ICYMI: Blood Hunt #4: The Moon Will Rise

A major thrill of the Bendis era of Marvel events was the sense of a connected, future-facing narrative. One book led into the next, with his books like New Avengers filling in the gaps between events like House of M, Secret Invasion, and more. It felt like the first real promise of an architect leading the Marvel Universe forward with a clear vision of the future, even if that was not always the case. A lack of forward-thinking is an issue in a lot of the recent Marvel events and major storylines (with the somewhat exception of Krakoa and the new Ultimate Universe). With Blood Hunt, there seems to be a recalibrating look forward to a strong effect. 

Blood Hunt #4 – written by Jed MacKay with art by Pepe Larraz, colors by Marte Gracia, and lettering from VC’s Corey Petit – is the penultimate issue of the bombastic summer event, teeing up the seemingly epic conclusion of a possessed Blade versus a select pantheon of Marvel mythical characters. The issue opens with an Atlantean temple smashing into the New York skyline as Doctor Strange and Clea go to barter with Doctor Doom for help. Doom accepts their request on the condition that Strange gives the villain the title of Sorcerer Supreme, along with the Cloak of Levitation. 

Meanwhile, Blade reveals to a vampiric-inflected Blank Panther he is not the daywalker but Varnae, the first, eldritch vampire known for making appearances in Marvel’s Conan comics, the Nightstalkers, and Doctor Strange titles. Varne plans to absorb the Darkforce energy filling the skies to ascend to an even more powerful form, becoming a cosmic vampire that can feed on celestial bodies. 

While he powers up, the team of Hunter’s Moon, Tigra, and a previously obfuscated figure, the Wrecker, show up on Asgard to break out Khonshu, the Egyptian god locked up since the end of the Age of Khonshu storyline from Jason Aaron and Javier Garron’s Avengers run. The plotlines coalesce as the moon god revives Marc Spector to lead an army of previous Fists of Khonshu against the vampires while Black Panther assists Thor in recovering from a stab wound and reunites the Avengers. 

MacKay’s script moves at a clipping pace, offering three distinct plotlines that feel like advertisements for tie-ins but instead offering organic beats that constitute the key parts of the story. In the hands of a less assured writer, this issue would be nothing more than a pretty-looking sampler. Instead, MacKay uses his ability to interweave multiple moving parts into a condensed final product. Instead, each of the stories that tie into this issue, Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Strange Academy, and Black Panther, feel like additional pivots that overlap with the story and add depth while allowing MacKay to handle the larger throughline. 

Those titles add more depth to each plot line on display here but MacKay makes sure that there is no confusion or lack of clarity on the events unfolding in the page. In that same vein, MacKay gets to put on full display his ability to reap the seeds of his long-term storytelling with this issue. The arc of Khonshu staying in prison, having the option to summon a Moon Knight horde, killing Marc Spector, and making him a vital enemy to vampires all across 30+ issues is a great turn that compounds into the crux of this story. 

That alone would feel like a massive success that elevates Moon Knight while still focusing on the bulk of this issue. MacKay then layers in the existing tension of Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, his Strange run, Blade lore, and more to create a cohesive story. Just typing out that sentence is exhausting, and the fact that reading the issue leaves one wanting more speaks to what the writer accomplished. Each piece slots right in as the perfect portion of the larger puzzle, using continuity to propel a new, original story forward. It’s the type of storytelling that makes Marvel events so much fun, using recent and obscure history to tell an enthralling story. 

Propelling the book even further into the stratosphere of greatness is the jaw-dropping work that Larraz drops page after page. From the opening splash of the massive temple crashing directly into New York, Larraz sets an expectation of quality that he not only matches throughout the issue but exceeds in many places. The book strikes the right balance in depicting massive vaults, establishing shots, and mystical energies flowing with the focus, and intimate expressions of its heroes and villains alike. 

There is a moment when Varnae reveals himself that Larraz illustrates with a tight panel focusing on a sharp, intense-looking eye. It’s one of the smaller moments of the issue that speaks louder than some action beats, selling the pure terror the villain can inflict. A similar approach to close-ups is taken in the exchange between Strange and Doom, as the villain requests the mystical mantle. It’s a one-two punch of close-ups on half of each’s faces, allowing for the eyes to convey Doom’s machinations and Strange’s shock at the request. Larraz finding time to give these small visual beats in the proceeding of the massive scope ensures the book stays grounded and centered in its characters. 

While these are the interesting moments, the true standout illustrations in this issue have to be the revival and return of Moon Knight, as the warriors fill the skies with moonlight, raining down on the vampires. Larraz and MacKay make the brilliant decision to never actually show Khonshu in the sequence, letting his Fists take physical form as he narrates. That decision makes the splash of Marc Spector leaping into action such a powerful image, selling the action (and new design) in an instant. 

The Moon Knight reveal also adds a new heat to the coloring for this issue, allowing Gracia to infuse new hues of blues and whites into the book’s palette. A golden tone is used for the portals that the Fists of Khonshu appear through, curing through the red and blacks filling the skies. The moonlight plays like sunbeams breaking through rain clouds, offering a sense of hope to travelers of the night. Even without Spector leaping into action, Gracia’s coloring is a compelling way to reinforce Khonshu’s words in the sequence.