Were you at all interested in Blade...

[Chris Wallace]

before the movie came out? I can admit I wasn't.

[Flame on!]

I think the entire world will admit that they weren't for the simple reason that comic Blade was crap.

[DarKush]

I wasn't either. I thought he was okay on the Spider Man cartoon, but it was the first time I had heard about him.

The movie really sold the character for me, reinventing him and making him cutting edge and badass. Hopefully the series will keep him badass.

[Chris Wallace]

Originally Posted by Flame on!

I think the entire world will admit that they weren't for the simple reason that comic Blade was crap.

More than likely. I never heard of him until "Rise of the Midnight Sons", which I only followed b/c I was really into Ghost Rider at the time. And even then I didn't find the Nightstalkers series or Blade's solo book compelling enough to buy. What's funny is that since the movies hit, I've seen people on these boards accuse Marvel of racism for not promoting Blade; excluding him from the Marvel heroes video games, not pushing to give him an animated series, stuff like that. When clearly he just doesn't have the same level of marketability as some of their better known heroes.

[Hellion]

Not really...I knew of Blade but wasn't really into the character.

[MaskedManJRK]

I thought he was pretty cool in Spider-Man: TAS.

[GothicPowerMix1]

I've never heard of Blade until I saw the Theatrical Trailer in Theaters & loved it

[DarKush]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

More than likely. I never heard of him until "Rise of the Midnight Sons", which I only followed b/c I was really into Ghost Rider at the time. And even then I didn't find the Nightstalkers series or Blade's solo book compelling enough to buy. What's funny is that since the movies hit, I've seen people on these boards accuse Marvel of racism for not promoting Blade; excluding him from the Marvel heroes video games, not pushing to give him an animated series, stuff like that. When clearly he just doesn't have the same level of marketability as some of their better known heroes.

I don't agree with you on the marketability of Blade. From what I know of the comics history of the character, he wasn't really all that. I don't think he was conceived to be a main eventer. And the writer's didn't know what a potential gold mine the character could become.

Goyer did, and when he reinvented Blade, we all have seen how popular the character could be. Perhaps his continued lack of comic success has been Marvel not getting with Goyer's program or trying to mix elements of the old Blade into the new, revamped one (pun intended). If that's the case, they should've just restarted Blade at #1, and made it a mature comic.

To me, perhaps Blade was ahead of his time. He clearly fits in with the more gory, violent, adult comics of the 1990s-Spawn, Constantine, Preacher, the Vertigo line, etc. If Marvel took the training wheels off and let him go then the comics might be better sellers.

With all the violent video games, with swords, vamps, and ninjas, Blade video games should rule. I've never played any so I couldn't really tell.

[Chris Wallace]

I played the first game & it wasn't all that. As for Marvel's failure to capitalize on his newfound popularity, you're partly right. The movie version was radically-if not totally-different from the comic book canon. This left Marvel w/3 choices; keep the version they had, run w/the Goyer/Snipes Blade & disregard his comic history, or try to find a middle ground. They chose the latter, & Bart Sears had no clue what to do w/him. So the book flopped.
It is possible to package a comic about Blade that will appeal (There was a wicked-cool one-shot called "Sins of the Father", a sort of prequel to the movie which followed option 2.) but for how long? One of the keys to a comic book's longevity is an interesting rogues gallery. Pretty much any new foe Blade meets is gonna be a vampire, who he's either gonna kill or try to kill & keep trying until he does. He's a very limited character.

[DarKush]

I disagree again Chris. Blade could be a great character, as multifaceted as fellow vamp hunters Buffy, Angel, Anita Blake, or Damali Richards if he is approached right. (I haven't read any Blade comics. I'm basing these ideas off of the Blade movies).

1) For one, you have to get inside the character, make him more vulnerable, give him more of a personality. The cold persona adopted by Wesley Snipes worked well on film. However, it left the character static. He didn't change. There would be blips of emotion-Whistler's 'death' in 1, staking his mother in 1,watching Nyssa die in 2, and Whistler's death in 3, but we never really got to see how it changed him.

