Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #3 Discussion

[grendeljd]

If anyone would like to hear our OTV:VCR podcast discussing/reviewing this issue, please follow the link;

http://onlythevaliant.com/episodes/vcr194/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks to any who listen in

[TheeBaldMoose]

The book, I thought, was decent. Much better than the other two books.

I didn't mind "Moon", for an engram, I thought it was decent, for a made up story that was implanted in his brain.

Book as a whole was better than the first two, had some form of direction. Really hope this book is starting to take shape, and may just have a direction. We are supposed to have 8 books with this line, let's hope there is a point to all of this (probably not)

[Dallow Spicer1]

RISING SPIRIT IS BY FAR THE BEST BLOODSHOT SERIES OF ANY SO FAR.....said no one ever!!!

This was poor, pretty poor. The story seems to jump around and although it starts off interesting, after a couple pages it loses my interest. The art doesn’t help either, the faces and characters are almost indistinguishable. For example, is Gavin and Director Cormac the same person? Why do they keep telling her “I’m serious Olga”?

Is Olga the woman tied up on the bed by the Russians?

2/5 - laughable in parts...not in a good way

[jmatt]

OMG, shoot me now. I don't know what's worse: the art, the dialogue or the plot.

This is horrendous. What are they doing to this title with a movie in the works? To go from the Lemire run to this... it's mind boggling. This is worse than Dead Drop.

[nonplayer]

I'm going to have to drop this titile. Im not enjoying it. Number 4 had better have something exciting or interesting and familiar to a good comic or its bye bye whoever your name is ray vinelly moon.
How can I trust any up and coming series with this garbage as the obvious new normal.
I am so done with DMG

[jmatt]

Looking back at my comment, it's harsh. And I don't like being harsh. Usually if my opinion on something is borderline, I'll just keep my mouth shut.

But I'm still not getting this title... maybe it's me. My X-O reread is reminding me that sometimes when you don't read issues back to back, it's harder to appreciate what the writer was trying to achieve. Perhaps I will wait for the next issue and reread them.

I have to say, I never thought I'd see Bloodshot portrayed as some bowler and monocle wearing, mustachioed dandy from the gay 90s, even if was just an engram.

The art is lacking. Very little background. Too many Liefeld-esque pinched face scowls. That panel where they're sitting in the back of the chopper before jumping out... it looks like a subway car or something.

Gunny's dialogue (assuming that's him) is a cliche. The Russian "Das fricking vidaniya *&^%&er"... it's like a line from a bad Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

I'm hoping that this will pull together and make me eat my words.

[grendeljd]

Looking back at my comment, it's harsh. And I don't like being harsh. Usually if my opinion on something is borderline, I'll just keep my mouth shut.

But I'm still not getting this title... maybe it's me. My X-O reread is reminding me that sometimes when you don't read issues back to back, it's harder to appreciate what the writer was trying to achieve. Perhaps I will wait for the next issue and reread them.

I have to say, I never thought I'd see Bloodshot portrayed as some bowler and monocle wearing, mustachioed dandy from the gay 90s, even if was just an engram.

The art is lacking. Very little background. Too many Liefeld-esque pinched face scowls. That panel where they're sitting in the back of the chopper before jumping out... it looks like a subway car or something.

Gunny's dialogue (assuming that's him) is a cliche. The Russian "Das fricking vidaniya *&^%&er"... it's like a line from a bad Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

I'm hoping that this will pull together and make me eat my words.

I know how you feel, man. I also prefer to reserve comment on anything I don’t particularly care for as well. But when it’s as poorly done as this series has been so far, I don’t think it’s wrong to speak out about it. I try to stay constructive with negative commentary when I do post it, but this book so far has been a real challenge for me personally to not lash out at it.

I’m scratching my head in disbelief over how poor this series is, I think it continues to be the worst comic VEI has made to date, even dipping below the Dead Drop standard low watermark. That comic at least had excellent art by Adam Gorham. This... has absolutely nothing going for it.

And I do feel bad saying that, because I still do *not* think that the creative people involved are *trying* to do a bad job here... it’s just not coming together, and I think it’s based on a poor choice of a basic story skeleton to build from. We just don’t need to see such a repetitive story re-treading the idea of the memory implants in such an uninspired manner.

The thing that especially drove me nuts in this issue was the bit of dialogue along the lines of “Look at his eyes, maybe we should call him Bloodshot...” Seriously? We need a ret-conned new “origin” of his code name? And it’s a flippant, offhand, garbage comment like that?!

He’s called Bloodshot because of the SIGNATURE RED CIRCLE ON HIS CHEST. Not because someone said “hey, he’s got bloodshot eyes!”. What’s coming in the next captivating chapter in this epic re-telling of the origin of Bloodshots name... will someone else make a stunning correlation to that comment and exclaim “hey yeah, and that circle on his chest kind of looks like a BIG Blood-shot too! I *second* the nickname idea!”

[jmatt]

... I think it’s based on a poor choice of a basic story skeleton to build from. We just don’t need to see such a repetitive story re-treading the idea of the memory implants in such an uninspired manner.

Agreed on all of your points. But like you, I think the entire premise for the arc is unnecessary and misguided. And it may not even be Grevioux's fault, perhaps he was asked to do (yet another) origin arc.

But it reads like he was thrown the keys to the title and allowed to do whatever he wanted. And it's natural that he'd want to kind of 'start at the beginning' to make it his own -- canon notwithstanding, mostly. That's why we're seeing the origin of his name, as you point out. Really? Do we really need retread the origin of his very name five years into the book?

This is the problem with bringing in new management in a lot of cases. They want to clear the decks and make it their own.

[Bl00dsh0t]

Finally got around to reading this.

I didn't mind the issue to be honest but really, we don't need more of Bloodshot's origin or examples of implanted memories. I thought Duane Swierczynki's run covered that off really well, as did Kindt's #0 issue too.

This arc doesn't have any cohesiveness to it. Just a bunch of single issues exploring the idea of implanted memories.

2.5/5.

[QUARTZ]

I really hope when they reboot X-O it's nothing like this, or I'm pretty much done with Valiant (excluding Toyo Harada's series I need to know how that wraps up!). Bloodshot went from my favorite Valiant character to not being able to read a single issue....total garbage.