though.
[Read and reviewed in June 2022]
“Cure Everything” and “The World Breaks Everyone” (issues #6-7 and #8-9): -3 The second arc took a turn I wasn't expecting, in a bad way. For one, the artist change was very jarring in issues #6 and #7. If there is a concurrent storyline, there should be a consistent artist as well, which should have been Elson instead of De Landro. The inclusion of Superior Spider-man wasn't terrible, but he allowed for the plot to draw away from Brownsville and its people. And eventually, the stakes just got so astronomically massive that it became bad, plainly. Realising Rose's motives were just for was almost sad, and seeing the confusing inclusion of fizzle into no satisfying interaction was even sadder! Ugh. The art overall was also alright here, and I still like the character designs.
[Read and reviewed in June 2022]
“Enter: Morbius – The Living Vampire” (The Amazing Spider-Man #699.1): +6 Serving as a way to get Morbius out of Spider-man’s book through an escape from the Raft prison, this issue’s exclusive purpose is to leave an open-ended beginning for the spin-off title centred on Morbius.
For a singular spin-off issue in a Spider-Man book, he is not featured at all and the sole focus is on Morbius and his backstory which is rather disappointing. Morbius broke out of prison, you’d think Spider-Man or one of the numerous New York superheroes would attempt to track him down at least. Either way, Lizard asking Morbius what he will do with himself now that Morbius has broken out and has a reviled reputation is really cool, since Lizard positions himself as a ‘second voice’ questioning Morbius’s actions. The flashback sequence of this story is okay, definitely just a way to get readers to see Morbius has a tragic past and as a sympathetic villain/anti-hero. Emil’s introduction as Morbius’s best friend was the best part completely. I would have loved for Emil to return in some capacity in the future, but unfortunately he is .
Marco Checchetto’s art on pages 1 and 2 is decent, implicitly allowing for artstyle continuity between the main series and this issue. Additionally the first two pages show different shots of events we’ve already seen in issue #699 of ASM, but framed from Morbius’s perspective which is also quite welcome. Remainder of the pages are drawn and inked by Valentine De Landro, who has this cartoony artstyle with thick black lines - vaguely hinting about how Morbius perceives his own memories.
Despite me wishing this tie-in issue was more original with less rehashing of an already established origin story, it was still enjoyable and makes the series it leads into worth reading.
[Read in June 2022, read and reviewed in July 2023]
"Midnight Son" (issues #1-5): +10 A low stakes arc about a kinda-superpowered person, stuck to one community of people and Morbius genuinely had a reason to be there - having just got out of prison and wanting to cure himself once again. Watching the gang war almost erupt from Morbius’ involvement and then for the community to stand up against the gang violence was amazing to see. The comedic repetition of Morbius getting beat up constantly is fantastic as well and contributes to his well-deserved sappy sad story. was genuinely cool and I wanted to see what his motives were. The art was alright, I did like the character designs though.
[Read and reviewed in June 2022]
“Cure Everything” and “The World Breaks Everyone” (issues #6-7 and #8-9): -3 The second arc took a turn I wasn't expecting, in a bad way. For one, the artist change was very jarring in issues #6 and #7. If there is a concurrent storyline, there should be a consistent artist as well, which should have been Elson instead of De Landro. The inclusion of Superior Spider-man wasn't terrible, but he allowed for the plot to draw away from Brownsville and its people. And eventually, the stakes just got so astronomically massive that it became bad, plainly. Realising Rose's motives were just for was almost sad, and seeing the confusing inclusion of fizzle into no satisfying interaction was even sadder! Ugh. The art overall was also alright here, and I still like the character designs.
[Read and reviewed in June 2022]
January 7, 2020
Pierwsza myśl: "Co ten wampir tak sobie kły daje ciągle obijać? Nie powinien gryźć, szarpać, krwi spijać". Nope. Dr Micheal Morbius w początkowych zeszytach to taki pokrak, którego byle chłystek jest w stanie przeklepać... Ja wiem, że on uciekł z więzienia i pewnie robi przyczajkę, ale to niech nie gryzie, tylko łamie kości.
Znamiennym jest to, że "zaczyna się dziać" dopiero po pojawieniu się tego "lepszego" Spider-mana, ale obaj "herosi" też dostają łupnia od... Kobiety, z żelaznymi pięściami. Nie ma szczęścia ten wampir, oj nie ma. Zwłaszcza, że trafia do jakiegoś peryferyjnego miasteczka, Brownsville i prawie od razu wikła się w wojnę gangów, gdzie skórę trzepie mu jakiś watażka lokalnego gangu, a któremu niedługo potem Morbius robi tracheotomię.
