Comic Book Black History Month, Day One: Blade

Man, remember when this was also suppose to be a blog where I also focus on comics I like, heh heh? Been far too long...

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Blade

One of the most popular comic book characters in the mainstream due to the portrayal of the titular character by Wesley Snipes in Blade, Blade 2, and Blade Trinity and then reprised in the Blade television show by rapper/actor Kirk “Sticky Fingaz“ Jones. Blade is a man on a mission, set on ridding the world of the undead, of vampires. One thing though: he’s half vampire himself. Born Eric Brooks, on the night of his birth, vampire Deacon Frost disguised himself as a doctor only to feed on his mother, Tara. When Tara died from the attack, Deacon’s vampire abilities passed onto Blade, giving him the strength and superhuman abilities of his sworn enemies. Yet at the same time in a strange event, the newborn Blade was sparred of the weaknesses attributed to vampires including garlic, sunlight, crosses… all leading to the nick name: Day-Walker. As a child he was trained by Jamal Afari, a trumpet player also with a vendetta against the undead. Blade quickly gained the skills to successfully become a vampire slayer, with skills surpassing Olympic level athletes and excellent hand-to-hand combat combined with an amazing talent of weaponry ranging from wooden knives to swords to guns.



Created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, the character made his debut in Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973) as an enemy of “protagonist” Dracula. Blade was a hardcore, nails to the wall bad-ass, letting nothing get in his way while he took down vampire after vampire. Over the years, the character has had multiple short-lived series where he continued his blood lust hate for vampires and demons of various kinds, fighting his “creator” Deacon Frost, Morbius the Living Vampire, and of course Dracula. He has teamed up, on many occasions, with the likes of Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, Hannibal King, and Spider-Man. He even formed an alliance with supernatural heroes, dubbing themselves the Darkstalkers, in hopes of protecting the innocents from evil.



Recently, Blade was seen leading a black ops-team named Vanguard, with Black Widow, Dominic Fortune, and Micromax. Shortly after, he joined with Captain Britain and his mean of MI:13 members where he helped fight Plokta and his army of Mindless Ones and once again his long standing opponent Dracula. While with the MI:13, Blade’s blood lust of vanquishing vampires led him to staking team member Spitfire who was secretly a vampire. After being saved, Spitfire has had numerous fights Blade which surprisingly led a romance and connection between the two which quickly blossomed. They have been together ever since.

Blade adventures can be found in:

Blade: Black and White
Tomb of Dracula Essentials Vol. 1, 2, and 3
Blade: Undead Again
Blade: Sins of the Father
Captain Britain and the MI:13: Hell Comes to Burmingham
Captain Britain and the MI:13: Vampire State
Blade, directed by Stephen Norrington starring Wesley Snipes
Blade 2, directed by Guillermo del Toro starring Wesley Snipes
Blade: The Series starring Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones