Blood Hunt writer Jed MacKay promises a "true horror show" for the "bloodiest event in Marvel Comics history"

Marvel Comics is about to be soaked in blood thanks to its upcoming Blood Hunt crossover in which the Avengers, Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, Blade, and more team up to take on a global threat from vampires.

Written by Jed MacKay with art from Pepe Larraz, the core Blood Hunt title will be so violent and bloody that it will actually release with two editions: a regular edition for normal Marvel audiences, and a polybagged "Red Band Edition" which includes more gore and extra pages that are too violent for standard Marvel readers.

With the publisher billing Blood Hunt as the "bloodiest event in Marvel Comics history," Newsarama spoke with MacKay ahead of Blood Hunt #1's May 1 release to dig into just how bloody and brutal the event will be.

We've also got an early look at pages from Blood Hunt #1.

Newsarama: Jed, Blood Hunt will be a unique Marvel event that has both a regular release, and a Red Band release. What led to that decision, and what does “mature” mean in this context?

Jed MacKay: It was an idea that came up in one of the Marvel summits when we were in the early stages of what Blood Hunt would become - I think it was Gerry Duggan's idea, if memory serves. In this case, we're looking at a version of the issue that is much gnarlier than we would release for general consumption - a true horror show.

On that note, Blood Hunt is being billed as Marvel’s “bloodiest event ever.” Is that a threat, or a promise? And whose blood will be spilled?

Everyone's! When vampires are on the rampage, there's going to be plenty of claret spilled, both on the sides of the heroes and the villains! With Pepe being unleashed to run riot on the page, we're going to see our characters put in plenty of difficult positions.

Blood Hunt brings together characters from all three of your big Marvel titles - Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Moon Knight. At what point did it become the plan to bring those books together in a crossover? How has that decision echoed back into the titles themselves?

This was the plan from the get-go - or rather, it was why Tom [Brevoort] contacted me about writing Blood Hunt, as I was already situated pretty well in the Avengers, Moon Knight and Doctor Strange camps. Moon Knight and Doctor Strange both have extensive vampire/supernatural connections, but when you bring the Avengers into it, then it's a global issue!

You’re working with Pepe Larraz on the main Blood Hunt title, who has built a reputation as one of Marvel’s go-to artists for big stories in recent years. How has it been working with him on a major Marvel crossover story?

Pepe continues to be a magician - outside of the over the top action and the brutality, he manages to infuse even relatively mundane panels with dynamism and a wonderful sense of design. As a collaborator, he's been wonderful, designing new baddies to throw at our heroes when they're at their lowest!

What makes vampires the right villains for a story of this magnitude, against these particular heroes?

It's a classic threat that has been fun to dust off - vampires have a long history in the Marvel Universe, and it's been great to explore that and pit them against our heroes!

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