Best Blade Runs: 6 Comics Ranked, from 1972 to 2023

Blade is a special case: a supporting character made famous by the screen, who never had a long series that settled in for the long haul. His best pages are scattered between a 1972 horror series, a late-2000s team book and a few short series. Ranking his runs therefore means ranking periods of reading, and spelling out each time what place the hunter really holds in them.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issue numbers, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of artwork or protected dialogue.

How we ranked these runs

This ranking comes down to three questions. First, Blade's place in the story: a series where he takes the lead ranks ahead of a title where he is only passing through. The second is self-containment, because a reader should not have to know every mythology of Marvel horror to find their way. The third is the mark left behind: some bodies of work fixed elements of the character that later writers picked up again.

We do not rank market value. The most expensive issue in Blade's universe, Tomb of Dracula #10, sits in the first run on the list, but its price depends on the movies, not on the quality of the story. Collecting considerations are covered at the end.

Top 1: Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, The Tomb of Dracula (1972-1979)

The series runs from April 1972 to August 1979 over seventy issues, and Blade is not its star: the title belongs to Dracula, seen through the hunters who track him. Blade first appears in issue 10, dated July 1973, written by Marv Wolfman and penciled by Gene Colan. He returns as early as issue 12, then intermittently. Outside the series, he crosses paths with Morbius in Adventure into Fear #24 and gets his first solo story in the black-and-white magazine Vampire Tales #8 (December 1974), written by Wolfman.

This run comes first for a simple reason: everything that makes the character is laid down here. The man who hunts without having the enemy explained to him, the refusal to ally with Quincy Harker and his group, the distrust of institutions, all of it comes from these pages. Gene Colan gives the series an atmosphere of mist and slanted framing unlike any other horror of the time. The series is also where the team of hunters forms that foreshadows, twenty years later, the Nightstalkers.

It is for the reader who wants to understand where the character comes from, and who accepts reading a series in which he is not the center. Those looking for Blade alone will find few pages: the pleasure comes from the whole.

To collect it, there are two approaches. The original single issue, if you are aiming for issue 10; the complete collected edition, first in black and white and then in color, if you want to read the entire series in order. Our series guide details the issues that matter beyond Blade.

Top 2: Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk, Captain Britain and MI13 (2008-2009)

Fifteen issues, published in the wake of Secret Invasion, that place Blade in a British team tasked with defending the country against supernatural and extraterrestrial threats. Paul Cornell writes with a marked taste for dry dialogue and absurd situations; Leonard Kirk draws most of the series. Blade is a full member here, which is rare in his career: the hunter shares the space with a team leader, a vampire ally and an adversary who is his match, and the balance of power shifts from one issue to the next.

The arc in which Dracula invades Britain is the one of most interest to the Blade reader, because it sets the hunter face to face once more with the count who brought him into being in 1973. The tension between the hunter and the vampire fighting at his side is one of the series' most effective springs.

This run ranks ahead of the solo series because it gives Blade a setting and partners who make him react. It suits anyone looking for a modern read, complete in fifteen issues, that requires only minimal knowledge of Secret Invasion. For collecting, it is a title with plentiful single issues, also available in collected form; rarity is not the point here, reading is.

Top 3: Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin, Blade (2006-2007)

Twelve issues that put Blade back at the center of a solo series after years of miniseries. Marc Guggenheim, a television and comics writer, writes a hunter more cynical and more urban than in the 1990s; Howard Chaykin, an artist known for his angular line and his biting take on American society, suits this register. Sources diverge on the numbering of the series (volume 3 or 4 depending on the count), and it is better to check the exact title on the covers than to rely on it.

This run matters because it holds Blade as the main subject over twelve issues, which is rare in his bibliography. It is for the reader who wants a crime-fiction Blade, without the gravity of the team series, and who accepts an uneven read. We ranked it third because it keeps its promises well but lacks the reach of a foundational body of work.

For collecting, these are modern single issues, cheap to complete, and there is no need to hunt for the highest grade: a decent copy is enough to read.

