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Morbius Epic Collection
Morbius Epic Collection, Vol. 2: The End of a Living Vampire
The first era in the dark saga of Marvel's living vampire concludes! Morbius must save Martine Bancroft from the other-dimensional clutches of Helleyes, while CIA agent Simon Stroud stalks him at every turn! In a pair of black-and-white vampire tales, Morbius struggles with a desperate attempt to end his bloodlust while facing the undead threat of the Brotherhood of Judas! A Morbius showcase in MARVEL PREVIEW sends the living vampire on the hunt for a brutal murderer in the moors of Slade Mansion! And Morbius joins Man-Thing, Ghost Rider and the Werewolf by Night in the Legion of Monsters! Plus: Team-ups with the Thing, Spider-Man and She-Hulk!
Collects Fear (1970) #27-31; Marvel Premiere (1972) #28; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #15; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #6-8, 38; Savage She-Hulk (1980) #9-12; material from Vampire Tales (1973) #9-11, Annual (1975) #1; Marvel Preview (1975) #8.
Collects Fear (1970) #27-31; Marvel Premiere (1972) #28; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #15; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #6-8, 38; Savage She-Hulk (1980) #9-12; material from Vampire Tales (1973) #9-11, Annual (1975) #1; Marvel Preview (1975) #8.
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 2021
12 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Doug Moench
2,071 books122 followersDoug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)
Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.
Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.
Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.
Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 21, 2024
Picking up right where the previous volume left off, Michael Morbius has been reunited with his fiancé Martine Bancroft, they are now working together to find a cure for his vampirism.
(Adventure Into) Fear #27-31 - I’m going to give Doug Moench some credit here: he really tried to make some sense out of the bizarre, weird run from earlier issues of Fear. But no sooner does he bring back some sanity to these stories, than he sends things south once again. He tried to set up some sensible “rules” but the next author, Bill Mantlo, just tosses it all out the window, bath water and baby together. These issues do wrap up, more or less, the run here in Adventure into Fear, but the saga of Morbius was still running concurrently in the pages of Vampire Tales, with stories that bore no continuity with the stories from Fear. The art here is mostly by Frank Robbins, who as I’ve said elsewhere, isn’t among my favorite artists, with some assistance by Don Heck, Bob McLeod and George Evans, but the dominating look in these issues is Robbins, who inexplicably always seems to make his characters look like they’re performing in some weird, surreal ballet.
Vampire Tales #10-11 - This pair of stories are much more grounded and not brazenly outlandish with otherworldly demonic and surreal elements. Moench returns and gives the reader a more traditional set of adventures in the realm of vampiric fiction. The art is provided by Sonny Trinidad and is as nice as his work always is. As a side note, this volume also includes material from Vampire Tales #9 and Annual #1, but no stories from these, just art and editorial pieces with relation to Morbius. The latter is of particular interest though as that features a wonderful Morbius cover by Bob Larkin (why it wasn’t selected as the cover for this volume is inexplicable, but at least they used it for the back cover).
Marvel Preview #8 - Another Moench/Trinidad little mini-masterpiece. This one pits Morbius against a werewolf on the Scottish Moors.
Marvel Premiere #28 - This is another one with Robbins art that only makes the story from Mantlo even more … incomprehensibly surreal, and in many ways I’d say it’s the weirdest thing in this entire collection. Take four disparate Marvel characters with nothing else in common and throw them into a supernatural team of monsters without rhyme, reason, or context. I loved this story of The Legion of Monsters when it first came out precisely because it leaves more unanswered than it answers. I can’t say that any of these characters (Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, Jack Russell Werewolf by Night, Morbius the Living Vampire and the macabre Man-Thing) were among my favorites, but there were at least some runs with these characters that really stood out as masterpieces. Not so much here. But it was actually the bizarre combination of these four that made this issue work so well, and made it such wild fun. (This one is also included in Ghost Rider Team-Up & Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3.)
Marvel Two-In-One #15 - I’ve got to give credit where it is due: Mantlo comes up with some really out-there wacky ideas. This one pulls a long forgotten adversary from the pages of Tales to Astonish #49, the Living Eraser, and pits him against Ben Grimm (the Thing) and Michael Morbius (the Living Vampire). I did say it was wacky, didn’t I? It’s one of those typical 1970s team-up clichés that pit the two protagonists against one another before teaming-up to stop the villain. The formula can get tedious, but it kind of works here, thanks in no small part to Mantlo’s uncanny ability to keep the little details in mind while writing (like the fact that Grimm had never met Morbius before, but he had meet Michael’s fiancé before and knew the backstory of Morbius from her). Not much else of note here, except it’s just another in a long string of weirdly inexplicable Morbius stories.
