In Marvel Team-Up #3, Spider-Man and the Human Torch tangled with the returning Morbius the living vampire. Morbius kills a few victims, including the brother of one of Peter Parker's college classmates, and makes his escape into the night. However, Morbius continues to haunt Peter Parker in his dreams. For the past week, Peter, who was ill in the previous issue, has been having fevered dreams about the scientist-turned-vampire. "I'm still shaking, I'm sweating ice...gotta relax...calm down," he thinks, after roommate Harry Osborn wakes him up. Peter figures that Morbius and his illness must be connected, so he swings out to visit Dr. Hans Jorgenson, a former colleague of Dr. Michael Morbius. Spidey and the Torch visited Dr. Jorgenson in the previous issue. But Morbius has the same ideas as Spider-Man and before the Web-Swinger can reach the professor's home, Morbius has kidnapped Jorgenson. He intends to force Dr. Jorgenson to help him reverse the enzyme which turned him into a living vampire. Spider-Man reaches the Jorgenson home to discover signs of a struggle - and notes that indicate Jorgenson had been reading about Morbius before he was abducted. Unfortunately, Dr. Jorgenson's housekeeper only sees Spider-Man, not Morbius. Spider-Man is blamed for the scientist's kidnapping and that gets the attention of one Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, leader of the X-Men.

At this time, the X-Men had not yet become the global phenomenon that would spawn three major motion pictures and countless spin-off comics. At this point, the X-Men were still the original team - and a floundering one at that. In fact, Marvel stopped creating new X-Men stories in the early 1970s and simply reprinted old stories for nearly three years. Professor X calls the team together - Cyclops, Angel, Iceman and Marvel Girl. The Beast isn't able to join them for this mission, for reasons that will become apparent in another title (Amazing Adventures). "Got it, sir," Iceman says. "No fuss...just bring him back intact." A few hours later, they encounter Spider-Man in Manhattan. Angel snatches Spidey's web-line and the fight is on! "You wanna play games, that's fine," Spider-Man says. "'Cause when it comes to games, Spidey always wins!" He takes out Angel and Iceman, but Marvel Girl catches him in a telekinetic field. But the X-Men don't want to fight - they just want to talk. "You've got a funny way...of starting a conversation, fella!" Spider-Man says. "No, if you'll excuse me...I think I'm gonna black out...." Spider-Man, weak from his illness, does just that and collapses into unconsciousness. They take Spider-Man back to Xavier's Mansion, where they run some tests. It turns out that the injection given to Spider-Man by Dr. Curt Connors (an injection created from Morbius' blood) in Amazing Spider-Man #102 to remove Spidey's four extra arms is now killing Spider-Man. To save him, the X-Men must track down the source of the original injection - Morbius. By doing so, they'll also find Dr. Jorgenson.

The Angel spots Morbius as he's feasting on two would-be muggers. The X-Men confront the living vampire, but with little success. Morbius quickly takes out Iceman and Angel with a savage attack. He then captures Marvel Girl and holds her hostage. "As you've no doubt noticed, I am a desperate man. Desperation adds strength to my already powerful grip...enough strength, I think, to crush any resistance, my darling," he tells her as he grips her throat. But Morbius needs to learn: you can't blackmail Cyclops. The level-headed field captain of the X-Men fires an optic blast, which reflects off an old mirror and KO's Morbius in the back of the skull. "As I told you, I'm not quite finished," Cyclops tells Morbius, rather calmly, before firing the precision blast. Using Marvel Girl's psychic powers to probe Morbius' mind, the X-Men then find Dr. Jorgenson, who then devises a cure for the toxin in Spider-Man's blood. Spider-Man thanks Dr. Jorgenson and the X-Men, giving Marvel Girl a big ol' kiss on the lips on the way out the window. Peter, I'm not sure Gwen Stacy would approve!

This issue was a nice little showcase for the X-Men, who weren't getting much attention in the Marvel Universe back in 1972 (flash forward a few years and you'll be hard-pressed to find a Marvel book that doesn't involve the mutants in some way.) This story does an effective job of tying together the loose ends from last issue, particularly the appearance of Dr. Jorgenson, who seemingly appeared for no purpose. However, this story lacks the emotional impact of the previous issue, which introduced us to Jacob and Jefferson Bolt. Jefferson Bolt became a pawn of Morbius and ultimately died saving his brother's life from the living vampire.

One major positive is the artwork of Gil Kane, who also did the now-legendary story in Amazing Spider-Man #100-102 that introduced Morbius. Normally, I prefer the clean, classic artwork of Ross Andru, who drew Marvel Team-Up #3. But Kane's art has a creepy, atmospheric quality that works well for horror-themed stories. At this time, Morbius wasn't portrayed as sympathetically as he was in later years. He's shown to be a brutal killer who will do anything to feed his hunger for blood. Personally, I like this more savage Morbius - he makes for a better, more dangerous villain than the more civilized version. He next turns up in Giant-Sized Super-Heroes #1.

Next issue: We switch gears from horror to science fiction as Spider-Man and the Vision team up to tackle the Monstroid! Interestingly, the teaser at the bottom of the last page says, "Next: The Eye of the Basilisk!" But that story doesn't run until Marvel Team-Up #16.

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.

Reprinted In:
Marvel Tales #234
Marvel Treasury Edition #18
Spider-Man Megazine #4