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The Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) #101-102
Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus
Cursed by an experiment gone wrong, Dr. Michael Morbius is possessed by an unquenchable thirst for blood - yet his heart beats like any other man. He is a living vampire! And in this amazing Omnibus, the complete original Morbius saga is collected - from his first appearance through both his first color comic and black-and-white series, and into the rare stories that concluded his tragic tale. The sometimes mad, sometimes misunderstood Morbius contends not just with Marvel's heroes - but with bizarre cultists and satanic demons! Journey to the darker side of Marvel, a world of horror and the supernatural that overtook the industry in the 1970s and defined comics for a generation!
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 101-102; Marvel Team-Up (1972) 3-4; Fear (1970) 20-31; Giant-Size Werewolf (1974) 4; Giant-Size Super-Heroes (1974) 1; Marvel Premiere (1972) 28; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) 15; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) 6-8, 38; Savage She-Hulk (1980) 9-12; Vampire Tales (1973) 1-5, 7-8, 10-11; Marvel Preview (1975) 8
Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 101-102; Marvel Team-Up (1972) 3-4; Fear (1970) 20-31; Giant-Size Werewolf (1974) 4; Giant-Size Super-Heroes (1974) 1; Marvel Premiere (1972) 28; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) 15; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) 6-8, 38; Savage She-Hulk (1980) 9-12; Vampire Tales (1973) 1-5, 7-8, 10-11; Marvel Preview (1975) 8
864 pages, Hardcover
Published May 12, 2020
4 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Steve Gerber
638 books66 followersSteve Gerber graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in communications and took a job in advertising. To keep himself sane, he wrote bizarre short stories such as "Elves Against Hitler," "Conversion in a Terminal Subway," and "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!" He noticed acquaintance Roy Thomas working at Marvel, and Thomas sent him Marvel's standard writing test, dialoguing Daredevil art. He was soon made a regular on Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and the newly created Man-Thing, the latter of which pegged him as having a strong personal style--intellectual, introspective, and literary. In one issue, he introduced an anthropomorphic duck into a horror fantasy, because he wanted something weird and incongruous, and Thomas made the character, named for Gerber's childhood friend Howard, fall to his apparent death in the following issue. Fans were outraged, and the character was revived in a new and deeply personal series. Gerber said in interview that the joke of Howard the Duck is that "there is no joke." The series was existential and dealt with the necessities of life, such as finding employment to pay the rent. Such unusual fare for comicbooks also informed his writing on The Defenders. Other works included Morbius, the Lving Vampire, The Son of Satan, Tales of the Zombie, The Living Mummy, Marvel Two-in-One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shanna the She-Devil, and Crazy Magazine for Marvel, and Mister Miracle, Metal Men,
The Phantom Zone
, and The Immortal Doctor Fate for DC. Gerber eventually lost a lawsuit for control of Howard the Duck when he was defending artist Gene Colan's claim of delayed paychecks for the series, which was less important to him personally because he had a staff job and Colan did not.
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.
In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.
In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 9, 2021
Great collection of this used to be B list Spider-Man villain. Good stories and art by many of the industry's big names for that era. Recommended
April 1, 2022
As this is an Omnibus I will not be doing a play-by-play. I will stat this cover the origins of Morbius from his debut in Spider-Man 1971 and goes through 1981. Something I found very interesting is due to the Comic Code in the 50's and 60's, there could be no writing of Supernatural entities. Aliens with amazing powers? Sure! Mutated humans? Absolutely! But no wolf-men, Frankenstein monsters, or vampires in comics. Morbius was Marvel's very first vampire and the first vampire in comics. At least according to the introduction by Don McGregor. I had never heard of this character before, it wasn't until Jared Leto was cast in a MCU movie that I became aware of Morbius and wanted to learn everything about him. As such Michael Morbius is a brilliant scientist dying of a blood disease who injects himself with vampire bat enzyme and then electrocutes himself. Because that sounds like a good idea. It turns him into....dun dun dun A VAMPIRE! In the 70's. Oh gods, the cheese! The absolutely delightful cheesy dialogue! This is my first time reading comics from this era and I love it! So corney!
