Morbius The Living Vampire #2 – Review

By: Joe Keatinge (Writer), Richard Elson (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: If it seems like a long time since the first issue of Morbius: The Living Vampire came out that’s because…well, it was. The most conspicuously late shipping book on Marvel’s slate at the moment is (of course) Uncanny Avengers, but Morbius has probably just nabbed second place – #2 has arrived just under two months since the title’s launch. And right now, that’s probably the most interesting thing about it…

Which is a shame.  Morbius, much like X-Men: Legacy, has positioned its minor league hero in a interesting place; a largely self-contained corner of the Marvel Universe where the character can develop at his own pace, carve a successful niche and, hopefully, garner a loyal critical and commercial following in the process. Instead it’s floundering, and floundering hard. With a fairly glum and uninteresting story, a cut-out cast of characters and a bland, detached art style it is, quite possibly, the worst book to yet come out of Marvel NOW.

Amazing Spider-Man #699.1

By: Joe Keating/Dan Slott (writers), Valentine Delandro/Marcos Checchetto (artists) and Antonio Fabela (colorist)

The Story: Morbius, the living vampire, reminisces about his life while he gets away from confinement.

The Review: Morbius, as a character, has never been truly one of the more memorable characters in Spider-Man rogue’s gallery or even as a heroic figure. A lot of his appearances are either in team books like Denis Hopeless Legion of Monsters or as a villain in books like Amazing Spider-Man. Considering that there is a book starring him that will debut next month and that this issue is supposed to interest us readers in Morbius as a character, this issue has a lot of things to achieve.

Unfortunately, the story is a little bit bland and unimaginative, retelling the very same origin that has been seen for the character, which was not very original when it was created in the 70’s. We do get to see some of his past and some important figures in Morbius past, yet after reading the whole issue, there is not much to base a whole ongoing upon.

Punisher #11 – Review

By Rick Remender (writer), Tony Moore (artist), Dan Brown (colorist)

Hell. Fucking. Yeah!

I’ll tell you what, when it comes to my comics I only ask for the following: I either want to be inspired, surprised, or entertained. Much to my delight, when it comes to Punisher #11, Meatloaf knew what the hell he was talking about when he said that two out of three ain’t bad, because this issue is the beginning of what I think will be one of the most outrageous and entertaining storylines Marvel’s cranked out all year. Before we talk about it though, for those of you who haven’t been following the title I want you to go back and read The List: Punisher one shot  and come back.

Okay, did you read it? Messed up, right? This issue picks up shortly afterwards, with an elite Japanese, monster-hunting squad killing the fauna of Monster Island for unknown reasons. Elsewhere, in the old Morlock Tunnels under New York, an equally elite monster squad consisting of a mummy, a creature possibly from a black lagoon, the Werewolf by Night, and Morbius the Living Vampire implore Frank to use his keen strategic mind to protect Marvel’s monster community from their ruthless assailants. Frankly, that’s all I want to say about the plot. To reveal anymore than that would be to give away some serious entertainment value, and I love you far too much to do something so cruel and spiteful.

This iteration of Punisher has been largely hit or miss for me. I enjoyed the first arc of stories, and then quickly lost interest afterwards. This storyline however hooked me in a big way, mostly because it was so absolutely and delightfully absurd that it left me grinning like a mad bastard; I want my comics to surprise me like this more often. I want them to leave me wanting more. It doesn’t happen nearly as much as I want it to though, and that’s a shame, but this issue, holy crap, this issue was too freaking off the wall not to enjoy. If Remender and Moore can keep up the weirdness, we’re in for some good times.

Grade: B+

-Tony Rakittke