Blade’s plan has come to fruition. Can the surviving Avengers and a resurrected Moon Knight turn the tide? Your Major Spoilers review of Blood Hunt #5 from Marvel Comics awaits!

BLOOD HUNT #5

Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Colorist: Marte Gracia & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: July 31, 2024

Previously in Blood Hunt: Doctor Strange is presented with a dread bargain to gain a chance to save the world. The Avengers ride into a battle they cannot win. The dead battle the undead across the globe. Will it be enough? Will the world be saved?

And how will it be changed if it is?

OH, AND THAT LITTLE DOCTOR DOOM PROBLEM

With the world shrouded in darkness and his body pretty much dead, the astral body of Doctor Strange has traveled to Latveria to convince the only other sorcerer who can reverse the Darkforce plague: Victor Von Doom! Unfortunately, Doom has one immutable demand in return for his help. He wants Strange to hand over the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme! With the help of the students of Strange Academy, Doom attempts his ritual while the Avengers battle the Blood Coven, and Blade (possessed by Varnae, the first vampire, for everyone who guessed that five issues ago) prepares to ascend to godhood. Even the team of Spider-Man Miles Morales and Blade’s daughter, Bloodline, the one being who can stop Blade, are overwhelmed. Things are looking very dark for the heroes…

…until an army of undead, led by Moon Knight, arrives! Sadly, even that, combined with the god-power of Thor himself, isn’t enough to overcome Varnae’s newfound Darkforce might.

BLOODLINE, SPIDER-MAN, AND A DESPERATE GAMBLE

As much as I dislike the endless cycle of “big events” in modern Big Two comics, this one at least manages to have some lasting (for some values of lasting, anyway) effects. Not every hero is immediately returned to their status quo, with at least one still vampiric, another having found their way, and a third completely outfoxed by the machinations of Big Bads. As for the word of Doctor Doom, I think when you make him promise to give back your powers when “the world is saved,” you probably need to call in Daredevil to boilerplate that fine print. Artistically, Larraz is in top form this issue, especially in the depiction of detente between Doctors Strange and Doom, with the splash of Sorcerer Supreme Victor managing to be gorgeous and terrifying all at once. The coloring is occasionally a little dark for my tastes (which is probably a feature, rather than a bug, given the premise), but the final page makes the story worth the journey.

BOTTOM LINE: SATISFYING AND FOREBODING

The six-dollar price tag, on the other hand, is a problem for Blood Hunt #5, something that cuts a bit of my enjoyment of this story, even at 36 pages long, but the strength of the art and the ongoing complications for the Marvel Universe help to assuage that pain a little bit, rounding out to 4 out of 5 stars overall. It’s nice to have a book that serves as a showcase for specific elements of the broader Marvel U, and in this case, Blood Hunt was better served by having the side stories in their own stand-alone titles.

---

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.

BLOOD HUNT #5

83%

83%

Not As Cut-And-Dried As It Seems

There are unexpected consequences for a number of heroes, and the question of who is REALLY manipulating events leads to at least one shocking consequence, and the art really sells that point.

• Writing

  7
• Art

  10
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0