Dracula: Blood Hunt has put the Lord of Vampires and Brielle Brooks through a lot, especially with the fact that Blade is behind the vampire invasion of Earth. In its final issue, the miniseries decides to take that to another level; the Varnae, the ancient vampire spirit that’s possessed Blade, attempts to do the same to Brielle. While she fights for her family, and her very soul, Dracula ends up fighting the Varnae’s horrifying creations.
Danny Lore and Vincenzo Carratu engage in one of my favorite fictional tropes with Dracula: Blood Hunt #3: the protagonist fighting in a mental landscape. It’s a great way for a character to come to terms with their insecurities, their flaws, or their secrets, and it’s how Brielle comes to accept that the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. Decapitating vampires is one thing; fighting an ancient malevolent spirit that’s using your father as a puppet is another.
Lore’s script also takes a different approach from the previous two issues by cutting back and forth between Dracula and Brielle’s points of view. This shows the different battles that both of them are fighting, and also shows how different they really are. Dracula is more brutal, practical, and driven by his desire to rule while Brielle has her friends and family to consider; the issue even ends with an emotional call to her mother. I wish this structure was present in the previous issues, but it makes for a nice ending.
Carratu gets to illustrate some truly horrifying imagery throughout the issue. The Varnae taking over Blade’s body isn’t a pretty sight; his jaw elongates, his teeth turn razor sharp and his body grows more bat-like. But the prize goes to the vampires Dracula kills, as their body parts are gathered together by the Varnae to form some sort of Lovecraftian beast; no eyes, rings of teeth where teeth aren’t supposed to be, and a mass of blood red flesh courtesy of David Curiel’s colors. When all’s said and done, Dracula: Blood Hunt #3 closes the book on one of Marvel’s stranger team-ups, ending on an emotional, action-packed note.
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