Recently in Morbius Category

As a big fan of the Marvel Monsters, I couldn't wait to see them meet each other.  In particular, I wanted Morbius to meet Werewolf By Night.

Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #3, published in 1975, featured this titanic event.  Would you believe this Gil Kane cover was the single best thing about this comic?  The interior artwork by Virgil Redondo is so horrible, I can't even bear to crop any scans and show you here.  It's like the artwork for a drab 1950s romance comic (not a Johnny Romita romance book--that would be cool) that some idiot thought was appropriate for a horror story.

Of all the Giant-Size books, the Werewolf drew the short end of the stick on artists.  What a shame--especially after being drawn by Ploog, Kane, and Sutton in the regular monthly series.  Nuff said.

The Marvel Monster mags had some great illustrations on the inside front covers and contents pages.

This one by Pablo Marcos was featured in Vampire Tales 6, 1974.  I thought it was an outstanding visual of Morbius (the Living Vampire) meeting Lilith (Daughter of Dracula).  Marcos always had a great take on the horror characters—and his ink and grey wash tones were perfect for the black and white magazines.  There’s the violence on the left—with Morbius about to chow down on the woman—and Lilith’s bold sexuality on the right stopping him.  Alas, this was another case where the illustration did not fit the story inside—the two characters did not meet at all.

The cover to this issue also featured Lilith, a painting by Boris Vallejo.  Marvel probably intended Lilith to become the co-feature in Vampire Tales, giving the magazine two strong characters (along with Morbius) to attract readers. 

But Marvel’s decisions were often haphazard—was this due to the round robin of editors or illegal substances in the Marvel offices?  Lilith is a vampire, she belongs in Vampire Tales!  No wait, Lilith is Drac’s daughter, let’s put her back in Vampire Tales!  Oh no, we have a Lilith inventory story by Steve Gerber that was never published.  Dracula Lives is cancelled.  What to do?  Put in Marvel Preview #12 and call it the Haunt of Horror!

I suppose all these stories are collected in some Essentials trade, right?  Nuff said!

If you haven't read Dark Reign Punisher The List (by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr), I highly recommend it.  The ending was very surprising to me, and it sets up this next Punisher arc (starting in issue #11) with art by Tony Moore.

Moore's cover to Punisher #12 brings back the Legion of Monsters to aid the Punisher (now FrankenCastle).  Morbius, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night are all there, along with the Living Mummy, who I haven't seen in decades.  I'm looking forward to this, especially after the terrific job that Moore did recently Ghost Rider. 

I'll be you dollars to doughnuts that Moore remembers this cover...

The very first (and only?) appearance of the Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, 1975.  As a total Marvel Monster freak, I couldn't wait to read this story.  Written by Bill Mantlo and Frank Robbins, you had to admire the lengths that Mantlo went to have Man-Thing transported out of the swamp--it was an ordeal just to get all these horror guys together to fight a menace.  It was a bit of a letdown, but I was always hoping for a return appearance.

Keep on eye on that logo, because it moved around a lot.

Later that year, Marvel published a black and white magazine called Legion of Monsters, with a Neal Adams cover painting.  I had hoped for a team-up, but the magazine contained only solo stories.  I believe most of them were inventory stories left over from the defunct magazines Dracula Lives and Monsters Unleashed.  The editorial indicated that the magazine was an ongoing publication, but issue #2 never appeared.

But Marvel was never one to let a crappy logo go to waste!  The Legion of Monsters title appeared yet again in Marvel Preview #8 in 1976.  You would think with a cover like this, there would be a team-up, right?  Blade and Morbius never crossed paths, they were featured in solo stories only.  More inventory material, this time left over from Vampire Tales.

Let's raise a glass to Tony Moore, who loves Marvel Monsters as much as we do!  Nuff said.

Looking back at Gil Kane's career at Marvel, he never stayed on any series for a long time, unlike his long runs on DC Comics' Green Lantern and Atom.  Probably his longest association was with Spider-Man and Marvel Team-up.  He did many Team-Up covers, here are some of my favorites...

I've always enjoyed the dynamic figures of Captain America and Spider-Man on the cover to Marvel Team-Up #13.  John Romita obviously inked this cover--the line work on Grey Gargoyle and the two heroes is unmistakable.  The positioning of the characters and the camera angles are pure Kane.

