Bloodshot #2: The Bloodier The Better

Tim Seeley has his finger on the pulse of what makes Bloodshot work, he’s not just the Punisher or any other antihero that loves to bust caps. Bloodshot is partially that yes but what makes him unique aside from his slick nanite powers is his ability to think of and then execute the wildest battle options the other guy thinks are too crazy to even attempt.

Seeley pulls no punches in that regard throwing Bloodshot at wave after wave of increasingly violent and wild attacks. The Black Bar group is a paramilitary organization the likes of which we’ve seen similar before, this time around Seeley is doing the unthinkable: a realistic approach to high tech soldiers fighting a high stakes threat. General Grayle and his men aren’t just jack booted goons blindly following government orders to attack Bloodshot like just riddling him with bullets will actually do the job. Instead they’re tactical, taking his potent abilities, combat experience and everything that makes him a prize target in the first place into consideration as something more than just a point of pride to defeat. Paramilitary forces as villains are often portrayed as the “hammers who see everything as nails” single minded knobs, the truth of it is yeah you come across those types among troops but you don’t become a commander of said forces by being an idiot. General Grayle might be a bit of a douche with his imagined vendetta against Bloodshot for just existing but he’s not irrational.

Obviously as fans of the main character we want to see his enemies die bloody but the fact is nothing General Grayle has against Bloodshot is inaccurate. With the nanites he’s effectively immortal and able to master any tech that comes his way, his fighting prowess is matched only by 3 other men in the Valiant universe: a ninja with otherworldly abilities and the most intense levels of spy training imaginable, a 6th century barbarian in a ridiculously powerful space armor and a dude who’s had literally centuries of fighting experience. When you combine those factors with the ever present truth that Bloodshot while well meaning isn’t exactly playing with a full deck (man has enough PTSD and various psychological traumas to fill an entire encyclopedia collection or two.) you’d be smoking PCP to argue against it probably being a bad idea to let him run around unchecked without fan bias.

All these things put together with some flat out amazing art by legend Brett Booth and Adelso Corona and you have the gift that keeps on giving. It’s only two issues in and I’m hard pressed to remember when I was last this pumped up every month to see what’s next for Bloodshot. After a summer of hit after hit Valiant unleashing Bloodshot in the fall is a genius move, showing the nerd world just how much quality entertainment they have to offer.