Review: Bloodshot #0
Creative Team:
Writer: Matt Kindt
Penciler: ChrissCross
Color Artist: Moose Baumann
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
The Issue:
Project Rising Spirit created Bloodshot to be the ultimate killing machine, but they had a problem. He was too good. He killed everyone who saw him. Bloodshot was more than capable of completing missions but he lacked the finesse. PRS gave him the memories of dead soldiers to make him self aware, but something was still missing.
To find out how to solve this problem Project Rising Spirit hired a scientist named Rees. Rees studied all versions of Bloodshot before having experiments with dying soldiers and nanites. His hope was to capture whatever it was that humans lose in the mere moments before death. After tracking that something measurable was lost when humans died. He spent a year reprogramming the nanites to collect information and finally a man was delivered to him on the verge of death.
When his job was done all he had was hope that he installed a soul into this monster. His bosses sought assurance that he gave him enough of a conscience that would allow him to kill in a way that would be acceptable for them. And Rees said it worked even though he wasn’t positive. He expected to be paid to stay silent, to simply go on quietly on his way. Instead he found himself dead at the hand’s of his greatest achievement at the orders of his superiors.
What I Liked:
I’m not usually a big fan of origin issues. A reason for that is because they tend to simply spell out things you already know in a labored fashion. Here is anything but that. I love Matt Kindt’s approach here to put the narrative in the hands of a, now dead, scientist who had a hand in Bloodshot’s creation. Sure, it’s exposition but it is done in a way that has purpose and tells the story. It never once got in the way.
What really stood out was how horrifying it was at the end. Sociopaths are scary enough, but Bloodshot is something else entirely. At this point he is just doing his job. There’s this scary feeling that you can never be sure if he’ll follow the orders given. This is driven home by the very ending when the scientist simply says “No,” in attempt to stop him. The no is a sad one because Bloodshot is still following orders, still doing what he was created to do. Which is kill. Soul or no soul. That never changes.
The art by ChrissCross is nothing short of phenomenal. This is amongst the best art that has appeared in any issue of a Valiant Comic. The violence is so potent that it seems to leap off the page. The movement of the characters. I don’t know much about what goes on technically in art, but I can acknowledge a beautiful spread when I see it. The panel where he kills the mother and child says so much. Here is Bloodshot simply carrying out his objective while the Doctor, who he is leaving with, is horrified. It’s not just that he’s covering his mouth but the very emotion in his eyes in contrast with the dead look of Bloodshot. Absolutely beautiful.
What I Didn’t Like:
Uhh… how much better this issue was than a normal issue of Bloodshot? That Matt Kindt and ChrissChross aren’t the regular writing team?
So you know what this means? I’m gonna do it again. For the third week in a row.
Grade:
Coatesvillain
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.