I się zaczyna. Złoczyńca nazwany jakże oryginalnie The Rose, chodzący w masce i mający na swoje posyłki kobietę z metalicznym uściskiem dłoni. Jest jeszcze cała masa postaci pobocznych, jak sidekick Morbiusa, którego on nie uznaje. Jak dziecko z matką, która ma jajniki twardsze niż wampir kły. Morbius to miała być taka próba odnalezienia w sobie tego pierwiastka, który pokazałby mu i innym, że jest w nim dobro, ale robienie z niego takiego lalusia, który jak się wkurzy to rozrywa aorty... Chyba nie tędy droga. Zwłaszcza, że te dziewięć zeszytów miało momentami zbyt dużo nudnych dłużyzn...
A i pod względem rysunku całość mnie zawiodła srogo, zwłaszcza że już same okładki pozostawiają naprawdę sporo do życzenia. Szkoda, bo Morbius widzi mi się raczej jako taki dość sprytny, wygadany łotr, a nie to co nam tutaj zaprezentowano.
Znamiennym jest to, że "zaczyna się dziać" dopiero po pojawieniu się tego "lepszego" Spider-mana, ale obaj "herosi" też dostają łupnia od... Kobiety, z żelaznymi pięściami. Nie ma szczęścia ten wampir, oj nie ma. Zwłaszcza, że trafia do jakiegoś peryferyjnego miasteczka, Brownsville i prawie od razu wikła się w wojnę gangów, gdzie skórę trzepie mu jakiś watażka lokalnego gangu, a któremu niedługo potem Morbius robi tracheotomię.
I się zaczyna. Złoczyńca nazwany jakże oryginalnie The Rose, chodzący w masce i mający na swoje posyłki kobietę z metalicznym uściskiem dłoni. Jest jeszcze cała masa postaci pobocznych, jak sidekick Morbiusa, którego on nie uznaje. Jak dziecko z matką, która ma jajniki twardsze niż wampir kły. Morbius to miała być taka próba odnalezienia w sobie tego pierwiastka, który pokazałby mu i innym, że jest w nim dobro, ale robienie z niego takiego lalusia, który jak się wkurzy to rozrywa aorty... Chyba nie tędy droga. Zwłaszcza, że te dziewięć zeszytów miało momentami zbyt dużo nudnych dłużyzn...
A i pod względem rysunku całość mnie zawiodła srogo, zwłaszcza że już same okładki pozostawiają naprawdę sporo do życzenia. Szkoda, bo Morbius widzi mi się raczej jako taki dość sprytny, wygadany łotr, a nie to co nam tutaj zaprezentowano.
January 1, 2023
Морбіус — вчений-вампір, герой марвелівського всесвіту, який частково перетинається з Людиною-павуком (якого не буде у фільмі, але в одному реченні згадують у книзі). Події розгортаються після того, як Морбіус рятує дівчину на ім’я Аманда Сейнт з пазурів секти Демонічне Полум’я, яка планувала принести її у жертву потойбічному арахніду. Старша сестра Аманди, Кетрін, вона ж Отруйний Жайворонок, хоче продовжити справу секти, отже Морбіусу та Аманді доведеться пережити небезпечні пригоди (на яких, звісно, нічого у цьому всесвіті не закінчується).
Коміксні герої та сюжети — безпрограшний варіант, коли хочеться чогось легкого та зрозумілого. Хоча у Марвел, принаймні у тих екранізаціях, що я бачила, глибокі персонажі зі своїми страхами, упередженнями, помилками, пристрастями та болем, а не просто картонки у чорно-білому світі.
У книзі ще й проста англійська — я слухала аудіо у виконанні Остіна Райзінга, чудова начитка, підійде початківцям.
Ще один безумовний плюс: пояснені всі події минулого і при цьому немає враження, що читаєш новелізацію коміксів.
Сам фільм я чекаю два роки — через пандемію прем’єру перенесли з липня 2020 аж на січень 2022 (навіть Джеймса Бонда так не відкладають — обіцяли показати вже восени, тож «Морбіус» — то якась безцінна картина, мабуть). Морбіуса грає Джаред Лєто, а його кохану Мартину, про яку у книзі теж згадують, — Адріа Архона (люблю її ще з серіалу «Смарагдове місто»). І, так розумію, ми побачимо початок — як Майкл Морбіус став тим, ким став. Дуже-дуже чекаю.
