Blade #2 - Comic Review

 

The first issue of this new volume of Blade saw the titular vampire hunter coming to the aid of a young woman being hunted by supernatural forces. Her boyfriend was murdered, she was forced to flee her home, and a mystical assassin was chasing her. Luckily, Blade saved her life and killed the assassin. Unfortunately, it turned out that the whole thing was a set-up, that the assassin was a good guy, and that Blade killed the only person able to stop her. Revealing herself to be an ancient evil entity called the Adana, she leaves Blade with the knowledge that he may have just doomed the Earth.

This issue sees Blade trying to put things right, seeking out a weapon that might be able to put Adana down for good. His search takes him to Japan, where he arrives just in time to save supernatural arms dealer Tulip from being killed. Thanks to their previous relationship, Tulip agrees to help Blade find a weapon that will help to stop the Adana. However, before they can do much towards finding such a weapon Tulip is kidnapped by the forces of Lord Daido. Now Blade sets out to save Tulip a second time, even though it will put him up against another ancient supernatural being.

If the first issue in this series was set-up, this one feels like the first stage in a fetch-quest. Blade has his mission, but in order to get the things he needs in order to complete it he's going to have to jump through a few hoops along the way; the first of which being keeping Tulip alive long enough to help him. There are plenty of people who deride this kind of storytelling, who complain that it's padding or stretching things out, but a simple situation ending up becoming more complex and dangerous than you first think is a classic piece of story-telling, and if Blade ends up going on lots of side-quests along the way I'm all for that. 

It helps that despite this feeling like we've veered away from the main plot even in the second issue the book remains really entertaining. I've not read a whole lot of Blade before, so don't really know what he's like in comics outside of a few guest appearances here and there, but I really enjoy the way he's written in this series so far. He has a coldness to him, a desire to try and keep people at arms length, yet he never comes across as a dick. He shows consideration for others, and even talks kindly and shows compassion at times. I enjoy seeing him interact with the different characters this series has given him, and those relationships have been a fun part of the narrative.

Of course, the book also features some action set pieces, and they're put together really well. Blade jumping into a helicopter, shooting enemies with a magic gun before jumping back into the skyscraper before the vehicle drops to the ground and explodes is a seriously cool moment, and the art team do a fantastic job as visualising the unnatural way that Blade moves around an environment without you getting lost or confused. 

It's still very early days for this series, and it seems like the book is going to be offering a decent amount of variety for readers. If it continues with the level of quality characterisation, and the art remains as good as it is this may just end up being one of the more stand out titles for the character. 

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