Blade is coming back to the spotlight at Marvel Comics with a new ongoing title written by Bryan Hill with art from Elena Casagrande, as announced via Polygon.
In the new Blade series, the titular vampire slayer awakens a slumbering evil that will bring in all sorts of creatures that go bump in the night as Blade tries to survive the attack of "Marvel's entire supernatural underworld."
"True evil is patient. And a dark, ancient power has been simmering quietly for centuries…and when Blade himself is the one to unknowingly unleash it, Marvel’s entire supernatural underworld will come out of hiding to demand he handle it. Or pay a pound of flesh for his mistakes," reads Marvel's official description of Blade #1. "Bloodbaths, blackmail and Blade – you won’t want to miss the explosive first issue of this new volume!"
In recent years, Blade spent some time as a core member of the Avengers, leading to him taking up the role of Sheriff of the sovereign vampire nation, built on the ruins of Chernobyl. He recently learned that Dracula, the vampire nation's ruler, has a secret cabinet of famous historical tacticians who he has turned into vampires.
Meanwhile, he also met his daughter Danielle Brooks, AKA Bloodline, who has taken up her dad's profession of destroying vampires in her own recent limited series.
And of course, there's a new MCU Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali in the title role scheduled for release in 2024 - meaning it's right around the perfect time for Marvel Comics to start getting him back in a leading role ahead of the movie.
Blade #1 is due out "this summer," per Polygon's initial announcement of the title.
Blade and Dracula are both key parts of the history of Marvel horror comics.