Bloodshot #6 Discussion

[greg]

And have they ever said for sure who the girl was at the begining of issue one that downed the drone? or is it still open to interpretation? been listening to onlythevaliant podcast (great show) and the last one i listened to there was still some debate on who she was

They haven't said for sure, but it's likely she was one of the children PRS uses for various missions.

[Phoenix8008]

And have they ever said for sure who the girl was at the begining of issue one that downed the drone? or is it still open to interpretation? been listening to onlythevaliant podcast (great show) and the last one i listened to there was still some debate on who she was

They haven't said for sure, but it's likely she was one of the children PRS uses for various missions.

I would disagree. I think that whole scenario including the girl who downed the drone was set up by Keuratic to draw in Bloodshot specifically. So I'd say that girl is probably a Harbinger that works for Keuratic, maybe someone else he saved from PRS.

[BugsySig]

And have they ever said for sure who the girl was at the begining of issue one that downed the drone? or is it still open to interpretation? been listening to onlythevaliant podcast (great show) and the last one i listened to there was still some debate on who she was

They haven't said for sure, but it's likely she was one of the children PRS uses for various missions.

I would disagree. I think that whole scenario including the girl who downed the drone was set up by Keuratic to draw in Bloodshot specifically. So I'd say that girl is probably a Harbinger that works for Keuratic, maybe someone else he saved from PRS.

I agree. PRS was using the drone as the reason for sending in BS, but they were really aft the kid more than likely. Since Kuretich was there and ready for him, it would make sense that she works for/with Kuretich.

[400yrs]

3/5. The story itself is fine, but Chainsaw is pretty weak design-wise. There's nothing distinguishing about any of the characters aside from the dude strapped into the machine. Seems like a very weak 90s throw-away villain team.

[BugsySig]

3/5. The story itself is fine, but Chainsaw is pretty weak design-wise. There's nothing distinguishing about any of the characters aside from the dude strapped into the machine. Seems like a very weak 90s throw-away villain team.

That's exactly what they were/are. They were crappy 90s villains who were killed off in 2 issues. And now history is repeating itself. They don't need any depth beyond looking threatening and to die in gruesome ways. It's their only purpose in life.

[Dallow Spicer1]

First off let me say I do enjoy Bloodshot....but!

I was a little disappointed with this issue for the following reasons:

1) as mentioned by others, the design of the Chainsaw team was poor and didn't seem to have any logic other than 'looking scary'!
2) How quickly does Bloodshot heal? His arm was broken and the bone sticking out yet he was still able to use it later on? His healing factor is an issue to me because there's no sense of danger or threat in the book if he gets shot to pieces but then gets up and carries on? I had the same concerns with Armstrong getting an arrow in each eye, it hardly phased him and he was still cracking funnies? I'd prefer the lead characters to have more vulnerabilities.
3) Too much shooting/fight scenes, gets tedious when it's over done.
4) Small bug bear, but why does Bloodshot always ended up having his shirt ripped/shot/blown off? Whilst it's no doubt to show the red circle for 'character branding' purposes it just doesn't make sense?

That said, I've enjoyed the storyline from issues 1-5, big things are round the corner with the Harbinger Wars story so I'm confident this was just an 'off' issue. 2.5 out of 5

[jmatt]

The story is moving forward well enough, and the book had a great moment with the compound fracture. Oh, and the "pop a cold one line" was great.

But the art isn't working for me. The art is very blobby and undefined, not crisp and with very little detail and pretty non-existent backgrounds for much of it. And there's like 4 colors in the entire thing. It very much looks like a Malibu title circa 1995.

That said, I like that Garcia draws Bloodshot as nearly emotionless no matter what's going on. It's so much better than endless grimacing and warcries.

I kinda don't like that his collective nanitic alter-ego is now known as "The Kid". It's better without a title.

And what would a Bloodshot issue be without a panel with him being riddled to pieces by heavy machine gun fire? A second later he seems entirely unaffected by it.

I dunno. I would have to list this book as the least impressive of the lot at the moment.

[grendeljd]

Read #6 last week. Liked it.

Just re-read #5 & #6 together last night. Really liked them, even more.

