Blade meets up with another monster as he's called in to help a small town with a demon problem that the Incredible Hulk is trying to clear up.
Thanks to the Hulk's latest series being centred around monsters and the occult, him popping up in Blade actually makes a lot of thematic sense, and the two characters and their current journeys go well together. There's a scene in this issue where the two of them talk, Banner and Blade rather than Hulk and Blade, and they both voice how they feel like the reason for a lot of bad shit happening at the moment. Hulk is being pursued by an ancient evil that's conjuring up monsters that are hurting a lot of people, and Blade released an ancient evil that's conjuring monsters that are hurting a lot of people.
It's nice that these two have someone who's going through similar, another person who (perhaps wrongly) puts the blame for a lot of bad things happening on their shoulders. Both of them are kind of loner characters at heart, and neither of them really has a character that they can open up to in this way. It's a good scene, and one that's coming at a good time for both of these characters and their journeys, and will hopefully help them to not get too bogged down in the darkness and despair that keeps surrounding them.
The main conflict of the issue is a small town that the Hulk has stumbled across, one where strange monsters come out at night and attack the local population. It all began when one of the village teens came home acting strangely, became aggressive, and tried to kill his mother. It was then that a monstrous arm burst from his mouth. The boy's family and the rest of the town took refuge in a small church. Blade believes that the boy is possessed, and sets out to try and free him.
The solution for the possession, the way that Blade and Hulk manage to do away with the horde of demons, is delightfully simple and brutal, and made for a gloriously graphic and gross end. The brutality of the Hulk makes for a great counterpoint to Blade, who we're used to seeing acting more precisely, cutting his enemies down as quickly as he can, rather than smashing things up and being the bruiser.
Valentina Pinti's art, along with K. J. Diaz's colours, make these scenes look really good, and whilst the book doesn't reach the level of gross and disturbing horror that The Incredible Hulk does with it's horror, it does depict the action really nicely, and makes the scenes where the heroic duo are battling demons into very entertaining scenes. Where it seems to excel, however, is in the scenes where it's just Bruce and Blade talking. The looks on the characters faces are great here, and you can really see the moments where they're feeling things such as shame, where they're losing hope in their situations, and the moments when they realise they've got a lot in common and aren't in this alone. It really sells these scenes all the more, and makes for some delightful moments.
Blade has been an enjoyable series so far, and this issue seems to be setting him on a new path in his journey to deal with the Adana and set things right. The inclusion of the Hulk was done well, and nicely connected together these two series that are running on very similar themes and arc for its leads. A great cross-over that knows how to use both characters well.
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