Marvel's Blood Hunt Writer Teases Violent, Gorier Red Band Editions

The "bloodiest Marvel event ever" is getting bloodier. Marvel Comics previously announced that Blood Hunt — its vampire-centric crossover event from writer Jed MacKay (Moon Knight) and artist Pepe Larraz (X-Men) — would release polybagged mature-rated Red Band Editions marked with a blood-red parental advisory label. These expanded and unexpurgated editions, which contain additional pages with more violence and gore not seen in the less-explicit versions, mark the first time that a different edition of the same Marvel comic book is produced for more mature readers. 

"[The Red Band scenes] aren't just happening to background characters. We're also seeing our heroes being impacted in a much more violent way," MacKay said during a virtual Blood Hunt retailer conference. Added Marvel Comics VP Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, "The best page for the Red Band edition in issue #1 is the last page of the book. We can't reveal it since it gives away too much of the plot, but you'll know it when you get there."

The five-issue main series sees vampire factions unite to cause Sundeath, a global event that blocks out the sun using the hijacked powers of Darkforce users like Blackout, Cloak, Darkstar, Dusk, and Silhouette. With eternal night fallen over the Marvel Universe and vampires out for blood, the event unites heroes and villains alike — including Blade the Vampire Hunter, Morbius the Living Vampire, Miles Morales Spider-Man, the Avengers, Doctor Strange and Clea, and the Midnight Mission.

"As we've seen in Moon Knight, I keep chucking vampires in," MacKay told said. "And [Blood Hunt] is a logical extension of that. I started gathering ideas and figuring out what we want to do from there, and a lot is keyed in from the work we're doing on [Vengeance of the Moon Knight], and Doctor Strange is a natural vector into that. If there's an Earth-shaking event, the Avengers will be the first on the scene."

Added Brevoort, "This just seemed like a natural rise of all of these vampire threads that we could pull together and weave into an interesting tapestry. This would cover the full spectrum of the Marvel Universe in a justifiable event that it doesn't come out of nowhere."

Blood Hunt #1 and Blood Hunt: Red Band Edition #1 are on sale May 1 from Marvel Comics. For the full list of tie-ins, one-shots, and limited series, read our Blood Hunt checklist guide.