Sorry, Blade’s Not Here Right Now — Reviewing ‘Blood Hunt’ #4

A superior feeling, monologuing villain meets a triumphant hero rising from the ashes. That’s a tried-and-true formula for crafting a story climax. Sometimes it hits hard, sometimes a bit lighter. When it works, though, it really works.

Jed MacKay, Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, and Cory Petit bring one of those moments to life with Blood Hunt #4, the penultimate issue of this summertime event. The question is, does this particular classic situation work?

Oh, you better believe it works.

Mileage will vary, naturally, but as a piece of this particular puzzle, I’m giving the thumbs up. One of the things that works about this event is that it knows exactly what it is and leans into that. As much as we want things that transcend their overall formula or genre trappings, sometimes we need a standard meal. I love having a really creative plate of food at times, but sometimes the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich hits like nothing else.

In a sense, Blood Hunt is a the delicious, never fails to satiate, PB&J sandwich. Both that sandwich and these types of hero stories bring a comfort and familiarity. Sometimes I just want to watch the heroes get knocked around so that they can come back and stomp real hard on whatever the villain of the week might happen to be. In this case, I’m ready for them to whoop some vampire ass.

MacKay understands his characters and the world. While his bread and butter are often character depth and development, events don’t leave a lot of room for those types of things. Tons of spinning plates (some being spun by other creators in the variety of spinoffs that have to tie back in) don’t leave a lot of wiggle room. Yet, we get some moments here that remind us of who a couple of these characters are and always will be.

Little small moments, nothing huge or deep, but at the same time the ripples they make in the pond are still significant.

Before I forget, speaking of character moments, Doctor Doom being really sarcastically petty when the Stranges show up? Chef kiss perfection. “Doctor to Doctor” had me laughing the moment I saw the words. Also, while my choice of who it was didn’t pan out, glad to see that the clear theory of Blade being possessed paid off.

Good for him, the old easy get out of jail for free card since your world altering sins were not your own. I kid, but it was an interesting choice, because it’s a character with deep history with the Marvel Universe and history trying to possess Blade in the past. Another thing that MacKay does well is connecting Marvel’s wealth of characters and canon to his stories in supernatural, non-anchor, ways.

This story is basically all monologue and then heroes making a move ahead of the big fight but damn it’s still a gorgeous book to look at. Because Larraz and Garcia are dynamic artists who know exactly how to maximize the energy and appeal of anything that the script does or doesn’t ask for. Numerous pages have some big reveal moments, such as what is up with Blade and the rise of Thor, and the way they are framed and brought to life with the color choices are knock your socks off kind of good.

This is a very moody story, and that is felt on the page. Shadows, starker tones in the color palette, and just an overall gloominess permeate every moment. Reds that are redder than ever, blacks that stand out, and plenty of more heroic light colors that keep the story in line with the universe. Both have such an attention to detail and feeling, playing off one another to keep things constantly moving. There is a reason they have been tapped for some pretty big gigs in the past few years.

I mentioned that there are monologues and reveals, and as much as we need to see those moments we need to hear and feel them too. Good thing Petit is an expert at that sort of thing. Letting every word that finds space on the page sing its own part of the overall harmony. Making the right choices for when to go bigger and bolder or smaller, setting voices and tones instantly.

With one issue left, set up to be a massive fight conclusion, things are about to only get better. I’m already over here grinning as I think about what this team is probably delivering. Comics, despite all the issues, are pretty darn awesome.

Blood Hunt #4 is now available from Marvel Comics.