In The US, there’s no shortage of superheroes to fight against the vampire hordes. In Manchester, the story is a bit different. Your Major Spoilers review of Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1, awaits!

UNION JACK THE RIPPER: BLOOD HUNT #1

Writer: Cavan Scott
Artists: Kev Walker, Craig Yeung, and Belardino Brabo
Colorists: Java Tartaglia and Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Editor: Danny Khazem
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: May 22nd, 2024

Previously in Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt: Through strange sorcery and clever organization, the sun has been blocked out, allowing armies of vampires to swarm across the globe without obstacle. Those who are still alive are struggling to remain that way. In Manchester, troubled vigilante Union Jack is on the hunt.

TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET

Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 starts off with a collection of survivors, led by a police constable named Mara Syal trying to get out of the open. After losing one of their group, Mara and the rest find themselves in a tough spot when Union Jack shows up and starts taking the fight to the vampires. He manages to take care of a decent amount of them but is overwhelmed, forcing Mara to step in and pull him to safety. Union Jack gives them directions to his hideout where they can regroup and take a breath. As he’s being fixed up, Union Jack snaps at the little girl who’s in the group making her cry and run off. Mara goes to find her, but when she does, she also discovers something sinister and grim hiding in the bowels of Union Jack’s hideout.

A DECENT STORY FULL OF DEEP CUTS AND TIMING ISSUES

Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 should be commended for not shying away from some of the lesser-known characters that tend to fill the ranks of UK-based superheroes in Marvel Comics. Names like Union Jack, The Union, and Bulldog are not exactly household names, but Cavan Scott sure thinks they are as very little is done to give the reader any sort of backstory on the characters in this issue. Yet, you get enough, at least to understand what is happening in the moment and what is happening in the moment, is pretty much the same thing as we’ve been seeing in the rest of the Blood Hunt event, and that’s just a lot of vampire killing. There is something else going on here though, a bit of unexpected depth. Throughout the issue, there seems to be this prevailing theme of “days gone by” of the current state of things existing as the destruction of older ideals. While this is a nice bit of complexity, it does raise some questions, the biggest one being, when does this take place? Because there’s nothing in this that says that it’s not taking place at the same time as the rest of the Blood Hunt event comics are and if that’s the case, it’s only been maybe a week at best since the vampires showed up. But everyone here is talking like they’ve been in this mess for much longer than that and all of human society has been radically changed as opposed to it being an emergency situation. It’s not necessarily bad, but it does feel a bit out of place.

EVOCATIVE

It’s difficult to describe the look of Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1, without it sounding reductive, but the first thing that comes to mind when looking at this comic is that it looks very British. There are panels in here that look like they’ve been pulled right out of old 2000 AD comics, which makes sense since the artist, Kev Walker, began his career drawing for that magazine. The most striking thing about the art is the intense usage of light. Often times characters look as if they’re being bleached away by light, which gives everything a very stark look. It works in this issue well.

BOTTOM LINE: A SURPRISING ADDITION TO THE EVENT IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT BELONGS TO

Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 could have easily been another Blood Hunt book that was just pure vampire killing. But it tries to do something else and does so with a surprising amount of nuance and depth. Unfortunately, this depth and nuance only makes sense if this book wasn’t part of The Blood Hunt event in its current state. But once you get past that little hangup this is a fine comic centering on a lesser-known character that doesn’t make you feel dumb for not knowing his backstory. 4 out of 5 stars.

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