2.57 (422) Bloodshot (2012) #24 ... valiant

I am quite surprised and disappointed with myself that I have not done much of a review on valiant when the truth is that I picked up late on the valiant boom in comics when it was first launched like a decade ago and enjoyed a huge number of their titles from the dollar and quarter bins

And here I am again when 2012 was launched ... I picked up a lot of their trades and enjoyed every single volume! I kid you not

24 is basically end of year 2 where Bloodshot is ready to move into the next phase of his journey and thus this is vol 6 if you are buying by TPB

In summary, Bloodshot is someone who was probably in the military but he isn't sure because like Wolverine his mind has been wiped clean repeatedly and false memories implanted. As for his special abilities, aside from sometimes being robotic and following orders, he has a swarm of nanites within his blood and body allowing him to heal rapidly including replacing limbs and giving him the ability to change his appearance instantly thus great for undercover ... got it?

In this issue, which is a one-off but with so much crammed that I cannot believe when I reached the end, the story is a one-off! We see in far off remote region, one fine morning, a number of their people going bonkers from politicians to military, from police to the commoner and when we meant bonkers, we meant they developed like a hive mentality and killing anyone not within that hive mentality or willing to subject themselves to the hive control

Enter Bloodshot to investigate what the fuck is happening and to pull the plug. Now the odd thing is we have so many side angles that even when we reached the climatic conclusion, we are left in the dark on whether the villain is this or that person or perhaps someone else entirely. Very intelligent story telling here that leaves you waiting hungrily for the next issue

And the artwork though could be better is sufficient to the task at hand giving it the moodiness required

Ratings: 7/10