Morbius is at first a Spider-Man villian, because of course. He later returns in a few team up comics, yay team ups! Personally one of my favorites things about comics! He makes an appearance in the new Vampire Tales comic series (he is only one of many new supernatural characters) before getting a run in the new Fear series. Its neat to watch his character evolve. From the beginning he was a conflicted character. Driven mad with blood-lust during the night and guilt from killing during the day. The longer the character was written the more his 'human' personality shows during his blood-lust times. He clearly wants to feed, but understands the costs and cares. As more and more of the world sees him as a monster so too, does he see himself. Plus, you know, cheesy 70's black and white morality. Still, who doesn't love a good vampire? Especially one driven by science rather than superstition.
Morbius is at first a Spider-Man villian, because of course. He later returns in a few team up comics, yay team ups! Personally one of my favorites things about comics! He makes an appearance in the new Vampire Tales comic series (he is only one of many new supernatural characters) before getting a run in the new Fear series. Its neat to watch his character evolve. From the beginning he was a conflicted character. Driven mad with blood-lust during the night and guilt from killing during the day. The longer the character was written the more his 'human' personality shows during his blood-lust times. He clearly wants to feed, but understands the costs and cares. As more and more of the world sees him as a monster so too, does he see himself. Plus, you know, cheesy 70's black and white morality. Still, who doesn't love a good vampire? Especially one driven by science rather than superstition.
January 23, 2025
Vamos a ello.
A ver, no soy fan de Morbius. Para nada. Para mí, es un enemigo de Spiderman más, un secundón, incluso, comparado con Doc Ock, el Duende Verde, el Lagarto, Misterio o incluso el Rino. Pero siempre me han gustado los magazines de terror de Marvel, y el protagonizado por el vampiro viviente no lo había leído hasta ahora.
Y, bueno, la verdad es que el presente omnibus tiene cosas muy chulas, cosas que no están mal y verdaderas atrocidades, por lo que el resultado es muy irregular. En la parte más positiva del espectro, tenemos los últimos episodios de Vampire Tales, con unos sólidos guiones de Doug Moench y excelentes dibujos de Sonny Trinidad (sí, tengo verdadera debilidad por la legión de artistas filipinos que desfilaron por Marvel en los 70, sobre todo por Alcalá y DeZuñiga, pero todos me parecen, como mínimo, buenos). En la ni fu ni fa, los episodios de Amazing, que sí, que tienen dibujo del maestro Gil Kane, pero que han sido reeditados mil veces, los de Spectacular (más de lo mismo, pero sin Kane, o sea, mucho peor), los de Marvel Team-Up y la mayoría de los de Adventure into Fear (curiosamente, los que más me han gustado son los del usuamente denostado Frank Robbins, que disloca al vampiro en unas poses absolutamente grotescas y demenciales, pero que dota a sus dibujos de una energía alucinante). La parte detestable cubre los últimos episodios que un Don McGregor aquejado de un caso extremo de diarrea verbal guioniza (tan ilegibles como incomprensibles) y, por supuesto, los completamente prescindibles episodios de She-Hulk, dibujados por Mike Vosburg, uno de los más justamente olvidados «artistas» que ha dado el medio. Horribles, tanto en guion como en dibujo.
Pero bueno, el conjunto no carece de encanto. Podemos ver la trayectoria completa de la etapa clásica del personaje (luego vendrían unas cuantas series que jamás he leído, creo que por suerte, pero eso ya sería en décadas muy posteriores), con su planteamiento, nudo y desenlace, y eso siempre es un plus. Las historias de Gerber son delirantemente absurdas y entretenidas, como suele ser marca de la casa de ese guionista, y están por ahí rarezas curiosas como el primer cómic dibujado por un espantoso Paul Gulacy que parecía un clon de Jim Steranko al que por error se le hubiera dotado de dos manos izquierdas, pero, oye, que como curiosidad está bien. Y Tom Sutton, un dibujante muy atmosférico e interesante, tratando de interpretar mediante imágenes las bizarradas ininteligibles de McGregor. Que sí, que al final merece la pena, vamos, aunque Morbius pase de ser un asesino llorón que lucha contra marcianos y tal en una serie, a un psicópata vicioso y sin remordimientos que combate sectas satánicas en otra. Qué más da. La mayoría de las veces, resulta entretenido, y en los tiempos que corren, ya me parece bastante. En fin, como siempre, ustedes mismos.
