MARVEL COMICS
WRITER: Marc Guggenheim
ARTIST: Howard Chaykin
COLORIST: Edgar Delgado
LETTERS: VC’s Rus Wooton
COVER: Marko Djurdjevic
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S., $3.75 CAN
“The Big Fight”
Several years ago, Marvel Comics launched a new comic book starring Blade, their vampire hunter who first appeared in the 1970s horror comic book series, The Tomb of Dracula (#10, July 1973). Of course, Blade is best known for the trilogy of films starring Wesley Snipes as Blade. Marvel has had, at best, mixed success with Blade comic book series. [Although an African-American (Snipes) was the star and co-producer of the Blade film franchise, Marvel has never allowed an African-American to write or draw a Blade comic book series.]
Debuting in 2006, the most recent Blade series was written by television writer-producer, Marc Guggenheim and drawn by Howard Chaykin, a longtime industry veteran writer and artist, best known for the highly influential 1980s comic book, American Flagg! (although Chaykin has also been a television writer-producer). Guggenheim’s take on Blade was closer to the character in the comics than the one in the movies, and the series ran for 12 issues, much of it having to do with Blade’s origin.
Blade #9 finds Eric Brooks, a.k.a. Blade in London delving into his later mother, Tara Brooks’ past to discover her connection and his possible connection to the Order of Tyrana. The apparent head of this group is Lucas Cross, the man claiming to be Blade’s father. Meanwhile, at a London hotel, Union Jack, a vampire hunter, launches an attack on Blade’s colleague, vampire detective Hannibal King.
Evan as a back issue, Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin’s Blade comic book still feels fresh and new. Guggenheim wrote each issue as a self-contained story. While each issue is connected to a larger narrative, it can be read, comprehended, and enjoyed without reading other issues. Visually and graphically, Chaykin infused Blade with a sense of humor, irony, and a touch of satire.
Blade #9 epitomizes what Guggenheim and Chaykin did so well with the entirety of their Blade comic book series, and that was the creation of a serial drama in which each chapter was important unto itself. An individual issue did not need the overall story arc to validate it. This allowed readers to pick up any issue and get both a complete reading experience and the Blade experience.
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