Blood Hunters (Mini-Series) # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

This was the original 4-part mini-series that was happening during the Blood Hunt event. As I know now, it would eventually become an on-going series (or at leeast a longer running series, it's hard to tell nowadays). The story involves Hawkeye and we'll most likely get to see how this team got together, so let's check it out.

"The City That Never Sleeps" opens with Clint Barton hiding in New York as he is still suspected of having killed the UN Ambassador (from the Black Widow and Hawkeye series I really should get back to). The police find him eating at a local diner, and the archer asks how they found him so easily. The cops says all he did was grow a mustache. He comments that growing one takes effort. They call for back up but all other units are busy. Just then the people outside notice that the sun has gone dark. A vampire busts through the window of the cafe, surprising the police. Clint asks if he's still under arrest.

Clint doesn't know at the time, but vampires have used Darkforce energy to block out the sun, which allow them walk around during the morning. Clint also thinks this is only happening in New York rather than worldwide. He pulls out his crossbow and hits one of the vampire before it can attack the police. He hits another vampire that was chasing a civilian outside the cafe. The vampire is surprised to see an arrow in this day and age and turns to dust. Clint tells the man he just rescued that that was a vampire and asks if he had any wood. The man says he has a wooden puppet. Clint asks why he just so happens to have a wooden puppet on him. The man says he's a puppet therapist.

Later on, Clint in full Hawkeye gear, gathered the people he could to keep them safe on the rooftops. He says they have to get out before there are too many vampires. One of the people says they consider one vampire to be too many.

Later still, Clint gathers all the survivors together in a bar and try to keep them calm and united. One of the people asks if Clint grew a mustache. He reminds them that they're New Yorkers and have survived everything from terrorists to pizza rats.

As the group carefully sneaks outside the bar through the alleyway and Hawkeye fires an arrow into one of the vampires. Hawkeye's arrow missed his heart and he asks for cover. The puppet therapist from earlier apologizes to his wooden buddy Pagliacci, as he impales it into the vampire's chest. A woman distracts another vampire long enough for Hawkeye to get a clear shot at him.

A big guy watches this unfold from his window as he sees how the people are working together to stop the vampires. He tells his wife that he hasn't seen the neighborhood like this since the 80's. Hawkeye watches a water tower as a priest stands by and says he got it. A vampire tries to sneak up on Hawkeye from behind, but the big guys from earlier impales him with a pickaxe. Hawkeye fires an explosive arrow at the water tower, making it spill water all over the vampires. The priest has turned this into holy water so it is burning all of the vampires alive.

Later on Hawkeye walks down the street as he narrates that they didn't kill all the vampires and things didn't go back to normal. In New York, nobody knows what normal is and that makes them strong. The news advises people to watch out for vampires and carry a stake at all times. Hawkeye walks past the police woman from earlier and asks if she will arrest him. She says she's too busy to worry about a guy selling rotten gyros. As Hawkeye walks off, the police woman tells him that she likes his mustache.

"Blood Relations" opens with JJ Jameson and his son Jon getting ready to go out for lunch. John says they'll be late but Jonah says they'll hold the reservation for him since his name still means something in this city, despite him no longer running the Daily Bugle. Jonah mentions that Mayor Fisk got his son his current job at Ravencroft and now that Luke Cage is the mayor, they need to show they're still connected. As they step outside, John points out it's so dark outside despite it still being noon. Just then a vampire swoops in, hoping to feast on them. 

John tells everyone to stay back as he starts to transform. Johan says he can call in Spider-Man. John says he wouldn't get here in time, and he turns into Man-Wolf. The vampire says he has heard of him, and says he pretends at lycanthropy. John says he doesn't pretend which is why he uses 'Man' first for his name. He asks what's going on and the vampire says the ones that were set to rule have finally embraced their destiny. Man-Wolf sees that the sky is full of vampires.

The vampire bites into Man-Wolf's shoulder saying their deities aren't around to help them. Man-Wolf grabs the vampire and swoops down with him, saying they will help themselves. He drives the vampire into a gated fence, decapitating him. Man-Wolf lands nearby, hitting the ground. Johan pulls a stake, lamenting that he must now kill his son before he becomes a vampire, and blames Spider-Man for not being there.

Man-Wolf grabs his father's wrist and tells him that being transformed makes him immune to vampire bites. Johan says he must have forgotten due to dementia... caused by all the years of stress from dealing with Spider-Man. Man-Wolf says they need a plan since this isn't a random vampire attack, it's war. 

Fans of Jonah's podcast 'Threats and Menaces' show up and says Jonah always knows what to do regarding supernatural dangers. Man-Wolf tells them to hide in churches and other holy places. He also says they can use religious items to keep safe but they only work if they have faith in said religion. Jonah tells the fans to believe Man-Wolf since he taught him all he knows. The fans run off to tell people, and Johan and John decide to head back to the studio.

