Valiant Entertainment 2019
Written by Tim Seeley
Pencilled by Brett Booth
Inked by Adelso Corona
Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
Break out the popcorn before Bloodshot hits the big screen and witness the super-soldier unleashed! The origin issue of Eidolon, Bloodshot’s greatest nemesis in the making!
Well this certainly isn't taking any kind of direction that I was expecting it to and that of course is a huge knock in it's favour! This is why I love Tim and what is able to do as he is such a master storyteller and the genre really doesn't matter much so long as he's enjoying what he does the work is going to be spectacular. Now the idea of all these government organisations all vying for control and taking what could be considered threats or obstacles to them is a good one for Bloodshot to be a part of. Normally I am down on the government conspiracy stuff but for this character is a completely appropriate angle or avenue to follow.
I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development and how we see the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is extremely well done. After all the layering of this story already and it continues to grow in that sense makes for some genuinely interesting reading. The character development is on point here as we see Bloodshot, Ray, find new ways to deal with what he has been through and then apply that to his current situation is bloody brilliant to see. The pacing here is great and how the twists and turns that we see affect the ebb & flow to the books is so nice to see.
From a flashback that's integral to the story which ties Ray and Eidolon together more closely than he could've imagined to the way we see this General Gayle trying to remain in control keeps the reader on their toes. I will say this much right here and right now, I want to see more of not only the creatures from the DNA Whisperer and Apanewicz because we don't see that he found him though he kept thinking the young woman was him so this needs more clarification please and than you. I love how we are introduced to characters new and returning, well returning from the first two issues anyway, in the book and how by playing their parts they become more integral to the story as it moves forward, now and later.
I like Brett's pencils and how he loves to lay down his linework the way he does. He certainly doesn't shy away from the multiple variations in the linework to create this attention to detail that we see, and we see a lot of it. He has a very distinct style that hasn't varied much since he debuted in comics but I have noticed that his range in what he does has increased. The melting version of Ray is crazy good and it really makes one hell of an impact upon the reader. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a rather nice eye for storytelling. We see more than a fair amount of backgrounds being utilised here and it's marvellous as it helps to expand the moments and bring a sense of size and scope to the book. There is also some nice depth perception happening within these pages as well.
Totally impressed with the inking done on top of that as well since I am sure it can't be easy to ink his work. Adelso is talented and what we see from him is outstanding. The colour work is brilliant to see. I love how we see a base colour and then the various hues and tones within it to show us the shading, highlights and shadows. The mask we see is hella awesome, the way whites are utilised along the blues and silvers all conspire to show off this bang on job with the colours shows some great knowledge of how the colours work.
I am usually pretty stoked to see Bloodshot in any book that is his but Tim's approach, while yes a tie-in I suppose to the forthcoming feature film, is taking him in a bold new direction and that we've not seen anything quite like this before that has me through the roof with excitement.