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #6-8 - This first issue in this run is only included as it merely sets up the conflict of next two issues. In fact only 3 pages are included, most of this issue was actual a reprint of material from Marvel Team-Up #3. But the next two issues offer both a conclusion of sorts to the cliff-hanger like ending from Marvel Two-In-One #15. Archie Goodwin does a good job keeping the story moving at breakneck speed and the art by Sal Buscema just fuels the pacing quite well.
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #38 - This story is actually nearly three years after the previous one, but there’s the same solidly entertaining Buscema art illustrating another story by Mantlo. This story sets up what could have been the end of Morbius the Living Vampire, had Marvel decided to actually go that route. With the way the story ends, one would have thought it would be continued in the next issue, but it was not. So for about a year, this seemed like where the story of Michael Morbius would come to a close.
Savage She-Hulk #9-12 - Yikes! So, yes Morbius appears in three of these issues, but he’s really only a supporting character here. Only the last of these issues does he have any real involvement. The real problem though, is that this is terrible. I’ve only read through the Savage She-Hulk run once, in Essential Savage She-Hulk, Vol. 1, and I’ve got to say it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s clunky and ill-conceived, it’s badly paced and filled with horrible clichés and poorly developed plots. It’s pretty much a mess from start to finish. And these issues are a prime example of how rough they are. This is sad way to leave Michael Morbius.
To sum it all up, this volume isn’t nearly as engaging as the first one, but for fans of Michael Morbius (not that he likely added any new fans from that theatrical film) it’s certainly worth picking up.
(Adventure Into) Fear #27-31 - I’m going to give Doug Moench some credit here: he really tried to make some sense out of the bizarre, weird run from earlier issues of Fear. But no sooner does he bring back some sanity to these stories, than he sends things south once again. He tried to set up some sensible “rules” but the next author, Bill Mantlo, just tosses it all out the window, bath water and baby together. These issues do wrap up, more or less, the run here in Adventure into Fear, but the saga of Morbius was still running concurrently in the pages of Vampire Tales, with stories that bore no continuity with the stories from Fear. The art here is mostly by Frank Robbins, who as I’ve said elsewhere, isn’t among my favorite artists, with some assistance by Don Heck, Bob McLeod and George Evans, but the dominating look in these issues is Robbins, who inexplicably always seems to make his characters look like they’re performing in some weird, surreal ballet.
Vampire Tales #10-11 - This pair of stories are much more grounded and not brazenly outlandish with otherworldly demonic and surreal elements. Moench returns and gives the reader a more traditional set of adventures in the realm of vampiric fiction. The art is provided by Sonny Trinidad and is as nice as his work always is. As a side note, this volume also includes material from Vampire Tales #9 and Annual #1, but no stories from these, just art and editorial pieces with relation to Morbius. The latter is of particular interest though as that features a wonderful Morbius cover by Bob Larkin (why it wasn’t selected as the cover for this volume is inexplicable, but at least they used it for the back cover).
Marvel Preview #8 - Another Moench/Trinidad little mini-masterpiece. This one pits Morbius against a werewolf on the Scottish Moors.
Marvel Premiere #28 - This is another one with Robbins art that only makes the story from Mantlo even more … incomprehensibly surreal, and in many ways I’d say it’s the weirdest thing in this entire collection. Take four disparate Marvel characters with nothing else in common and throw them into a supernatural team of monsters without rhyme, reason, or context. I loved this story of The Legion of Monsters when it first came out precisely because it leaves more unanswered than it answers. I can’t say that any of these characters (Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, Jack Russell Werewolf by Night, Morbius the Living Vampire and the macabre Man-Thing) were among my favorites, but there were at least some runs with these characters that really stood out as masterpieces. Not so much here. But it was actually the bizarre combination of these four that made this issue work so well, and made it such wild fun. (This one is also included in Ghost Rider Team-Up & Werewolf by Night: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3.)