Marvel Team-Up #3 featured Kane's co-creation Morbius, attempting to bite Spidey once again.  Curses, foiled by the Human Torch!  This was the first issue of a two part story.  Spidey and the Torch subdue Morbius and take him to Professor Xavier's school, in search of a cure for the vampire.

Marvel Team-Up #4 was a landmark issue, because it featured the X-Men.  You have to put this issue into historical context--the X-Men's own title was effectively cancelled with issue #66.  The X-Men title was kept alive with reprints from issue #67 to 93.  But the mutants had been missing from the Marvel Universe for a few years until the Beast appeared in Amazing Adventures and this guest spot in MTU #4.  You had to be hardcore if your followed the X-Men at this point in time, and this issue was a real treat.

They tried something new to make the X-Men more exciting and dangerous--by putting them in street clothes instead of costumes!  Cyclops wore a suit, Jean Grey wore a sweater, and Angel stripped off his shirt when he needed to spread his wings.  They really did look cool and hip in the 1970s fashions, especially with Kane's art style--he did the interior art as well as the cover.  Nuff said.

This cover hit me right out of nowhere.  Greg Land doing a terrific rendition of Son of Satan, Man-Thing, Morbius, and Werewolf by Night for…Marvel Zombies?

It turns out that in a world overrun by zombies, these supernatural creatures are the best resistance the planet has to offer.  I’m very interested in reading this one.

I’m beginning to think Greg Land loves the classic Marvel Monsters as much as I do.  Nuff said.

Morbius first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101, in the middle of a storyline that had Peter Parker somehow growing 4 additional limbs to become even more arachnid like.  The worst idea Stan Lee ever had!  Fortunately, Peter went to 2 arms after issue #102.

Morbius was different than the typical villain.  He killed people for blood, but felt really guilty about it afterward.  His tragic origin pushed Morbius to the edge where he could be villain or anti-hero. 

Gil Kane’s art was really inspired during this issue.  I am wondering who came up with the design for Morbius.  Was it John Romita or Kane?  Maybe an informed Marvel historian can please tell me.

Morbius quickly became a popular character.  He next appeared in Marvel Team-Up #1, then he helped launched Giant-Size Superheroes #1 for Spider-Man.  He teamed up with Man-Wolf (a scientifically created werewolf) to take down Peter Parker.  After this, Morbius graduated into 2 separate series: Adventure Into Fear (a color comic) and Vampire Tales (a black and white magazine).  Nuff said,

Marvel often tried to put two characters together in a series of ads or anthologies that often left me scratching my head.  So let’s celebrate those double feature specials!

Morbius and Lilith.  Kind of makes sense, both vampires, right?  Wrong.  Morbius is a scientifically created vampire, while Lilith was magically created.  OK, I’m a nit-picker.

Brother Voodoo and the Son of Satan?  Competing religions right there!  The Mark of Satan was the original title for Daimon Hellstrom’s series. 

Hey, we’re launching Man-Thing #1, and just because you love monsters so much, you should also buy Ka-Zar #1!  Well, both series have characters running completely naked in the great outdoors.

How about putting Ka-Zar in Astonishing Tales along with Doc Doom?  Jungle tales combined with evil dictator conquering tales—peanut butter and jelly!  We just weren’t ready for that jelly.  I just noticed that Zabu’s head is the hyphen in Ka-Zar’s logo.  Too bad Zabu’s head was also the same color as the background!

And then there was Amazing Adventures with the Inhumans and the Black Widow.  That didn’t make sense either; you would think the Inhumans and Doctor Doom would be better off sharing a title!

Amazing Adventures #7 is almost a crime, because you have 2/3 of a great cover ruined by the Widow at the bottom.  What’s more dramatic, some dude with a bionic arm threatening to burn down San Francisco or the lithe Black Widow karate kicking a fat guy?  I think I know which one Neal Adams preferred.  Nuff said.

A while back I mentioned Back Issue #31, a tribute to Steve Gerber.  This contained a nifty illustration by Pablo Marcos, Gerber’s artist on Tales of the Zombie:

These were all of the horror characters that Gerber wrote during his tenure at Marvel.  From left to right: Simon Garth (Zombie), Morbius, the Living Mummy, Lilith, Son of Satan, and of course, Man-Thing.  You can visit Pablo Marcos’s website for more illustrations.  Nuff said.