Review by Ian Keogh

Marvel have stock foes who cause problems not by individual powers, but by sheer numbers, and they’re interesting on that basis for a few pages, but their use has diminishing returns. R’ym’r and his energy vampires fall squarely into that category, which made their return at the end of Retribution not such a welcome surprise. Plus, Blade seemed to have dealt with the threat a while back.

Rather than picking up from where the last book ended, Cody Ziglar jumps forward a little to feature Miles now allied with Dracula. That’s a shock, but it’s relatively quickly explained via another shock. Not as big a shock, however as discovering the pretty damn serious situation that’s set up isn’t finished here. Oh no, with bloodsucking, penny-grabbing, conscienceless Marvel it’s buy the Blood Hunt collection or just skip to the next chapter without finding out how everything ends.

The next chapter reveals not everything has been solved, and Miles remains with a major new complication in a life that’s already complicated enough. On the plus side Ziglar has a talent for creating recurring new villains who’re basically dim, but powerful enough to cause trouble, and he’s made good use of them throughout the series.

Brent Peeples draws the two chapters of the title story efficiently enough, but with no great spark. Regular artist Federico Vicentini is back for the remainder along with the usual frustrations of his pages. All storytelling clarity evaporates as he switches from conversation to action.

Once again, Ziglar moves Miles’ personal life along well, but there’s never that push into something more memorable.