Marvel’s New Champions Just Uncovered the Next Vampiric Superhero

The New Champions have just stumbled across the next vampiric hero to grace the pages of Marvel Comics.

A preview for New Champions #7 (by Steve Foxe, Ruairí Coleman, Elisabetta D'Amico, Adriano Di Benedetto, Arthur Hesli, and VC's Travis Lanham) from Marvel Comics finds the eponymous team of teenage superheroes on their way to check in on Moon Squire's online acquaintance, Marshall. Although the situation between the two of them is more than a little complicated, leading Moon Squire to question Marshall's claims regarding his heritage, everything the latter said proves to be at least a little bit true as soon as they cross paths. As it turns out, Marshall, or Nightdrifter, really is the great-grandson of none other than the legendary Jamal Afari.

New Champions #7

• Written by STEVE FOXE
• Art by RUAIRÍ COLEMAN
• Inks by RUAIRÍ COLEMAN, ELISABETTA D'AMICO & ADRIANO DI BENEDETTO
• Colors by ARTHUR HESLI
• Letters by VC's TRAVIS LANHAM
• Design by KAT WALKINGTON
• Main cover art by GLEB MELNIKOV & ARTHUR HESLI
• Variant cover art by MATEUS MANHANINI

First seen back in 1975's Marvel Preview #3 in the opening story "The Night Josie Harper Died," by Chris Claremont, Tony DeZuniga, and Rico Rival, Jamal Afari grew up in Harlem, where he became well acquainted with the various creatures of the night who lurked in the shadows. Jamal taught himself how to survive, fight back against, and, more importantly, kill the various vampires who plagued the city streets. Arguably more important than his work on the streets, however, was Jamal's work in his own home where he helped raise and train Eric Brooks, better known as Blade.

Despite being such a prominent figure in Blade's life and, by extension, the darker corners of the Marvel Universe as a whole, Jamal only made a handful of appearances in the pages of Marvel Comics since his debut. The fact that he died in his first appearance certainly hasn't helped Jamal establish a greater presence, yet even after that, there haven't been many titles to explore his time spent raising Eric as his own. If nothing else, the pair did get a chance to reconcile when Jamal was temporarily resurrected during Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin's 2007 run on Blade.

While the New Champions effectively stand as the heirs to the legacy left behind by Kamala Khan's Champions, they are far from the stereotypical teenage heroes that their predecessors were. The majority of the New Champions were once members of The Assembly, a team of young superheroes who had been brainwashed along with their families as part of a plot by Hydra to establish a new, seemingly legitimate presence on the West Coast. Luckily, Spider-Woman came to the Assembly's aid, and after being freed from Hydra's clutches, its former members formed a proper super team to call their own.

New Champions #7 goes on sale July 16 from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics