Marvel Comics has announced Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt — a Blood Hunt tie-in series starring the British superhero Union Jack.
The main five-issue Blood Hunt series by Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz kicks off on Wednesday, May 1. Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt launches two weeks later from writer Cavan Scott and artist Kev Walker. The three-issue limited series promises a “Union Jack story like you’ve never seen before as the iconic British hero armors up, grabs his trusty Webley pistol, liberates a medieval longsword, straps on some grenades, and heads out to slaughter the blood-sucking masses in a way that would make the Punisher envious!”
Check out Ryan Brown‘s cover art for Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 below:
A synopsis for Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 reads as follows: “Vampires have inherited the Earth, and one lone man has made it his mission to protect it. But what does Joey Chapman, have up his sleeves? And will it be enough? And who will Union Jack have to face to keep London from falling?”
In its official announcement, Marvel further explained that “Union Jack’s solo mission will place him at war with a specific brood of vampires targeting his homeland, all led by a mysterious villain known as the Hunger!”
What to expect from Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt
“It’s going to be more brutal than anything we’ve seen from Union Jack as his methods shift to match the ferocity of an empowered enemy,” Scott said. “Working with Kev Walker on this book is a dream, as we both embrace our love of horror in every panel. But it’s not going to just be a gorefest for all involved. The miniseries will be asking some big, heartfelt questions appropriate for a character who wears his country’s flag on his chest. What does that mean when everything you believe in is turned on its head, when everything you’ve always taken for granted shifts beneath your feet?”
“There’s a couple of firsts here for me,” Walker added. “I haven’t done anything this dark, either emotionally or figuratively, before. Most of the horror I’ve done before (MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 and MARVEL ZOMBIES 4) has come with large doses of humor in the mix. Any humor here is definitely black.”
The artist continued, “It’s also the first time I’ve actually had the chance to draw something set in my part of the world … Since I live in the North of England (the opposite side of the Pennines, but near enough), it actually feels more personal. This story is also pretty blunt and brutal, like something I might have drawn at the beginning of my career in comics, so it’ll be interesting to see if I’ve mellowed over the last 35 years.”
More Blood Hunt tie-in announcements are coming
Scott and Walker’s Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt is the second tie-in limited series Marvel has announced as part of the Blood Hunt event. The first — Black Panther: Blood Hunt by Cheryl Lynn Eaton and Farid Karami — is due to launch on May 29.
Marvel will announce additional Blood Hunt tie-ins throughout the week. In the meantime, the publisher has revealed a heavily-redacted checklist. It seems that on top of Black Panther and Union Jack the Ripper, readers can expect six more Blood Hunt tie-in limited series — for a total of eight. Marvel also evidently plans to announce six Blood Hunt tie-in one-shots, four of which will be directly connected. Finally, no fewer than seven existing Marvel series will get Blood Hunt tie-in issues.
This, of course, is all in addition to MacKay and Larraz’s main Blood Hunt series, as well as the prelude one-shot releasing on Free Comic Book Day in May. All told, the vampire-centric event will last from May until July.
Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 goes on sale Wednesday, May 15 from Marvel Comics.