Marvel Two-In-One #15 - I’ve got to give credit where it is due: Mantlo comes up with some really out-there wacky ideas. This one pulls a long forgotten adversary from the pages of Tales to Astonish #49, the Living Eraser, and pits him against Ben Grimm (the Thing) and Michael Morbius (the Living Vampire). I did say it was wacky, didn’t I? It’s one of those typical 1970s team-up clichés that pit the two protagonists against one another before teaming-up to stop the villain. The formula can get tedious, but it kind of works here, thanks in no small part to Mantlo’s uncanny ability to keep the little details in mind while writing (like the fact that Grimm had never met Morbius before, but he had meet Michael’s fiancé before and knew the backstory of Morbius from her). Not much else of note here, except it’s just another in a long string of weirdly inexplicable Morbius stories.
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #6-8 - This first issue in this run is only included as it merely sets up the conflict of next two issues. In fact only 3 pages are included, most of this issue was actual a reprint of material from Marvel Team-Up #3. But the next two issues offer both a conclusion of sorts to the cliff-hanger like ending from Marvel Two-In-One #15. Archie Goodwin does a good job keeping the story moving at breakneck speed and the art by Sal Buscema just fuels the pacing quite well.
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #38 - This story is actually nearly three years after the previous one, but there’s the same solidly entertaining Buscema art illustrating another story by Mantlo. This story sets up what could have been the end of Morbius the Living Vampire, had Marvel decided to actually go that route. With the way the story ends, one would have thought it would be continued in the next issue, but it was not. So for about a year, this seemed like where the story of Michael Morbius would come to a close.
Savage She-Hulk #9-12 - Yikes! So, yes Morbius appears in three of these issues, but he’s really only a supporting character here. Only the last of these issues does he have any real involvement. The real problem though, is that this is terrible. I’ve only read through the Savage She-Hulk run once, in Essential Savage She-Hulk, Vol. 1, and I’ve got to say it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s clunky and ill-conceived, it’s badly paced and filled with horrible clichés and poorly developed plots. It’s pretty much a mess from start to finish. And these issues are a prime example of how rough they are. This is sad way to leave Michael Morbius.
To sum it all up, this volume isn’t nearly as engaging as the first one, but for fans of Michael Morbius (not that he likely added any new fans from that theatrical film) it’s certainly worth picking up.
May 17, 2022
The Bronze Age career of Michael Morbius ends not with a bang, but with a whimper (he would return to living vampire status in the 1990s).
The final run of Morbius' series in FEAR had far more pedestrian art and courtesy of Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo, more pedestrian writing than Don McGregor or Steve Gerber gave the Living Vampire in the first collection. Moench starts to pick up steam when we meet the bizarre demon Helleyes but then Mantlo takes over for reads like three issues of "the book's getting canceled, just wrap everything up."
Then we bounce through several uninspired team-ups with Thing and Spider-Man in various books before ending Morbius career with a literal deus ex machina — as he's about to kill Spidey, a lightning bolt restores him to normal! Then we wrap up the collection with three She-Hulk issues where he's a supporting character.
I might buy the first volume some day. Not this one, ever.
The final run of Morbius' series in FEAR had far more pedestrian art and courtesy of Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo, more pedestrian writing than Don McGregor or Steve Gerber gave the Living Vampire in the first collection. Moench starts to pick up steam when we meet the bizarre demon Helleyes but then Mantlo takes over for reads like three issues of "the book's getting canceled, just wrap everything up."
Then we bounce through several uninspired team-ups with Thing and Spider-Man in various books before ending Morbius career with a literal deus ex machina — as he's about to kill Spidey, a lightning bolt restores him to normal! Then we wrap up the collection with three She-Hulk issues where he's a supporting character.
I might buy the first volume some day. Not this one, ever.
October 2, 2021
Reprints Adventure Into Fear #27-31, Marvel Premiere #28, Marvel Two-In-One (1) #15, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #6-7, 38, Savage She-Hulk #9-12, Vampire Tales #9-11, Annual #1, and Marvel Preview #8 (February 1975-January 1981). Michael Morbius is trying to control the thirst that controls his life. Cursed as a living vampire, he is trying to use his scientific genius to solve the bloodlust which compels him to kill. As a living vampire, Morbius discovers that trouble seems to find him and darkness surround him, and the people who make the mistake of coming into his life. Be it battling demons, a possessed Spider-Man, or helping She-Hulk fight a terminal disease, the life of a living vampire is always a challenge.