He went right back to hunting. Beyond Blade 1, we never really got to see Blade struggle with his hunger, his inner demons. Basically, he's grappling with an addiction, and there's great stuff for character development with that, and its something many of us can relate to. A lot of people are addicted to various things-drugs, food, sex, shopping, TV, Internet (LOL), etc. Plus, Blade has some self-hate issues that could be mined.

So, who is Blade? What does he want? Where did he learn his martial arts skills? Does he listen to music? Does he read? Does he watch TV or movies? Does he ever take time off? Is he still a virgin?

And if all the vamps died tomorrow, what would he do with his life? While reading the script for Blade 2, there was a love scene between him and Nyssa, and though fan boys hate romance/relationships, I think it would've added something to the Blade character, made him more human.

Another thing, where is Blade's human father? Has Blade ever tried to look for him? If so, what happened? Perhaps his father has also become a vamp hunter after Deacon Frost attacked Vanessa, Blade's mother? But what if Blade doesn't jibe with his father's methods or something?

And what about Blade's otherness, his sense of alienation? He's neither human or vampire, and though he identifies more with humans, how does he feel knowing that humans would be terrified of him? How does he deal with his uniqueness? The loneliness?

The movies made mistakes by not playing up the sexual tension he had with both Karen Jenson and Nyssa. I don't want Blade going out like a punk, getting soft. But I wouldn't mind him developing, or fighting his feelings for a person. It would give him something more personal to fight for.

2) I think his rogue's gallery is limited only by imagination. Just looking at stuff at Wikipedia, there are some good villians there. Dracula, Deacon Frost, Madame Lavelle (sp), Night Terror, Varnae. And I would love to see a return of the Reapers in some form.

With a comic you can go beyond vampires to explore all manner of supernatural lore like the shows Supernatural, Angel, X-Files, and Buffy. But even keeping the villians solely vampires, you could do a lot.

The vampire houses touched on in the first Blade could each be explored in depth, also why did Damaskinos look so different than other vamps? There could be other ancient vamps like him out there. Also, the familiars have never been explored. I think that's a large pool of enemies that could also be developed. Blade not only has to fight against individuals, but organizations and systems.

3) Developing a small team of Nightstalkers, Midnight Sons, or whatever, would also give Blade more people to interact with and play off of. The Blade-Whistler duo worked fine for the movies. (Didn't care for the inclusion of the Nightstalkers in Trinity, because they took away from Blade rather than add something to him.)

But in a comic, a small cast of characters could lead to more story possiblities. For one, every character has to have an origin, a reason for hunting vamps. That's going to lead to stories, family members, and potential villians right there.

My prescriptions for a Blade comic: Keep it simple, add some complexity to the character, and make it a mature book that is as R-rated as the movies. Like I said in a previous post, reimagine the character to fit the Goyer characterization. As a nod to the original Blade, take the villians and some of the better storylines and adapt them.

I wish I could get a hold of a Blade comic, perhaps an Ultimate Blade.

[Chris Wallace]

See what happens when you open a lenghty post with "I disagree"? It compels the reader to read & explore your point of view.
It's obvious they painted themselves into a corner w/the character's portrayal. But maybe, just maybe, there's a way out. And your little tips can't hurt.

[DarKush]

Well I definitely feel that the TV show could be a good forum, in fact, the best forum outside of comics or books to make Blade more complex and 3-dimensional.

But my fear is that the new character Krista Starr will get the lion's share of development and attention and Blade will be reduced to occassionally snarling muscle.

[TRUE]

Originally Posted by DarKush

I wasn't either. I thought he was okay on the Spider Man cartoon, but it was the first time I had heard about him.

The movie really sold the character for me, reinventing him and making him cutting edge and badass. Hopefully the series will keep him badass.

co sign

[Mr. Socko]

No, never liked him before the movie.