Return to Terror! (Adventure into Fear #24) (1974)

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 HALLOWEEN REVIEWS 2026


Writer: Steve Gerber

Artist: Craig Russell

Inker: Jack Abel



To get on board the starship that may be able to carry them back to Earth, Morbius and Lord I must get past the horde of barbarians to whom it is a holy site. Morbius attempts to take a hostage that he believes they will not want to endanger, but once again his irresistible thirst ruins his plans.



They manage to get aboard and prepare for the long trip to Earth.



Recap time! I’m pretty sure the Caretakers’ heavy involvement in the evolution of the human race must contradict some previously established elements of Marvel history, but it raises some inserting philosophical questions about the tension between well-intentioned paternalism and the importance of finding one's own way.



After weeks of interstellar travel, their ship happens to come down in the vicinity of Blade, who is on patrol.



Lord I has not survived the passage, and Blade is uniquely suited to identify the manner of his death. It’s probably just as well that Lord I’s people have no instinct for self preservation and actually long for death, since being trapped in a spacecraft with a vampire going mad from hunger would be quite terrifying.



The pursuit begins.



Blade is in for a surprise when he learns that Morbius is not like the vampires he is used to tangling with.



Having ditched Blade, Morbius makes his way back to Los Angeles by jumping trains, not knowing that he is observed by the Caretakers.



This story requires some very convenient plotting to get Morbius and Blade together, but writer Steve Gerber gets points for never losing sight of the fact that Morbius is a murderer, and there is some fun business about the difference between supernatural vampire rules and science based vampire rules.



The Two-Faced Man


Script: ???

Art: Joe Maneely 


Lowlife Joel Pike works as the assistant to a stage actor and lusts after his boss’ costar.



A scheming bastard ripe for the kind of cosmic retribution these old time horror comics specialized in.



This morality play resolves with a twist that even a 9-year-old reading comics in the 50s could have seen coming. Like so many of these reprints, fantastic art supports the flimsiest of stories.


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