Review: Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1 (Valiant Entertainment)
Spinning out of Valiant Entertainment’s epic Armor Hunters summer crossover, the world’s most dangerous weapon Bloodshot gets pressed into service by the top secret M.E.R.O., but will he remain the hunter or become the hunted in Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1.
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Trevor Hairsine
Price: £2.49/$2.99 from ComiXology
With Valiant’s Armor Hunters crossover in full effect, we’re set to see a number of spin-offs in the coming weeks for major characters like Harbinger and this one for Bloodshot. With the major capitals of Earth under siege by the Armor Hunters, the world’s most dangerous weapon, Bloodshot, has come in from the cold and into the service of the top-secret Military Extraterrestrial Reconnaissance Outpost (M.E.R.O.)! But when one of the Armor Hunters’ own stages an extraterrestrial jailbreak inside of M.E.R.O.’s fortified command center, the nanite-enhanced commando known will become the last thing standing between the galaxy’s most feared team of hunter-killers and a classified arsenal of secret weapons far too deadly for human hands!
There is plenty to satisfy Bloodshot fans in this Armor Hunters spin-off, without overwhelming new readers with back story. In fact, if anything, there may be too little back story!
Joe Harris does a fantastic job with Bloodshot’s character in this first of 4 issues as he doesn’t come off as just another crazed mercenary, but actually shows a great deal of depth and intelligence which is appreciated. His powers are put to some great uses in this issue as well, especially the scene where he accesses M.E.R.O.’s main computer systems to improve their security against the Armor Hunter hounds – it’s not only humorous, but a great indicator of Bloodshot’s character. (It’s almost as if we should believe that he is there purely of his own accord, and makes us wonder if he may have some ulterior motives for helping Livewire and the Unity team.)
The dialogue is great too, and we loved seeing more of Malgam, who is featured quite prominently in this issue. If we get to see Malgam and Bloodshot team up throughout this series, we’re sure there will be many happy Valiant fans.
Art wise, Trevor Hairsine does a great job on pencils. His line work is a little more erratic than some of the other Valiant artists, but it doesn’t take away from the book in any way. In fact, Hairsine truly shines in the action panels, and his pencils really make those scenes come alive. His depiction of Bloodshot is more stylized than we’re used to but we had no qualms with it. His character design for Malgam is truly incredible though and makes the character appear strong and much more powerful.
David Baron on colors really compliments Hairsine’s art well and this book has much more muted colors than most of the other series, but is perfect. The use of yellows through the flashback scenes really works well in setting that story apart from the rest of the story and we always appreciate being able to differentiate the two.
“This first issue sets the pace for what is sure to be another excellent miniseries from Valiant. We’ve been slightly disappointed by how little we’ve seen of Bloodshot during the Armor Hunters tie-in books, so it was great seeing him action. Armor Hunters has been an excellent event so far, and this latest chapter is one you don’t want to miss.”
