Marvel is billing its upcoming comic event Blood Hunt as "the bloodiest event in Marvel Comics history." And to live up to that name, the publisher is actually releasing not just one, but two versions of the core Blood Hunt limited series - a regular edition, and a "mature" edition with "additional pages and more graphic art too explicit for the regular edition."
The expanded "mature" issues of Blood Hunt will be polybagged in full on red band sleeves that will make it clear which edition is which, and prevent prying eyes from looking at the gory bits without purchasing the issues. Each of the five issues of the core Blood Hunt series will get a Red Band Edition alongside its main release.
In Blood Hunt, writer Jed MacKay and artist Pepe Larraz bring together the Avengers, Doctor Strange, Clea, Moon Knight's brother Hunter's Moon, Tigra, Spider-Man, Bloodline, and Blade to take on an army of vampires as they sink their fangs into the Marvel Universe.
"The skies have gone dark, and the sun is 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," reads Marvel's official description of Blood Hunt. "Earth’s final night has fallen – can even the heroes of this doomed world stem the tide of blood that is to come? Join the Avengers, Blade, Bloodline, Spider-Man, Hunter’s Moon, Tigra, Doctor Strange and Clea as the dance of death begins."
Marvel has published mature comics before, primarily in its Max line and other previous adult imprints. But crossing that line in the mainstream Marvel Universe is unique, and the separate Red Band Editions are a totally new gimmick for Marvel Comics.
"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," Blood Hunt artist Pepe Larraz explains. "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!"
Blood Hunt #1 goes on sale May 1, followed by a special Free Comic Book Day Blood Hunt one-shot on May 4.
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