#6 was highly entertaining... great action sequences, even if Chainsaw are not the best designed group of 'villains' I've ever seen. I'm tending to agree with the sentiment around the boards here that they still look a bit like rejected 90's characters, though I do think they convey the feel of experimental franken-borg's quite well. I would have liked to see less exaggerated designs, personally - particularly for 'Gunner'. I really liked how Bloodshot dealt with him! And yeah, the 'ulna to the jugular' was awesome

The art was great this issue, I really enjoyed looking over it more slowly on the second read through - Garcia continues to impress me, and I'm really glad he is the main guy in both story arcs so far. Love the Lozzi cover!

I'm also very glad to see the ladies play a big part [Kara - loved how the nanites involved her in this issue, and how much she kicked squee!], and/or have some good character development [Melissa & Gamma]. I like Gamma quite a bit, looking forward to finding out more about her.

Also curious about the Harbinger kid that broke out at the end - who is he going to turn out to be? I did think it a bit odd he got out so easily, though breaking your glass cell wall and getting out of the whole PRS complex are two very different endeavours... who's to say that kid hadn't tried it before & failed, but upon seeing Bloodshot break in he probably figures he has a shot at getting out. Plus, he is clearly *SQUEE* at him and wants a confrontation...

Anyone else wondering if Kuretich will end up being involved in the HARD Corps eventually? A 'bad PRS scientist turned good' scenario? Well, maybe not 'good' - there are some definite grey areas to the concept of HARD Corps that would be great if explored...

[grendeljd]

2) How quickly does Bloodshot heal? His arm was broken and the bone sticking out yet he was still able to use it later on? His healing factor is an issue to me because there's no sense of danger or threat in the book if he gets shot to pieces but then gets up and carries on? I had the same concerns with Armstrong getting an arrow in each eye, it hardly phased him and he was still cracking funnies? I'd prefer the lead characters to have more vulnerabilities.

And what would a Bloodshot issue be without a panel with him being riddled to pieces by heavy machine gun fire? A second later he seems entirely unaffected by it.

Personally, I'm liking how Bloodshot's abilities are dealt with. He is nearly unstoppable, but there are ways to take him out. We've seen his vulnerability to EMP, and he may be tough to take down physically via gunfire [or other] damage, but if he was stuck in a situation where he takes that damage too rapidly for the nanites to handle or has no access to any, errr, 'raw material' to re-build with - he will go down. I expect to see it happen where he doesn't simply stumble across a cow or random prisoner to eat, but desperately needs it during a battle.

Ya gotta wonder what that's going to do to his sanity, the fact that he may be forced to be a cannibal in order to survive sometimes... I'd like to see that explored in his character developement.

4) Small bug bear, but why does Bloodshot always ended up having his shirt ripped/shot/blown off? Whilst it's no doubt to show the red circle for 'character branding' purposes it just doesn't make sense?

I partially agree with you on this - it does happen rather often. It would make more sense if he was losing chunks of his pants too, or had a bit more of the shirt left depending on what he was hit/shot with... but ultimately he is just wearing regular clothes and they would be shredded up in action, especially considering he just runs into a hail of bullets all the time.

[MarrowMan]

I'm probably the last person on earth to comment but holy crap was this issue ever awesome, I felt a bit of the oldschool BS in this issue which was awesome.

[jmatt]

Personally, I'm liking how Bloodshot's abilities are dealt with. He is nearly unstoppable, but there are ways to take him out.

But somehow, this ability makes him less human in my eyes. He's not so much a person as a mass of engineered protoplasm plowing its way through time and space. That makes the mystery of his backstory less interesting -- unless of course, his backstory is that he was never a real human being -- now that would be interesting as we watch him struggle with what it means to try to be human ala STNG's Data.

In fact, that would be WAY more interesting than another self-healing no-memory whats-my-backstory Wolverine trope.

[hawkeyeps]

Personally, I'm liking how Bloodshot's abilities are dealt with. He is nearly unstoppable, but there are ways to take him out.

But somehow, this ability makes him less human in my eyes. He's not so much a person as a mass of engineered protoplasm plowing its way through time and space. That makes the mystery of his backstory less interesting -- unless of course, his backstory is that he was never a real human being -- now that would be interesting as we watch him struggle with what it means to try to be human ala STNG's Data.

In fact, that would be WAY more interesting than another self-healing no-memory whats-my-backstory Wolverine trope.

I think one big difference is this healing factor requires protien and then there's the whole grey goo angle, he regenerates sure but at what cost and what is the true nature of what/who he is. That's a great hook to the story and gets me wanting the next issue.

