Morbius: The Living Vampire#2(1992)

The story opens on the scene of Morbius' last appearance, as firefighters try to extinguish the blaze, and detectives examine a body on the scene. All four bodies at the scene show similar injuries to those of a 'Jane Doe' they found the previous night, leading them to the conclusion they have a pattern killer on their hands. At the same time, Morbius makes his way back to the home of his friend, Jacob Weisenthal. The sun has been up for a full 15 minutes by the time he arrives, and he is burning when he finally manages to make his way into the darkness. Jacob helps Morbius to the light-proofed guest room, asking what happened. Morbius responds, "Martine is dead... and I don't know what I have become." The next day, Simon Stroud receives a call in his San Salvadore apartment, informing him of the new "Vampire Killer" case. Stroud immediately books a flight for New York. That night, Morbius and Jacob sit in the den, discussing the situation. Morbius does not want to talk about Martine, but Jacob insists he must "get on the with the business of living." Morbius tells Jacob that, in order to mitigate the horror of what he must do, he will feed only on the blood of the corrupt, though that doesn't make him any less guilty in the eyes of the law, or God. Jacob reveals that his father was fatally wounded in a robbery, and that he has no qualms at all about Morbius killing the guilty to survive. As the discussion continues, Jacob points out that the situation is not as hopeless as it seems: they have a sample of the new serum which mutated Morbius. Morbius is pessimistic about ever finding a cure, but Jacob points out that they don't need a cure, just a treatment to control or ease the disease. Morbius decides he also needs a refuge which won't incriminate Jacob, as well as a source of income. For that he needs money and a new identity. Jacob says he can vouch for Morbius at St. Jude's Hospital, and Morbius points out that he has money from his biochemical patents. Because Morbius is a wanted criminal, the feds have frozen all his funds. Morbius gets around this by breaking into a bank, ripping open the vault, and pocketing all he can. He leaves two personal checks totalling more than $204 thousand as compensation. Morbius then goes on the hunt, first finding a mugger who is robbing an old man. Morbius flies up behind the mugger, slamming him into a wall. Before Morbius can feed, the mugger -- whose name is Nicholas -- reveals that his Uzi is just a water gun, and that he only tried to rob the old man to get money for his addiction. Given the state of his own "addiction", Morbius decides that Nicholas does not deserve death, but agrees to give him a good deal of money if he can point him towards someone who does. Nicholas points Morbius to Dick Packer, a violent pimp, who we first see attacking one of his girls in a hotel room. Morbius attacks Packer before the girl can be badly injured, and kills him. When he has finished feeding, he notices the girl looking on. He tells her he has no intention of killing her, but suggests she find a new type of employment. "Nah. I don't mind the job," she replies, "just the working conditions." Morbius is left stunned by her cavalier attitude, and wonders if that is how one must become to survive in such a violent world. He wonders if he too will become so accustomed to violence that it begins to bore him. After a moment's thought, Morbius reject that notion, and becomes even more determined to find a cure. Remembering how Spider-Man's radioactive blood cured him once before, Morbius decides that finding Spider-Man is the key to a new treatment. Morbius decides to find Spider-Man by "making some news", luring him to a place of his choosing. Morbius makes his news by throwing Packer's body -- note attached -- off the top of the Daily Bugle. Packer's body nearly lands on Joy Mercado, who is exiting the building with Peter Parker. Parker, who ironically had just been to see J. Jonah Jameson about news on the "Vampire Killer", is alerted by his spider-sense and prevents Joy from coming to harm.