A ver, no soy fan de Morbius. Para nada. Para mí, es un enemigo de Spiderman más, un secundón, incluso, comparado con Doc Ock, el Duende Verde, el Lagarto, Misterio o incluso el Rino. Pero siempre me han gustado los magazines de terror de Marvel, y el protagonizado por el vampiro viviente no lo había leído hasta ahora.
Y, bueno, la verdad es que el presente omnibus tiene cosas muy chulas, cosas que no están mal y verdaderas atrocidades, por lo que el resultado es muy irregular. En la parte más positiva del espectro, tenemos los últimos episodios de Vampire Tales, con unos sólidos guiones de Doug Moench y excelentes dibujos de Sonny Trinidad (sí, tengo verdadera debilidad por la legión de artistas filipinos que desfilaron por Marvel en los 70, sobre todo por Alcalá y DeZuñiga, pero todos me parecen, como mínimo, buenos). En la ni fu ni fa, los episodios de Amazing, que sí, que tienen dibujo del maestro Gil Kane, pero que han sido reeditados mil veces, los de Spectacular (más de lo mismo, pero sin Kane, o sea, mucho peor), los de Marvel Team-Up y la mayoría de los de Adventure into Fear (curiosamente, los que más me han gustado son los del usuamente denostado Frank Robbins, que disloca al vampiro en unas poses absolutamente grotescas y demenciales, pero que dota a sus dibujos de una energía alucinante). La parte detestable cubre los últimos episodios que un Don McGregor aquejado de un caso extremo de diarrea verbal guioniza (tan ilegibles como incomprensibles) y, por supuesto, los completamente prescindibles episodios de She-Hulk, dibujados por Mike Vosburg, uno de los más justamente olvidados «artistas» que ha dado el medio. Horribles, tanto en guion como en dibujo.
Pero bueno, el conjunto no carece de encanto. Podemos ver la trayectoria completa de la etapa clásica del personaje (luego vendrían unas cuantas series que jamás he leído, creo que por suerte, pero eso ya sería en décadas muy posteriores), con su planteamiento, nudo y desenlace, y eso siempre es un plus. Las historias de Gerber son delirantemente absurdas y entretenidas, como suele ser marca de la casa de ese guionista, y están por ahí rarezas curiosas como el primer cómic dibujado por un espantoso Paul Gulacy que parecía un clon de Jim Steranko al que por error se le hubiera dotado de dos manos izquierdas, pero, oye, que como curiosidad está bien. Y Tom Sutton, un dibujante muy atmosférico e interesante, tratando de interpretar mediante imágenes las bizarradas ininteligibles de McGregor. Que sí, que al final merece la pena, vamos, aunque Morbius pase de ser un asesino llorón que lucha contra marcianos y tal en una serie, a un psicópata vicioso y sin remordimientos que combate sectas satánicas en otra. Qué más da. La mayoría de las veces, resulta entretenido, y en los tiempos que corren, ya me parece bastante. En fin, como siempre, ustedes mismos.
March 11, 2021
This is basically the complete Bronze age appearances of Morbius all in one big volume. What that means is it includes his first appearances on Spider-Man, followed by his short run on Adventure into Fear and a bunch of stories in Vampire Tales. To me, the latter is the weakest. It takes itself too seriously, and despite some fantastic art, can get kind of dull. The best of it is a series of stories where Morbius goes on some dark adventures with Amanda Saint.
Now much more prominent are the color comic stories that are a lot more campy and fun. The Fear stories have him going into another dimension. Most of these issues are drawn by one of my favorite classic artists Frank Robbins, with writing by Bill Mantlo. The end of the book has several issues of Spectacular Spider-Man. And although I love all 70's Marvel stuff, Spider-Man never really did much for me. But these issues have made me re-think that. With art by Ross Andru and John Romita, these stories are really great.
