By Victoria Irwin
Senior Correspondent
Bloodshot is the continuing story of a particular psionic from the Harbinger Wars series from Valiant Press. Built as a one man weapon of mass destruction from Project Rising Spirit, Bloodshot was programed to have falsely implanted memories that would allow him the motivation to complete his missions. Bloodshot was also programed to find children known as psiots to bring them to Project Rising Spirit where they would be trained to be weapons. Freed by his handler, Bloodshot breaks out of the Nevada facility of Project Rising Spirit and took several of the children in the facility with them. When issue #12 begins, Bloodshot has helped the children escape, but at great cost to his physical form. Thanks to small nannites in his body, he is able to regenerate, but needs help. On their way to Las Vegas to rescue some other children imprisoned by Project Rising Spirit, Bloodshot is forced to stop and try to feed the children in his care. They arrive at an strangely abandoned meat packing plant and Bloodshot finds himself in the middle of a Project Rising Spirit trap that rends him limb from limb. With the children to worry about, Bloodshot must call on his remaining strength to literally pull himself together and rescue the psiosts.
Duane Swierczynski deftly creates a story in this issue that is both bloody and almost painful to read. Bloodshot is a determined character who somehow still fights even when his limbs have been hacked from his body. As a one man weapon, he is creepy and yet still believable. The children behave as frightened children would, but with the added bonus of having psionic powers.
The art in the issue is eerie to view and quite graphic. Bloodshot is drawn several times with no skin on his face or chest and only raw muscle exposed. Haunting images of Bloodshot’s chainsaw severed limbs lying around and the bloody pulp of his body remaining fill the pages. I found myself having flashbacks to both Captain America’s Red Skull and Hellraiser simultaneously.
The story is well crafted and a great continuation of the Harbinger story lines already in progress. Bloodshot is great if you’re looking for another side to the story at hand, but the truly squeamish should consider themselves warned.
