Continuing my series on Steve Gerber’s wildly unpredictable run writing “Morbius the Living Vampire”, it’s time now for Gerber’s third issue on the series, Fear #23.
As we’ve seen in earlier chapters of this series, Steve Gerber’s run on the third-rate mid-‘70s Marvel Comics series “Morbius the Living Vampire” is one of the most confounding and random comics book tales ever published. This latest issue continues that trend with yet another story that makes no sense either in or out of context, but is kind of great in all its brilliantly random glory.
You might remember that in Fear #22, the Living Vampire was transported to a strange alien world populated by super-smart mutated kitty cats in order to help winnow down their species. Yeah, that may have been one of the most nonsensical storylines in the history of Marvel Comics, but you don’t need to all that stuff and nonsense is thoroughly unnecessary to understand this story. Fear #23 takes such an absolute left turn from its predecessor that it may as well be a completely different comic book. The kitties are gone and Morbius is in a new alien landscape that has nothing to do with the previous landscape. This time we get a new and even wackier kind of psychotronic, surreal genius, featuring synthetic women, mutated aliens that have giant eyes instead of faces, and an alien landscape that alternates between looking glorious and looking absurdly washed out.
“Alone Against Arcturus!” begins with this lovely first page. Artist P. Craig Russell delivers a gorgeously robust image here, showing the influence of his beloved classicist painters in its lovely, clear composition. The images of the couple entwined feels unforced and realistic, with the natural overhang keeping them warm and happy. Only the looming presence of Morbius, hovering above the heads of the couple, feels out-of-place in that image, and of course that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be.
I should call out the fact that by this issue, Russell was the fourth artist that this comic had in four issues. There’s surely no better sign of how desultory this comic was than to note that. Russell does a generally wonderful job on this story. By the spring of 1974, when this comic was created, Russell had been working in comics for a year or two and was well on his way to developing his adult style. There’s some subtlety by him in this comic, starting with this delightfully drawn début page.
In Gerber’s purple prose we learn that Morbius is desperately hungry, so after a silent battle with the warrior, the vampire bends down to suck the warrior’s blood –
Yes, what the hell is that liquid anyway, and is it going to send readers down yet another mysterious blind alley in this story that leads nowhere? That’s what Gerber has led us readers to expect, after all (not that I’m complaining, mind you. This is a hell of a ride).
In a delightfully bizarre touch, it’s revealed that the man was actually an android – and Gerber actually has artist Russell show the synthetic fibers that were torn by Morbius’s teeth. Some artists and writers might have chosen to tell and not show a scene like this, especially if they were depicting the ravaging of a human rather than synthetic body. By presenting a close-up of this odd moment, Gerber and Russell highlight the strangeness and futility of Morbius’s quest.
The illustration of Morbius’s face in panel two is also lovely. Every line shows the fury that Morbius is feeling and his vast bloodlust. Russell is inked in this issue by the notorious Vince Colletta, an artist with whom he is thoroughly ill-suited. There are some panels in this issue in which the pairing of Russell and Colletta delivers terrible looking art. The one shown above allows the power of Russell’s art to shine through. It’s a powerful and empathetic moment. In fact, the panel is even more impressive when Colletta’s influence is considered.
Morbius ends up sucking the blood of the girl from page one. She’s an real live actual human woman with real human blood, but as Morbius follows their trail to its end he finds a wonderfully surreal sight. The once-grand city of Arcturus has been destroyed and this weirdly brilliant creature is its avatar.
I just love how strange this creature looks, in his wacky garb and oddball eyeball face. Is he wearing a mask or is that his natural face? How does he stay in such good physical shape, and what is the meaning of the obscure second I in panel three above and what connection does all this have to the man and woman on page one? This all makes even less sense than the super mutated cat people in the last issue, and that is all a thoroughgoing delight.
Gerber provides some explanation in the following pages, some oddball pap about survivors of nuclear war and enclaves of humanity, but really it’s all hand-waving and cosmic clichés writ large. It does, however, give us this utterly amazing page:
This is clearly a chance mainly for Russell to allow his imagination to run wild, and channel his inner Berni Wrightson (one of the most popular artists of the era). It’s really absolutely delightful. This is the equivalent of the cantina scene in Star Wars. It’s eye candy, but what glorious eye candy it is! This page is also one of the times in which Colletta’s inks actually complement Russell’s pencils. The flatness of some of the characters on this page makes them feel even more alien and bizarre. I love the hand on top of the onion-headed woman’s head – so clever! And the obvious art correction to draw in the hand in the overlay panel is a the perfect capstone to the scene. It’s just another random oddball element that pulls everything together in a cute, lo-fi way.
As the issue ends, Gerber gives readers a little touch of existential pain and worry. This angst and pain is dramatic and intelligent, a twist that emphasizes how smart and insightful Morbius is and how engaged he really is in the world. It’s also a nice tie-in to the twist in the previous issue, when Morbius fled the cat people rather than kill them all. He might be a vampire, but Morbius is an ethical vampire and that’s clearly very important to Gerber.
Where the hell will all this go? It’s impossible to predict. Let’s find out together next week.