Blade #5 Review

Written by: Bryan Hill
Art by: Elena Casagrande
Colors by: K.J. Díaz
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Elena Casagrande, Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: November 15, 2023

Blade #5 suffers the aftermath of his confrontation with Adana as the world suddenly begins releasing the darkness within all the souls of humanity. If Blade is powerless to stop a god, who can he turn to for help?

Is Blade #5 Good?

Blade #5 reads, looks, and feels like a comic that transitions readers from one arc to the next, and it does so by skipping big story beats in a rush to get where it’s going. It’s unclear if Bryan Hill ran out of time or if there was a last-minute change in direction, but either way, Hill is in a hurry to get to the next phase of the arc.

When last we left Blade, the Daywalker and his band of cohorts infiltrated a never-ending train to steal Lucifer’s sword, Lightbringer, as possibly the only weapon that could stop Adana. The issue ended with Blade and his allies teleporting to Adana’s location for a cataclysmic battle.

Now, there’s nothing. We don’t get to see the battle. Only the aftermath. Readers are required to piece together what happened through snatches of dialog between Blade and Dr. Strange as they count their losses and consider their next steps. All you know is that Adana won and took the sword to open a portal that let through a wave of evil that awakened monsters in people all over the world. Blade coerces Dr. Strange to send him to Adana again for another attempt, but he fails worse than the first battle (which we never see). Eventually, Blade seeks the help of the only person who can unlock greater power – Dracula.

What a weird and wacky way to conclude a first arc. Hill doesn’t just gloss over important bits. He skips the whole conclusion to the first arc and jumps right to the epilogue as a setup for the next arc.

What’s great about Blade #5? Adana continues to elevate and impress as one of the most formidable villains in recent memory. Blade has his hands full, and if Adana is the challenge he needs to grow/evolve into something more, Hill created a perfect catalyst to do it.

What’s not so great about Blade #5? Skipping the big fight is bizarrely anticlimactic. If the skip was intentional, it was a boneheaded decision because it sends the message that the first arc isn’t important on its own and only serves as a setup for the next thing. That’s a poor way to tell a story.

Further, the minor plot hole from the first arc is now a glaring black hole in this issue. If a dark evil has unleashed monsters all over the world, where are the rest of the magic wielders to lend a hand? Why is Dr. Strange so uncommitted to joining the fight? How do you dream up a world-ending threat this big and not consider that other heroes need to be involved in a shared universe? Hill’s reach exceeded his grasp with this move.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Blade #5 makes a bizarre time jump to skip the conclusion of the first arc and begins an epilogue to set up the next arc. Truly, you’ll feel like you missed an issue in between, but it’s not you. Whatever strategy Hill was going for, it didn’t pay off.