Who will bite it? Over the last few weeks, fans have discovered the full scope of Blood Hunt, the upcoming Marvel Comics crossover event launching May 1st. Centered around a main event series by writer Jed MacKay and artist Pepe Larraz with color by Marte Gracia, Blood Hunt will see a cursed eternal night wash over Earth, allowing vampires, who have lurked in the shadows since the earliest days of the Marvel Universe, emerge to satisfy their blood lust like never before! Recent tie-in announcements have revealed which heroes will play pivotal roles in this latest Marvel epic, but the key villains of Blood Hunt have been shrouded in darkness—until now! Meet the BLOODCOVEN!

The Bloodcoven are a mysterious and deadly vampire faction consisting of Megrim, Cruel, Unusual, the Damascene, Smoke Eater, and their leader, Bloodstorm One, a clone of Dracula created by Hydra. The group’s motives, powers and abilities will strike unfathomable fear into the hearts of your favorite heroes and their bloodlust is only matched by their extreme brutality and an undying commitment to a dark master…

Larraz has shed light on his design inspiration for each member of this shadowy faction:

Cruel
“This one was pretty straightforward, a character wrapped in razor wire by his own will is terrifying enough, so that is what I did. I added the cloud of wires at his feet and neck, always moving like some kind of metal gorgon.”

Smoke Eater
“The idea is that he inhales ghosts to acquire their strength in combat, so I made a physical representation of that. He becomes the unification of multiple beings, therefore the multiple limbs, which makes his silhouette pretty recognizable in battle scenes, and makes him one of the heavy hitters of the team. The idea is that he shows all the eyes of the ghosts on his forehead. I have a thing with eyes–on my designs, I either put none or too many!”

Damascene
“My initial idea was to make them bi-dimensional, like a paper sheet that will cut you when you try to grab it, but it was very difficult to convey that idea in comics, without movement. So I did his body absolutely geometrical to remark the sharpness of the body. Again, I decided to put no face. Expressionless beings are more scary, in my opinion.”

Megrim
“Probably the most vampire-looking of the litter. I hid her face on red cloth but my idea is that the cloth was always drenched in blood. The skirt’s folds make shapes like faces screaming of pain. Everything is super intense with her. She must be unbearable.”

Unusual
“The initial idea by Jed was to make him a collage of old engravings, always changing, like some kind of sinister Max Ernst picture in movement, but that would present a copyright issue so I came up with a weird idea. I started with a bunch of parallel lines and used a liquify tool from Clip Studio to make shapes with those lines, and finally adapted these shapes to a human silhouette. It’s probably the weirdest and fastest design I’ve even done.”

Bloodstorm One
“I gave him a lot of thought because I didn’t want to do a vampire super hero, but a true monster, who is scary enough that he’s even scared of himself. He hides his true nature under a perfect human shell, like some kind of Michelangelo’s David which is rotten inside, twisted, homicidal. The worst monster of all is the one who wants to look as the perfect human. The armor is an homage to Vlad Tepes’ armor from Coppola’s Dracula film, which seemed to me like a proper reference.”

Get your first glimpse at the Bloodcoven above and learn more about their secrets, origins, and their cruel master when Blood Hunt kicks off in May!

The bloodiest event in Marvel history will be even BLOODIER than you imagined! Blood Hunt, the upcoming event series by Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz, will be available expanded and unexpurgated in special Red Band Editions. Labeled with a Parental Advisory and polybagged to keep those weak of heart from experiencing its intensity, the Red Band Editions will contain additional pages and more graphic art too explicit for the regular edition. Blood Hunt will mark the first time that a different edition of the same Marvel comic book is produced for more mature readers, fitting for this blood-soaked saga where vampires will viciously sink their teeth into your favorite heroes!

Blood Hunt will unfold across the main five-issue limited series, tie-in issues, and spinoff limited series. Fans have witnessed the thrilling buildup in various titles the past few years, and now it’s time for the vampires of the Marvel Universe to emerge from the shadows and plunge the world into endless darkness. As the streets run red with blood, maestro of mayhem Pepe Larraz will depict the full terror of the vampire’s savagery, offering new vistas of carnage with these unique Red Band Editions.

The skies have gone dark, and the sun is hiding its face from the carnage to come. The children of the night, the vampires, have risen from the dark and hidden places of the world as one to drown the Marvel Universe in blood. Earth’s final night has fallen – can even the heroes of this doomed world stem the tide of blood that is to come? Join the Avengers, Blade, Bloodline, Spider-Man, Hunter’s Moon, Tigra, Doctor Strange and Clea as the dance of death begins.

Stay tuned in the weeks ahead for more Blood Hunt announcements, including tie-in and limited series announcements. Inquire with your local comic shop regarding preordering the regular OR Red Band edition of Blood Hunt #1 today!