Morbius: The Living Vampire #6 + Morbius: The Living Vampire #7

Marvel recently finished up a nine-issue run of Morbius: The Living Vampire. The last time Morbius had his own title was a 32-issue run back at the beginning of Clintontime. And prior to that the scientific vampire anchored Marvel's Adventure into Fear from the beginning of 1974 through the end of 1975, when the title was cancelled (a harbinger of doom for Freak culture).

Marvel's Morbius is essential in understanding what Robert Christgau has called the massification of bohemia, which is what happened when Hippie styles began to be assimilated broadly -- a mainstreaming of Freak culture.

For a sample of what this mainstreaming of Freak culture looked like, check out this video from 1974 of James Gang performing "Funk 49" with Tommy Bolin on lead guitar:

Marvel shattered the Comics Code Authority (CCA) in Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971) by publishing an anti-drug story arc without the CCA seal of approval. The Comics Code Authority was a McCarthy-era self-censorship board set up by the Comics Magazine Association of America; it banned depictions of excessive violence, sexual innuendo, rape, seduction, sadism, masochism, concealed weapons, disrespect for established authority figures, etc., as well as ghouls, vampires, zombies and werewolves.

Morbius' debut in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971) is commonly believed to be a result of the CCA collapsing after Marvel's three-issue drug narrative. But this is not the case. The CCA actually decided to lift restrictions on vampires and other supernatural creatures in February of 1971. There was money to be made as the Hippies found their way from St. Mark's Place and Haight-Ashbury to the nation's suburbs.

The latest Morbius run is written by Joe Keatinge with the majority of the art supplied by Richard Elson. Morbius ends up in lawless Brownsville, Brooklyn where he proceeds to do battle with the organized criminal element that is controlling and terrorizing the neighborhood. It is all pretty much boilerplate. The parts that aren't mind-numbingly familiar are murky. The overall idea though is a good one -- street crime is a product of a larger, multinational corporate system; but by the time it arrives in the final issue it feels more like an afterthought.

I did enjoy the work of fill-in artist Valentine De Landro on issue #6; and Valentine de Landro and Felix Ruiz on issue #7. Those two issues soar. The first two scans are from #6; the next three, #7: