“Bloodshot is on the hunt. Determined to stop the violent reign of terror that plagues Colorado, Bloodshot journeys across the Rocky Mountains to destroy the remaining nanites that have caused mass murderers to spring up across the state. But will the drugs, booze, and insane visions rattling around his head put an end to his journey before it begins?”

In all honesty, were this not a Valiant publication, I’d probably have avoided this comic. The above synopsis didn’t really stir any great interest in me, and I could have quite easily skipped it, but I ended up taking a chance on the comic anyway, because, you know, it’s Valiant. Bloodshot Reborn #6 is also the start of a new story arc for the series, and as Valiant are keen to point out, it’s an ideal jumping on point to the series.

Bloodshot Reborn #6 reminds me, for some reason, of the 2007 movie No Country For Old Men; not because the story is similar, in fact it really is not, but because the comic evokes the same gritty feel I got when watching the movie. Bloodshot Reborn #6 finds Bloodshot, who is currently going by the name Ray Garrison, in the process of hunting down other people who have somehow been infected with nanites (the same nanites that turned Garrison into Bloodshot, and which he no longer possesses), in order to stop their potential murderous rampages, he needs to kill those infected with the nanites and reabsorb the tiny little machines back into his body, in the process potentially loosing the humanity he’s regained since loosing them and becoming the monster that he’s trying to stop. The character of Ray Garrison is a recognizable facsimile of a tragic hero;  a man who is trying to prevent people from being killed, even if by doing so he’s loosing a piece of himself. Combine that, and the way in which Jeff Lemire has written the issue, I felt I had a great understanding of the motivations of the character.

Butch Guice is great artist, and the way in which he draws scenes that are more about characterization than action, such as the diner scene between Ray Garrison and Magic was simply fantastic. Bloodshot Reborn #6 also had several other scenes that I really enjoyed, one of which featured a pair of (I think) federal agents in a car somewhere in Colorado;  Lemire‘s dialogue between the two any of the scenes that they’re in is an absolute highlight for me, but the banter during the road trip took the cake. When you take the dialogue in combination with the artwork from Guice, there’s a real sense of this comic being a complete package.

The funny thing about Bloodshot Reborn #6 is that I started reading the comic expecting not to enjoy it based on a preconceived notion of the character; I felt that I didn’t need to read about yet another unstoppable killing machine. However by the time I had read the last page, even though the comic didn’t wow me like almost every other Valiant comic has done in some form or another lately, I still found that I enjoyed the issue quite a bit. I was surprised to find that there was a lot more to both the comic and the character than I had anticipated, which shouldn’t be a surprise since I haven’t really had any exposure to Bloodshot up until reading this comic, and in all honesty I wasn’t expecting greatness from this issue. It was a reminder to me not to judge a book by it’s cover.

Story: Jeff Lemire Art: Butch Guice Colours: David Baron
Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Read

Valiant provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review.