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Title: "The Calling"
Writer: Gregory Wright
Artist: Isaac Cordova
Inker: Andrew Pepoy
Letterer: Janice Chiang & Irv Novak
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
Cover Artist: Isaac Cordova
The next day, Morbius goes to work while trying to maintain his human appearance. His coworker, Mandy, reminds him of their planned date that night. Elsewhere, Lilith directs her child Parasite, currently possessing the body of Martine Bancroft, to assist in Morbius' corruption to the Lilin's side. That night, Morbius goes to Mandy's apartment and is surprised to find her in a kinky outfit and her apartment decorated with vampire memorabilia. She tells him that she knows he's a vampire and has sex with him, begging him to feed on her. When he does, he surrenders control of his body to the Liliin possessing him named Bloodthirst, who goes out into the night to murder countless people. He's found by Ghost Rider, and after a brief fight he gives Morbius the Penance Stare. Ghost Rider is unable to locate any trace of the Lilin's influence and leaves, warning Morbius that he will be watching him. Parasite arrives and finds that Bloodthirst has again regained control of Morbius' body and has plans to destroy the Midnight Sons from within.
Morbius joins the rest of the Midnight Sons to investigate the return of Lilith in Nightstalkers (1992) # 14 and betrays them by murdering Louise Hastings in Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins (1992) # 15, all part of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover.
This issue has a lot of problems, and while the artwork is a big part of that it's not the only sin the comic commits. This series as a whole started sliding down in quality when Len Kaminski left as writer, and while Gregory Wright tries his best to keep the series going he just doesn't have the chops to maintain a consistent quality. Wright is mainly known as a colorist, his work on the concurrent Ghost Rider series is usually impeccable, and he'd got his writing start with Deathlok a year or two before taking on this series. It shows that he's not a writer by trade, he lacks a lot of nuance that someone like Kaminski had brought to the character in the book's first year. There's the research mistakes, such as the opening narration that describes schizophrenia as a split personality, but those can be overlooked as something an editor really should have caught.
No, the biggest mistake Wright and this comic makes is that everything is delivered with the bluntness of a hammer and an absolute total lack of subtlety. Morbius is reduced to hysterics as he bounces around from scene to scene, sometimes panel to panel, with a whiplash frenzy that is jarring at the least. He goes from lamenting about his impending psychosis and monstrous transformation to doing paperwork in the hospital and going on a BDSM date with his naughty coworker. If anything's schizophrenic, it's the bi-polar nature of this comic, which can't decide if it's a monster story or a risque vigilante sex romp. Even more troubling is the resolution to Ghost Rider's involvement, which just stops inexplicably due to the next month's crossover event. Why even bring Ghost Rider into the story if you're going to chop the climax off at the knees? Ghost Rider witnesses Morbius murdering countless innocent people, then just leaves after wagging his finger and saying "don't do it again". That's ridiculous and a waste of what could have been a natural conflict between the two Midnight Sons.
The artwork is where this comic really drops the ball, though. Even after Kaminski left, Ron Wagner was able to keep at least a visual quality and consistency through the first few issues of Wright's run. Now that he's gone Isaac Cordova and Andrew Pepoy have come aboard, and it's about as jarring as Morbius' characterization. Everyone looks like they're made out of chewing gum, like they have a rubbery consistency to them. It robs what I believe was meant to be a very horrific looking story any sense of terror, and not even the appropriately moody colors that Wright applies can cover for it. Cordova had done some work on the series a few issues prior that looked much sharper than this, so I can only guess that Pepoy's inks worked to soften and exaggerate the artwork into this soft, blobby mess we get here.
Morbius was a series that started so strong and had descended into mediocrity just over a year into its run, much like the rest of the Midnight Sons titles. This was a pretty strong indication of where the line as a whole was going.
Michael Morbius confronts his friend Jacob about his transformation into a more monstrous form and the presence of a Lilin influence within him that has caused him to black out and feed on innocent people. He uses his new shapeshifting ability to regain his human appearance. Meanwhile, the Werewolf by Night tracks down Ghost Rider and tells him that Morbius has been killing innocent people.
