What would be a good direction for Blade?

[Alpha Male]

I had high hopes that the latest Blade ongoing would surpass the previous ones but unfortunately, the consumers thought otherwise. Now Blade has no TV show, comic book or movie. What's next? Hmmmm? I would like to see Blade in a team book like the Avengers or something. Throwing Blade in a situation where he's a fish out of water would be interesting.


I watched Blade last night and I'm certain that there's a hit series out there. I kind of pictured Blade as the Punisher of the vampire slayers' scene. Maybe a new Blade series needs something that delves deep into the vampire mythos but intertwined with superheroes.

Thoughts?

[Funkdmonkey]

I wouldn't mind seeing him solo or on a team, but just thrown into the wacky world of Marvel. I wouldn't mind seeing him face random criminals or the extensive rogue gallery of other heroes.

Although vampires go hand in hand with Blade, I'd like to see less them, kinda odd eh?

[sinjection]

It's very disappointing that a character as unique, dynamic and exciting as Blade hasn't been able to sustain an ongoing title of his own. I see Blade as a far more interesting character than Anita Blake for instance. I purchased the first issue of her series and that one issue was enough to let me know that publication was definitely not for me.

The formula that seemed to be most successful for Blade was to have him as the vampire hunter/killer with a weaponsmith to maintain his arsenal and be able to provide assistance when necessary. Blade should remain a dhampir. His power should not be as the result of a bite from the fake vampire Morbius. Morbius should be written out of the Blade mythos entirely. Blade should follow the direction of David Goyer's successful incarnation.

[Jack]

Down, about a hundred and eighty-two centimetres, would be my bet.

[sabongero]

Blade cannot sustain a solo title. He might as well do guest appearances or hook up with a team. The only way is to inject him with a new concept and new direction by a popular and solid creative team. Something like the way Iron Fist was handled by Brubaker and Fraction.

[antifascist]

I think the only real way for Blade to have any kind of success is if Marvel decides to get serious about its horror characters and do more than just releasing a Legion of Monsters one-shot every nbow and again. That being said, Marvel isn't going to do that anytime soon, because it seems that everytime that they do try and get behind the division (the last big push I can recall was the Midnight Sons debacle in the mid-90's) it simply fails. Folks like Ghost Rider, but they want him to be in the same universe as The Hulk and Doctor Doom.

That works well for Ghost Rider and the more magic-centered cats, but with Blade, it leaves a little something to be desired. Ghost Rider or Dr. Strange can fight Mephisto or Doctor Doom; it fits within the paramaters of the goals and ideals of the characters. Blade does not lend himself so well to that though, because he only fights Vampires. Can this be changed? Sure, if you'd like to hear the voices of 26756237672386789287 fanboys simulteanously making comparisons between the new "superhero Blade" with the "Angel" Punisher. Remember those, everyone? Your only other option is to get 616 characters tied up in vampires to fight Blade.

The desire to have Blade in the 616 having a chillathon with Squirrel Girl, Annex, and Kitty Pryde leads to a catch-22. It doesn't make sense for Blade to fight Magneto unless he is hooked up with vampires, (barring some reality warping Infinity Gauntlet thing) but if Mags is always getting hooked up with vampires, it starts to seem sort of silly that we always gotta get vampires into Blade's book? Before long, Hawkeye's grandma is a vampire, and then the X-men will be there and Xavier is a vampire and so on and so on and so on, and we'll start using adjectives like "contrived" to describe the book.

The only real option, in my opinion, is to start the book in the MAX line and let it be a universe in and of itself. Make it Earth737 or 7307 or what-have you, and allow the character to be itself. However, I don't think sales would support the book because we want to see Blade versus The Abosrbing Man too much.

And in all honesty, why would Marvel do any of this? Marvel is a division of a publicly-traded company, which means its only legal obligation is to make money for its shareholders. What's making money for its shareholders with Blade? Movies. So legally speaking, it's best for Marvel to just allow Hollywood to do what it wants with the character, whether that's another movie (even if it's straight to DVD) and to continue to collect money on the licensing deal(s) and do NOTHING comics wise with the property. It makes their shareholders the most money while insuring the least amount of overhead, because it costs Marvel (and by proxy, its shareholders) the least amount of money and generates the most revenue.

