Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: blade, morbius

Morbius the Living Vampire vs Blade in Marvel's Fear #24, at Auction

Published Sun, 10 Oct 2021 16:28:08 -0500

Last updated Sun, 10 Oct 2021 16:29:40 -0500

For a brief moment in the mid-1970s, Morbius the Living Vampire seemed to be on the cusp of becoming a major Marvel character. After his late-1971 debut in Amazing Spider-Man #101, the character made a handful of guest appearances followed by not one but two simultaneous regular solo features, in the black and white magazine Vampire Tales, and the ongoing (Adventure into) Fear title. As writer Steve Gerber explained about the context of the moment in an editorial in Fear #21, "Suddenly, everywhere you look — on book shelves, on magazine racks, on television, between kung fu flicks at your neighborhood theatre, over your left shoulder — you see vampires… the world has gone bats!" A fascinating product of the character's moment in time, there's a few choice issues of the Fear series featuring Morbius the Living Vampire up for auction in this weekend's 2021 October 10-11 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122141 from Heritage Auctions.

Gerber goes on to explain that the Morbius series in Fear is, "a curious blend of the traditional super-natural motif for a vampire saga and straight-out science-fiction." Curious blend indeed, and these issues are well worth your time just for how wonderfully weird that blend can sometimes get. That aside, it certainly appears that the conditions are right for Morbius to rise again, with a film starring Jared Leto on the way in January 2022. Of particular interest among these Fear issues is the Morbius vs Blade story in Fear #24 — giving us a little taste of a confrontation that fans have been dying to see ever since the deleted alternate ending of the 1998 Blade film, which would have had Morbius being featured in the sequel. A fascinating character whose time has come once again, there's a few choice issues of the Fear series featuring Morbius the Living Vampire up for auction in this weekend's 2021 October 10-11 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122141 from Heritage Auctions.

Fear #20 Morbius the Living Vampire (Marvel, 1974) CGC VF- 7.5 Off-white to white pages. First Morbius the Living Vampire solo story. Gil Kane cover. Art by Paul Gulacy (his first published work) and Jack Abel. Overstreet 2021 VF 8.0 value = $41. CGC census 10/21: 29 in 7.5, 438 higher.

Fear #24 Morbius the Living Vampire (Marvel, 1974) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages. Morbius and Blade appearances. Cover by Gil Kane. Art by P. Craig Russell and Jack Abel. Overstreet 2021 NM- 9.2 value = $115. CGC census 10/21: 21 in 9.4, 33 higher.

Fear #27 Morbius the Living Vampire (Marvel, 1975) CGC NM 9.4 Off-white to white pages. Morbius. Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia cover. Frank Robbins art. Overstreet 2021 NM- 9.2 value = $20. CGC census 10/21: 20 in 9.4, 21 higher.