I caught the trailer to the new Marvel flick MORBIUS on You Toob.
I'm always fascinated when a lesser comic hero gets airtime or merchandising. Some of my toy reference books mention this very phenomenon and in some cases certain heroes and villains only ever attained wider publicity through vintage DC and Marvel Slurpee cups in the US during the Seventies.
Whether Morbius got a Slurpee I will have to check but I don't think so. Dracula did so maybe he was out-fanged!
Like Dracula, Morbius is a Marvel character and now has a movie too.
I remember seeing Morbius on comic covers when I was a nipper. Morbius the Living Vampire. Being a horror nut it did, like Werewolf by Night, attract my interest, but for the life of me I can't recall if I had any of the comics at home or remember any of the strips. I can, however, still see his startlingly white face and sharp fangs on those brilliant Marvel covers.
Watching the trailor I see that his origin, certainly in the film, is bat-ridden. I assume that they're vampire bats that get him hence his Nosferatu-like looks and behaviour.
I didn't know this and if I did I've forgotten but I can't help thinking its a lot like Batman. OK, Bats doesn't get bitten but he is also harried by colonies of the flying mice as is, it would seem, Morbius. To add weight to this flappy thesis is the fact that Michael Keaton is also in the Morbius movie.
Many of you will be far more comic-savvy than I am and no doubt I'm way off the mark.
I thought I had a Morbius toy in the 1990's but it turns out to have been Mr. Sinister in the ccol X-Men Projectors range. I had one loose and boxed on my toy stall in the late 90's. Projectors reminded me of my beloved Flashy Flickers movie 'rifle' by Marx in the 60's, which also projected cartoon strips onto a wall.
Morbius and Mr.Sinister do look slightly similar so I think I can be excused. Here's the Projectors TV ad from 1994, which includes Mr. Sinister and the X-Men Blackbird jet, a big blue plane which I still have boxed!
Do you like the Living Vampire Morbius?
I've only vague seventies comic recollections of Morbius as well, Woodsy. Although there was a Morbius action figure produced in 2003, for the superbly comic-accurate and highly articulated Marvel Legends range by Toy Biz. In 2016, a revamped Hasbro version with a different look was produced for Marvel Legends Spider-man, as 'Villains of the Night'. Probably other Morbius actions figures out there as well.
ReplyDeleteHave you got those figures in the great TK collection Tone?
DeleteI did have the earlier Toy Biz version, Woodsy. In fact I had quite a few of the Marvel Legends releases. I thought they were good quality figures. Alas, that little collection was sacrificed to the gods of eBay when I decided to focus more on toys from my own childhood era.
ReplyDeleteI'd guess you had a few Marvel Legends action figures pass through your hands during your toy fair dealer days :)
I may have done Tone. I enjoyed buying and selling action figures on my stall and on my Ebay 'shop'. When my mate Mark did toy fairs with me he would sit down at the side of the stall with a pile of loose action figures parts and weapons to ID them from various reference books we had. It was something different to get collectors to stop by!
DeleteThe Morbius strip in Adventure Into Fear was fun but, plot-wise, it was all over the place. I guess that was down to changing creative teams but I particularly enjoyed the issue that featured Blade the Vampire Slayer, drawn by Craig Russell. Much better were Morbius' appearances in Vampire Tales, where the emaphasis was on horror rather than science fiction or superheroics, and there was some fantastic artwork by the likes of Tom Sutton and Sonny Trinidad.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Vampite Tales. That rings a bell Paul. They looked more mature and the covers reminded me of 'proper' horror comics like Vampirella and Nightmare. I don't think I have any Vampire Tales but recall seeing them on Preston Market where we got our comics back in the Seventies. Great days!
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