[Dallow Spicer1]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

[Blood of Heroes]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

I would think he could either reattach it or grow a new one.

[grendeljd]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

I would think he could either reattach it or grow a new one.

Agreed. I would think the nanites have his entire genetic code 'on file' and could rebuild an entire missing arm just as easily as patching up missing chunks due to gunshot wounds, provided they had enough raw material to work with.

The Acclaim version of Bloodshot basically had this ability, didn't he? I seem to recall scenes of him slapping steaks & whatever on wounds to patch them up... or is that a figment of my overactive imagination?

[Keith]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

I would think he could either reattach it or grow a new one.

Agreed. I would think the nanites have his entire genetic code 'on file' and could rebuild an entire missing arm just as easily as patching up missing chunks due to gunshot wounds, provided they had enough raw material to work with.

The Acclaim version of Bloodshot basically had this ability, didn't he? I seem to recall scenes of him slapping steaks & whatever on wounds to patch them up... or is that a figment of my overactive imagination?

You are correct, he absolutely did that. Believe a kitty cat was also employed once when he was in a pinch.

Flashing back to memories of Acclaim Bloodshot vs. Acclaim X-O... that was a durned entertaining brawl!

[Dallow Spicer1]

Yeah, completely forgot about Acclaim Bloodshot using packs of meat, cats etc! Must dig them out and re-read em!

[Carson]

I know it's been said, but holy *SQUEE*! Broken forearm bone to jugular for the win! Amazing moment. Great read. Love the supporting ladies.

[jmatt]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

Look at issue #1: Both arms, one leg 95%, other leg 25%, half his skull, a third of his face and his entire upper left torso are shot off; body partially disemboweled.

Right now, open up that issue and just look at the damage.

Anything that could recover from that is not human.

[Dallow Spicer1]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

Look at issue #1: Both arms, one leg 95%, other leg 25%, half his skull, a third of his face and his entire upper left torso are shot off; body partially disemboweled.

Right now, open up that issue and just look at the damage.

Anything that could recover from that is not human.

You're spot on Jmatt, he does seem virtually industructable! That said I'm not sure this ability enhances or detracts from the enjoyment of the character? I just hope the series doesn't become too 'samey' ie he 'dies' every issue then recovers (very quickly) then carries on his merry way. Not a problem at issue #6 but what about issue #106 or #206 (he says being super optimistic!).

I do like this book I just want it to be the best it can be (as we all do!)

[Carson]

On the Bloodshot healing capability thing, I wonder what the situation would be if he had a limb completely severed? Would a new limb grow back?

Look at issue #1: Both arms, one leg 95%, other leg 25%, half his skull, a third of his face and his entire upper left torso are shot off; body partially disemboweled.

Right now, open up that issue and just look at the damage.

Anything that could recover from that is not human.

It's hard to worry for a character that can recover from anything. This is definitly a negative to me. I was retreading early bloodshot when the Valiant masters HC came out and it made me miss a more vulnerable Bloodshot.

The art is awesome and has really grown on me. When I close my eyes and picture Bloodshot, I now see the new one rendered by Garcia (that's his name right?)

[KXXX]

It's hard to worry for a character that can recover from anything. This is definitly a negative to me. I was retreading early bloodshot when the Valiant masters HC came out and it made me miss a more vulnerable Bloodshot.

This is exactly the reason I think Superman is a *SQUEE*. I'm sure we'll see some things come up that he's vulnerable to.

[jmatt]

I'm gonna walk back some of my criticism of the art. I like the way the characters are rendered close up, it's only when we see them at a distance that I find the art to be too indistinct. And the the weird faces of the Chainsaw members didn't help.

I'm also going to say again, that I like that Bloodshot is not super muscular and not perpetually speaking through gritted teeth and scowls. In spite of everything else I've said in this thread, he looks very human and vulnerable. I'll also say that I think his musculature is very realistically displayed (since he never seems to be wearing a shirt )

[jmatt]

he does seem virtually industructable!

I think it'd be more accurate to say that he's completely destructable but just incredibly resilient.

[FormerReader]

I have to say I have been a little disappointed in the last couple issues. Bloodshot was quickly becoming my favorite title, but Chainsaw is just too ridiculous for me. I really hope they are killed off soon.