Vampire Tales Annual #1 - The Year In Blood!

1975's Vampire Tales Annual #1 proved to be the final magazine with that title that Marvel published and the over-sized magazine reprinted some of the better stories from the series, most of them to be honest from the first year of the run. To see the specific contents go here.

But the annual is mostly remembered (by yours truly at least) for the awesome Bob Larkin cover image of a close up of the face of the savage and  bloodthirsty Morbius, his next victim reflected in his terrible magenta eyes. It's a keeper for certain.

And that my friends concludes the Dojo's look at the series Vampire Tales. It was a magazine which was certainly a product of its times, full of vigor and potential in its earliest days and some really outstanding storytelling. I personally liked the overstuffed early issues with articles and reprints and such, despite their questionable quality at times. The magazine had a zest and vigor which unfortunately the more organized final issues lacked somehow, thought the artwork and storytelling remained pretty much at an above average level throughout. Certainly the Morbius saga detailed in these black and white pages was superior to the exceedingly bland color comic he simultaneously occupied. For the Morbius stuff alone, these are worthy magazines to spend some time with.

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Vampire Tales #11 - Legion Of Blood!

Vampire Tales #11 is dated June, 1975. Sporting another handsome though more subdued Richard Hescox cover this is the last regular issue of Vampire Tales. Preceded in its demised by Monsters Unleashed and Tales of the Zombie the end of the series well and truly marks the end of the great monster trend of the early 1970's in comics.

Following a Bullpen Bulletins page called "Fearsome Features, Far-Out Fabrications and Fictional Configurations" which announces the end of the aforementioned monster titles the editors are not savvy enough to see the handwriting on the wall for Vampire Tales itself.

Morbius stars in a sprawling tale titled "Death Kiss" written by Doug Moench and drawn by Sonny Trinidad. In this one he finds himself on the cruise liner Muritania but soon is pitted against a cult of vampires who call themselves "The Brotherhood of Judas". He is directed in his mission of sorts by a beautiful woman named Morgana St.Clair who has secrets of her own. A host of coincidences make this one work, but it does feature some typically lush and evocative art by Trinidad. For a close look at most of the story in its original art format go here.

The second and final story in the issue is "Hobo's Lullaby" by John Warner and artist Yong Montano. This is a weird little short story about a legion of bums who aspire to get power by becoming vampires. One of their number objects and his story is the focus of our attention as the hobos battle the cops. It's a strange one and I suspect Warner was trying to say something about the predatory economic nature of society, but I'm not sure. Check it out for yourself here.

And after two blood-spilling years that's a wrap for the regular Vampire Tales series.

There is one more Vampire Tales magazine to come, an annual but more on that later today.

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Vampire Tales #10 - Plague Of Blood!

Vampire Tales #10 is dated April, 1975 and features a striking Richard Hexcox cover featuring Morbius the Living Vampire in all his vile glory. It's a great cover, maybe my favorite of all the Vampire Tales covers. It speaks directly to the main story in the issue, a multi-part Morbius epic.

"A Taste of Crimson Life" by Doug Moench and Sonny Trinidad occupies most of this issue, divided in three parts throughout the magazine. The first part titled "First Phase: Fast of Blood" begins with Morbius seeking a quiet isolated place to experiment on his tortured state and hopefully find a cure. He finds and rents a room in an lonely house in Painesville, Pennsylvania and meets his landlady Alicia Twain, a forlorn and lonely woman who against her better judgment invades his privacy and discovers his secret. Morbius in an effort to not slay the woman to slake his thirst flies from the house in a frenzy. To read this story in its entirety (save for a few splash pages) in the original art for check out this link.Trinidad's work fairly shines.

