Blood Hunt #2 Review

Written by: Jed MacKay
Art by: Pepe Larraz
Colors by: Marte Gracia
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: May 22, 2024

Blood Hunt #2 shines a brief bit of light in the darkness when Earth’s mightiest heroes begin to slowly regroup. Meanwhile, Blade begins the second phase of his global takeover.

Is Blood Hunt #2 Good?

Well, okay. This is fine, I guess. On the one hand, you don’t need to read the dozens of tie-ins to keep track of what’s going on. On the other hand, there’s so little buildup or momentum in the story, that the plot feels like things are happening without the creators giving you a reason to invest and care about what happens next.

When last we left the world in Blood Hunt #1, the newly-introduced Bloodcoven duped the Avengers into letting them into the Impossible City and caught the heroes off guard in a decisive battle. The Avengers barely managed to teleport away, leaving Thor, Black Panther, and Scarlet Witch behind. Meanwhile, Blade arrives at the Sanctum Sanctorum to reveal it was Blade all along who orchestrated the vampire apocalypse. Using the element of surprise, Blade turned Dr. Strange into a vampire, leaving Clea without the option to invoke the vampire-cleansing Montesi Formula.

In Blood Hunt #2, Blade gloats over his success from the safety of the Impossible City. But his plans aren’t over yet. He sends the Bloodcoven to retrieve Brielle Banks, aka Bloodline, aka Blade’s daughter, because she’s pivotal somehow. Then, Blade tasks the vampire Black Panther with securing an unnamed prize.

On Earth’s surface, Bloodline and Dracula arrive in NYC looking for the Sanctum Sanctorum. They eventually cross paths with the Bloodcoven. Bloodstorm One, the one who looks like a giant Greek statue, is apparently a clone of Dracula, and he’s pleased to confront his “father” while on a mission to capture Bloodline. Before the meeting gets ugly, the Avengers arrive with a little more preparation. Vision snatches up Megrim (purple glowy hands) and flies him/her/it into the atmosphere to catch some rays, presumably killing Megrim. The rest of the Avengers pull similar tricks out of their collective sleeves to send the Bloodcoven into a retreat.

Eventually, all forces converge on the Sanctum Sanctorum, including Miles Morales and members of the Midnight Mission. Before the assembly of heroes and Dracula can formulate a plan, Miles Morales suddenly turns into a vampire (see the blink-and-you-miss-it meeting between Miles and Blade in issue #1)

What’s great about Blood Hunt #2? To MacKay’s credit, the story feels big. Heroes from multiple titles coming together to stop a vampire apocalypse years in the planning (from Blade, not Marvel) have the kind of scale and scope you want in a crossover event.

What’s not so great about Blood Hunt #2? Plot points are beginning and ending so fast that nothing has any weight to them. For example, the Bloodcoven made a strong impression in the first issue as a formidable force. Here, the Avengers drive them off with minimal effort, and purple glowy hands appears to be dead, but you feel nothing because the Bloodcoven were never set up, you never get to see them in a hard fight or get a sense of their personalities. Now, one of them is dead with barely an afterthought. You might as well rename this crossover – “Things Happen Nobody Will Remember Or Care About.”

How’s the Art? Pepe Larraz is one of the best comic artists around, and it shows. Larraz’s figure work is excellent, the brief bits of action are hard-hitting and dramatic, and the set pieces look impressive for an Earth shrouded in darkness.

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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Final Thoughts

Blood Hunt #2 gives Earth’s mightiest heroes a moment to counterpunch the Bloodcoven’s sneak attack and regroup. Pepe Larraz’s art is amazing, and big things are happening, but MacKay’s plot is too shallow to let any moment or character develop beyond a quick scene, so the issue comes off as wholly forgettable.