Eric Brooks

Eric Brooks, better known by his code name, Blade, is a bad-ass mofo' who has had the good fortune to grace nearly every type of medium out there ranging from comic books to feature films to a TV series, cartoon appearances and even video games. Everybody likes a black dude that can whup some ass. Blade made his first appearance back in 1973 when he squared off against the ultimate evil vampire baddie, Count Dracula in issue #10 of the first Tomb of Dracula comic book series by Marvel Comics. He made sporadic appearances over the years in other vampire-related titles until finally hedging himself a recurring role in the 1990s title, Nightstalkers before branching off with his own solo title - the first of many in years to come. Though the character had been around for more than twenty-five years, it wasn't until the first Blade feature film in 1998 when the good folks over at New Line Cinema decided to give the guy a proper name - Eric Brooks. This iteration of the character spawned two theatrically released sequel films as well as the short-lived Blade: The Series television series on Spike TV. In the film series, Blade was played by veteran action hero Wesley Snipes. In the TV show he was portrayed by Kirk "Sticky" Jones.

Overview
Blade's back-story has been the subject of several revisions and re-interpretations over the years, but basically it goes like this. Blade's mother, Vanessa Brooks, was attacked and killed by an evil prick vampire named Deacon Frost while she was pregnant with Blade. Before dying, she gave birth to her son, who now had vampire blood in him. Not truly a vampire, Blade developed certain supernatural proclivities common to vampires, "All of their strengths, none of their weaknesses", so the saying goes. Well... except for that pesky need to consume human blood that is. As a creature of the night who can walk during the day, Blade has had a mad-on for vampires every since. His original arsenal consisted of nothing more than sturdy wooden stakes made out of teak, but as he developed his vampire-slaying arsenal, he honed his body as well as his skill with a sword. Wherever vampires may be found nesting in the shadows, you can be sure that Blade is nearby ready to stomp a mudhole into the undead asses of evil. Buffy Summers, watch out.

Notes & Trivia



 * Wesley Snipes played the role of Blade in three feature film. He appeared in Blade, Blade II and Blade: Trinity.


 * Playing the role of Blade is Wesley Snipes' first work in supernatural fiction.


 * Kirk Jones, who played Blade in Blade: The Series, is also known by the stage name "Sticky Fingaz". He is also known in the horror genre for playing Cedric in Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood in 2003.