Next up is another story about a house titled "A House of Pleasure, The House of Death" written by Moench with some really outstanding artwork by Mike Vosburg and Howard Nostrand. In this one a man seeks a mansion in which it is rumored a man will find erotic delights but no one speaks of it directly since no one seems to every return. He goes there, finds it filled with beautiful vampire women who seek his blood, but he is prepared and uses stakes to fend them off. He battles the vampires and finds his father, the king of the region who has succumb to the vampires and dies in his son's arms. The prince, now the king burns the mansion down killing the vampires, but at the cost of his own sanity it seems.

The second part of the Morbius story is titled "Second Phase: Temptation" and finds Morbius entering the town of Painesville and finding a victim. He returns to the house to find Alicia willing to help him. Meanwhile the miners who live there go to the lonely house and confront Alicia who defies them. They have been trying to get her to move out since the house sits on a precious vein of copper but anger rules the day and they kill her with an axe. Morbius finds her and swears vengeance. 

"Blindspot" by Gerry Conway and Virgilio Redondo and Alfredo Alcala has a vampire dealing with the consequences of losing track of time and using a blind man's glasses which obscure the sun. It turns out poorly for the blood sucker.

The final installment of the Morbius tale is titled "Third Phase: Feast of Blood" and it shows Morbius at his most vicious as he wipes out the murderous miners of Painesville, taking some mark of vengeance for the death of his friend Alicia Twain.

The Morbius story this time was extra long and different than the McGregor stories of previous issues which had become weighted down with overwritten allusions to politics and switches in narrative points of view. Moench gives us a much more straight-forward yarn which showcases Morbius and makes him the most bizarre thing in the story, a remarkable difference.

One more issue to come before the series gets cancelled. More on that next time.

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Vampire Tales #9 - Blood Lunge!

Vampire Tales #9 is dated February, 1975 and sports a moody cover by Marti Ripoll of a ghastly vampire maid in a somber graveyard. It's connection to any story in the magazine is not apparent, but it's handsome.
This issue will not feature any Morbius stories, but rather Blade the Vampire Slayer is the headliner, though briefly. 

The issue starts off with a one-page bit by Tony Isabella and Ernie Chan titled "The Vampire of the Inn" which tells of a Chinese vampire from olden times who impales himself on a tree while attacking his victim.

The follows the text piece "The Marvel Bullpen Page Goes Black and White and Read All Over" which details some of the editorial shifts and highlights some of the other offerings from Marvel's magazine line. 
 

"Bloodmoon" by Chris Claremont and Blade creator Marv Wolfman pits the vampire slayer against the Vampire Legion led by Anton Vierken and as we later learn the beautiful but deadly Maragrite D'lesco. The vampires kill all the women in the brothel in which Blade grew up including his unofficial foster mother Lady Vanity. Blade declares he will gain vengeance when the vampires fail to bring him under their spell and later tells Van Helsing that he will attack this "Legion" on his own.

But that story will not be continued in Vampire Tales as this is the last Blade adventure to appear there despite several ads that suggest otherwise, but will wait for an issue Marvel Preview.

"Blood Lunge" by Doug Moench and Russ Heath is a clever little quickie vampire yarn about a vamp who terrorizes a small village, but one which is ready for him with crosses on nearly every door. Despite that though, he finds a victim he thinks but is surprised to find not a human being at all, but a deadly surprise. I'll let you discover that when you read it at this groovy link. For the record in the reprint I read a few of the pages are printed out of order as is the case at the link above, and that hurts given that the story is a short one. So be careful to read the fourth page after the first one than shift to the second -- it will help.

"The Bleeding Time" by Gerry and Carla Conway with art by Virgilio Redondo and inks by Tony DeZuniga and Alfredo Alcala is a striking story of a vampire who gets shifted against his will from 1902 to the future world of 2300 or so and which is using time travel to siphon off energy from earlier eras. This has the side effect of sometimes shifting unsuspecting folks into the future. In addition to victims the vampire finds a woman from his own time and seeks some solace with her before meeting another deadly enemy from the 19th century who is as merciless as he is.