[Affinity]

Maybe join the Heroes for Hire crew?

[antifascist]

Maybe join the Heroes for Hire crew?


I read this as a solution here and in other threads, but what happens when every 3rd arc in Heroes for Hire involves them battling vampires?

I suppose it would be like having Aquaman or Namor in your team book; you have to constantly be looking for ways to get the story near water w/o it looking contrived. I dunno how writer can constantly get away with it.

Someone would say "maybe Blade can miss some missions when he is with Heroes for Hire/Champions/Defenders/GLX" or whatever team he is placed upon, and that's all well and good, until folks are getting upset because Blade doesn't show up enough.

Then when he does, and the team inexorably fights a barrage of vampires, folks start to complain "that ever since Blade appeared, all Heroes for Hire/Champions/Defenders/GLX does is fight Vampires".

Blade is the 616 Catch-22. I just do not see a way to fit him in without either compromising himself or the characters around him.

[Expletive Deleted]

The problem with Blade is that he needs vampires like Aquaman needs water. He works best on his own or on a team with a narrow focus. So let's put together a team of superhero vampire hunters (there're probably some good choices out there who're available), the biggest supernatural villain of all as his seemingly unbeatable adversary, bring in a writer with a dark sensibility and an appropriately atmospheric artist, and go to town.

So . . . basically, I'd relaunch NIGHTSTALKERS with a bigger superhero presence in the cast and Dracula as the big bad.

[Bob-el]

I read this as a solution here and in other threads, but what happens when every 3rd arc in Heroes for Hire involves them battling vampires?


Blade is the 616 Catch-22. I just do not see a way to fit him in without either compromising himself or the characters around him.

I think there is a way to do it. I'm thinking along the lines of the Midnight Sons approach. I would propose an alliance of several Marvel characters that each has their own mystical area of concern. Blade would help them deal with rogue sorcerers, evil voodoo users, societies of werewolves, cults trying to breach dimensional walls to let in their favorite demon-lord and magical weapons taking over their owners in exchange for help fighting the vampire gangs. He'd have to maintain a wider, more broadly useful arsenal but combine that with his combat skills and he could be an asset in battles with all manner of threats.

There were assorted problems with the first Midnight Sons. Relating everything to the Darkhold was a problem that made the whole thing limited and monotonous. The quality of the writing and art were pretty uneven.

There would need to be strong editorial oversight by someone with a real vision for what this could be. There would need to be inventive things done (which I think is one of the things that made the Blade movie series so successfully). The Marvel magical subculture is a rich and wide open area for stories though. Unite several characters like Blade that have a following into a single title and it should also be able to put together enough of a fanbase to make it viable from a publishing standpoint. I imagine a team of characters like Hellstrom, Strange, Ghost Rider, Talisman, Brother Voodoo, Jack Russell, Scarlet Witch, Blade and Majik. I'm not sure of the exact mix- how many would be regulars and who might only be seen in an arc here and there - that it would take to make it fly but I believe it is possible.

Would a title of this sort be something you'd be willing to buy with a good creative team on it?

[mcgaffer]

I have always wanted a Mystic team ongoing series. Marvel has a fantastic mystic and horror background and it does'nt really capitulate on it. Blade being a member of such a team would do wonders for his character. Wolverine's a loner but being a member of the X-Men has done him no harm. Blades next step is either into a team like the Mystic Avengers or taking it to the next level and taking on beings other than vampires.

[antifascist]

I think there is a way to do it. I'm thinking along the lines of the Midnight Sons approach. I would propose an alliance of several Marvel characters that each has their own mystical area of concern. Blade would help them deal with rogue sorcerers, evil voodoo users, societies of werewolves, cults trying to breach dimensional walls to let in their favorite demon-lord and magical weapons taking over their owners in exchange for help fighting the vampire gangs. He'd have to maintain a wider, more broadly useful arsenal but combine that with his combat skills and he could be an asset in battles with all manner of threats.