Коміксні герої та сюжети — безпрограшний варіант, коли хочеться чогось легкого та зрозумілого. Хоча у Марвел, принаймні у тих екранізаціях, що я бачила, глибокі персонажі зі своїми страхами, упередженнями, помилками, пристрастями та болем, а не просто картонки у чорно-білому світі.
У книзі ще й проста англійська — я слухала аудіо у виконанні Остіна Райзінга, чудова начитка, підійде початківцям.
Ще один безумовний плюс: пояснені всі події минулого і при цьому немає враження, що читаєш новелізацію коміксів.
Сам фільм я чекаю два роки — через пандемію прем’єру перенесли з липня 2020 аж на січень 2022 (навіть Джеймса Бонда так не відкладають — обіцяли показати вже восени, тож «Морбіус» — то якась безцінна картина, мабуть). Морбіуса грає Джаред Лєто, а його кохану Мартину, про яку у книзі теж згадують, — Адріа Архона (люблю її ще з серіалу «Смарагдове місто»). І, так розумію, ми побачимо початок — як Майкл Морбіус став тим, ким став. Дуже-дуже чекаю.
August 2, 2021
This guy’s getting his own film? This guy?!
In preparation for the long-stalled release of Sony’s Morbius film, I recently read the 2013 collection by Joe Keatinge, which attempted to update the character’s backstory and drag him into the Marvel universe as an anti-hero sort of protagonist. Did it work? Well, for the purposes of this series, yes. But 8 years on, I can’t say that Michael Morbius has become any more important than he was then.
The story picks up from his recent escape from supervillain prison The Raft, then follows Morbius as he attempts to live a life out of Spider-Man’s sight and on his own terms. Unfortunately, there’s that persistent little vampire bloodlust issue, and after living on the street and becoming embroiled in a gang war, things go from bad to worse.
The art in this collection is quite cool, and I appreciated the retelling of Morbius’ origin in the first issue, but about halfway through things got a tad messy for me. The story worked as a boots on the ground, Punisher-style vigilante setup, but once a mysterious criminal organisation became involved it felt like any other Marvel series.
This was all in all a nice Morbius refresher with some good art.
In preparation for the long-stalled release of Sony’s Morbius film, I recently read the 2013 collection by Joe Keatinge, which attempted to update the character’s backstory and drag him into the Marvel universe as an anti-hero sort of protagonist. Did it work? Well, for the purposes of this series, yes. But 8 years on, I can’t say that Michael Morbius has become any more important than he was then.
The story picks up from his recent escape from supervillain prison The Raft, then follows Morbius as he attempts to live a life out of Spider-Man’s sight and on his own terms. Unfortunately, there’s that persistent little vampire bloodlust issue, and after living on the street and becoming embroiled in a gang war, things go from bad to worse.
The art in this collection is quite cool, and I appreciated the retelling of Morbius’ origin in the first issue, but about halfway through things got a tad messy for me. The story worked as a boots on the ground, Punisher-style vigilante setup, but once a mysterious criminal organisation became involved it felt like any other Marvel series.
This was all in all a nice Morbius refresher with some good art.
October 27, 2017
I have never really read about Morbius very much, so I only really had a general idea of what he was about. It turned out to be enough for this volume. This is a longer trade, covering 9 issues of a somewhat underwhelming story. It features a fugitive Morbius heading to Brownsville, a part of New York that apparently no super-heroes go to, because it's so rough. I get that idea, but it gets a bit strained by the end, when I think they might break that rule for giant explosions and the like. The story also features a kind of not-terribly-awesome Morbius, which isn't a lot of fun to watch. It's also a bit odd that nobody seems disturbed by him being more or less a vampire, and coming back from grievous wounds, which doesn't bother anyone or make them think that beating him up some more is pointless. If you can get by these weird oversights, the rest of the story is competently told (though it in no way matches up with the covers). It's kind of grim and has a main character who seems to be a born loser here, who somehow manages to not screw up quite as badly as everyone thought he would.
December 12, 2021
This was okay. I appreciate that this volume contains a whole arc. Morbius tries to help people but just ends up making things worse, which is kinda relatable but doesn't make for the best story. If you want to read a Marvel book about a vampire who's not really a vampire, you could just read Blade. Or that time Jubilee was a vampire.
Every time I read Brownsville, I think of "Ante Up."
Every time I read Brownsville, I think of "Ante Up."
