Marvel's Blood Hunt Gets Graphic Red Band Editions

Marvel's vampire-centric crossover event is dawning — and there will be blood. The publisher announced special Red Band Editions of Blood Hunt, the "bloodiest event in Marvel Comics history," from writer Jed Mackay (Avengers, Moon Knight) and artist Pepe Larraz (X-Men, Fall of the House of X). Like restricted red band trailers for R-rated movies, the mature-rated Blood Hunt Red Band Editions are labeled with a "reader discretion is advised" warning and a notice of explicit content. These expanded and unexpurgated versions are polybagged and contain additional pages and more graphic art too explicit for the regular edition.

While Marvel has published uncensored comics under its more adult-oriented imprints like Epic Comics and Marvel MAX, the Blood Hunt Red Band Editions mark the first time that a different edition of the same Marvel comic book is produced for more mature readers.

"The most appealing part of drawing Blood Hunt, apart from the chance to work with Jed for the first time (who I kept hearing the best of things from all my colleagues and fans), was the chance to go full TERROR mode in a vampire story," Larraz said. "The Red Band pages are really interesting to me. They allow me to convey the dark, violent, bloody tone of this particular story, and flex new muscles that I don't usually get to use in a super hero comic. And, I'm not going to lie, they're so fun!"

The blood-soaked saga spans the main five-issue limited series, tie-in issues, and spinoff limited series. At the heart of the epic event are the Avengers; Blade the Vampire Slayer; his daughter, Bloodline; Miles Morales Spider-Man; Doctor Strange and Clea; and from the pages of Moon Knight, the Midnight Mission's Tigra and Hunter's Moon.

"Much like Civil War and Secret Invasion, Blood Hunt is a story that has been naturally building across Marvel's comics over the last few years (and some even older stories), and it all comes to a head this May as Jed connects all the dots," Marvel Editor in Chief C.B. Cebulski said when announcing Blood Hunt at New York Comic Con. "As the series unfolds, readers will be able to uncover clues and go back and put the pieces together to see just how high the stakes are for our beloved characters. Pun intended."

BLOOD HUNT #1 (OF 5) – RED BAND EDITION
Written by JED MACKAY
Art and Cover by PEPE LARRAZ
Colors by MARTE GRACIA
On Sale 5/1

As eternal night takes hold of the Marvel Universe, an overwhelming army of bloodsucking terrors will emerge, united by a single vision for the first time in millennia. To keep them at bay, a new world order may need to be put in place... The skies have gone dark, the sun hiding its face from the carnage to come. The children of the night, the vampires, have risen from the dark and hidden places of the world as one to drown the Marvel Universe in blood. Earth's final night has fallen-can even the heroes of this doomed world stem the tide of blood that is to come?

Readers can have their first bite of Blood Hunt for free with Free Comic Book Day 2024: Blood Hunt/X-Men #1. Blood Hunt #1 is on sale May 1.