Morbius #5: Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)

Morbius #5 wraps up our reintroduction to the fan favorite Marvel vampire. Vita Ayala does a phenomenal job of not only reacquainting us with Morbius while also building up on the character and the world around him but also just keeps it entertaining all around. Morbius isn’t your usual household name in the vast stable of Marvel characters so selling him in an ongoing is a bit of an uphill battle. If you’ve ever read 90’s Morbius you know that it can be done and furthermore if you’re familiar with Vita Ayala’s work on books like Livewire (which I cannot recommend enough, seriously go read it!) then you know Marvel hired the right person for the job.

Brooding characters are such a fine line to tread, you don’t wanna make them all bright and cheery out of the blue and yet while let’s face it being stuck as some weird science vampire would suck (pun intended) you don’t wanna just make a series crapping on them with no end in sight either. Vita balances the line perfectly, bringing the fact that despite his unfortunate circumstances Morbius is still a capable scientist and not a foe to be taken lightly. When you add in his unique relationship with Spidey into the mix and some skeletons from the past coming home to roost well what’s left is just a great read. The confrontation with Melter is great not overblown but he’s not made out to be a complete inept like he’s been so often in the past despite being a persistent foe of Iron Man for crying out loud. Not only that but Ayala makes some subtle (and not so subtle) changes to Morbius inside and out that cultivates even more potential for great stories later as the title goes on. Not to mention on a bit of a side note Ayala absolutely kills it when dropping hilarious Spidey dialogue, can we start a Twitter campaign or something to see Vita Ayala writing a Spidey book already?

Art wise, the combo of noire inks and vivid when appropriate color makes pencils really pop, Dono Sanchez-Almara really shines on every single page from first to last. Robert Poggi, JP Mayer and Scott Hanna triple team inking duties and how some it doesn’t turn into a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians, which is worthy of praise in itself but the consistency of great inks through the book really knocks home the different vibe of the Morbius world from any other Marvel comics out right now.

Oh and I’d be remiss to not give a shout out to Juan Jose Ryp and another absolutely killer variant. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not the biggest fan of variants but when an artist lays down one this good ya gotta give props where they’re do. Real recognize real and Ryp killed it on this one yet again.