Free Comic Book Day 2024- Marvel Blood Hunt # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

Looks like the streets will run red with blood, and it's up to the Marvel Superheroes to team up to stop it. The next big Marvel event starts here!!!

The issue opens with Spider-Man fighting an enemy named Doctor Dark while calling him Doctor Dork. The villain is frustrated and says this is why nobody likes Spider-Man. Spidey gets a civilian out of the way of his energy attacks and asks if he likes him. Spider-Man starts attacking the villain while asking if he's a real doctor. Suddenly Doctor Dark asks what Spider-Man is doing to him, when all he is doing is punching him. 

Doctor dark suddenly throws up a strange black liquid. He screams and suddenly evaporates into dark energy. Spider-Man sarcastically considers this an 'unproblematic win'. 

Meanwhile in Arizona, Reed Richards tells his wife Sue that there has been several dimensional breaches. The Negative Zone is always his first guess. Sue looks at the energy in front of them and says this is tied to the Darkforce Dimension.

In Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil feels that something strange is going on. He can sense that people are screaming and are frightened. He says it feels like the sun is behind a cloud so heavy it's turning dark. He senses that the people of the city aren't just being frightened, they're being hunted. He leaps into action and fights off vampires as they are attacking people. 

Meanwhile in Atlanta, Brielle Brooks, Blade's daughter, is running through the streets when she also runs into vampires. She pulls out her stake and easily takes them out. She suddenly sees that Dracula himself has shown up. Dracula recognizes her as the daughter of his oldest enemy, and tells her the world is ending. He says if he joins him they might be lucky enough to save it.

Uncanny X-Men

The story opens with Jubilee watching over the X-Mansion which is now being remodeled by new owners, as she recalls old times. A guard arrives to tell her the area is restricted and she leaves without causing trouble. The guard informs the new owner, Doctor Corina Eliis that the girl is leaving. Corina tells him to shoot her if she comes back.

A man named Phillip, who can only move around with the help of crutches says he couldn't feel the girl at all. Corina says the girl was Jubilation Lee, who used to be known as Jubilee. She is known to only be able to cause firework displays so she doesn't consider her too dangerous. Phillip tells her he is very tires, but Corina still has use for him. As they walk off, Corina wants one of the offices to get gutted and be completely remodeled. 

Jubilee rides off on her motorcycle as she states she no longer wears the 'X' and doesn't even know if there is even an X-Men team around for her to quit. Just then a car sideswipes her and one of the guys cheers on his friend Todd as they yell insults at her.

Jubilee eventually tracks them down, as they purposely parked sideways across the handicap parking area in front a diner. Jubilee could blow up their car but she follows the code 'Stay hidden, Keep your mouth shut, Don't make trouble'. She says she can still go inside and grab herself a tuna melt.

Inside the diner, the boys make fun of the waitress who has zebra stripes. The other waitress says she's not a mutant and only had a skin condition. She's the girl's mother and her name is Uva. Jubilee orders a tuna melt and boba tea. She looks over at Uva and flashes the 'mutant' sign. Uva notices and returns the hand gesture.

The guys see Jubilee and recognize her from earlier. Jubilee asks Uva's mother for some ice cream in the back. Once she leaves, Jubilee tells Uva that she's not alone and she can get her out of there if she's not safe. Uva says she can't do that to her mother. 

The guys start insulting Uva, so Jubilee grabs the soda dispenser hose and sprays them with it. She runs out as the guys give chase. Jubilee stands in front of Todd's car and uses her powers to blow it up. She says she'll return if they continue to hurt Uva's feelings.

Jubilee gets her phone and calls Wolverine. She tells him that the mission is still going and to tell Rogue that she's in.

Phillip senses Jubilee's power and he tells Corina that they need to update Jubilee's power set. Corina says her files are outdated, but some interrogation should fix that. She goes to check on one of the inmates and tells the guards to step aside. Jean Grey has been captured, imprisoned and has devices keeping her powers in check. Corina checks on a huge vault labeled 'Inmate X' and tells Jean to make herself comfortable and get used to the idea that she will never leave that room ever again.

My thoughts-  

Blood Hunt seems to be start of the next big Marvel event where it seems every vampire in the world has decided to team up and go on a worldwide feeing frenzy. It seems Dracula himself isn't onboard and wants to 'save the world', but of course the question is, can he be trusted? The series promises to be bloodier than the usual Marvel comics and also promises a 'Red Label' for those that want to see how intense and violent this can get. I added the main book to my pullbox, but I'm skipping out on all the multiple tie-ins. One can only buy so many books a month, and I already got 2 Spider-Man titles, Batman and the Ninja Turtles to deal with.

Unlike the Free Comic Book Day lead ins to Avengers VS X-Men, I'm not 100% sure if this is a new story, or the first few pages of the actual issue as a preview. I say this because it's still #1 and not the usual #0. If that happens to be the case, I'll just breeze through the first few pages whenever I review the real issue 1.

The second story shows that someone else has bought the X-Mansion and is remodeling it, though it's clear that Doctor Ellis is up to no good. This takes place after the long-awaited end of the 'Krakoa era' in which the X-Men are starting to rebuild. 

I did feel a bit bad for Uva and her mom, and how Jubilee judged her mom, since she called Uva's condition a skin condition. When Uva refused to run away and hurt her mother's feelings, Jubilee was thinking that it was ironic that Uva cares about the same woman that cares more about what people think than about her daughter. I'm not sure about that. Uva's mother clearly loves her and lets her work in the restaurant with her. I kinda think in this case she was saying Uva wasn't a mutant to protect her from harm. I get Jubilee's side where one should be proud to declare they're a mutant, but it doesn't look like Uva has any powers to defend herself with. Worst off, if she did attack the guys, there's always a risk it would cause drama and Uva would have been taken away from her mother. At least with Jubilee causing trouble, she can take the blame for it without it affecting Uva directly. 

Jubilee's story felt like more of its own standalone story, while leading into what's currently happen in the X-Men titles. We'll see what will happen as they're in the middle of a reboot. Stay tuned for Blood Hunt though.