There were assorted problems with the first Midnight Sons. Relating everything to the Darkhold was a problem that made the whole thing limited and monotonous. The quality of the writing and art were pretty uneven.

There would need to be strong editorial oversight by someone with a real vision for what this could be. There would need to be inventive things done (which I think is one of the things that made the Blade movie series so successfully). The Marvel magical subculture is a rich and wide open area for stories though. Unite several characters like Blade that have a following into a single title and it should also be able to put together enough of a fanbase to make it viable from a publishing standpoint. I imagine a team of characters like Hellstrom, Strange, Ghost Rider, Talisman, Brother Voodoo, Jack Russell, Scarlet Witch, Blade and Majik. I'm not sure of the exact mix- how many would be regulars and who might only be seen in an arc here and there - that it would take to make it fly but I believe it is possible.

Would a title of this sort be something you'd be willing to buy with a good creative team on it?

Only if it happened in the MAX imprint, and then again, only if it happened on its own Earth, or if it happened on 616 and NEVER messed with any other superheroes. The magical guys who hang out with "normal" heroes should see those normal heroes in their own solo books, or in the books of those heroes.

I do agree that the magical Marvel universe is tight, and it could put something together where Blade could be used effectively. As a sidenote, I have enjoyed the Mystic Arcana stuff immensely, and if there is a spot for Blade in the 616, it has to be here, and if they keep up with their good work streamling that aspect of the 616, then Blade should seamlessly fit in eventually.


I think my point was less what is possible, and more what will happen with the fan populace/creators rather than the characters themselves. Soon enough, there will be a clamor for "Nightstalkers 2" to crossover with the normal 616 denizens. Knowing Marvel, they will probably have this huge crossover where Dracula marries Aunt May and Blade has to stop her with the only present his mother gave him before she died: The cosmic cube.

But for real, I'd give Nightstalkers 2 (not a pejorative term, but it seems closest to your concept) a shot, probably regardless of creative team. Like you, I am not convinced of its efficacy, and in fact, think it would fail for a variety of reasons, but it's a concept worth trying, and it's something I would absolutely love to be wrong about. The book would have to stay away from metanarratives, though. The book cannot be about vampires, or the Darkhold, or chips ahoy cookies as being some kind of ultimate thread of occultic evil in the 616; as you so adeptly put, that was one of the key cornerstones of the disientegration of the Midnight Sons.

[antifascist]

I have always wanted a Mystic team ongoing series. Marvel has a fantastic mystic and horror background and it does'nt really capitulate on it. Blade being a member of such a team would do wonders for his character. Wolverine's a loner but being a member of the X-Men has done him no harm. Blades next step is either into a team like the Mystic Avengers or taking it to the next level and taking on beings other than vampires.

The issue that I am trying to raise though, by having Blade "take it to the next level" is you take away , vampire hunter from Blade, and that means that you destroy the character, just as when they tried to make The Punisher into yours and my guardian angel, it really gets away from the integreal notions that make the character what it is. Blade is not the same as Blade, Vampire Hunter to me and to fans of the character. If he's just another guy with swords and guns, then I don;t care and I think most fans would agree with me.

Of course, The Punisher was able to recover from the angelic touch. So destroy might be too harsh of a word, but I think y'all catch my drift.

[JmH Reborn]

I wrote the following in another thread elsewhere and I think it applies here:

Blade's cause needs to MATTER. In a world with planet eaters and master's of magnetism and sentinels, time travelers and so much more, a few vampires don't seem too bad. Killing vampires just doesn't seem like a credible threat in the Marvel Universe, especially when characters like Wolverine have already gone on vampire killing sprees before lunch. So the threat needs to be enhanced, the world of vampires needs to be made a threat, not only to Blade, but around the MU. They SHOULD borrow from movies like Underworld and the Blade movies, cause the threat of vampires was done right.

As another poster said, bring in other mythical creatures that Blade can go against, bring in the chupacabras and sasquatches of the world...something more than vampires.

