Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #2 continues the story of Bloodshot’s attempt at stopping Lilt’s invasion of the M.E.R.O. base and his attempted kidnapping of Malgam. The first issue of this miniseries was really quite strong, but will this issue live up to the promise of the first?
The story
I really liked what Joe Harris did in issue #1, turning Bloodshot into the ultimate badass. Harris did a terrific job at expanding Bloodshot’s power set and making him seem like more than just another powered superbeing, making him appear more muted and powerful than ever. Unfortunately, that has all been thrown to the wayside with issue #2.
The pacing of the story is rather convoluted and distracting at times. In fact, there were a few scenes where I was left wondering just what happened, or how a character arrived at a particular place. The dialogue doesn’t fair much better, particularly with Lilt who almost appears to simply be rephrasing anything that’s said to him into some form of cliched doom-and-gloom statement.
As for Bloodshot, we just get more of the same old. The cool tech-control powers from issue #1 aren’t even mentioned, and he even has to rely on Livewire’s abilities to really have any sort of control over his nanites and the M.E.R.O. facility’s computer system.
There is a really cool battle sequence between Bloodshot and Lilt which I really enjoyed involving Bloodshot getting impaled then, of course, coming back to life to bring on the kick-ass, and presumably ending in Lilt’s death (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!). Now that Malgam is on the loose, I wonder what he’ll do next – and whether we’ll see another copy of the X-O armor around (I won’t spoil that one).
The art
While I was very excited by Trevor Hairsine’s work in the first issue, I cannot say the same for issue #2. Overall, the pencils seemed rushed and unfinished which was very disappointing. In fact, aside from a few fairly solid panels, this doesn’t even look like the same artist which is a real shame. I’m not sure if it is necessarily Hairsine at fault or the inker, but with the high quality of art we’ve seen from Valiant in the past, I was expecting quite a bit more.
Overall
While I enjoyed parts of this issue, it is definitely the weakest Armor Hunters tie-in of the bunch, which is a shame after the great promise this miniseries showed with issue #1. If Valiant has big plans for Bloodshot for the future, the quality of ANY issue featuring him should be top-notch and this issue is anything but that.
Rating
[author-post-rating]
Issue information
Released August 20, 2014
Written by Joe Harris
Art by Trevor Hairsine
Colors by Dave Baron
Covers by Phillip Tan and Donovan Santiago
Price: $3.99
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Capshaw
Nice Review Martin and we certainly share the same kinds of disapointment and frustration.
I will get this off my chest right away, Harris does not have a good grasp of any of the principal characters.
And the artwork, at times was poor…very poor.
My first gripe was with the opening page. And it was the artist interpretation of Malgam. In other books he is seen as an over bearing brute, while in this book, and more specifically, that opening page he looks small and weak and insignificant compared to Lilt – who I don’t remember being all that towering.
Speaking of Lilt – how annoying was he in this book! Harris is totally at fault with the way he has Lilt continuously expressing that everyone is doomed – and yeah, we totally get you don’t want to be down on Earth, enough with the complaining.
The book almost immediately kicks into a full on battle between Bloodshot and Lilt.
Lilt has been tasked with destroying MERO (a place that the Armor has infected) and retrieving Malgam – a task that the hounds could not do. Lilt really does not want to be down on Earth fetching Malgam but he is a Hunter who respects the chain of command and obeys the orders dished out by Primary Reebo.
The battle is actually quite good and exciting and is well paced. Seeing Bloodshot (who is a Primary Valiant character – we know what he is capable of) face off against Lilt, a Hunter, but one we have not seen a lot of and not quite sure on what he can do in battle. Lilt surprisingly holds his own and deals some lethal blows to Bloodshot, at one point I was sure Bloodshot was done for.
The art, for me, is at its strongest here. It is very back and forth and delivers what readers want from a Bloodshot book – blood, action and fast paced fighting.
Colonel Capshaw once again shines – the editorial team have definitely issued an instruction to make Capshaw a kick ass character. She just gets better and better. That ice queen exterior is firmly in place here, at one point basically telling Bloodshot to get up and crack on, no slouching. She has a good grasp already on Bloodshot as she hands him some protein filled rations which she knows will help him recover faster. She also does not want to leave any man behind, at one point compromising the safety of the crew to save Bloodshot.
She has the total respect of the people around her and she gets the job done. And best of all, she knows how to hold a gun and handle herself in the middle of a shoot out.
It is the second half of the book where things start to come apart. Lilt dragging Malgam up that tunnel seemed to go on forever, and nothing worth remembering was spoke. The art also took a tumble here too, especially Hairsnine drawing Malgam dangling – was not good at all.
The ending was kind of predictable – is Lilt really dead? He might have escaped.
Malgam still on the loose – how no one saw him come down that narrow tunnel is anyone’s guess and from the looks of things the armor is devouring more and more of him – I must say though the panel with his hand hanging was juicy and good – a bright spot in the second half where the art is concerned.
I am a huge continuity policeman and the editors have failed big time to keep these books flowing.
There is bound to be a slight overlap here and there, but this takes the biscuit. I am not holding out hope for the third and final issue.
But the biggest overall crime that Harris commits is in his treatment of Malgam – someone who went toe to toe with Aric a few issues ago in the X-O book, to now a small pitiful character who I no longer really care about – cheers Harris !!
2.5/5