Nightstalkers #16
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNightstalkers #16 opens the three-part finale of Marvel's Midnight Sons-era Nightstalkers series — the last act for Blade, Frank Drake, and Hannibal King before the book's cancellation — and delivers the debut of Bloodstorm One, a vampiric clone engineered from Dracula's own DNA by Hydra's Department of Occult Armaments. The character proved durable enough to resurface decades later in the 2024 Blood Hunt crossover event, anchoring his role as a recurring threat in Marvel's supernatural corner. The issue also sets the tragic machinery of the closing arc in motion: the destruction of Borderline Investigations' headquarters forces Doctor Strange to finally reveal that his secret reason for assembling the Nightstalkers was the impending collapse of the Montesi Formula — the spell that had held vampirism at bay — giving the team's entire history a newly somber retrospective weight.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By issue #16, the Nightstalkers series had passed through two distinct creative phases: original writer D.G. Chichester and penciller Ron Garney launched the book in November 1992 as part of the 'Rise of the Midnight Sons' initiative, before Steven Grant took over scripting at issue #12. Frank Lovece then stepped in to write the final three-issue arc, with penciller Bill Wylie and inker Frank Turner handling the art under editor Chris Cooper and group editor Bobbie Chase, with Tom DeFalco serving as editor-in-chief. The issue was released on December 7, 1993, carrying a cover date of February 1994.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Bloodstorm One — a pseudo-vampire cloned from Dracula's DNA by Hydra's Department of Occult Armaments (D.O.A.) under Lt. Gregory Belial, introduced in the story titled 'Strange Tales.'
- Written by Frank Lovece with interior pencils by Bill Wylie, inks by Frank Turner, colors by John Kalisz, and letters by John Costanza; cover art also by Bill Wylie and Frank Turner.
- Issue #16 kicks off the three-part closing arc (issues #16–18, February–April 1994), which culminates in the disbanding of the Nightstalkers.
- A Hydra Dreadnought destroys Borderline Investigations' headquarters — Hannibal King's house — while stealing Frank Drake's anti-occult nanotech weapon, the Exorcist gun.
- Doctor Strange reveals his long-concealed agenda: he assembled Blade, Drake, and King specifically because the Montesi Formula — the spell that had eradicated vampires — was weakening and Dracula's return was imminent.
- Bloodstorm One immediately turns on his Hydra creators upon emerging from his containment tube, acting under the hypnotic command of Varnae, the ancient Lord of Vampires.
- Supporting cast includes Doctor Strange, Domini (carried over from the 1970s Tomb of Dracula series), and Marlene McKenna-Drake, grounding the final arc in the series' deep continuity roots.
- Bloodstorm One went on to appear in Marvel's 2024 Blood Hunt event as leader of the Bloodcoven, confirming the character's long-term narrative staying power beyond his debut issue.
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