You really just have to overlook the one-note nature of most Morbius sub-plots. He craves blood and kills people for their blood because he can't control himself. And after he always feels bad about it. This gets old fast, but there are so many goofy villains and great artists that it's hard not to appreciate Morbius in spite of his one-note personality.
Finally the book wraps up in the most ant-climactic way in several issues of the Savage She-Hulk. It has court-room drama and features a mostly de-powered Michael Morbius. It's really cool if you are into She-Hulk, but less interesting if you were just reading about the living vampire.
Now much more prominent are the color comic stories that are a lot more campy and fun. The Fear stories have him going into another dimension. Most of these issues are drawn by one of my favorite classic artists Frank Robbins, with writing by Bill Mantlo. The end of the book has several issues of Spectacular Spider-Man. And although I love all 70's Marvel stuff, Spider-Man never really did much for me. But these issues have made me re-think that. With art by Ross Andru and John Romita, these stories are really great.
You really just have to overlook the one-note nature of most Morbius sub-plots. He craves blood and kills people for their blood because he can't control himself. And after he always feels bad about it. This gets old fast, but there are so many goofy villains and great artists that it's hard not to appreciate Morbius in spite of his one-note personality.
Finally the book wraps up in the most ant-climactic way in several issues of the Savage She-Hulk. It has court-room drama and features a mostly de-powered Michael Morbius. It's really cool if you are into She-Hulk, but less interesting if you were just reading about the living vampire.
May 31, 2022
This Omnibus of Morbius the Living Vampire is really cool in many ways and again, written in its time. Almost all of his victims are women and when there are a group of people, he still attacks the women. He also tries to save the women.
The Black & White stories from VAMPIRE TALES are really much for moody and dark and ultimately a bit more interesting.
There is very little connection between the color comic story lines and the black and white ones, but the anguish that Morbius feels runs fairly consistently after the first few appearances.
The Omnibus ends with four stories from SAVAGE SHE-HULK in which a almost healed Michael Morbius works to safe Walters life, while suffering with blood desires after drinking from Spider-Man and getting struck by lightning.
The Omnibus has many letter pages and articles about upcoming comics and some background on who is working on things. A sort of Seventies history of Marvel.
Don MacGregor introduction too is cool and interesting.
Worth the read, just don't be too upset about the sexist remarks, the language that they throw in to make is sound seventies hip. The few Bill Mantlo stories that are kind a drug induced strange (along with Steve Gerber's).
But over all, I recommend reading this Omnibus.
The Black & White stories from VAMPIRE TALES are really much for moody and dark and ultimately a bit more interesting.
There is very little connection between the color comic story lines and the black and white ones, but the anguish that Morbius feels runs fairly consistently after the first few appearances.
The Omnibus ends with four stories from SAVAGE SHE-HULK in which a almost healed Michael Morbius works to safe Walters life, while suffering with blood desires after drinking from Spider-Man and getting struck by lightning.
The Omnibus has many letter pages and articles about upcoming comics and some background on who is working on things. A sort of Seventies history of Marvel.
Don MacGregor introduction too is cool and interesting.
Worth the read, just don't be too upset about the sexist remarks, the language that they throw in to make is sound seventies hip. The few Bill Mantlo stories that are kind a drug induced strange (along with Steve Gerber's).
But over all, I recommend reading this Omnibus.
August 7, 2021
Le storie di Morbius su "Vampire Tales" le avevo già lette, quindi mi sono concentrato sul serial "Adventure into FEAR" che veniva prima. Allucinanti come storie, tra l'assurdo, il fantasy, il pazzesco con una spolverata di horror. Molte mani ai disegni e non tutte buone. Persino un autore a me abbastanza gradito come Frank Robbins qui stecca diverse tavole specialmente nelle proporzioni dei corpi.
Comunque ci sono anche buone cose, ma il livello dei disegni di Fear è inferiore a VT. In compenso le storie sono più divertenti.
Direi che le 3 stelle si possono dare, stiracchiando un poco.
Comunque ci sono anche buone cose, ma il livello dei disegni di Fear è inferiore a VT. In compenso le storie sono più divertenti.
Direi che le 3 stelle si possono dare, stiracchiando un poco.
