You can expect one thing from Bloodshot; action and lots of it. This issue doesn’t disappoint. An explosion, knife fights, guns is there really anything more you can ask for. Yes a great story to go with it. As the cover says “Get some“. Project Rising Spirit was hired by Armour Oil to find out why their pipeline is running into issues. Once in Nigeria they find out why. Simon Oreck the ex-CEO and head of PRS is the answer and takes Morris current CEO captive for ransom.
Bloodshot has the best response to his capture, “Can we pay them to kill him”. But we know that they have to send the H.A.R.D. Corps with Bloodshot to get Morris. Granite is getting the team ready and walks in on Flatline and Genius right after their “lovemaking session” after the initial shock she says suit up we have a mission. In the briefing room everything is explained about their mission. The mention of Simon Oreck catches Bloodshot and Captain Palmer’s attention. Oreck controlled PRS and shut down the H.A.R.D. Corps because he preferred psiots natural ability without implantation like the Corps. With this he eventually made his own black ops unit that only answered to him. Bloodshot’s history with Oreck is a dark one because Oreck was the one to force him to become Bloodshot.
In Nigeria its starts out quiet finding the pile of missing civilians. This turns out to be an ambush. The Specialist as they are known have incredible power like heat and cold manipulation, radiation, strength like no other and hyper visualization. This pushes the limits of the HARD Corps. The only way out was to blow the oil line, but Captain Palmer has been captured too. This is all going to plan according for Oreck.
This issue really brings me back to Bloodshot because the action and story that meshes so well. It’s a great start to the new story arc. What makes the story so good is that you get two opposing teams that can fight blow for blow against each other and can feel the hatred for one another. It also sets up Bloodshot going against his greatest enemy that created and destroyed him at the same time. I am looking forward to what is going to happen next. There also some great line to break the tension of all seriousness and lets out some true feeling of the character.
The art captures the fighting and personality of each of the new characters very well. The color of the explosions makes you feel them. Chernobyl, who can manipulate radiation, is grotesque and bubble like; it affects him as he controls his powers. This illustrates what the character’s powers are even before using it. Everything else is very detailed which is really great for a book like this one.
This is the perfect jumping on point for new readers because you will get everything Bloodshot is as a title. Action, adventure, and bad blood which blends perfectly for a great start of a story. I recommend picking this up here too if you haven’t because soon the crossover between Archer and Armstrong will be coming.
Score: 5/5
Writers: Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart Artists: Bart Sears Publisher: Valiant Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 1/8/14