Written by Doug Moench, Bill Mantlo, David Anthony Kraft, Archie Goodwin, and Ralph Macchio, Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2: The End of a Living Vampire is a Marvel Comics horror comic book collection. Following Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 1: The Living Vampire, the collection features art by Sonny Trinidad, Paty Cockrum, Vincente Alcazar, Gray Morrow, Sandy Plunkett, Sal Buscema, Mike Vosburg, Frank Robbins, Don Heck, George Evans, and Arvell Jones. Issues in this volume are also include in Adventure Into Fear Omnibus, Vampire Tales—Volume 3, Werewolf by Night Omnibus, Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus, Decades: Marvel in the ’70s—Legion of Monsters, Essential Savage She-Hulk, Essential Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man—Volume 1 and Volume 2 among other collections.
I love the Marvel Epic Collections. As a completionist who liked the Essential line, the Marvel Epic Collections are like the Essential series on speed. With sharp, clean pages and interesting character choices, the Epic Collections are almost always a fun read even if you don’t like the period or the character. Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2: The End of a Living Vampire is a period I like, and a character I’m interested in.
The character is one of Marvel’s early anti-heroes. Marvel always recognized that giving villains more motivation than simply “I’m evil” made better villains. Morbius was introduced as a tragic character and the tragedy continues in this volume. He is forced to give up his love and lifeline Martine to protect her and due to his condition, he can’t simply slip away into isolation. Morbius needs to feed, and he is tormented by it.
As part of Marvel’s horror boom, it was always interesting to see the horror characters interact with the more traditional superheroes. Morbius kind of falls in both categories. He isn’t a “real” vampire since he’s alive and he was introduced as a Spider-Man villain. This allows his interaction with characters like Spider-Man, Thing, and She-Hulk to be a bit more natural than some of the other supernatural characters at the time. Marvel decided to really go heavy again into the supernatural aspect of Morbius in the 1990s, but I always preferred him in this context more…a scientist first, a vampire second.
I had read many of the issues of this collection before reading it, but having them collected and all in one place is a blessing, but it is also a curse. Characters like Morbius who jumped from being lead characters to supporting characters over and over again, aren’t always consistent. Here, you see Morbius cured a few times, but the cures don’t seem to always take and how Morbius gets “reset” isn’t always fleshed out. Getting to see a solid timeline of the character makes it all worth it despite the inconsistencies with the character and his portrayal…Morbius the Living Vampire deserves to live on!
Written by Doug Moench, Bill Mantlo, David Anthony Kraft, Archie Goodwin, and Ralph Macchio, Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2: The End of a Living Vampire is a Marvel Comics horror comic book collection. Following Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 1: The Living Vampire, the collection features art by Sonny Trinidad, Paty Cockrum, Vincente Alcazar, Gray Morrow, Sandy Plunkett, Sal Buscema, Mike Vosburg, Frank Robbins, Don Heck, George Evans, and Arvell Jones. Issues in this volume are also include in Adventure Into Fear Omnibus, Vampire Tales—Volume 3, Werewolf by Night Omnibus, Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus, Decades: Marvel in the ’70s—Legion of Monsters, Essential Savage She-Hulk, Essential Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man—Volume 1 and Volume 2 among other collections.
I love the Marvel Epic Collections. As a completionist who liked the Essential line, the Marvel Epic Collections are like the Essential series on speed. With sharp, clean pages and interesting character choices, the Epic Collections are almost always a fun read even if you don’t like the period or the character. Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2: The End of a Living Vampire is a period I like, and a character I’m interested in.
The character is one of Marvel’s early anti-heroes. Marvel always recognized that giving villains more motivation than simply “I’m evil” made better villains. Morbius was introduced as a tragic character and the tragedy continues in this volume. He is forced to give up his love and lifeline Martine to protect her and due to his condition, he can’t simply slip away into isolation. Morbius needs to feed, and he is tormented by it.
As part of Marvel’s horror boom, it was always interesting to see the horror characters interact with the more traditional superheroes. Morbius kind of falls in both categories. He isn’t a “real” vampire since he’s alive and he was introduced as a Spider-Man villain. This allows his interaction with characters like Spider-Man, Thing, and She-Hulk to be a bit more natural than some of the other supernatural characters at the time. Marvel decided to really go heavy again into the supernatural aspect of Morbius in the 1990s, but I always preferred him in this context more…a scientist first, a vampire second.
I had read many of the issues of this collection before reading it, but having them collected and all in one place is a blessing, but it is also a curse. Characters like Morbius who jumped from being lead characters to supporting characters over and over again, aren’t always consistent. Here, you see Morbius cured a few times, but the cures don’t seem to always take and how Morbius gets “reset” isn’t always fleshed out. Getting to see a solid timeline of the character makes it all worth it despite the inconsistencies with the character and his portrayal…Morbius the Living Vampire deserves to live on!
