The recent Blood Hunt event in the Marvel Universe found a growing horde of vampires threatening to plunge the Marvel Universe into permanent darkness, forcing the Avengers and their allies across the globe to assemble and prevent an unending night from engulfing the world. It was a well-received jaunt that gave room for vampire-related characters to shine, and like most recent events, Marvel released a series of one-shorts and minis that connected different corners of the shared universe to the incident. X-Men: Blood Hunt is competently done and has some fun, gory moments, but feels unessential and disconnected from other happenings in the X-books.
As for the storyline, the books find various X-Men getting caught up in a large-scale vampire crisis spreading throughout the Marvel Universe. Jubilee’s past experiences with vampirism resurface, and Illyana Rasputina returns to Russia, torn between personal reflection and the duty to protect her homeland from encroaching undead. Kwannon’s attempt at downtime in Japan is disrupted when she is forced to wield her psionic blade again, while Laura Kinney confronts the vampires’ targeting mutants. Meanwhile, Loga relentlessly tracks the vampire hordes making their tactical move. Behind the scenes, a covert vampire faction sets in motion a plan that puts both the X-Men and the broader world in peril.
Marvel
This trade collects a bunch of one-shots and minis under the X-Men: Blood Hunt moniker, including Jubilee #1, Magik #1, Psylocke #1, Laura Kinney the Wolverine #1, and Wolverine: Blood Hunt #1–4. There is a whole Marvel stable of creators contributing including Preeti Chhibber, Steve Foxe, Ashley Allen, Stephanie Phillips, and Tom Waltz, along with artwork by Enid Balam, Jesus Hervas, Lynne Yoshi, Robert Gill, and Juan Jose Ryp. Understandably, a bunch of comics featuring vampires does allow these artists to do some bloody and violent line work, even while their styles contrast considerably.
Marvel Comics
While this collection does give us all the X-related tie-ins to the event, they don’t share a connection other than the vampiric premise. Honestly, I prefer the era where the main titles would be pulled into a crossover like this, even when it required slight detours in the title’s narrative. If you are interested in the vampiric corners of the Marvel Universe, you’ll probably enjoy these X-Men issues. The Wolverine arc featuring Louise and Maverik is the most developed plot line, but the single issues lack a clear purpose and might have been stronger had they been integrated into the current monthly books.
If you loved the main Blood Hunt event, you should pick up this trade as it provides more bloody adventures featuring the X-Men. However, casual fans might not have a reason to pick up this collection thanks to the inconsistencies in its art and narrative storylines.
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