Bloodline: Daughter of Blade is a 2023 comic book limited series from Marvel Comics. It's written by Danny Lore with art by Karen S. Darboe and color art by Cris Peter.
Set in the shared Marvel Universe, the series is part of the Blade franchise. Brielle 'Bri' Brooks is an Atlanta schoolgirl, raised in a single parent family with an absent father. Although Bri doesn't realise it, that's because her father is Eric Brooks - the vampire hunter better known as Blade. And her parents agreed that raising her far away from him was her best shot at a safe, normal life.
Perhaps that was true for a while, but now that Bri's encountered some vampires, her own powers are starting to manifest and she's following in her father's footsteps. It looks like fighting the undead is now a family business.
Bri was first introduced in a short story within the Free Comic Book Day 2022: Avengers / X-Men anthology comic, which sets up the premise but doesn't directly lead into the series.
The first issue was released on February 01, 2023.
Bloodline: Daughter of Blade contains examples of the following tropes:
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Blade's introduced with a fight scene that shows him surrounded by a group of vampires. A page later he's killed at least seven of them and they've failed to even scratch him.
- Distant Prologue: The first issue opens years prior to the main story, with a much younger Bri finding a stray photo of her absent father, Eric, and discussing him with her mother.
- Gory Discretion Shot: One of the vampires fighting Blade in the first issue seemingly ends up as Half the Man He Used to Be. He's in the foreground and only shown in silhouette, though, hiding all of the detail.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: One of the vampires fighting Blade in the first issue is seemingly bisected by an upward sword blow. It's a Gory Discretion Shot using silhouettes, but it's enough to make it clear that his head's now in two halves, with the implication that his body is as well.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Blade's introduced via a Curb-Stomp Battle with a group of vampires. The last survivor runs, only for Blade to slay her with a thrown stake - it hits her in the back with enough force to pierce her heart and go right through her, protruding from her chest.
- Internal Reveal: When a vampire attacks them in the first issue, Bri and her mother - each of whom had been trying to preserve a normal life for the other - realise that they both know all about vampires and how to fight them. It's not quite a Mutual Masquerade situation, as this is the Marvel Universe and many people are well aware that vampires do exist, but it's close.
- Off with His Head!: When Blade's introduced with a battle scene at the end of the first issue he uses his sword to decapitate three vampires in a single panel. The rest of their group don't fare any better.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Blade asked Doctor Strange to magically conceal Bri's existence from anyone who might try to find her. It worked perfectly for most of her childhood. And then Doctor Strange died - either that broke the ritual, or Bri's emerging powers did. Either way, Strange wasn't there to reestablish it.
- Power Incontinence: Bri's powers only seem to manifest when vampires are nearby, and she has no control over which powers manifest each time they're triggered, as they don't all seem to activate at once.
- Spin-Offspring: The lead character Brielle is Blade's daughter, she's seemingly inherited at least some of his powers, and - like her father - she's fighting vampires.
- Variant Cover: The first issue has eight variant covers as well as the standard one. They range from a plain white cover to a picture of her trying to study in a school full of monstrous students - as well as an image of Bri as an anthropomorphic cat with a katana.
