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The DC Universe’s forgotten answer to Blade the Vampire Hunter just doomed the world of DC vs. Vampires by failing his most crucial mission.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for DC vs. Vampires #1, available now from DC Comics.
In the Marvel Universe, Blade is one of the most underrated, but most important superheroes around. The half-vampire Daywalker is charged with keeping the peace between humans and the undead, usually by hunting down Dracula and his minions. While that mission went uncelebrated for decades, it finally led to him joining the Avengers. Now, DC vs. Vampires #1 has put DC’s answer to Blade, Andrew Bennett, back in the spotlight. Unfortunately, he dooms this DC world as his efforts to bring the Justice League into his mission go horribly wrong in DC vs, Vampires #1, by James Tynion IV, Matthew Rosenberg, Otto Schmidt and Tom Napolitano.
Andrew was created by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom Sutton in 1980’s House of Mystery #280. As the star of two incarnations of I, Vampire, Andrew has been a key figure in the supernatural realm, even joining the Justice League Dark team in the mainstream books. He was turned into a vampire by Mary, Queen of Blood while they were lovers, but he didn’t share her view of genocide. As such, Andrew and Mary then began a centuries-long war as he tried to protect mankind, while she wanted her species to spread and feed on humanity.
In this comic, Andrew is less concerned with slaughtering vampires and focused on monitoring them. Despite their past, he respects Mary for how she keeps the worlds of vampires and humans separated. Unfortunately, this story has Andrew failing at uncovering the murder conspiracy that takes Mary down. As he investigates his former flame, he finds her dead and sees clues that suggest traitors in her Blood Red Moon cult are now planning global domination.
Metahumans and key heroes like Superman are being targeted to be turned, with Andrew’s investigation revealing that the Legion of Doom has already been killed off. He gets a vial from Lex Luthor that has the key to possibly a cure and tries to flee. To make matters worse, vampire versions of Grodd and Riddler are hunting him down, which leaves a battered and bruised Andrew wrapped in bandages in the Sun, trying to get to the Hall of Justice.
Once he gets there, Andrew discovers that Green Lantern Hal Jordan has already been turned. The corrupted hero kills Andrew and Zan of the Wonder Twins to keep the conspiracy and this secret cabal going. But Andrew’s big mistake was not sticking to the plan Lex laid down. Andrew was given Bruce Wayne’s address, so Lex clearly wanted him to work with Batman, probably figuring out there were powers-that-be hidden in the shadows that infiltrated the League. Unfortunately, Andrew plays into Hal’s lap and proves he’s no Blade, who surely would have sniffed out the betrayal. It might be Hal used his ring to help hide the blood within, as he did manipulate the UV-spectrum so he could walk in sunlight and then fry a recuperating Andrew.
That said, Andrew did manage to leave the cure and a letter for Batman with Alfred, who seems to figure out something’s wrong and starts some detective work of his own. It remains to be seen if Andrew knew there were traitors inside the Justice League and needed to weed them out via a trap, but for now, it’s not a sacrifice that seems like it’s going to expose much yet. Instead, Andrew trusted too much, letting his instincts take over, hoping the League would help. And ultimately, that will allow the vampires to begin speeding up their plan.
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