Blood Hunters #1 is a collection of three stories which (mostly) differ in tone and tenor from the events of Blood Hunt #1 and #2.
The first story is “The City That Never Weeps” written by Mark Russell with Bob Quinn (Artist) and Matt Milla (Color Artist). It finds Hawkeye/Clint Barton lackadaisically on the run from the law after killing a U.N. Ambassador. He’s not doing a great job as he’s remained in New York City with his disguise being a Tom Selleck-esque mustache.
He’s easily spotted eating in a restaurant by the NYPD, but all hell breaks loose as The Blood Hunt begins. It’s up to Clint along with a random assortment of New Yorkers (a priest, a puppet therapist, a union worker, etc.) to clear their section of town from vampires.
This is a terrific departure from the blood soaked seriousness of the main Blood Hunt books. Hawkeye here is more reminiscent of a John Carpenter penned Kurt Russell character (read: Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China) than the guy we saw in the MCU. He’s lazy and a bit of a douchebag, but he’s still heroic and can lead people through dark times … albeit with a lot of humor injected into it. This is the most fun read of all the Blood Hunt books, can’t recommend it tonight.
‘Blood Relations’ is written by Christos Gage with art by Javier Garron and Morry Hollowell. The story finds J. Jonah Jameson and his son John aka Man-Wolf battling the vampires who have descended upon the earth. With The Avengers overhead, Man-Wolf tries to protect his acerbic, blustery, and panicked father, who is trying to get ahold of Spider-Man throughout the story.
If the Hawkeye story was a Kurt Russell/John Carpenter-inspired romp, then ‘Blood Relations’ definitely took inspiration from An American Werewolf in London (definitely not Paris though, no one ever took inspiration from that). It’s way more of a gore fest combined with this wild father/son comedy at the center of it. It’s at the same times hilarious as it is heartfelt. And that might sound weird that a story involving J. Jonah Jameson is heartfelt, but this one really takes you by surprise. It’s easily the strongest story in Blood Hunters #1.
‘Once More into the Darkness’ is written by Eric Schultz with art by Bernard Chang and Marcelo Maiolo. This story finds Dagger, whose partner Cloak’s darkforce energy is being used to block out the sun, running through a gauntlet of vampires … some of whom she knows from her real life.
This story sidesteps the humor of the previous tales, and addresses an issue not yet discussed the in run — the newly turned vampires are still people. They’re people these heroes know, how on earth do they fight them and not kill them? Dagger has to figure this out on the fly as she’s attacked by a local barista she knows, who is now a vampire. Dagger is the right character to assume this role as she’s always been noted as a fierce fighter with a strong heart. The one issue with this story is its a little less self-contained than the other two as it seems to be serving merely to introduce a huge character for the rest of Blood Hunt.
Blood Hunters #1 is an excellent pick-up. It has three very entertaining stories that range in tone and tenor, but still maintain the overarching Blood Hunt storyline without ever “going into business for itself” and distracting from it.
