Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #15

Creative Team:
Writers: Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart
Penciler: Emanuela Lupacchino
Inker: Guillermo Oretgo
Color Artist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Dave Sharpe

The Issue:
Breaking into Harbinger Global Conglomerates to rescue Bloodshot was easy enough. Now H.A.R.D. Corps face the impossible situation of leaving the complex with a weakened Bloodshot. But as they soon find out, despite being weakened and unable to walk, Bloodshot is still capable of killing.

As H.A.R.D. Corps make their escape, Toyo Harada is studying the nanites that he took from Bloodshot’s body. He is taken away from his experiment as he is alerted of the break in. Harada immediately leaves the lab and goes to hunt down the H.A.R.D. Corps.

As Harada arrives outside they attempt to escape after killing one of his psiots. Maniac, a mentally unstable member of the H.A.R.D. Corps, opts to provide cover for his group. Before Maniac can attack Harada his brain is ripped out of his head by the world’s most powerful psiot. Harada possessing the brain is left believing he has something else of Project Rising Spirit’s to study only to have it explode.

Seeing the stress his team faced in their first mission, Major Charlie Palmer disagrees with Kozol’s decision to go back to get the nanites from Harada. But ultimately Kozol’s reasoning wins Palmer over as the mission will go on whether or not he and/or Bloodshot are involved.

When Bloodshot comes to he rebels against the idea of working for PRS again. His walking out brings him to blows with Palmer. It isn’t until Palmer expresses that the death of the young members of the Corps would be on Bloodshot’s head that he relents. To seal the deal Kozol brings one last thing to convince Bloodshot to work for him: the identity of the man whose body he possesses and the information of his true past.

Finally agreeing to be on the team Bloodshot on the condition that he is the leader. Palmer who has seen the deaths of many of his teammates steps aside admitting that they have to try something new.

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What I Liked:
As someone who didn’t read the original (or even the second) run of Valiant Comics, I don’t know what Duane Swiercyznski added to the character compared to what was already there. I just know when reading his run on the title that something was missing. The moments that grabbed me were early in the series where we got to see how he was being manipulated. When he got control of himself and fought against Project Rising Spirit there was nothing there to humanize him, and his supporting cast was flat.

Now two issues into the new run and I can confidently say that this title is better than it has ever been before. It is not just that Bloodshot is now more humanized, but the title now has a compelling character in Major Charlie Palmer. The two are characters who have been manipulated by PRS in the past and are being manipulated again. They know it but they feel like they have no choice.

The war between PRS and Harbinger Conglomerate is still going on and instead of it feeling tired it is reinvigorated. The team of Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart could have easily thrown as many psiot henchmen as they wanted in front of the H.A.R.D. Corps escape but instead they used Harada. And this might be the most balanced and nuanced version of this character we’ve seen in this run of Valiant Comics. Harada is brilliant, he’s powerful, and he’s also just as manipulative as anything from PRS. The scene where he rushes from his lab after them is horrifying. To follow that up by shoving Maniac’s brain through his head? Incredible.

I don’t need every Valiant title to go as goofy and weird as Archer & Armstrong or Quantum and Woody. What I do need is for them to fill out and become more realized. That’s what happened here and that’s more important for this company going forward than launching new series.

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What I Didn’t Like:
While I understand why Palmer did decide to talk Bloodshot into sticking it out, I don’t think it should have been easy. Palmer goes from refusing to go into battle to being turned because Kozol admits a fondness to the team.

Anything beyond that would be nitpicking. This was the strongest issue of any Valiant Comic that isn’t Quantum and Woody or Archer & Armstrong. I really hope this title keeps it up.

Grade: 

4.5 out of 5 villains
4.5 out of 5 villains

Just a guy who was into this nerd stuff before it's popular. Now that is I'm just happy I have people to talk about it with.