With Halloween right around the corner, I thought it would be time for this here blog to get a bit spooky. With that, I thought it would be neat to give some love to one of Marvel's more horror-based characters: Morbius the Living Vampire.
Unlike most other vampires in fiction, Morbius's transformation into one of the Creatures of the Night was due to a scientific mishap, not any form of supernatural curse. It's why he's called the Living Vampire, after all. Despite his villainous origins, Morbius would eventually go on to become more of an anti-heroic character. He would eventually associate himself with Marvel's other horror-themed characters like Ghost Rider, the original Werewolf by Night, and even the vampire slayer known as Blade in the group known as the Midnight Sons.
Morbius's origins came about thanks to the Comics Code getting updated in the early 1970s, allowing comics to portray supernatural characters like vampires. Morbius's debut was also the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man to not be written by Stan Lee. He had bequeathed the book to editor Roy Thomas. Thomas drew inspiration for the character from an unidentified film he saw as a child that had a man be turned into a vampire by radiation. Artist Gil Kane drew inspiration from actor Jack Palance for the character's look.
Morbius would go on to appear in other media outside of comics, mainly in animated series focused on Spider-Man. He also is getting his own feature film out next year (it was delayed from its original release date last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
So, with that out of the way, let's look at the debut of the Living Vampire in Amazing Spider-Man #101!
The cover is a Gil Kane, John Romita Sr. and Artie Simek piece. It's pretty cool. We got our man Morbius giving a six-armed Spidey a Mighty Backhand, claiming that even the newly Goro-styled Spidey is no match for a vampire such as himself. It's a great cover.
"A Monster Called Morbius!"
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciler: Gil Kane
Inker: Frank Giacoia
Letterer: Artie Simek
Colorist: Unknown
Editor: Stan Lee
The story begins with Peter Parker's day getting quite a bit worse.
Man, that Parker Luck really likes to beat the Web-Slinger upside the head with a monkey wrench, huh? But it's not so bad! Peter can now can now be a one-man rock band! Also, he'll never have to worry about needing an extra hand!
Yeah, Petey here tried to make a potion to remove his spider-powers. But he didn't test it first, and now he's in this mess. Also to add to Peter's stupidity, he didn't consider that this kind of side-effect would happen, so he never bothered to make an antidote.
Okay, so let's get on that. He gets a call from his then-beau, Gwen Stacy. She wants to see a movie, but Peter turns her down, the excuse being that he's going to be out of town for a while. Gwen is a bit heartbroken by it. Peter gets another call, this one from Robbie Robertson over at the Daily Bugle. Ol' Robbie's got a photography job for Petey! Peter tells him that he's got a bit of mono, so he's going off to get some rest out of town. J. Jonah Jameson takes it well.
What a wonderful employer Jonah is. Peter still has one contact that can help him, out in Florida. One Curt Connors, aka the Lizard. The man has a place in Southhampton, complete with a lab in the basement. Peter suits up, and Spidey swings his way (and does a little train-riding) to Southhampton.
Connors really didn't do a great job making the place look any bit welcoming, huh? We next switch scenes to a ship about a mile away. The crew is meeting up over a bit of a problem. You see, members of the crew have been vanishing lately. And the captain of the vessel has turned up dead. Maybe the ship is haunted. But one crewman, a Mr. Whitey, thinks that the cause is their guest. They had found a man adrift at sea, and being good sailors, they helped him. But since he came on board, the crew started vanishing. It's too much of a coincidence. The surviving crew find their guest in the engine room.
They attack him, but the man fights back, showing considerable strength, toughness, and speed. He's able to evade the crew. Thinking he went overboard, the crew congratulate themselves and head to bed for the night. While the guest...undergoes a bit of a transformation.
Ladies, gentlemen, whatever you wish to identify as, say hello to Morbius, the Living Vampire. And being a vampire, he needs himself some blood. The Living Vampire attacks and feeds on the remaining crew. His thirst is sated, but he also has blood on his hands. Metaphorically, of course. The vampire dives into the water, and makes his way to the summer home of Curt Connors.
It's here we join Spider-Man. He's working hard on trying to cure his six arms. It's going rather well.
Yup, going excellently. The Living Vampire attacks Spider-Man. The man just woke up, and he wants his bloody breakfast. Spidey tries to fight him off, but the man is weakened by lack of sleep and lack of coordination of his extra arms. Morbius is able to knock our hero down the stairs and into Dreamland. He plans to have himself some Spider-Blood Shake when Curt Connors shows up. The shock causes him to transform into the Lizard. Peter Parker wakes up to find himself caught between one heck of a rock and a hard place.
I enjoyed this issue. We get a basic idea of Morbius's personality. The comic tries to establish the tragic nature of the character, although I do feel it didn't quite do a good job on pointing that out. Morbius does seem to act a bit more outright villainous in this story, to me. Maybe that's just a case of them not quite figuring Morbius out yet. The cliffhanger is pretty awesome, a weakened Spidey being caught between two monstrous (emphasis on monster) foes, old and new. Gil Kane's interpretation of Morbius makes him look very inhuman, perfect for a man-turned-monster.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2020 trade paperback Morbius Epic Collection Vol. 1: The Living Vampire. Happy Halloween, everybody! And thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, get vaccinated, and wear your masks! See you next time!
