Comic Info
Comic Name: Bloodshot U.S.A./Bloodshot Reborn
Publisher: Valiant Comics
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Artist
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2017
Bloodshot U.S.A. #1 Variant
Reprints Bloodshot U.S.A. #1-4 and Bloodshot Reborn #0 (October 2016-March 2017). Project Rising Spirit’s plan is about to come to fruition. The city of New York has been infected with the Bloodshot virus and the nanites are turning people into killers by taking over their bodies. Bloodshot and the Bloodshot Squad are in a race against time to get to New York and stop the massacre with the help of Unity, but the key to stopping the nanites might be Kay McHenry aka Deathmate!
Written by Jeff Lemire, Bloodshot U.S.A. is a Valiant Comics superhero comic book collection. Following Bloodshot Reborn Volume 4: Bloodshot Island, the collection features art by Doug Brathwaite and Renato Guedes. The issues in the collection were also collected as part of Bloodshot Reborn Deluxe Edition—Volume 2.
Bloodshot was one of the better comics of the Valiant relaunch, and Bloodshot Reborn took it a step further. The story reads like a comic book but also feels like any (solid) action movie you might have seen.
The last volume of Bloodshot Reborn was strong, but the idea that Project Rising Spirit would go through all this trouble to set-up a fake island scenario to test Deathmate seemed pretty implausible. This volume seeks to explain it and give the whole concept more direction. It still seems like too much work when something else could have been done, but at least it took away the randomness of Bloodshot Island and Deathmate’s tie to the infection.
Bloodshot Reborn #0
The basic concept of the story has a Watchmen feel to it. Project Rising Spirit’s goal is essentially to cause a disaster and profit from cleaning it up (instead of bringing the world together). The first issue of the story has a jab at Donald Trump (who was still a candidate in the final days of the election) by having the corrupt Project Rising Spirit’s Agent Kozol said “…it should be an easy matter of getting a figurehead into the Oval Office—I hear Trump wants to run—and then, gentlemen…then we rule the world”…take it as you will, but it was some great foreshadowing of future political events.
The saddest thing about this collection is that it is the end of the Bloodshot Reborn series. I really enjoyed the title and seeing where the story would go was a fun ride. Jeff Lemire has a lot of great planning when it comes to his titles and this planning helps make better than average comics. With something like Sweet Tooth he showed he could deliver a thought provoking science fiction comic and with Bloodshot Reborn he demonstrated an action packed thriller which was still deeper than most. While this is technically the end of Bloodshot Reborn, Lemire relaunched the series again as Bloodshot Salvation later in 2017. Bloodshot U.S.A. is followed Bloodshot Salvation 1: The Book of Revenge.
Related Links:
