Morbius - The End Of The Living Vampire!

Clearly Marvel had high hopes for Morbius the Living Vampire. He's given a color series in Adventures into Fear and a black and white series in Vampire Tales. The latter turns out to be pretty good, but the latter suffers badly from a rotating army of artists and different writers as well. The strip spends most of its time in sci-fi wonderlands and seems to forget, unlike his B&W companion that vampires are a horror convention. Sadly, as the color series winds down, things don't improve all that much. 

Frank Robbins nails down the art for a few issues doing a good job in my estimation. The story by Doug Moench begins as a horror story but quickly dives down the science fiction route that had hampered the series to this point. 

Don Heck and Bill Mantlo step in as the Living Vampire finds himself in yet another weird dimension, this time battling a godlike creature with countless eyes. The police officer from the Man-Wolf series Simon Stroud is added to the cast and begins a hunt for Morbius as he had for Man-Wolf. He boisterous but just as effective. 

George Evans steps in to do the art as the story returns to Earth but keeps on pumping along. Martine who had been supportive of Morbius but often been used by his enemies against him, suffers a final indignity when she becomes a vampire herself. 

Frank Robbins returns for the final issue as Martine is at long last saved from her vampiric fate and Stroud for some reason lets Morbius fly away in the final panel of the color series. I'm often struck in these vampire tales how our heroes have such little regard for the nameless victims of characters like Morbius. 

In Vampire Tales things are much different. The series is written by Doug Moench and the art chores now fall to Sonny Trinidad who does an outstanding job. Under a striking Richard Hescox cover we find a compelling story of a lonely widow who is struggling alone against a desperate group of miners. She is kind but sadly her good intentions are not enough to spare her from tragedy. 

Under another Hescox cover we find a second story by Moench and Trinidad which has the Living Vampire battling the "Legion of the Undead", a gang of rich vampires who want to rule the world. There's some spicey treachery in this one before Morbius is able end the threat, at least some of it. 

This is all reprints but Bob Larkin's cover featuring Morbius is one of the finest images of the character ever done. 

In Legion of Monster, the Morbius story has our blood-thirsty protagonist up against a werewolf in a final story by Moench and Trinidad. I should also point out that these black and white stories share space with many ads and articles in which Morbius plays a role. 

Morbius is just one monster among many in this Marvel Premiere tale by Bill Mantlo and Frank Robbins which has this assembled group of creatures battling a demi-god from space. 

Mantlo is the writer again in this Marvel Two-In-One yarn which pits the Thing and Morbius against one of the craziest villains in Marvel history -- the Living Eraser. Arvell Jones and Dick Giordano supply the art. Morbius ends up using the Eraser's tech to send himself to a distant dimension at story's end. 

The story picks up in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man when Morbius seeks to return to Earth. The first part of the story is a three-page frame which sets up a reprint of Marvel Team-Up number three. 

In the subsequent chapters written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Sal Busema we find out that Morbius is under the influence of an ancient artificial lifeform called the Empathoid which lives off emotions. It possess Morbius and forces him to return to Earth where it can feast. At story's end Spidey lets Morbius fly off yet again after the Empathoid is defeated. 

He's back still sucking the blood of innocents in a story by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. This time though at the end of the yarn a stray lightning bolt hits Morbius and mysteriously cures him (seemingly) of his vampire curse.

The follow-up is in four issues of The Savage She-Hulk. Mostly these are tales detailing the various woes of Jennifer Walters as she tries to cope with her still relatively role as the green bombshell. A potential cure though might be found by a researcher named Michael Morbius who is trying to find a lasting cure for himself as he lives under house arrest. Ultimately Walters becomes his attorney and gets the former "Living Vampire" off on manslaughter charges for his many crimes. These stories by David Anthony Kraft and artist Mike Vosburg are pretty good and deal with some complex issues but it seems a bit anti-climactic after all that has been written and drawn concerning Morbius. 

I got around to seeing the new Morbius movie a few weeks ago and I rather liked it. I know a bunch of these flicks get slammed for not having an upbeat theme, but this is a vampire movie. and I don't expect things to work out for the best in this universe. I was struck after reading the stories again after so long how close the movie was to the original source material. I'd forgotten all the stuff about the experiments on the ship. There are changes of course, but I expect those. Jared Leto was quite effective as the tortured "Living Vampire".  

