No Marvel IP has been fumbled more than Blade over the last few years. After the amazing Wesley Snipes trilogy, Mahershala Ali was set to take over the mantle and bring Blade into the MCU; but the movie was stuck in production hell and eventually cancelled. Even Arkane’s video game has gone radio silent, leaving Snipes to make a comeback as the day walker in Deadpool & Wolverine. While his black leather outfit and sword are unmistakable, he looked very different in his first appearance comic, Tomb of Dracula #10. As can be seen on the cover of this copy that’s up for auction at Heritage, Blade’s outfits and weapons were a far cry from his current iconic look.
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Before Blade was even a thing, Marvel ran its Tomb of Draculaseries, featuring the dreaded vampire and descendants of classic characters like Van Helsing and the Harkers. When Blade showed up in the tenth issue, he wasn’t adorned in the iconic all-black leather or wielding a sword; in fact, he wasn’t even a half vampire, like in the movies. He was simply a vampire hunter that used wooden knives as stakes to kill the bloodsuckers. As for his fashion sense, he wore a green trench coat with a bandolier of wooden knives across his chest. His sunglasses also had a yellow tint, rather than a black one. Of course, he still kept his trademark swagger, taunting Dracula and his minions at every turn. Unfortunately, Blade wasn’t able to kill Dracula in this issue, as he eventually got away after a close call.
Blade Looked Very Different In His First Appearance Comic
Via Heritage Auctions
While fashion sense and vampire DNA is one thing, the most prominent thing missing in this version of Blade is… his blade. We’ve seen Wesley Snipes slicing up a nightclub full of vampires with his his sword, and probably even assumed that’s where he got his name from. However, he clearly didn’t have a katana in his first appearance, but a set of extremely sharp wooden stakes. This may be nitpicking, but a sharp stick isn’t a blade; making this one of those cases of comic books adapting things from the movies, rather than the other way around.
While fans have been waiting with bated breath for any new Blade content, be it a movie or video game, that anticipation hasn’t really translated to the collectors market. The current bid price for this CGC NM+ 9.6 issue is just $2,196, which is relatively low for a first appearance comic in such a good condition. What’s more? Unlike many vintage comics, this one has managed to keep its pages white. Old comic pages tend to go off-white, cream, or even yellow due to oxidation over time, but this one is in a great condition. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Whenever we finally do get a new Blade, you can bet the value of this issue will double or even triple. That makes it a great investment at the current price.
Do you think we’ll ever get a new Blade movie? And who would you cast, now that Mahershala Ali is out? Let us know in the comments.
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