And PLEASE retcon the idiocy of making him half-white. I was done with Guggenheim as a writer the moment he did that. You take a prominent black character with alot of appeal and turn him white? What purpose does that serve? To bring in more white readers? I'm not sure what was the thinking of that, but I'm sure this ''run'' will be easily forgotten cause it was a terrible book from the beginning plot wise, and the art just made it to the worse book in Marvel's catalog.

I kinda could see Blade being in the mold from Daunte from DMC. Just a gunslinging, sword wielding hero for hire that investigates grisly supernatural occurances world wide. If your going to stick with the vampire slayer schtick, you just have to make the vampire threat a real threat that the likes of Iron Man and Avengers would take notice. I'm sure the heroes would trade their issues with Magneto or Apocalypse or Dr. Doom for a chance at taking out some vampires...they just aren't a threat in the grand scheme of things.

If not...then remove Blade altogether from the MU and have him in his corner where there are no FF or anything, just him, vampires and regular humans

[zuludelta]

I think a Blade series under the MAX imprint would have a better chance of finding a core audience able to sustain a monthly book and the associated TPBs. Just look at Ennis' Punisher, it's doing pretty well considering how the "mature-readers only" tag already cuts into it's readership, because the readers know that they're getting what they expect out of a Punisher book: wholesale violence and a certain type of dark humour that they otherwise wouldn't get in a "regular" Marvel book. Of course, it also helps having Ennis writing it (I wasn't a Punisher fan before the MAX series).

I think the potential demographic of Blade readers would skew towards a MAX-type treatment of the character. The most popular and interesting vampire lore is almost always steeped in a particular kind of violence and sexual imagery, and you just can't push at those boundaries within the confines of a regular MU book.

[antifascist]

I wrote the following in another thread elsewhere and I think it applies here:

They made him half-white? Why? That has to be the worst thing in the history...or at least, since they made The Punisher black.

[Deep_Sleeper]

It's actually pretty simple. Make it a good ACTION comic. Seriously, there's no reason why Iron Fist is considered such a great book and Blade can't be. It's all about execution.

Oh, and Howard Chaykin had a lot do with me not picking up the most recent failed series. We need an artist who can add a few more shadows and dark lines to their art, unlike Chaykin's art. His art was so damned cartoony, it turned me off from the very first panel.

[Deep_Sleeper]

I also read here that Blade needs to be an active part of Marvel U. in some people's opinion. Not true.

Thus far, the Immortal Iron Fist comics have been pure action without much involvement with the Marvel U. I'm not saying there hasn't been any element of Marvel U. involved with the book. What I am saying is that it hasn't been a prevalent part of the book.

For instance, Iron Fist's major foe thus far that's been distinctly Marvel U. is Hydra, but that's been under the guidance of characters from Iron Fist's own mythology.

I really can't see why Marvel can't do the same with Blade and have vampires involved instead of a gamut Hydra drones, with special vampires in the position to scheme against Blade.

[sinjection]

They made him half-white? Why? That has to be the worst thing in the history...or at least, since they made The Punisher black.

Blade/Eric Brooks was created into the European concept of vampiric lore. Blade never fought the African or Caribbean "idea" of what a vampire is. Being a black man created in the European concept of the vampire, it's likely Guggenheim wanted to give him a European link to the concept. Blade is a dhampir. The very word dhampir is of European origin and basically means vampire killer.

Guggenheim did many things that I liked in the series. First and foremost, he had Blade born a dhampir with all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses of a vampire. He didn't adhere to that stupid notion of having Blade bitten by Morbius to jumpstart those vampiric powers. Guggenheim portrayed Blade as a focused vampire killer. He wasn't much into wise-cracking, but he wasn't uneccessarily morose either.

I contend that if the Guggenheim run had continued long enough, it's possible that Lucas Cross might have faded into the subconsciousness of the Blade fan. The fact that Blade had a white father could have been forgotten.

[Greg Anderson]

Yeah, I'm a huge Blade fan and I loved the most recent run. I honestly do not see why everyone goes into arms and tanks simply because Gugg wrote Blade with a white father. The way the story was written, Blade didn't want to believe it either, but that was the story that Gugg wrote and making his father white didn't change anything about Blade or made him less likable.