January 20, 2020
Videla som trailer na film a ten vyzeral zaujímavo. Potom niekto z ľudí, ktorých sledujem tu na GR, začal čítať tento komiks (nepamätám si, kto to bol, ale ak vás sledujem a tento komiks ste niekedy minulý týždeň čítali, hovorím asi o vás a ďakujem za inšpiráciu). Každopádne, Morbius je zaujímavá postava. Akoby vytrhnutá z celého univerza, teda až na tú epizódnu prítomnosť super-pavúka s neskutočne veľkým egom. Páčilo sa mi, ako sa snažili stvoriť postavu, ktorá nebola záporná, ale ktorá keď sa pokúsila urobiť niečo dobré, stala sa z toho katastrofa. Vo výsledku sa to podarilo, ale cítim, že z príbehu sa dalo vytrieskať viac.
January 6, 2021
Okay, that wasn't terrible.
I wasn't expecting much from a Morbius comic book series, but this 9-issue limited run had a pretty decent story. It's complicated and feels akin to the likes of Batman's Court of Owls situation, but with a distinctly Marvel spin with the likes of the Rose involved and even some Superior Spider-Man action to boot.
Morbius is a tragic hero at best and a sad anti-hero at his worst and this book did its best to try to play that balance well. It's nothing amazing and I don't think this ever had the potential to become an actual regular series, but it was certainly an interesting exploration of the character.
I wasn't expecting much from a Morbius comic book series, but this 9-issue limited run had a pretty decent story. It's complicated and feels akin to the likes of Batman's Court of Owls situation, but with a distinctly Marvel spin with the likes of the Rose involved and even some Superior Spider-Man action to boot.
Morbius is a tragic hero at best and a sad anti-hero at his worst and this book did its best to try to play that balance well. It's nothing amazing and I don't think this ever had the potential to become an actual regular series, but it was certainly an interesting exploration of the character.
November 19, 2020
Not bad. The living vampire is an interesting character. He can cross and re-cross the super hero battle lines as villain or anti-hero. In this incarnation he is playing the anti-hero. The story here is ok. Morbius is kind of a b-list character and he goes up against a small cartel of c-list opponents.
The book suffers from some inconsistences. Morbius basically walks out of a super-max prison and avoids recapture for weeks by wearing a hoodie, but he gets an embarrassing beat down from the only white street gang in North America. Spider-man makes a cameo and at the same time the dialogue goes off the rails. It’s like the writes were warped back to the 60s and doesn’t fit the rest of the book.
The book suffers from some inconsistences. Morbius basically walks out of a super-max prison and avoids recapture for weeks by wearing a hoodie, but he gets an embarrassing beat down from the only white street gang in North America. Spider-man makes a cameo and at the same time the dialogue goes off the rails. It’s like the writes were warped back to the 60s and doesn’t fit the rest of the book.
December 5, 2021
Michael Morbius gets involved with mobsters and other street-level problems. You really couldn't ask for a worse mismatch, and it's brought further down by muddy writing an an overabundance of characters that you don't really care about. There are a few high points, demonstrating that Morbius could be used right, one being the Dan Slott issue from Spider-Man that gives Morbius' backstory and the other being Morbius' return to Horizon. But for the most part Keatinge tries to take Morbius in his own direction, and it's just bad.
March 16, 2022
Morbius is a character that never screams "starring role" to me and this book proves that point well. Sadly, the plot was the biggest issue. Morbius gets manipulated into doing...things...by a terrible and cliched villain. The reasons make little sense. Morbius isn't very likeable here and the same goes for his generic supporting cast. The art, especially by Richard Elson was good but this story and dialogue were extremely bad. Overall, this is a fine example of not every character can pull of their own book unless there is a perfect story to tell.
March 17, 2022
Two stars for the artwork. The story, characters, and messages in this woke piece of crap cost it the other three. This comic pretty much contains every check box: "strong" female characters that can beat up any man without effort, gentrification plot, business mogul as the baddie who also happens to be white, weak male main characters who have their asses handed to them constantly by said strong women, wtf happened to spiderman?, the word 'oppression,' pandering, and speeches about rising above....
November 22, 2021
This was interesting; Morbius (as pointed out numerous times in the story) has always been kind of a morose sad sack of a character, someone who is done to more often than someone with real agency. The idea of an energy vampire - someone who's not *quite* a vampire is fun, especially in the context of the Marvel 616, but here it's maybe just one or two issues longer than it should have been to set up what is, ultimately only an okay conclusion. Fascinating more so than fun.
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