Fangs In A Time Of Crisis: Reviewing ‘Blood Hunt’ #1

Vampires are creatures of the night, hampered by the shining of the sun. What if the sun were to vanish? Blanketed away by the unleashing of energies from the Darkforce Dimension itself.

Well, that would very much spell trouble for all the people around the Earth, be they normal humans or those of the super variety.

The day of the vampires has come at last, in the form of Blood Hunt #1 the latest summertime Marvel event series. Brought to undead life by Jed MacKay, Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, and Cory Petit.

Duck into the shadows and cover your eyes if you want to avoid spoilers. Because like the blood of the Marvel Universe, they’ll be flowing from here on out.

<Spoilers follow>

As noted above, the whole affair kicks off because someone “blew up” every single user of Darkforce across the planet (characters both well-known and likely forgotten). Seems concerning how much of their bodies seem to be missing or obscured by the Darkforce, but that’s a matter for the end of the event.

MacKay has been seeing stuff for this for quite some time, majorly through Moon Knight and somewhat with recent issues of Doctor Strange. All except one thing, which was easy to see coming but also felt kind of out there for those of us that haven’t read many recent appearances. That being the revelation that the new King of Vampires who unleashed them upon the Earth is the Day walker himself, Blade.

Truth be told, I’ve heard from others that even reading his recent solo doesn’t entirely line us up to the whys and how’s of Blade’s apparent villainous heel turn. Especially since I recall seeing him very much still killing vampire just a few issues ago in Miles Morales’ Spider-Man series. As a king of continuity and character development, I trust MacKay, even though I don’t entirely trust Marvel blockbuster events anymore.

Either way, I’m sure Blade will be forgiven for the massive amount of bloodshed across the planet just in time for whatever synergized title will arise when (or if) his MCU film arrives.

Essentially the whole issue is Darkforce night falling, vampires butchering people across the world, Blade tricks the Avengers, his new squad beats down the Avengers, and Blade reveals his status while offing Doctor Strange (the guy with a spell to stop him).

While cool in concept, I do have to slightly question the introduction of the Bloodcoven. The latest in a list of all-new villains made specifically to own the Avengers (insert other heroes or team here) before their eventual defeat, and placement into character limbo. Seems like it would have been a ripe opportunity to juice up some familiar villainous faces, rather than adding more toys to an already overstuffed, mostly neglected box.

All that being said, it’s quite a pretty visual sight.

I mean, with Larraz and Garcia working together, that is pretty much just a given.

Big bold smooth renditions of these iconic characters, swooping through all the panels. Owning any space, they are in, as the action feels powerful and in your face at all times. Such details are brought into play as every panel has such depth involved. No two spaces feel alike, and they all have an overwhelming feeling of being realistic tangible spaces. That includes that giant floating sentient city base of the Avengers or Strange’s Sanctum Santorum, which are definitely anything but realistic.

Characters hit that spot where they have a grounded glint to them but also very whimsical with a touch of roughness to them. Larraz feels everything with this world and channels that all onto the page every single time, giving us whole panels or pages that I want plastered on my walls to stare at every day.

Marte’s colors are really heavy, creating a good amount of weight and additional depth. Really playing well with the shadows and darker tones to hit that needed horror vibe. Plenty of poppier colors are at hand but they are more restrained at times, keeping the overall story very dark and ominous. Flashes of those vibrant colors though help to remind that this is a story full of tons of fantasy and supernatural elements.

In this version a lot of the bloody or gory moments are crafted in a way that lets one know what happened without feeling it. Unlike most events though Marvel has decided to ship a second version of all five issues that is labeled as the “Red Band” version. That’s where moments like the impaling of Thor or Doctor Strange or gutting of Black Panther can be far bloodier and R-Rated than they are here.

Since those issues are exclusive to shops and have no digital (or preview) equivalent, I have no way of knowing if those are actually the gorier moments. But with what this issue contains I’m betting my educated guesses are probably pretty spot on.

There is a lot of information to get out in this first issue. From what the Darkforce is doing to who is behind it to what so many heroes are considering. Petit handles the task of making sure that it’s not ever (too) overwhelming on any given panel or page. Helping the dialogue to flow around the page and carry enough impact to keep voices resonating for the reader.

Some of the characters (chiefly Iron Man and Vison here) have alterations to their bubbles (colors and shape) while others are more standard. Using different modifiers, including size changes, to up the ante with volume or tone.

Blood Hunt #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.