[Karl H]

The characters originally British bring him back to london, team him up with Union Jack then take him into Excalibur or a guest slot on the NA's when dealing with an undead menace.

[sinjection]

I wrote the following in another thread elsewhere and I think it applies here:

And PLEASE retcon the idiocy of making him half-white. I was done with Guggenheim as a writer the moment he did that. You take a prominent black character with alot of appeal and turn him white? What purpose does that serve? To bring in more white readers?

I remember reading somewhere, David Goyer relating a story about how when he'd pitched the Blade movie to New Line Entertainment, representatives of that entertainment company wanted Goyer to re-create Blade as a white man and cast a white actor in the starring role believing the character would have more appeal. Goyer refused to do so and in so doing, created a Goyer fan for life. Myself.

While I've long had the suspicion that if the Black Panther, Blade, and Cloak were white, they'd gain more support of white fans, I can't really get overly upset at what Guggenheim did - creating a white father for Blade. The character is unmistakably black in appearance. Had Guggenheim recreated Blade to more closely resemble Christopher Priest's character "Casper" Cole, then I would have been more concerned.

I believe that if the Blade run had survived into it's 50th issue, the Lucas Cross character would have become largely forgotten.

[Rahul]

Guggenheim's Blade run was the only and probably the best Blade in comic book form I ever read so far....


For a direction, well, I guess he could use some help with the Vampire Resurgence, and a new Nightstalkers team wouldn't be bad...


But, please let the art be done by someone else other than Howard Chaykin. John Romita Jr would be a great fit.....

[StoneGold]

Teaming up with the Tomb of Dracula characters?

[Rahul]

Maybe they could sneak in a tribute to Marvel Ultimate Alliance by having a teamup of Blade, Ghost Rider, Thor and Dr Strange...



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[Frank]

Maybe all he needs is somebody like David Finch. I didn't care much for Moon Knight but I ate every issues up. In the Legion of Monsters one shot you had Finch Dracula and Lilith and it was brilliant, like a mariage made in Heaven. Put Blade in the mix and i'm buying.

But I disagree adding too much of the movie Blade to the comic except for the look. Movie Blade is too one-dimensional and about mindless action. Wheras Marv Wolfman added much depth to the character of Blade in the comic, made him mysterious and infinitly more interesting. At the same time making him crazier to this whole crusade, more driven, more dangerous. Also he's not half-vampire, he just has some limited abilities due the consequences of his mother being biten by a vampire. What makes him thick is not that he's half-vampire with the same powers so he can beat them, it's that he's bat-shit insane, he's incredible and unbeatable because nobody is more driven, not even the Punisher. Movie Blade easily beats other vampires; Wolfman's Blade would trap a vampire then cut out its teeth just to torture the creature.

[Rahul]

Maybe all he needs is somebody like David Finch. I didn't care much for Moon Knight but I ate every issues up.


Man, David Finch would have put Blade in atleast no 10 of the top ten selling comics...

[Frank]

Man, David Finch would have put Blade in atleast no 10 of the top ten selling comics...

They could still do this, I even have the whole marketing thing in my head. First Finch draws a 6 mini-series called Blade vs Dracula. It's the return of the King of the Vampires! When that's done, then greenlight a Blade ongoing with Finch and PAD.

[StoneGold]

Man, David Finch would have put Blade in atleast no 10 of the top ten selling comics...

In order to make a righteous video, we need Eddie Van Halen. But in order to get Eddie Van Halen, we need to make a righteous video.

[Rahul]

This will probably ruin the punchline, but I dont get it....

[Rahul]

Maybe they should throw in Skrull vampires...but would it be vampires who are skrulls or skrulls who are vampires?

[Greg Anderson]

They could still do this, I even have the whole marketing thing in my head. First Finch draws a 6 mini-series called Blade vs Dracula. It's the return of the King of the Vampires! When that's done, then greenlight a Blade ongoing with Finch and PAD.

I'd eat that up like Butter Pecan ice cream!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: