Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1993-08-01 00:06:33 |
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Morbius #12
Issue(s): Morbius #12
Cover Date: Aug 93
Title: "The bait"
Credits:
Gregory Wright - Writer
Ron Wagner - Penciler
Mike Witherby - Inker
Matthew Morra - Assistant Editor
Bobbie Chase - Editor
Review/plot:
So far Blade has killed Hannibal King, Johnny Blaze, and Modred the Mystic (and some non-Midnight Sons, including the Demogoblin). So i suppose from the perspective it makes sense that this chapter of the crossover brings in not just Morbius (it's his book) but also Werewolf the Night. On the other hand, the surviving members of the Midnight Sons already add up to an unwieldy sum, so it wasn't really necessary to replenish the ranks and it might have been better to save Werewolf By Night for another story.
Jack Russell is in town to help Morbius. He's heard that Morbius is losing control, and he's learned through a mutual friend - Jacob Weisenthal - that Morbius is current working at a blood unit at St. Judes' hospital. Morbius is busy getting seduced by his secretary, so Jack's arrival is ill-timed.
Creator Insertion Alert
Actually, Morbius was on the phone with the rest of the Midnight Sons, who want help getting into Dr. Strange's house to access the Darkhold.
I keep forgetting that Sam Buchanan still doesn't believe in magic. This is Morbius' book, so i won't belabor it, but the idea that there's a skeptic among the Darkholders could have worked if the book wasn't set in the Marvel universe. The idea that Sam runs into super-powered beings on a daily basis kind of ruins the idea, and writing everything off as mutants - while basically being the only possible way to deal with it - doesn't really help. Whether they are mutants or demons, what difference does it make? From a practical point of view, "supernatural" stuff is observably "real".
Ok, i belabored it. Sorry.
Jack's arrival stresses Morbius out, and he's unable to control his transformation into vampire form. Jack tells him to just go with it. Learning to embrace his wolf form is what helps Jack control it. Morbius doesn't think the same would apply to him.
Morbius and Werewolf By Night make their way over to Dr. Strange's house, but already there is Blade/Switchblade/Demogorge/Supernatural Combo-Man.
They battle, and Werewolf By Night is quickly killed (so i guess he's really fodder like Demogoblin rather than a replenishment of the cast). Blade already had wolf powers thanks to absorbing the vampire Hannibal King, so it doesn't seem to gain him much. But Blade is able to impale Morbius. However, Morbius is able to use his Imitation Vampire MistTM power to slllppp away, and he grabs a health boost by feeding on a homeless man (our hero!).
Morbius returns to fight Blade. Blade uses the mystical powers he absorbed from Modred to blast him away. In the previous chapter i noted the curse that Modred transferred to Blade before dying, but we learn now that the curse is only in effect when Blade is actively using Modred's powers and even then it only seems hurts him a little (he says that it unleashes death on him, but nothing happens).
The rest of the Midnight Sons arrive too late to help out this issue.
Quality Rating: C+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part 4 of Midnight Massacre. Part 5 is in Spirits of Vengeance #13.
References:
- Morbius "mind hasn't always been his own" since he was infused with Lilin blood in Morbius #1.
Crossover: Midnight Massacre
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
The convo among the card-players seems to be a reference to a controversy a few years old by that point (though granted, in pre-Web times, these kinds of fringe debates tended to have a longer simmer-time). Some comments welcoming AIDS and famine(/saying these were Earth's defense mechanisms) were attributed to "Deep Ecologists" in general, and Earth First! in particular: http://www.processedworld.com/Issues/issue22/primitive_thought.htm
(I should mention it's one of those things I almost exclusively see cited by people mocking/critiquing Deep Ecology, rather than from genuine advocates)
I guess there's some relevance to otherworldly plagues, Hell being overpopulated, global warming due to Hellfire, etc?
Fnord, I think there's a point to the scene with Morbius feeding on the homeless guy that you're missing. Morbius says "we must feed". As we'll see in a couple of issues, the Lilin blood in Morbius, which eventually calls itself Bloodthirst, has been taking over Morbius. Hence, the "we". Arguably, it was Bloodthirst, and not Vic Slaughter, which killed those two guys in issue 10. I don't know if you want to list Bloodthirst as a Character Appearing or not.
I've decided i'll list Bloodthirst as a character when it's clear Morbius isn't in control of himself. Thanks.
I agree that Sam Buchanan appears somewhat dense for being in denial about the existence of the supernatural after repeatedly seeing it, but at least he argues that they're fighting mutants or other beings with super-powers. In other words, he's acknowledging the existence of very weird stuff; he just believes that there has to be a scientific explanation for everything he sees. That's at least somewhat less moronic than the character of Doctor Thirteen from DC Comics, a guy who every single time he encountered the supernatural wrote it off as the work of con artists. He also thought that Superman and everyone else with superpowers in the DC universe was a hoax. That guy makes Sam Buchanan look reasonable by comparison.
Greg Wright, correct?