No more Morbius to come, but reading through these two somewhat overpriced Epic volumes has really taken me back to a time when Marvel's ambitions often were grander than their capabilities. But in the dross, there are some amazing gems. Those stories in Vampire Tales have a lasting effect. 

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The Incompleat Howard - Volume Three!

The third volume of Howard the Duck The Complete Series the focus shifts to the black and white magazine which followed on after the cancellation of the original color series. In these pages it was assumed I guess that the writers and artists could be more frank about the notions and ideas the series explored and about the exact nature of the relationship between Howard and Beverly. It's evident and flatly stated they are lovers and the incongruity of that circumstance becomes a constant of the of the stories going forward. 

Under a cover by Howard co-creator Val Mayerik and Pete Ledger we have two stories. Both are written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Gene Colan. Inking Colan on the first is Klaus Janson and on the second Dave Simons. The first story titled "Animal Indecency" we meet Wally Sidney an ill-disguised variation of Walt Disney who in this incarnation is a clothing store magnate and as such has promulgated a campaign against the nudity of animals in order to sell more clothes. Howard becomes a target and as a consequence is forced to add pants to his permanent wardrobe. The spin that it was Disney which sued about Howard's proposed similarity to Donald Duck is of course the basis for this lampoon. The second story is titled "The Crash of '79" and pits Howard and Beverly once again against Pro Rata the Financial Wizard who lures the duo to a famous Cleveland location with a phantom movie picture production which vanishes when he no longer needs it. Instead Howard and Beverly must battle against a quickened Breakfast Special made up a evil eggs, bacon, toast, coffee, and juice. They battle these creatures of the table but in the end frustrated Pro Rata's attempts to get the cosmic key and so his outstanding debt is called in and him along with it. 

Under a raucous Jack Davis cover we have a story by the regular Mantlo, Colan, and Simons team titled "A Christmas for Carol". The Carol of the story turns out to be a little girl and despite his better judgment Howard attempts to pick up her spirits during the holiday since she is gloomy about the world and her parents who are divorced. Quickly the pair encounter Santa himself and an elf named Sunquist (he's from Florida) and their broken down sleigh. It seems Santa has sold out to OPEC and he's running short of fuel. They get the sleigh going but back at the North Pole a villain named Pinball Lizard has led a work stoppage and general uprising to shut down the  Christmas operations. It turns out that Pinball Lizard himself is a pawn in the plans of a greater villain named Greedy Killerwatt, a mutated human who resembles a lightbulb. Once again of course Howard despite his unheroic nature finds a way to save the day and Christmas and lifts Carol's spirits as well. The mag ends with a text feature by Mantlo titled "Duck Soup" which reprises of the long history of Howard for new readers. 

The fourth issue offers up a parody of Playboy with not only the cover by John Pound but also several features inside (including a double-page pin-up by John Byrne) showing what the magazine might look like on Duckworld. The lead story by Mantlo, Colan and Simons is a send-up of The Maltese Falcon with a giant insect named "Hemlock Shoals" taking Howard on a quick magical trip to NYC in his cab to follow the trail of the cosmic key again which is also being pursued by the villainous Cockroach. After much ballyhoo they universe is saved again and Howard ends up back in Cleveland but going against traffic as usual, but this time literally. The second story titled "The Dreadcliff Cuckoos" by Mantlo again welcomes John Buscema and Klaus Janson on the art chores. The gang (Howard, Beverly, Winda, and Paul) wind a vacation to a remote resort which is pretty spooky all things being equal, but they soon learn it's all a ploy to get access to Winda's psychic powers. It's a who's who of old Howard villains as the Reverand Jun Moon Yuk and the Sinister SOOFI join others to extract the information. The leader seems to be Adolph Hitler himself who at one time in the series seemed to operate a hospital Winda was in, but who is revealed at the end to have been merely Hitler's dentist with delusions of grandeur. This story seemed a clear attempt to tie up some old plot threads. 

