Review: Amazing Spider-Man #699.1 – ‘Morbius The Living Vampire’ Preview

Amazing Spider-Man #699.1
Writer: Joe Keatinge with Dan Slott
Art: Valentine Delandro with Marco Checchetto, Antonio Fabela [Color Art]

Amazing Spider-Man #699.1 isn’t so much a Spider-Man comic as it is a preview for the upcoming Morbius The Living Vampire solo series.

Morbius has been a long-running sometimes-villain, sometimes-ally of Spider-Man since his debut in 1971’s Amazing Spider-Man #101.  Recently, he relapsed into his old bloodlusting ways and found himself in the Marvel Universe’s maximum security supervillain prison, The Raft.  This issue picks up during the prison break from issue #699, and has Morbius reflecting on his childhood and (you guessed it!) origin during his escape.


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The new details added by Keatinge are a nice touch to the character and do more to flesh him out while giving newer readers a recap of who he is and how he became “The Living Vampire.” It makes sense that Marvel would give him his own solo book right now given the current popularity of vampires, even if Morbius isn’t technically a vampire in the classical sense.  Then again, the “vampires” that are popular right now aren’t real vampires, either, so there’s that.

Either way, I enjoyed this issue more than I thought I would and am actually intrigued by the idea of this series now.  Definitely worth a read for fans and anyone interested in the premise.

Rating: 9/10

Roger Riddell
Roger Riddell
Essentially Peter Parker with all the charm of Wolverine, he's a DC-based B2B journalist who occasionally writes about music and pop culture in his free time. His love for comics, metal, and videogames has also landed him gigs writing for the A.V. Club, Comic Book Resources, and Louisville Magazine. Keep him away from the whiskey, and don't ask him how much he hates the Spider-Man movies unless you're ready to hear about his overarching plot for a six-film series that would put the Dark Knight trilogy to shame.