February 24, 2022
A fun collection that highlights some of the amazing b&w artwork from the Marvel magazines from the 70s. Many of these stories are more horror-based, but there is some Marvel Super Hero stuff mixed in as well. I really enjoyed the article midway through that gave a history to the Marvel Monster lines/magazines. Added a lot of info I didn't have as up to this point, I'd only read his series in the 90s and the Spider-Man stuff he appeared in. I can't wait to see what makes it into the movie.
November 9, 2022
Highs and lows. The collection shows the character jumped around a lot between different horror series and then as a guest character on Spider-Man and She-Hulk books. You don't really get to see a consistent creative team so the reader doesn't really have much to grab onto with the character. It's an interesting concept, maybe the 90s run had more room for him to stretch his wings.
February 24, 2022
A silly deconstruction of vampire lore that starts out promising, but runs out of originality gas right out of the gate.
October 25, 2022
ADVENTURE INTO FEAR #27-31
This arc opens the second volume of the Morbius Epic Collection. I wanna say it mostly wasn’t quite as good as #20-26, though it ended well in the last two issues with the vampire manor bloodbath and Martine as a vampire. But the preceding stuff with Hellseye was just weird in a less fun way than the previous arc.
Oh, and this arc is also way less horny, though there were flashes of brilliance in the dialogue at times.
(C-Rank)
VAMPIRE TALES #10-11, MARVEL PREVIEW #8
Well, aside from the last of the three, this was a huge improvement over the Vampire Tales comics from the first volume! It’s kind of like this and Adventure Into Fear swapped places in this volume in terms of quality. These had plenty of quality vampire carnage and moody pulpiness. Just a lot of fun all around.
(B-Rank)
MARVEL PREMIERE #28
Ghost Rider! Man-Thing! Morbius! Werewolf by Night (the guy who was called just “Werewolf” in Giant-Size Werewolf #4)! Avengers whomst?
It looked for a minute like they were gonna just straight up do the plot of the movie Volcano 20 years before it came out, but starring all these weirdos. I had no idea how it was gonna work, but I was here for it. Sadly they just sort of encountered a dude who is thematically positioned as being just as perfect and innocent as they were monstrous and depraved. Shrug.
Honestly, this is some of the weakest stuff I’ve read either volume of this collection.
(D-Rank)
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #15
This was so dumb and boring, and the Living Eraser is such a dumb and bad villain. Not even sure why they bothered including this.
(D-Rank)
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #6-8
So-so arc. #6 is literally three new pages of framing narrative around a reprint of Marvel Team Up #3, presumably to reacquaint readers with him before his reemergence for this brief arc. #7 picks up from where we saw him last in Marvel Two-in-One #15, and then he and Spidey slug it out while Pete’s coworker Glory Grant is repeatedly imperiled to raise the stakes. It’s pretty easily the standout issue of the three. But we see throughout that Morbius is being controlled by some weirdo called the Empathoid, and Peter ends up possessed by him in #8 and has to go to some creative lengths to rid himself of his cranial stowaway.
Oh, and there’s like a bit of an overlapping arc with Flash Thompson I guess where he’s just gotten back from fighting in the Vietnam War? So that was… pretty weird, tbh, but we only get a tiny bit of it here.
All in all, a pretty alright arc, if unremarkable.
(C-Rank)
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #38
I liked this one quite a bit! It’s set on Halloween, the Spidey vs. Morbius fight is pretty great, and we finally actually see the Living Vampire peel up that mask and sink his fangs into that Spider-twink’s juicy neck!
Oh the part at the beginning with the three teenagers was pretty hilarious, though. Like, them getting attacked by Morbius was a cool way to open the issue, and I especially enjoyed the explicit Halloween vibes, but the jock freezing up and the nerd with incel vibes being brave felt like a serious case of wish fulfillment for the writer lmao.
(B-Rank)
SAVAGE SHE-HULK #9-11
Seeing She-Hulk defend Morbius in court was pretty cool, but I’m not really sure this collection needed this. It was like 75% the unrelated stuff She-Hulk had going on. I guess it was cool to see Morbius get a sort of mini-redemption arc, but I don’t know, I just don’t really feel like this added a lot. Like, it was actually pretty good taken on its own merits, but I don’t really feel like it sated my thirst for Morebius as much as most of the other stories in these collections.
(B-Rank)
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Check out my compilation review of the comics, animated series, and movie on my blog, 24,000 Miles to the Moon! https://24000milestothemoon.com/2022/...
