Bloodshot Reborn Vol #I Colorado
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Mico Suayan
Valiant Entertainment
This is a book I delved into for one reason, and only one reason; it was written by fellow Canadian Jeff Lemire.
Lemire has a growing resume of fine reads to his credit, his solid takeover on the previously floundering Green Arrow, Sweet Tooth and Descender, so I’m willing to give most of his work a try.
In this case I was not into Bloodshot when it debuted from Valiant way back in 1992, so went in a tad blind.
Lemire though provided enough information to get me up to speed on the nanite-enhanced assassin who was Bloodshot.
As this book starts though, things have changed.
The nanites are gone, and the now human Ray Garrison (an assumed name), is a handyman by day at a dump motel.
By night he’s snorting drugs and drinking to excess to forget his blood-soaked past.
Then someone that looks a lot like Bloodshot goes on a kill spree and Garrison is pushed to intervene. The opus comes from apparent hallucinations of a dead girl he had feelings for, a cartoon sidekick who seems very much a homage to Eric Powell’s Good sidekick Franky.
Franky is even drawn more a cartoon, than the rest of Mico Suayan’s art, which is a tad weird. I like it.
Lemire does a great job of showing Garrison fighting to maintain his humanity and against the siren lure of the nanites, while also seeming to grow ever less in touch with reality.
Being along for Lemire’s deconstruction of the Bloodshot character was a great read in Vol #I, and it will be interesting to see how he begins to rebuild the story moving forward. At least with Lemire as the writer you can trust it will be done well.
Doc Savage: The Spider’s Web #1
Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Cezar Razek
Dynamite Comic
Excuse me for a moment. I need to get past a big yawn, and wipe the sleep out of my eyes — Ah yes that’s better.
Sorry about that but I’m afraid Doc Savage: The Spider’s Web #1 was generally an uninspired snore-fest.
The art by Cezar Razek was uninspired, mundane, average at best stuff.
Chris Robinson’s story was in lock-step with the art.
Doc Savage should be about, well Doc Savage. Yes he has a support team, but in a first issue you should make the title character shine in his debut. Here he is a bit player set against a cast of his support crew.
Even in the action scene of an earthquake Savage makes a singular rescue and finds a dead body. That is the heroics of a police officer or firefighter on any given day as part of their job.
Doc Savage should be larger than life in his heroics. He was not.
This was just bad enough that I won’t be cracking open #2 when it arrives unless I am having trouble sleeping.
