Valiant Entertainment 2017
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Renato Guedes
Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Lanphear
Returning to the mainland, Bloodshot discovered that PRS released billions of nanites into Manhattan, and were able to turn civilians into deadly killing machines with the flip of a switch. Bloodshot and Kay teamed up with Unity and were able to defeat PRS and save the civilian population. Deathmate killed PRS head Morris Kozol in a final confrontation. Bloodshot — AKA Ray Garrison — and his true love Magic are now free of Kozol and PRS, and can seemingly once again begin their life together after the chaos in New York City….
I like this as it wraps up what we’ve seen from the previous arc and gives us a good look at what’s to come next. It’s like the zero issue is really the final countdown of one story and the introduction of another and the way Jeff did that is pretty darn good. The way this plays out is smart and I have to say it kind of took me by surprise and not because of how well Jeff did it, that’s always a given at this point, but by the implications and possibilities that now exist because of it. I really thought things would play out differently but this is so much better.
GATE is a new player in town and they have the technology thanks to PRS to update the Bloodshot Corps survivors and let them re-integrate back into modern society, beholden to them of course. Which means that should they need them they’ll expect them to come running back as agents of GATE at any given time or hope that so much time has passed and this world is too strange and that they are too alone so they’ll come back to them on their own. Either way it’s a great premise for a new series with these characters and it’s much better than the one i’d formed in my head.
So then there’s Kay and Diane, Agent Festival. Thanks to PRS Kay’s back and more powerful than she ever was and that could be a problem for the Valiant Universe. Though let’s face it she’s always been a good guy and while she’s never wanted this kind of life it’s one that found her again and brought her back to life. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little story about the two women road-tripping it and solving some crime before hooking up with Unity and joining them full time. Festival’s own unique talents alongside the Unity team with the power levels that Kay would bring that’s something worth exploring.
Renato has his own very unique style of illustrating this story. Andrew does a magnificent job colouring that too by the way. Renato’s use of angles, perspective and even the use of backgrounds to help the flow of the story is great to see. There’s the introduction of one character who excites me more than the rest and he’s fascinating because of that visage we’re shown. Somehow that face matches exactly the soul of the man and wow that’s a very impressive feat for these guys to hit!
The more Jeff keeps bringing us of Ray and co. the more I want to know. He’s really managed to make Bloodshot required reading these days and changed everything that I thought about the character around.