Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2: The End of a Living Vampire

Comic Info

Adventure Into Fear #27

Reprints Adventure Into Fear #27-31, Marvel Premiere #28, Marvel Two-In-One (1) #15, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #6-7, 38, Savage She-Hulk #9-12, Vampire Tales #9-11, Annual #1, and Marvel Preview #8 (February 1975-January 1981).  Michael Morbius is trying to control the thirst that controls his life.  Cursed as a living vampire, he is trying to use his scientific genius to solve the bloodlust which compels him to kill.  As a living vampire, Morbius discovers that trouble seems to find him and darkness surround him, and the people who make the mistake of coming into his life.  Be it battling demons, a possessed Spider-Man, or helping She-Hulk fight a terminal disease, the life of a living vampire is always a challenge.

Written by Doug Moench, Bill Mantlo, David Anthony Kraft, Archie Goodwin, and Ralph Macchio, Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2:  The End of a Living Vampire is a Marvel Comics horror comic book collection.  Following Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 1:  The Living Vampire, the collection features art by Sonny Trinidad, Paty Cockrum, Vincente Alcazar, Gray Morrow, Sandy Plunkett, Sal Buscema, Mike Vosburg, Frank Robbins, Don Heck, George Evans, and Arvell Jones.  Issues in this volume are also include in Adventure Into Fear Omnibus, Vampire Tales—Volume 3, Werewolf by Night Omnibus, Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus, Decades:  Marvel in the ’70s—Legion of Monsters, Essential Savage She-Hulk, Essential Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man—Volume 1 and Volume 2 among other collections.

I love the Marvel Epic Collections.  As a completionist who liked the Essential line, the Marvel Epic Collections are like the Essential series on speed.  With sharp, clean pages and interesting character choices, the Epic Collections are almost always a fun read even if you don’t like the period or the character.  Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 2:  The End of a Living Vampire is a period I like, and a character I’m interested in.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #7

The character is one of Marvel’s early anti-heroes.  Marvel always recognized that giving villains more motivation than simply “I’m evil” made better villains.  Morbius was introduced as a tragic character and the tragedy continues in this volume.  He is forced to give up his love and lifeline Martine to protect her and due to his condition, he can’t simply slip away into isolation.  Morbius needs to feed, and he is tormented by it.

As part of Marvel’s horror boom, it was always interesting to see the horror characters interact with the more traditional superheroes.  Morbius kind of falls in both categories.  He isn’t a “real” vampire since he’s alive and he was introduced as a Spider-Man villain.  This allows his interaction with characters like Spider-Man, Thing, and She-Hulk to be a bit more natural than some of the other supernatural characters at the time.  Marvel decided to really go heavy again into the supernatural aspect of Morbius in the 1990s, but I always preferred him in this context more…a scientist first, a vampire second.

I had read many of the issues of this collection before reading it, but having them collected and all in one place is a blessing, but it is also a curse.  Characters like Morbius who jumped from being lead characters to supporting characters over and over again, aren’t always consistent.  Here, you see Morbius cured a few times, but the cures don’t seem to always take and how Morbius gets “reset” isn’t always fleshed out.  Getting to see a solid timeline of the character makes it all worth it despite the inconsistencies with the character and his portrayal…Morbius the Living Vampire deserves to live on!

Related Links:

Morbius Epic Collection—Volume 1:  The Living Vampire

Vampire Tales—Volume 1