Let The Sunlight In: Reviewing ‘Blood Hunt’

Vampires are creatures of the night, hampered by the bright shining sun. What if, though, the sun was 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, the latest summertime Marvel event. Brought to undead life by Jed MacKay, Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and Cory Petit.

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).

MacKay has been seeing stuff for this for quite some time, majorly through Moon Knight and somewhat with issues of the recent Doctor Strange series. 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.

Of course, it actually turns out that the ancient vampire god Varnae possessed Blade and used his body to bring about eternal night.

Even when there are cliché events that I saw coming a mile away … like the transformation of Miles … it still works. Because the characters feel authentic and true, a trademark of MacKay’s writing, and the stakes are real but low key enough that we know how it works in comics. Never is MacKay pretending that any of these deaths (they are deaths) are real or sticking or that this event will “CHANGE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT!”.

Basically, this is a summer blockbuster in every factor that we attribute to that phrase and I’m here for it.

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.

There are a few changes left in the wake of the story, that do affect characters and stories moving forward. One being Miles Morales remaining a vampire within his own stories after the event ended. Which works because another change was that vampires are immune to sunlight now (which hasn’t really played into anything but Miles’ story for the most part). Even bigger is the fact that Doctor Doom is now the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earthly Dimension (after tricking Strange out of the power), which was a setup for 2025’s banner event, One World Under Doom.

Helps when we get to witness gorgeous sexy moody artwork from Larraz and Garcia. A duo that goes together even better than peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and chocolate or peanut butter and…gosh I’m really hungry right now. One could say…ravenous.

Anyway … let me talk and gush about this artwork.

Superhero poses and iconic scenes are common, but the right combo of elements create the ones we remember years (even decades) later. Our Avengers team triumphantly bathed in a beam of pure sunlight as they run off the Blood Coven? Oh yeah, that’ll do. Create a framed poster print of that page and it’s going on my wall and staying there. So, I can look at it, nod, and smile every time I walk into the room or wake up.

Stories of this nature that encompass the majority of this universe of characters need to feel epic. Larraz always answers that call wearing his finest, dazzling the masses with charisma and charm on the page. Every character and space have weight and presence under Larraz’s care. The world at large has depth and layers that allow it to feel like the lived-in space that we know and love.

A sense of heaviness is already there but is taken a step further with the heavier colors Marte employs here. Plenty of shadows, naturally for the story reasons, linger on every page giving the requisite ominous feeling. A more toned-down palette is in play in many respects, keeping things in the space where the surrounding world and many characters are in line with the “world outside your window” effect.

Even though the whole event is very dark, with heavy shadows everywhere (there is a Darkforce night, after all) Garcia finds ways to drop in pops of color. All of the settings have their own lighting effects that give them a more distinct appearance. The Impossible City, the Sanctum, and all around do not feel nor look alike and nor should they. As a duo, Larraz and Garcia just work so smoothly, enhancing each other beat for beat.

None of this changes as Sifuentes-Sujo jumps on board for the story finale, matching Garcia beat for beat.

MacKay’s character development knack is top tier, and having a letterer like Petit matches that energy as he brings their voices to the page. Allowing unique voices to really thrive thanks to changes to fonts, bubbles, and more. Keeping the denser beats of text from overwhelming or distracting from what’s on the page.

Slipping in little things here or there gives words a more ominous feeling, while also allowing things to still tap into that comic book fun.

In the end, this was a pure summer blockbuster type of story with plenty of MacKay’s particular character and world developing trademarks. Brought to vivid and spectacular visual life, really allowing us to feel in the moment and like participants rather than just observers. Easily one of the top of these types of events that Marvel has done in the last decade. Putting it on the list with some pretty good stories.

Blood Hunt is now available from Marvel Comics.