Bloodshot #12 Review: Story

 

Cover B by Jimbo Salgado

If you only check in with this blog occasionally, you're probably wondering why I'm getting to Bloodshot #12 so late. If so, I'll let you page back to yesterday's post for the explanation. Right now, I'm ready to dig into Tim Seeley's story in this spectacular final issue.

 

Valiant readers may remember that X-O Manowar stepped into this series in Bloodshot #8. He warned Bloodshot at the time that he would not tolerate a nanite-infestation to endanger the world. Now that's happened in Washington D.C., the capital of the United States. After defeating the Knights of the Black Grove, Aric heads off to check out the situation.

As we all know, superheroes don't always get along. I love how X-O Manowar has left this threat hanging. Bloodshot knows that if Aric feels he has to put him down to ensure his nanites don't endanger others, the determined 5th Century Visigoth will not hesitate to do so. (Or at least try).

 

 

Somehow, Tim Seeley finds the humor in even the most extreme situation. While it didn't surprise me to see Wilfred Wigans cracking jokes, I love how Mr. Tull is trying to show off a sense of machismo here. It's as if he's determined never to be branded with the nickname "Dull Tull" anymore.

I wonder if Mr. Tull, Peter Stanchek's old nemesis, will turn up in the new Harbinger series coming this summer.

 

 

While Tim Seeley started this series reluctant to reveal Bloodshot's thoughts, I'm glad he's revealing them here. Even when he's being attacked by KT, Bloodshot is assessing Harmony, who is spurring KT into action. While forced to defend himself against an attack by his friend, it's clear to Bloodshot that he needs to go after the puppet master.

 

Oops! Did I call her Bloodshot's friend? After the way he's been used by his friends in the past, Bloodshot's not fond of that label. Even when he needs their help to take on Harmony, everyone's still only a coworker or colleague right now. 

This most definitely includes X-O Manowar, and suggests that Bloodshot probably won't participate with the Unity superteam anytime soon.

Of course, if Doctor Tomorrow faces another universe-ending crisis, that's another matter.

 

I apologize if you're tired of me reusing the same panels for my reviews, but these early introductory scenes really plant the clues for the action that will occur in the rest of the issue. Here these shadowy government types reveal how little Harmony (aka Rampage) means to them. This will blossom later into how Rampage remade himself, and prove instrumental in Bloodshot taking him down.

It also ties in with the underlying themes of the much maligned Bloodshot Rising Spirit series. If you loved that series, you're not alone. (Just severely outnumbered by fans who couldn't perceive its greatness!)

 

 

This issue seems so prescient. Bloodshot #12 addresses how the rich and powerful regard, treat, and drive the masses toward the actions that make them more rich and powerful while making the masses only think they are better off. Bloodshot, existing outside the system, serves as our mentor and guide here. As for Rampage/Harmony, he's only deluded himself into thinking he matters.

If only more people would read Tim Seeley's Bloodshot, and take the ideas behind the series to heart, we would live in a better world.

Tim Seeley has planted so many seeds in this series. I hope he returns to nurture and harvest them. He's enriched the Valiant universe with characters like General Grayle and Eidolon, as well as organizations like Black Bar and The Burned. He's made us aware of other dangers, such as the Knights of the Black Grove. I want to know more about them, as well as all the other organizations that X-O Manowar seems to be fighting when he's not busy with billionaire media moguls and power-crazed Ukrainian warlords.

 

In some ways, it's the everyday people that I'll miss the most from Tim Seeley's series. Most recent of those was Zealot, an ordinary Black Bar soldier who gets little more than a reference and a panel in Bloodshot #2. Bloodshot dramatically affected his life without meaning or intending to.

While we got to see some of that transformation in Bloodshot #11, it is Zealot who sees a different side of Bloodshot in this final issue. It was a wonderful human moment, one of many in an all-too-human superhero series.

Thanks for writing such a great Bloodshot series, Tim Seeley. Please come back and write more!

Dragon Dave