Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1

by Joe Harris, Trevor Hairsine and David Baron

Can we get an on-going Bloodshot book with Joe Harris please? For a character that started off, in this reviewer’s opinion, a little bland Joe Harris has really stepped up the Bloodshot game with the first entry into a three-part Armor Hunters tie-in featuring the half-human, half-robot-esque nanite man. Who also happens to be an effective and confident killing machine (excuse the pun).

Harris picks up this tie-in with part of it overlapping previous installments into this event, and manages to end up in a perfect spot not only for new readers who might not have been reading Armor Hunters so far—shame on you if you aren’t—to jump on but also for fans of Bloodshot who love seeing him kicking ass, takin’ names and getting his face blown off. Seriously, that issue way back where he had no face was messed up. Harris really plays up Bloodshot’s messed up side while giving us a glimpse of what he’s been up to before Livewire recruited him in the first Armor Hunters book. Jumping back and forth between reality and memory works well and has been woven seamlessly into to the current story, giving us a reminder at just how damaged Bloodshot is while still taking the time to show he’s an arrogant, take-no-shit killing machine (pun intended that time).

For their parts, artist Trevor Hairsine and colorist David Baron really knock it out of the park. The nanites that Bloodshot uses for various tasks have a great color effect to them while the palette chosen for the various flash back scenes is bright and presents a great contrast to the rest of the book. Hairsine, for his efforts, shines through from things like Malgams face to the insane action between Bloodshot and one of the Armor Hunter’s hounds. Everything looks the way it should, while still be stylized in his own way. Hairsine has done some great issues of X-O Manowar in the past, as well as Eternal Warrior and a few Bloodshot issues, and it’s great to see him back working with Valiant characters. If this work from both Hairsine and Baron is any indication, this short tie-in could be one of the best of this event.

Admittedly, Bloodshot hasn’t always done it for me as a character, granted there’s still a bunch of issues from his solo book to catch up, but Joe Harris has really taken this badass character and made him more interesting than, arguably, he’s been in the past. Valiant is bringing its top notch talent to not only work on Armor Hunters but they’re signing them to work on future projects as well, some of them even signing contracts with them (like the recent announcement that Clay Mann has signed exclusively with Valiant). Armor Hunters: Bloodshot reminds everybody just how good Joe Harris is and let’s hope it leads to more Valiant work for him in the future. This tie-in is another great example of how things ought to be done in the comic industry. Pick this up and don’t miss the rest of Armor Hunters.