BLADE (2006) #8

In Blade #8, the titular character, Eric Brooks, a.k.a. Blade, has to find a way to kill Draconis, the priest turned vampire, turned Dhampir (“… a being with all the strengths and bloodlust of a vampire but with less of the weaknesses, able to bask in the sun’s rays with no ill effect. A Daywalker”).  Draconis is apparently more than Blade’s equal, and Draconis, in fact killed Blade in the last issue. Our favorite vampire hunter/killer turns to another vampire, Hannibal King, to help him rid the world of Draconis, but will Blade’s action against his killer portend something darker?

I have no shame about repeatedly playing my broken record wherein I proclaim with a melodious tune that Marc Guggenheim is writing a Blade comic book worth seeking out each and every month.  This is a series built around each issue having a self-contained narrative, although Blade #8 (“Unintended Consequences”) is ostensibly the second half of a two-part tale, paired with Blade #7 (“The Mithridates Process”).  Guggenheim has not-so-subtly built a larger story arc over the series, building to a showdown between Blade/Eric Brooks and the man who claims to be his father, Lucas Cross.

Artist Howard Chaykin has always infused his work with a sense of humor, irony, and a touch of satire.  While this isn’t American Flagg!, Chaykin has put his stamp on this series.  As ever, he reveals so much about a character and of a story’s tone and mood in the faces of the characters, such as the playful way he sneakily alters Hannibal King’s mouth and eyes on one page early in this issue.