Marvel’s Blade is finally getting his first solo ongoing comic in 15 years. Since 2007, the iconic vampire hunter has only appeared in team-up stories, starring alongside heroes such as Daredevil.
Polygon revealed that the upcoming comic will be written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Elena Casagrande. Hill should be a familiar name to comic fans, as he wrote Batman and The Outsiders for DC not too long ago. Casagrande has drawn a number of comics, including a recent Black Widow series.
Here’s Marvel’s description for the first issue of Blade:
“Marvel’s slickest vampire hunter returns in a brand new ongoing by Bryan Hill (KILLMONGER) and Elena Casagrande (BLACK WIDOW)! True evil is patient. And a dark, ancient power has been simmering quietly for centuries…and when Blade himself is the one to unknowingly unleash it, Marvel’s entire supernatural underworld will come out of hiding to demand he handle it. Or pay a pound of flesh for his mistakes. Bloodbaths, blackmail and Blade – you won’t want to miss the explosive first issue of this new volume!”
Despite not having a solo ongoing series for 15 years, Marvel has used Blade in a number of ways. The character was a major part of Jason Aaron’s Avengers series, even being the focal point of its Heroes Reborn event. We’ve also seen the character in Mighty Avengers, where he briefly took the Ronin role before reverting back to Blade.
It seems that Marvel wants fans to get ready for the character, especially with a new movie coming next year. Starring Mahershala Ali, this reboot of the series will be set in the MCU, though the project has been in development hell and even lost its director. The character did have a speaking line during the post-credits of The Eternals, but wasn’t shown onscreen.
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Blade #1 will be hitting comic book stores this July.