Bloodshot Reborn #1

[bygranddesign]

A small nitpick and (possible) continuity issue

Although the sequence of images of Bloodshot getting his head blown off and then healing - is pretty gnarly - it seems to contradict DS's run of Bloodshot which shows that PRS shoots him in the head in order to knock him out.

Also I think it should take awhile for something like that to heal anyway - he would have to eat a pretty big cow

But its a small nitpick - considering how great Lemire did in handling the character for this first issue

[Joshua]

I am not mich of a fan of Jeff Lemire. I think the praise for a lot of his work is overrated. That said, I thought this was incredible. Very dark. It did remind me of a Garth Ennis Punisher type of story. I am pretty excited to see where this goes.

[erwinrafael]

Here's to hoping that the momentum of this Bloodshot series would not be derailed with a crossover like the previous series. Less crossovers please, VEI. Let the creators shine in their own books.

[jmatt]

Enjoyed it more on the second read. The art is top notch and really sells the story.

Giant hole in the head was a tad too much but like you say, a nitpick. Artistic license and all that.

I like how he goes and paints the red circle on his shirt at the end.

[hunter_peterson]

Here's to hoping that the momentum of this Bloodshot series would not be derailed with a crossover like the previous series. Less crossovers please, VEI. Let the creators shine in their own books.

Hopefully there can't really be crossovers that aren't contained to this book for a while, due to it being so far ahead in production. It'd be too tricky to plan for, say, next year's event in a book where dozens of issues are more or less written at this point.

[Dallow Spicer1]

Enjoyed it more on the second read. The art is top notch and really sells the story.

Giant hole in the head was a tad too much but like you say, a nitpick. Artistic license and all that.

I like how he goes and paints the red circle on his shirt at the end.

I'm glad you said he 'painted the red circle on', that's a better explanation and makes more sense than 'he gets black t shirts pre printed with red circles on' which is something that's always bugged me. Initially that spoiled the last panel for me as Bloodshot having printed shirts is £&@?ing ridiculous! However, I'm guessing that the drips of red is why you say he painted it on?

I thought this was a great issue, story and art combined really well. Lemire has opened up plenty of opportunities and I liked his references to what has gone before. Very interesting to see the art from future issues, seems like different versions of Bloodshot will be making appearances.

I agree that Bloodsquirt is a little (too?) goofy but as he's hallucinating it didn't really bother me.

Suyan's art is so realistic, particularly the faces (except the last page which looked like a different artist?), I'm wondering does he base the faces on actual people he knows? And that kid who plays the video games is creepy!!

Having a 45k print run and an ad for the 'Death' summer event should be a boost for sales from new readers (hopefully).

4.75/5 - Great start, looking forward to issue #2

[jmatt]

However, I'm guessing that the drips of red is why you say he painted it on?

I agree that Bloodsquirt is a little (too?) goofy but as he's hallucinating it didn't really bother me.

He grabs a bucket of paint and a brush and heads out to the maintenance shed.

I'm willing to let Bloodsquirt play out. Reminds me of Bat-Mite.

[bygranddesign]

I thought of the blood spot on his chest at the end as another hallucination- Ray imagining himself as a Bloodshot .. And/Or just a symbolic way of showing how "Bloodshot" is back.

[Brapbrap]

I thought of the blood spot on his chest at the end as another hallucination- Ray imagining himself as a Bloodshot .. And/Or just a symbolic way of showing how "Bloodshot" is back.

look at the page before, he quite clearly paints his shirt with red

[jmatt]

I thought of the blood spot on his chest at the end as another hallucination- Ray imagining himself as a Bloodshot .. And/Or just a symbolic way of showing how "Bloodshot" is back.

look at the page before, he quite clearly paints his shirt with red

I've done this before; you're concentrating so much on the dialogue and story that you're not really paying attention to what's happening in the panel.

[String]

Characterization is great.
Art is phenomenal.
Bloodsquirt is creepy.

My main nitpick is with Kay, their scenes together were very good, but it reminded me too much of the Peter's interludes with 'his' Kris from Omegas. I hope there's more to her presence but seeing her here was great.

Otherwise, a terrific issue.

[Keith]

Characterization is great.
Art is phenomenal.
Bloodsquirt is creepy.

My main nitpick is with Kay, their scenes together were very good, but it reminded me too much of the Peter's interludes with 'his' Kris from Omegas. I hope there's more to her presence but seeing her here was great.

Otherwise, a terrific issue.

I'd say the difference there is Pete was wanting to manifest Flamingo and Joe for companionship. Bloodshot is not wanting this, not even on a subconscious level, which says it's either an outside force (the nanites) or showing just how looney tunes he's become.

[bygranddesign]

I thought of the blood spot on his chest at the end as another hallucination- Ray imagining himself as a Bloodshot .. And/Or just a symbolic way of showing how "Bloodshot" is back.

look at the page before, he quite clearly paints his shirt with red

I've done this before; you're concentrating so much on the dialogue and story that you're not really paying attention to what's happening in the panel.

Yep ... I see it now. Cool

[Dallow Spicer1]

I thought of the blood spot on his chest at the end as another hallucination- Ray imagining himself as a Bloodshot .. And/Or just a symbolic way of showing how "Bloodshot" is back.

look at the page before, he quite clearly paints his shirt with red

I've done this before; you're concentrating so much on the dialogue and story that you're not really paying attention to what's happening in the panel.

Yep I did exactly that! This is one of the great things about fan websites, someone else sees detail you can miss, and in this case the detail made a big difference to my enjoyment of the end of this book!

