Writer: Danny Lore
Artist: Dylan Burnett
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 8, 2021

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed the main Death of Doctor Strange book. However, I have not been surprised that the tie-ins have been lacking so far. They haven’t felt important to the overall story and feel like a dimensional monster of the week money grab. That continues to be the case here, but the reason I am more upset this time around is that Danny Lore had a chance to set the status quo for Blade going forward but instead is content to mimic movie scenes and have Blade kill a couple of vampires. Oh well…

The issue opens with Vampire Nation partying like it’s nobodies business. For some reason, the news of Doctor Strange’s death inspired them to throw a banger of a costume party, and I get that dressing like Doctor Strange would be a badass F-U, but why are there vamps dressed as Spider-Man, Captain America, and other superheroes? It doesn’t matter because they turn on the blood sprinklers as Blade arrives. After all, they want Blade to know that they watched his movie!

He doesn’t seem impressed, but what’s the Sheriff of Vampire Nation going to do? Talk to Dracula, that’s what. While they shit talk back and forth, Lore introduces us to a bratty teen-like vampire named Dahlia. Since this is a one-shot, and she seems to piss Dracula off, you know she will not make it out of this issue!

The story continues with a dimensional portal opening, giving Blade some mummy-like demons to kill and throwing a psychic vampire into the mix. Of course, you can pretend that you didn’t know this kid was bad news, but it was obvious right away, and Lore wastes no time in revealing it anyway.

The rest of the issue is seeing how Blade deals with Dracula, Dahlia, and the kid. We find out that Dracula is a sneaky little bitch and that Blade can’t be affected by a psychic vampire because he is always pissed off… even though he was earlier in the issue.

The issue does have one big laugh at the end when Blade, I guess in his 90s action hero mode, yells that when the sun comes up, “It’s time for the streetlights to go out!” Worst. Action. Movie. Line. Ever.

This issue does nothing for the Death of Doctor Strange storyline, but worse, it made me not like Blade. I did like Dracula a bit more, but I don’t think that’s what this was about. Oh well, the art by Dylan Burnett was kick-ass, even though there were times when there seemed to be problems between what he was doing and what Lore was doing.

Final Thoughts

The Death of Doctor Strange: Blade is an unnecessary tie-in issue that gets stuck between the event and showing more of Vampire Nation and does neither justice. Danny Lore gets very wordy for an issue without a lot going on, and even Dylan Burnett’s art can’t save it.

4.5/10