The next day, Morbius goes to work while trying to maintain his human appearance. His coworker, Mandy, reminds him of their planned date that night. Elsewhere, Lilith directs her child Parasite, currently possessing the body of Martine Bancroft, to assist in Morbius' corruption to the Lilin's side. That night, Morbius goes to Mandy's apartment and is surprised to find her in a kinky outfit and her apartment decorated with vampire memorabilia. She tells him that she knows he's a vampire and has sex with him, begging him to feed on her. When he does, he surrenders control of his body to the Liliin possessing him named Bloodthirst, who goes out into the night to murder countless people. He's found by Ghost Rider, and after a brief fight he gives Morbius the Penance Stare. Ghost Rider is unable to locate any trace of the Lilin's influence and leaves, warning Morbius that he will be watching him. Parasite arrives and finds that Bloodthirst has again regained control of Morbius' body and has plans to destroy the Midnight Sons from within.
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| Morbius really doesn't have a chance, does he? |
THE ROADMAP
Ghost Rider last appeared in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 142 and appears next in Ghost Rider (1990) # 41. Ghost Rider last encountered Morbius in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 3.
Morbius joins the rest of the Midnight Sons to investigate the return of Lilith in Nightstalkers (1992) # 14 and betrays them by murdering Louise Hastings in Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins (1992) # 15, all part of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover.
CHAIN REACTION
Morbius gets a new artistic team as the series leads in to the "Siege of Darkness" crossover.
This issue has a lot of problems, and while the artwork is a big part of that it's not the only sin the comic commits. This series as a whole started sliding down in quality when Len Kaminski left as writer, and while Gregory Wright tries his best to keep the series going he just doesn't have the chops to maintain a consistent quality. Wright is mainly known as a colorist, his work on the concurrent Ghost Rider series is usually impeccable, and he'd got his writing start with Deathlok a year or two before taking on this series. It shows that he's not a writer by trade, he lacks a lot of nuance that someone like Kaminski had brought to the character in the book's first year. There's the research mistakes, such as the opening narration that describes schizophrenia as a split personality, but those can be overlooked as something an editor really should have caught.
No, the biggest mistake Wright and this comic makes is that everything is delivered with the bluntness of a hammer and an absolute total lack of subtlety. Morbius is reduced to hysterics as he bounces around from scene to scene, sometimes panel to panel, with a whiplash frenzy that is jarring at the least. He goes from lamenting about his impending psychosis and monstrous transformation to doing paperwork in the hospital and going on a BDSM date with his naughty coworker. If anything's schizophrenic, it's the bi-polar nature of this comic, which can't decide if it's a monster story or a risque vigilante sex romp. Even more troubling is the resolution to Ghost Rider's involvement, which just stops inexplicably due to the next month's crossover event. Why even bring Ghost Rider into the story if you're going to chop the climax off at the knees? Ghost Rider witnesses Morbius murdering countless innocent people, then just leaves after wagging his finger and saying "don't do it again". That's ridiculous and a waste of what could have been a natural conflict between the two Midnight Sons.
The artwork is where this comic really drops the ball, though. Even after Kaminski left, Ron Wagner was able to keep at least a visual quality and consistency through the first few issues of Wright's run. Now that he's gone Isaac Cordova and Andrew Pepoy have come aboard, and it's about as jarring as Morbius' characterization. Everyone looks like they're made out of chewing gum, like they have a rubbery consistency to them. It robs what I believe was meant to be a very horrific looking story any sense of terror, and not even the appropriately moody colors that Wright applies can cover for it. Cordova had done some work on the series a few issues prior that looked much sharper than this, so I can only guess that Pepoy's inks worked to soften and exaggerate the artwork into this soft, blobby mess we get here.
Morbius was a series that started so strong and had descended into mediocrity just over a year into its run, much like the rest of the Midnight Sons titles. This was a pretty strong indication of where the line as a whole was going.
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| My, what big eyes you have, Michael! |
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