[jmatt]

My main nitpick is with Kay, their scenes together were very good, but it reminded me too much of the Peter's interludes with 'his' Kris from Omegas. I hope there's more to her presence but seeing her here was great.

While there was a very mild hint of it, I'm glad Lemire didn't decide to invent a prior romantic relationship with Kay, with each of the character's calling each other "baby" and whatnot. The typical 'love lost' template calls for it, I'm just glad he didn't oblige.

[jmatt]

However, I'm guessing that the drips of red is why you say he painted it on?

I agree that Bloodsquirt is a little (too?) goofy but as he's hallucinating it didn't really bother me.

He grabs a bucket of paint and a brush and heads out to the maintenance shed.

I'm willing to let Bloodsquirt play out. Reminds me of Bat-Mite.

Nailed it! From the Lemire interview:

...and then I started to think about actually including this warped, twisted little Bat-Mite-like character into the book and it just all clicked together.

[leonmallett]

A real miss for me. I can see from other comments here that I am swimming against the tide, but I really see no point in trying to 'reinvent' the Bloodshot character. It saddens me that creators cannot work with what is a nice simple high concept, and in my humble opinion there was a lot there to work with without going this route.

Maybe Lemire will pull it around, and i will better engage with what he does on this series, but after this issue I am far from convinced. He commented somewhere about humanizing the character and building up a strong support cast, yet the only character from that support in this issue that I actually cared for was 'Kay'. Which again makes me wonder: what was the point?

Bloodsquirt? Ugh, no thanks.

[jmatt]

...no point in trying to 'reinvent' the Bloodshot character. ...Maybe Lemire will pull it around...

Give it a chance. I'm sure we've not seen the end of the nanite-fueled revenge machine we've all come to know and love.

I see the change as a natural progression for the character, introducing a human side to the character that he's been wondering about since the beginning.

[leonmallett]

...no point in trying to 'reinvent' the Bloodshot character. ...Maybe Lemire will pull it around...

Give it a chance. I'm sure we've not seen the end of the nanite-fueled revenge machine we've all come to know and love.

I see the change as a natural progression for the character, introducing a human side to the character that he's been wondering about since the beginning.

Basically shape-shifting/were-Bloodshot? Hmm.

[Donovan]

A real miss for me. I can see from other comments here that I am swimming against the tide...

You're not alone. I was sort of shocked that a book I found really underwhelming was so popular. I love Mico Suayan's art, but some of this book did feel a bit rushed for me. LaRosa's art from upcoming issues looks flawless.

He commented somewhere about humanizing the character and building up a strong support cast, yet the only character from that support in this issue that I actually cared for was 'Kay'.

I agree with this statement, but the FCBD issue helped me relate to the main character a lot more. It's too bad chronologically they couldn't have been released in the right order.

Bloodsquirt? Ugh, no thanks.

Yeah, I'm not sold on that concept either.

Yet.

Give it a chance.

Yeah, it's one issue in. Plenty of room to grow, and it's just the opening beat in what looks to be a long arc! I think in the end for me, it was just a first step that didn't hook me. At all. Not bad or awful, but not as good as I thought/hoped it was going to be.

At least, not yet.

[Moots]

Something that only struck my mind recently was the fact that i thought Ray was black (as seen in bloodshot #0). Was this not the Ray that we now know as Bloodshot or is this some continuity error? It really does not affect the story and i love where this series is going but it was just something that grabbed my attention.

//Lucas

[hunter_peterson]

Something that only struck my mind recently was the fact that i thought Ray was black (as seen in bloodshot #0). Was this not the Ray that we now know as Bloodshot or is this some continuity error? It really does not affect the story and i love where this series is going but it was just something that grabbed my attention.

//Lucas

I don't think Bloodshot CAN be consistently belonging to any phenotypical group. He's had shapeshifting powers for years- his original ethnicity probably melted away over time. But yeah, I prefer him drawn as African-American.

[bygranddesign]

Something that only struck my mind recently was the fact that i thought Ray was black (as seen in bloodshot #0). Was this not the Ray that we now know as Bloodshot or is this some continuity error? It really does not affect the story and i love where this series is going but it was just something that grabbed my attention.

//Lucas

I don't think Bloodshot CAN be consistently belonging to any phenotypical group. He's had shapeshifting powers for years- his original ethnicity probably melted away over time. But yeah, I prefer him drawn as African-American.

Yeah, with Kind-T writing both Bloodshot #0 .. and co-writing The Valiant ... I don't think there was a continuity issue here.

I just think B.S has a very involved backstory of false memories / With possibly many host bodies / souls absorbed within the nanites - Kay just chose Ray as the person for Bloodshot to become - (maybe he was the last host body for the nanites?)

[SJS4]

Bloodshot has been written/drawn as a white guy since issue #1. All of his implanted memories are as a white guy. And being white isn't just skin color. A person of African descent will have different bome structure than someone of European descent.

In BS#0 we learned that there were many Bloodshots before the current incarnation (although we don't know the exact number). One of those earlier incarnations was black, but he is clearly not the same guy in the current series. There is no continuity error in Bloodshot Reborn. If they did make him black now, THAT would be a change.

[QUARTZ]

I think he's a white guy. A white and red guy. That's about as far as I think about it; really shouldn't make much difference to the story because he is really an amalgam of a lot of peeps. I would be careful about saying a black person's bone structure is different than a white person's because a black person could have more in common genetically to a group of white people and vice versa. The skin gene is a very miniscule portion of our whole genetic makeup.