Top 4: D. G. Chichester and the following teams, Nightstalkers (1992-1994)

Eighteen issues, published in the Midnight Sons wave launched in 1992, which bring together Blade, Frank Drake and Hannibal King, three characters from Tomb of Dracula, under the direction of D. G. Chichester and then Steven Grant and Frank Lovece. The series has them hunt the supernatural with period enthusiasm, sometimes over the top, often inventive in setting up threats. It takes part in the Siege of Darkness crossover in 1993.

This run ranks fourth because it is more a document than a peak: it shows how Marvel recycled the hunters of 1972 for a 1990s team, and it explains the birth of the Midnight Sons. It is for the reader who already knows Ghost Rider and wants to see the vampiric side of this mythology. Our ranking of the best Ghost Rider runs gives the other half of the whole.

The print run of this period is high, and these single issues are easy to find; hunting for single issues is the most direct way to read the series, and a lot is often cheaper than individual issues.

Top 5: Ian Edginton and Doug Wheatley, Blade: The Vampire-Hunter (1994)

Ten issues published in 1994, the first color title to bear the character's name, after twenty years in supporting roles. Ian Edginton writes, Doug Wheatley draws. The story confronts Eric Brooks with new vampires, moving away from Dracula's sphere to dig into his family history. The series is readable, without major surprises, and its interest is mostly historical: it proves the character could carry a title in his own name before the movies made it obvious.

It matters for anyone who wants to follow the character's path in order. It is aimed more at the completist than the hurried reader, and it sits just ahead of the 2023 series because it dates from the period when the character did not yet have the image the movies gave him.

For collecting, ten affordable single issues, found in lots. Check in the catalog whether a collected edition exists; failing that, single issues remain the normal route.

Top 6: Bryan Hill and Elena Casagrande, Blade (2023)

The 2023 relaunch is part of the return of the Midnight Sons at Marvel. Bryan Hill is on script, Elena Casagrande on art. It puts the hunter back at the center, with a modern look and a story that takes the time to reinstall the character for readers who know him mostly through the movies. The series is too recent for its legacy to be judged, and we rank it last for that reason: its rank may change. The exact number of issues depends on the sources, and it should be checked in the catalog before buying.

It is for the reader who wants a current, accessible Blade, with no prerequisites. The single issues are recent and easy to find, and the catalog will tell you whether a collected edition exists for those who prefer to read in one go.

Which one to start with, by reader profile

You come from the movies. Start with Captain Britain and MI13, which gives you a Blade on a team, then the Guggenheim and Chaykin series for the solitary side. Our comparison of the 1998 film and the comics explains what the adaptation changed.

You like Bronze Age horror. Read The Tomb of Dracula in the collected edition, from start to finish. It is the only path that restores the atmosphere in which Blade was born.

You like the Midnight Sons. Take Nightstalkers, then the 1994 series, keeping the Ghost Rider collected edition within reach.

You want a current story. The series by Bryan Hill and Elena Casagrande is made for you.

You like creators. Marv Wolfman wrote the series that brought the character into being: our Marv Wolfman reading path places Blade within a broader body of work, and the Marv Wolfman page gathers his articles.

What these runs are worth in a collection

The value of these runs is read in ratios. The first ratio sets the original single issue against the collected edition: on The Tomb of Dracula, a 1970s issue in good condition cannot be compared with its reprint, whereas on Captain Britain and MI13 or the 2023 series, single issue and collected edition are almost equal. The older the material, the more the condition of the paper weighs; the more recent, the more the cover letter and the variant count.

The second ratio sets the listing against the completed sale. To place a Tomb of Dracula or a Nightstalkers, rely on completed sales at the same condition rather than on asking prices, which only say what the seller hopes for. This is particularly true of issue 10, whose demand follows movie news and varies with project announcements.

The third ratio separates reading from speculation. The series on this list sit downstream of the key: their value follows attention cycles far less than that of issue 10. We covered that issue in its dedicated article. For the others, reading remains the most reliable criterion.

Finally, keep an inventory per item: the single issue and the collected edition that reprints it are two lines, with their date and page count. Mixing the two is the most frequent mistake, and it skews every later estimate.

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