Man-Wolf runs around the city with Jonah on his back as he fights off any vampire he sees. Jonah has made stakes out of the chairs from the lobby, which impresses his son. Jonah says this isn't his first rodeo and tell him he once defeated Doc Ock. Man-Wolf says he has the picture framed on his mantle and comments that it was actually Spider-Man that beat him. Jonah tries to call Spider-Man, and his son says he's probably busy. Jonah says it's his job to save the city, and John says Spider-Man doesn't get paid. Jonah calls Spider-Man again and says he needs him since he has a plan. 

Man-Wolf sits his father on a bench and says if he needs Spider-Man, he can sit and wait for him. Just then vampires go after Jonah. The vampires knock the stakes out of Man-Wolf's hands. One of them says they'll take him out humanely. Man-Wolf says the stakes were the humane option... for them. Man-Wolf bites the vampire's head off. A vampire woman decides to fly away, but Man-Wolf throws a stake right through her heart.

The vampire that was leading the others is about to bite Johan when Man-Wolf lands on him, smashing his head into the ground. The vampire gets back up and says he's more powerful than the others, as he has fought alongside Dracula for centuries. Man-Wolf uses the gem on his chest, the Godstone, to flash its light onto the vampire, causing him to burn. Man-Wolf says the gem counts as a religious symbol since he believes in it and it had caused him to transform for a long time.

Man-Wolf helps his father up and Jonah asks why he lost his temper at him. Man-Wolf explains that he always wanted Jonah to give Spider-Man a break and he finally did. Johan used to say that people considered Spider-Man a hero, while an astronaut like himself went ignored. Now Jonah is friends with Spider-Man and he keeps calling him for help instead of his own son, so he feels that he isn't proud of him anymore. Jonah says he's always proud of his son and explains that he always calls Spider-Man since he prefers he put his life on the line rather than his own son. Man-Wolf and Jonah hug.

Spider-Man finally calls back and Jonah he says he doesn't need him anymore. He has his own hero working on the case, his son.

"Once more into the Shadows" opens in the Theater District as an unassuming woman walks down the street. Vampires swoop in to attack, and the woman removes her cloak to reveal that she's Tandy Bowen, AKA the super heroine Dagger. She starts to fight the vampires with her light daggers and tells their leader that he should have stayed away after she ran them out of town with the help of Cloak. 

As a larger vampire grabs her from behind, Dagger laments that her partner Cloak is currently gone. She flips the vampire off of her, throwing him against the side of building. She doesn't want to kill them but she wants to stop them from taking over. She forms a bunch of light dagger and throws them at the vampire.

The large vampire starts flipping around, impressing Dagger with his speed. He launches himself towards her, and she gets out of the way as he slams his fists into the ground. The vampire takes a swing at her, but Dagger ducks under it and stabs him just above the knee. The vampire collapses and finally turns to ash.

As Dagger walks down the streets, another vampire appears and starts to attack her. Dagger recognizes him as Veren, who worked at a local coffee shop she would visit with Cloak. Dagger tries to reason with Veren and mention how she was a frequent customer. Dagger tosses her daggers at him, pinning him up against a van, hoping he can help him. She tells him that the vampires have taken her friend Tyrone and maybe they can help each other get him back.

Just Veren breaks free from his restraints, causing the van to explode. A stake hits Veren on the shoulder as he leaps towards Dagger. Dagger was knocked off her feet from the explosion as Veren pins her down. Dagger says she didn't things to end this way as she stabs him in the heart with one of her light daggers. Veren turns to dust, and someone says she picked the wrong business.

Dagger turns to see Elsa Bloodstone, the immortal vampire killer. She tells Dagger not to cry over the kill since there's still plenty for both of them.

My thoughts-

I wasn't expecting this one to be an anthology series, but it's cool to see what the other Marvel heroes that don't have their own books are doing during this worldwide vampire attack. It gives the overall 'where were you when the vampires attacked?' vibe.

I enjoyed the Hawkeye story, and the part where all the New Yorkers banded together to help him take down the vampires reminded me of that one scene from the first Tobey McGuire Spider-Man movie. "You mess with spider, you mess with New York." "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!". 

The second story was cool, it was nice to see Jonah and his son having moments together. It also helped to catch me up on what's been going on in New York, like Luke Cage being the mayor and Jonah now working on a podcast. I also liked when Jonah said he liked having his son working on Earth so they can see each other more often, than when he was an astronaut. It also reminded me that Jonah's son appeared in Spider-Man 2, and while they kept the fact that he was an astronaut, they left out the Man-Wolf part. It was funny how Jonah kept calling Spider-Man and blamed him for everything to cartoonish levels. They're apparently friends now, but it seems old habits die hard. Although, I'm not sure it's supposed be funny that Jonah almost staked his son?

The last story gets into the actual Blood Hunters part as we see how Dagger first met Elsa. Right off the bat we already see the difference as Dagger wants to save the vampires while Elsa just wants to kill them. This would lead to future arguments in the on-going series. 

I notice the vampires vary from still retaining part of their original personalities pre-bite, while others like the poor coffee shop guy Veren turn feral. I like the one vampire that tried to use a British accent to keep up with what would one would assume to be vampire movies he saw, while the other vampire tells him to knock it off since he was from Long Island.

Overall a fun read. I do wonder if the following issues will also be anthologies or if they will continue with the main Blood Hunters story.