The next issue of Howard the Duck gives us another of Marvel's 70's hit characters -- The Prince of Darkness Dracula. Howard had already famously battled the Hellcow, one of Dracula's lesser offspring, but this time it's Howard himself who gets the bite and becomes something of a sympathetic vampire (as opposed to a real one) in a story titled "The Tomb of Drakula" by Mantlo, Michael Golden and Bob McLeod. Under an experimental cover by Larry Fredericks, it is needless to say after much vampiric action Howard comes to his senses, more or less. In the story "Captain Ameicana" Howard loses cabbie gig when his cab is demolished and seeking work offers up his skills as a babysitter of sorts to a family which prides itself on its dedication if not deification of mythic American norms. This platoon of two parents and two and a half kids (one is slow) threaten Howard when he tries to bring a bit of sanity to the natural order of  the American Dream. This story by the regular team of Mantlo, Colan and Simons had the "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval. At the end though Winda tells Howard she can send him home and he hops at the chance and Beverly goes with him. The magazine closes with an "Interview with The Duck by Lynn Graeme" (the editor) and "A Fond Look At Fowl Friend" which highlights the characters from Howard stories past. 

Howard at long last returns to his old paddling ponds in a story dubbed simply "Duckworld". Written by Bill Manto, this one marks the return of Michael Golden and Bob McLeod on the art. (Lynn Graeme admits in the next issue that she had over-burdened regular artist Gene Colan and that's why we get this nifty fill-in.) But they are more than up to the task and we find on Duckworld, a world proportioned to Howard-size a land teeming with  ducks of all kinds, but many if not most of them inspired by one single mythic figure -- the ascended Howard the Duck. It turns out that Howard's disappearance, coming at a media-covered event similar in many grim details to the Kent University shootings, had created the basis for a whole new relgion of sorts built around the phrase "Get Down!" But it had been used by those in power to cause folks to relinquish their free will and so Howard is both stunned and appalled that anyone has taken his life as some model to guide life as it should be lived. He makes his feelings known and causes the downfall of the very religion he unintentionally had triggered. At his side throughout his time on Duckworld is Beverly, who is a statuesque "hairless ape" and in a state of undress for much of the story. She finds that being the only human being in a world of ducks is much more alienating that she expected and her empathy for Howard is only increased and they realize that no matter where they are they don't fit in but have each other. With that goal in mind Howard digs up the local "Sorcerer Supreme" and has him magic them back to Earth, leaving Duckworld a less controlled but more independent land. The mag rounds out with a new feature called "Street Peeple" which as far as I can tell does factor into the Howard story at all. John Pound executes one of his best covers for the series. 

After Duckworld Beverly and Howard the Duck find themselves back in that old Okefenokee Swamp where his misadventures on Earth had started so long ago. Showing up quickly enough is the Man-Thing who grabs up Beverly and takes away. In a story titled "Of Dice and Ducks" by Mantlo, Colan and Simons (the regular crew) Howard pursues his kidnapped flame and finds in the middle of the swamp a town with a familiar and highly geometric layout. As he searches for Beverly, Howard is given an obligatory $200 and speeds along the streets in a race car finding himself lost in low rent areas, crisscrossed by railroads, and with a jail keen to catch up folks of all kinds. There are nifty little men who offer chances and opportunities but Howard must break a few rules and dodge some giant dice which repeatedly get in his way as makes way to Beverly across Oriental Ave to the ultimate goal of Boardwalk. There he finds a gorilla by the name of "Monk Kee" who runs the local "Kong Glomerate" after catching for himself the lovely Ann Darrow. Howard chases the baddie up a tower of consumer goods where ultimately the head of "Kong Glomerate" falls to his death and where Howard proclaims that "Booty killed the beast." Rewarded with money which is no good outside of the small town he and Beverly hit the road headed north for more adventures we can only hope. The magazine is rounded out with some tasty full-page pinups of Howard by Marie Severin, Howie Chaykin, John Byrne, Walt Simonson and Marshall Rogers. The "Street Peeple" make their second appearance as well. To my eye this cover for issue seven is the best of John Pound's covers for the series. 

This volume also begins to reprint some of Howard's appearances in Crazy, Marvel's MAD-like humor magazine of the 70's. We have stories by Michael Weiss and Roger Stern with art by Vincente Alacazar and Pat Broderick. One page appears to cobbled together with art from other sources by Colan and Frank Brunner. 

Here are some of the pin-ups featured in this issue and others. 

The key to these stories is the relationship between Howard and Beverly. The antics created by Mantlo and rendered by Colan and others are wild and raucous and funny but at the core is the true caring between the two protagonists. They not only need each other at times, but want each other. Gerber put the two together, but I have to say that Mantlo really makes the romance between these two have some pop and zing and some reality. Where it will end we'll find out next time. 

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The Fourth World Of July - More Miracles!

