Bloodshot #24

by B. Clay Moore, Will Rosado

Bloodshot is back in his own solo adventures with the return to his titular book. In anticipation for the anniversary blowout #25 next month, we get a story from Bloodshot’s past with a new creative team. Will it deliver?

The story

Set in the year 2000, a sleeper cell of communists threatens to take over the Crimean region, and it is up to Bloodshot to stop them and return the area to democracy.

The premise is simple but the story is pretty well written. As the communist takeover plot starts to unravel and Bloodshot starts to figure out how to defeat this cell, we learn that this has been nothing more than a training mission all along. Project Rising Spirit knew from the beginning when the sleeper cell would appear, what technology they possessed, and exactly how to defeat them – they just needed Bloodshot to figure all that out on his own. In the process, Bloodshot begins to doubt some of his own actions and motivations as he begins to see the parallel between the communists’ mind control technology and his own – that is until he gets turned off and taken away by PRS.

Not being familiar with B. Clay Moore’s previous work I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I enjoyed the story. It’s not perfect by far, and some of the transitions between the action Bloodshot is experiencing and what his PRS handlers are seeing can be a little jarring.

If you’re excited to pick up this book in anticipation of a new story arc, stop right there. This issue is just a one-shot filler until issue #25. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it’s kind of nice to read a self-contained story instead of arc after arc. Bloodshot #24 may not be a great issue, but it’s a fun story that does the character justice.

The art

This is the first time I’ve seen Will Rosado’s work and it was a good fit for the book. The art style is very reminiscent of early 90s books to me which fits the flashback setting of the book quite well. There is plenty of grit and almost a pulpy feel we don’t often see in comics today. Allen Passalaqua’s colors are top notch as always and serve to create a dark and spy-movie-like atmosphere.

Overall

While nothing extraordinary, Bloodshot #24 offers a good standalone story in Bloodshot’s past. The book is far from perfect, but Bloodshot fans will appreciate getting a bit more history into the Project Rising Spirit experiments; however, I hope that after issue #25, the character is put to better use with a creative team that will truly make him shine.