Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #3

By Joe Harris, Trevor Hairsine, Mark Pennington and David Baron

It still has to be said that, so far, Joe Harris has really elevated Bloodshot into a character people can care about. Take that with a side note that, no, as of yet this reviewer has not read the entire run of Bloodshot proper but from what has been read it still feels like Harris’ portrayal of the character stands above the rest.

This small, three-part tie-in to the huge Armor Hunters event has been a shining star amongst other fantastic issues. Harris has made Bloodshot badass, cunning, fierce and damn near undefeatable. No matter what you through at this guy, he gets back up and he’s ready for more. The action is choreographed masterfully and even the subtle flashback scenes stand out powerfully in every issue. If this is setting up Bloodshot’s permanent membership to the Unity Squad, you can most certainly bank on that book getting even better. Still, more Bloodshot work by Harris really ought to be something we get in the future. Bravo.

Issue two had some art slip ups, mostly likely due to the ever present deadlines that these creators have to make each month, so it was great to see the art return to the kind of work we got with the first instalment. Both Trevor Hairsine (penciler) and Mark Pennington (inker) work in sync to produce great sequences, particularly those aforementioned masterfully choreographed action scenes, while colorist David Baron adds a skillful and brilliant layer that makes everything pop. Even something as subtle as the green that was chosen for the night vision eyes of Bloodshot, who normally rocks red, pops from the page. Certainly a great art team who’d be more than welcome to continue their work on Bloodshot with Harris in a solo title… if that hint wasn’t already obvious.

Really, if you like cool characters, good action and story without a huge commitment you ought to check out this quick 3-part run. It gives you a glimpse of just what you’re missing if you’re not already reading Valiant books while not being a huge money suck if for some crazy reason this just isn’t for you. So, pick this up, you can’t lose with Valiant.