After the integral, JustFocus continues to present the adventures of this invincible but so fragile hero of Valiant published byBliss comics on August 31st.
A New Beginning
The previous series ended with the publication of Bloodshot USA. The writer remains Jeff Lemire for the relaunch of this successful series but can a new reader start with this volume?
Bliss chooses not to summarize everything laboriously with a text at the beginning but allows the reader to understand by a short introduction on the powers. A new reader will not be lost because the story takes a new turn, so it is not necessary to have read the previous volumes, but it would just be a shame to miss this exciting story. Thus, he could better understand some characters such as the old Bloodshots, victims of the attempts that led to the current prototype. Familiars of the Valiant universe will also meet, over the course of the story, Punk mambo and Ninjak from other series. This is one of the pleasures of this increasingly interconnected universe but neophytes will also be able to grasp everything.
Journey to the past future
The series navigates between several timelines. Indeed, from the beginning of the first episode, the reader discovers a scene in the very near future that launches the action. The episodes will seek in stages to show how we have switched into such a disturbing future.
Two cartoonists with very different styles share each episode, Mico Suayan and Lewis LaRosa. This may seem shocking at first especially for the games of materials, rather vague for LaRosa and very precise for Suayan. This constraint is integrated into the story: each cartoonist creates a timeline, Suayan for the future and LaRosa for today. So the reader is not lost. Through short series or by sharing episodes, Valiant has found a way to draw slower cartoonists every month rejected by major publishers such as Marvel and DC. There are even hints that a new timeline will be present in future books…
A family series… Dysfunctional
After his last adventures, Bloodshot has found his wife and discovers the normal life of a family man under the identity of Ray Garrison. He can't help but imagine the worst, however, and worries about everything. Reality seems to prove him right because storms accumulate in and around this family. Evil never disappears but just changes its mask to pervert the world
Lemire paints a violent criticism of the religious right. He describes a secret military-industrial agency that wants to put the United States back on the "right track," that of conservatism, and Magick's father turns out to be the fanatical leader of an overarmed sect of survivalists. Without vulgarity, the screenwriter suggests that this father is incestuous. Ray then goes into a rage and Bloodshot returns as Mister Hyde or Hulk.
Action in the fields
More than the previous one, Bloodshot Salvation proves to be a gripping action series but also a rural series by the banality of the places reinforcing the anxiety. In the present, the reader switches during the second episode from a perfect family life to the strangeness worthy of a horror movie.
In the pages on the future, we also discover Uncle Rampage who is visually the negative of Bloodshot with white hair and black body. Lemire manages to make the story scary because these dangerous groups contrast with the paternal happiness of Bloodshot. He lives in a fragile bubble that will break due to external threats but especially because Ray cannot accept this calm and forget the past. He worries if the nanites in his body that make him powerful can be passed on to his daughter. To protect her, Bloodshot decides to act alone. He seems ready to do anything to defend his family but it makes him abandon his daughter.
Good cartoonists at the service of this story
LaRosa's colors and inking are not the most successful in the story while Suayan's pages are superb. Bloodshot Salvation is also a beautiful volume with all the very nice covers, including that of the American limited editions, as well as several plates of the two cartoonists.
Bloodshot Salvation is therefore a good volume to discover this particular hero and for connoisseurs, a sequel to the level of the previous series. A small regret however, even if it is very beautiful, we can have the impression that the cover of the collection gives too many clues about the future of the series: Bloodshot with his daughter in the future? It will be necessary to read on to confirm this intuition.