"Blood Stalker" by Larry Lieber features some tasty art by Jesus Blasco and pits a rather unappealing pimp against a vampire as both battle for control of the women in the area. Neither the protagonist nor the antagonist in this story evokes much sympathy.

Finally there is a rather odd story titled "Shards of a Crystal Rainbow" by Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga which does a rather masterful job of comparing the curse of the vampire to the much more commonplace but decidedly deadly practice of drug abuse. It's a cleverly done story with a surprising ending and some substantial impact.

All in all despite the absence of Morbius, this is a solid issue with some very compelling stories, some with real heft.

More to come as Morbius returns and really kicks some ass.

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Marvel Horror - Werewolf By Night!

Werewolf by Night proved to be one of Marvel's sturdiest outings in the monster arena, lasting a cool forty-three issues plus assorted giant-size editions. The artist most associated with the title is probably Mike Ploog, but the artist who drew the most issues is far and away Don Perlin. Perlin joined regular writer Doug Moench to create some truly weird adventures for the lycanthrope, his friends and his enemies. Though I collected all of the Werewolf by Night issues over the years, I sadly often bagged them and filed them away with the intent to read them one fine day. That day never came, that is until I finally bought them all again in Essential form -- and I'm glad I did. The reason being that Don Perlin's talent really shines through most magnificently in black and white.

Together Moench and Perlin create a wide range of adventures stretching the format to have the werewolf confront corporate conspiracies, mad vigilante superheroes, other-dimensional warriors, demonic haunted houses, and surreal mad scientists from across space, and much more. Always Jack Russell and his friends and family search for a cure, though they seem weirdly constantly unable to find a safe place for Jack to transform. It's clear that the format was growing tired in the final issues and the addition of guest-stars like Iron Man seem woefully out of place, but the attempt seemed to find a way forward for a horror series that had outlived its trend. Too on-the-nose for any real transformation, the series eventually ended, and mostly with a whimper.

But it was a heady run.

Here's a cover gallery of lycanthropic awesomeness. 

Now go howl at the moon.

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Marvel Horror - I, Werewolf!

I have been wanting to read the Werewolf by Night saga for several years now, but something else always gets in the way. But finally at least I sat down and read through these delicious stories of the teenager Jack Russell who on his eighteenth birthday is afflicted with is the family curse -- lycanthropy. Becoming the furry protagonist of the title he lopes into the moonlight and slashes and chews his way through enemy after enemy as the mystery surrounding his origins slowly comes to light.

What sets this story apart is the narrative choice to use first person, to tell the story from Jack's point of view. It allows for an oddly effective entree into the nightmare of losing control and becoming effectively a wild animal for several nights of each and every month. To that end the original title was "I, Werewolf" though I agree that the ultimate title "Werewolf by Night" is much stronger.  Created by Roy Thomas, the earliest issues are written by Gerry Conway and later Len Wein and most appropriately Marv Wolfman.

What sets this story apart from many of the other Marvel horrors of the era is the singularly compelling artwork of Mike Ploog, a devotee of the Will Eisner school who brings that Eisnerian sensibility to the nighttime world of our teenage werewolf.

In the early issues of Marvel Spotlight we meet Jack, his sister Lissa and his step-father who may or may not be an enemy. But there are enemies galore as lots of sinister baddies want to access the Russell (originally "Russoff") family secret, a magic tome called "The Darkhold". The attempts to lay hands on this form the basis for the earliest stories.

By the time Werewolf by Night gets its own title the story progresses and eventually the Darkhold fades and we meet various types who want just to hunt a werewolf, bring a monster to mad justice, or use the werewolf's powers for their own ends. The furry anti-hero confronts a lot of creeps who are worse than him.

Eventually Ploog leaves and artists like Tom Sutton and Gil Kane fill in before Don Perlin steps up. Along with Perlin comes a writer named Doug Moench and these two take the werewolf to all new and even weirder places. More on that later.

Here are some juicy Werewolf by Night covers to savor.

More Werewolf by Night later today.

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