If you like my writing, please consider subscribing to my Patreon to get early access and a monthly exclusive post! https://www.patreon.com/tailsmoon
This arc opens the second volume of the Morbius Epic Collection. I wanna say it mostly wasn’t quite as good as #20-26, though it ended well in the last two issues with the vampire manor bloodbath and Martine as a vampire. But the preceding stuff with Hellseye was just weird in a less fun way than the previous arc.
Oh, and this arc is also way less horny, though there were flashes of brilliance in the dialogue at times.
(C-Rank)
VAMPIRE TALES #10-11, MARVEL PREVIEW #8
Well, aside from the last of the three, this was a huge improvement over the Vampire Tales comics from the first volume! It’s kind of like this and Adventure Into Fear swapped places in this volume in terms of quality. These had plenty of quality vampire carnage and moody pulpiness. Just a lot of fun all around.
(B-Rank)
MARVEL PREMIERE #28
Ghost Rider! Man-Thing! Morbius! Werewolf by Night (the guy who was called just “Werewolf” in Giant-Size Werewolf #4)! Avengers whomst?
It looked for a minute like they were gonna just straight up do the plot of the movie Volcano 20 years before it came out, but starring all these weirdos. I had no idea how it was gonna work, but I was here for it. Sadly they just sort of encountered a dude who is thematically positioned as being just as perfect and innocent as they were monstrous and depraved. Shrug.
Honestly, this is some of the weakest stuff I’ve read either volume of this collection.
(D-Rank)
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #15
This was so dumb and boring, and the Living Eraser is such a dumb and bad villain. Not even sure why they bothered including this.
(D-Rank)
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #6-8
So-so arc. #6 is literally three new pages of framing narrative around a reprint of Marvel Team Up #3, presumably to reacquaint readers with him before his reemergence for this brief arc. #7 picks up from where we saw him last in Marvel Two-in-One #15, and then he and Spidey slug it out while Pete’s coworker Glory Grant is repeatedly imperiled to raise the stakes. It’s pretty easily the standout issue of the three. But we see throughout that Morbius is being controlled by some weirdo called the Empathoid, and Peter ends up possessed by him in #8 and has to go to some creative lengths to rid himself of his cranial stowaway.
Oh, and there’s like a bit of an overlapping arc with Flash Thompson I guess where he’s just gotten back from fighting in the Vietnam War? So that was… pretty weird, tbh, but we only get a tiny bit of it here.
All in all, a pretty alright arc, if unremarkable.
(C-Rank)
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #38
I liked this one quite a bit! It’s set on Halloween, the Spidey vs. Morbius fight is pretty great, and we finally actually see the Living Vampire peel up that mask and sink his fangs into that Spider-twink’s juicy neck!
Oh the part at the beginning with the three teenagers was pretty hilarious, though. Like, them getting attacked by Morbius was a cool way to open the issue, and I especially enjoyed the explicit Halloween vibes, but the jock freezing up and the nerd with incel vibes being brave felt like a serious case of wish fulfillment for the writer lmao.
(B-Rank)
SAVAGE SHE-HULK #9-11
Seeing She-Hulk defend Morbius in court was pretty cool, but I’m not really sure this collection needed this. It was like 75% the unrelated stuff She-Hulk had going on. I guess it was cool to see Morbius get a sort of mini-redemption arc, but I don’t know, I just don’t really feel like this added a lot. Like, it was actually pretty good taken on its own merits, but I don’t really feel like it sated my thirst for Morebius as much as most of the other stories in these collections.
(B-Rank)
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Check out my compilation review of the comics, animated series, and movie on my blog, 24,000 Miles to the Moon! https://24000milestothemoon.com/2022/...
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July 8, 2021
Pretty eclectic in style, this is a diverse collection of stories involving the living vampire. The first part of the book collects the last few bizarre issues of Fear. No wonder it was canceled. Much of this is with Frank Robbins' art. While I loved Frank in his golden age Johnny Hazard strip, I'm not sure he translated well into 70s horror. The middle of this collection contains the B&W material from Vampire Tales magazine--a very different and more appropriate gothic tone. This was my favorite part. There were also appearances in the Legion of Monsters, Spectacular Spider-Man, and more of a bit part in the early original She-Hulk storylines when she was being portrayed more like a monster than an Amazonian bombshell. I wish there were more stories like the stellar Vampire Tales by Moench and Sonny Trinidad.
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