Of all the Fourth World books, Mister Miracle proved to be the most successful. It lasted until its eighteenth issue during its original run but to do that it refocused and paid little attention to its Fourth World roots until the very last. Mister Miracle is Scott Free (what better character to explore during the Fourth of July) and he was adept at getting out of traps, traps of his own invention and traps such as Apokolips the deadly land ruled by Darkseid. His keeper was a hag named Granny Goodness and his mentor was a mysterious Fagin-sort named Himon. He came to Earth and sought a hiding place and found it behind the mask of Theodore Brown the original Mister Miracle who died and passed his stage identity onto this new wunderkind. With the name came Oberon, a loyal assistant who was more powerful than his short stature suggested and eventually he gained a wife in Barda, "Big Barda" she was called who was more gentle and loving than her towering stature suggested. He fought the agents of Darkseid such as Virmin Vundabarr, Doctor Bedlam, and Kano the Assassin. And despite these dangers, a time Scott was happy, maybe even free. But all good things come to an end.

When the New Gods returned it was true for most all of them, but it wasn't really true for Mister Miracle because thanks to The Brave and the Bold and the exquisite location known to fans as the "Haneyverse" he was a fixture in its pages. 

Bob Haney and Jim Aparo tapped Mister Miracle three times to assist Batman with his inquiries, before his cancellation, during his hiatus and just after his return. In those stories, self-contained wonders, the grand spectacle of the Fourth World was little mentioned and Mister Miracle was mostly what he seemed to be for the public an escape artist without peer. 

He appeared in the 1st Issue Special which announced the "Return of the New Gods". He was with his wife Barda in New Genesis when the new threat from Darkseid was revealed. But he played little part in that story and that issue is not in this collection. 

Steve Englehart and his partner from Detective Comics Marshall Rogers kick off the new Mister Miracle series with a two-part tale that sees Barda kidnapped by the forces of Apokolips and Scott donning his garb to rescue her from their base on the Moon. In the course of his battle against Granny Goodness and her forces Scott struggles with his identity as a "New God". He is forced to put away the technology of the Mother Box which is infused in his costume and instead finds that aspects of the Mother Box's powers have developed innately in him.

Scott and Oberon head to Apokolips to ultimately rescue Barda. But it is a ferocious Mister Miracle we see who seems intent on proving himself capable of using his own skills and wits to defeat Darkseid's forces. He also wishes to innitiate a revolt in the downtrodden denizens of Apokolips by presenting himself as some sort of savior. Englehart seems intent on making Scott Free into an even more direct doppleganger of Christ.

But something must go wrong as it's not Englehart who writes the twenty-second issue, but his alter-ego "John Harkness" whose name appears when Englehart is not happy with the story he's been forced by editorial or circumstances to tell. Nonetheless, despite his aspirations Mister Miracle does confront Darkseid and his cast off as mostly ineffectual, though there is a notion that his presence has stirred something in the populace.

Darkseid sent Scott spiraling into limbo and Steve Gerber arrives in tandem with artist Michael Golden to find Scott in a spiritual conflict orchestrated by an androginous being named Ethos.

So Scott rejects Apokolips of course but now he rejects also New Genesis, attempting to find a new way and rejecting the duality which had always resulted in conflict before. He claims he's no longer a "New God" but a "human", whatever that means.

In the last issue of the run Scott and Barda and Oberon are once again on Earth and entertainers but find themselves battling Granny Goodness once again, this time with her new charge a young woman who knows only pain and becomes something powerful as a result. The series skids to a halt, the next issue still on the drawing boards, the cover finished as the legendary "DC Implosion" takes its toll.

This collection closes out with Mister Miracle's appearance in DC Comics Presents, in  conflict with Superman to see which of them is a more worthy hero for Metropolis. Frankly Scott's personality seems way off in this story capably drawn by Rich Buckler and written by Steve Englehart. I'm much surprised as Scott presented here by Englehart is a very angry man indeed, and I can only wonder if it's a bit of a projection. 

I'm not sure about Mister Miracle this time out. Despite some handsome artwork, Englehart seems desperately to want to divorce the character from the beginning from his mythic context, to transform him into a man who is far needier than the confident fellow Kirby created. I guess he wanted to knock him down to build him up, but it doesn't always make sense. Mister Miracle and Big Barda and Oberon will return to help the other New Gods in their struggle with Darkseid in the pages of the Justice League of America, but that would have to wait. More on that tomorrow. 

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