December 7, 2023
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. My love for Morbius the Living Vampire began in the Fall of 1979 when my Mom bought me Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #38 at the Farmer Jack by my house. Next for me was Giant-Size Superheroes #1, a quarter box find in 1983 which had Spider-Man taking on Morbius and the Man-Wolf with artwork by Gil Kane. I saw the house ad for Adventure Into Fear #20 in Amazing Spider-Man #131, another quarter box find during that time. Then I found that issue at the Book Bin in Lincoln Park, MI for a quarter (or maybe .35...I think that it might have been bagged with the old double flapped sleeve). Thus began my love affair with this character.
Issue 20 is pure genius. Mike Friedrich sets up a chilling scenario and Paul Gulacy's artwork is brilliant. I read this issues several dozen times in the mid-'80s. What can I say? My family was poor and we didn't have cable. I tracked down issue 21 and the rest, but none were as brilliant as that first issue. Still, that issue's impact was so severe that it made me realize the potential that the character has when done right.
Like many Bronze Age Marvel titles, there is a pass the baton, disjointed feeling to the proceedings. One cannot tell where the story is going because there is a vibe that even the creators themselves don't know where it's going. One guy starts something and then the next guy goes somewhere completely different. It's sometimes disappointing but never dull. Steve Gerber banks hard to the left, maneuvering Morbius out of the straight up Horror vibe of issue 20 and moving into a Science Fiction direction. Since Morbius is a vampire of science and not supernatural origin, this isn't as crazy as it might seem. Gerber turns it into a grand epic of science versus sorcery...and then bails one issue before his climax, leaving poor Doug Moench to tie up the loose ends and try to salvage the title.
The vibe of this series is much different to the Morbius stories in Vampire Tales, which were published simultaneously. So what are my feelings some 30 years later? These comics are nowhere near as good as I remembered them being. Issue 20 is still brilliant but the rest are merely enjoyable and/or occasionally cringe-worthy bad. Frank Robbins does the artwork for 5 of the 12 issues of Fear, and his artwork is not to my liking at all. It's too cartoony, bordering on caricature and is ill-suited to a Horror/ Sci-Fi comic. I must have been more tolerant of bad artwork or had lower standards as a youngster, as I don't recall it bothering me back then. Sorry, but I call them as I see them. Covers face to avoid rocks and tomatoes. Fandom in the '70s apparently felt the same way that I do, with the letter pages filled with complaints about Robbins' artwork.
Issue 20 is pure genius. Mike Friedrich sets up a chilling scenario and Paul Gulacy's artwork is brilliant. I read this issues several dozen times in the mid-'80s. What can I say? My family was poor and we didn't have cable. I tracked down issue 21 and the rest, but none were as brilliant as that first issue. Still, that issue's impact was so severe that it made me realize the potential that the character has when done right.
Like many Bronze Age Marvel titles, there is a pass the baton, disjointed feeling to the proceedings. One cannot tell where the story is going because there is a vibe that even the creators themselves don't know where it's going. One guy starts something and then the next guy goes somewhere completely different. It's sometimes disappointing but never dull. Steve Gerber banks hard to the left, maneuvering Morbius out of the straight up Horror vibe of issue 20 and moving into a Science Fiction direction. Since Morbius is a vampire of science and not supernatural origin, this isn't as crazy as it might seem. Gerber turns it into a grand epic of science versus sorcery...and then bails one issue before his climax, leaving poor Doug Moench to tie up the loose ends and try to salvage the title.
The vibe of this series is much different to the Morbius stories in Vampire Tales, which were published simultaneously. So what are my feelings some 30 years later? These comics are nowhere near as good as I remembered them being. Issue 20 is still brilliant but the rest are merely enjoyable and/or occasionally cringe-worthy bad. Frank Robbins does the artwork for 5 of the 12 issues of Fear, and his artwork is not to my liking at all. It's too cartoony, bordering on caricature and is ill-suited to a Horror/ Sci-Fi comic. I must have been more tolerant of bad artwork or had lower standards as a youngster, as I don't recall it bothering me back then. Sorry, but I call them as I see them. Covers face to avoid rocks and tomatoes. Fandom in the '70s apparently felt the same way that I do, with the letter pages filled with complaints about Robbins' artwork.
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