In Bloodshot Rising Spirit #7, A rogue Project Rising Spirit agent is trying to finally show Bloodshot his true origin. Will he succeed? And Project Rising Spirit is under attack! Who will be left standing when the dust settles?

After five somewhat forgettable issues, this series is starting to find its feet. Issue #6 was a step in the right direction, and Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #7 continues that direction. It almost is enough to make me wish we had more than an issue left in this series. That’s quite the turnaround given I was genuinely tempted to not read the series after the third issue. That would have meant not even touching the review copies). But with the turn around in the series, possibly aided by the addition of Eliot Rahal, I found myself actually looking forward to this issue with cautious optimism.

This issue delivers what I have been hoping for from this series since the first issue. Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #7 actually has me looking forward to the next issue in this series. The comic has me finally anticipating the upcoming Bloodshot series coming later this year when Rising Spirit concludes.

There is one glaring problem with the comic. There’s an oddly distorted Bloodshot in the air from a slightly odd perspective. And that, honestly, is the only nit for me to pick here, which is a far cry from the first five issue in the series.

At the end of the day, this isn’t enough to redeem the series. Rahal will end the series on a high note if he keeps going like this.

Story: Kevin Grevious, Eliot Rahal
Art: Rags Morales and John K. Snyder III
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse Letterer: Simon Bowland
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.

How do you stop an unstoppable weapon?

New story arc! “A GUY NAMED RAY,” Part 1. Two of the leaders of the Bloodshot team find themselves on thin ice with their bosses at Project Rising Spirit. With little left to lose, they decide to take down PRS—and they have just the perfect weapon to use!

It’s always tough to start reading a comic in a series that has consistently failed to meet expectations, especially when that series was never one you were overly excited for or interested in. Such is the case with Bloodshot: Rising Spirit. After the last couple of issues, I was about ready to check out of the series and wait for September’s new Bloodshot series.

While I won’t say that Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #6 has made me a believer in the series (I fear it’s too late for that), what I will say is that with Eliot Rahal coming on board to help with scripting duties (even though he’s not credited in the cover image above), I at least had a little faith that we’d get a stronger issue than we’d seen before – and we did.

Where issue #5 was essentially a prolonged fight scene between Bloodshot and the H.A.R.D. Corps member Gunslinger that had some cool sequences, it ultimately fell flat with the story. This issue doesn’t fall flat, and finally has some interesting sequences with Bloodshot and his struggle to adopt an identity as it’s forced upon him. The entire comic is full of condensed short stories as Bloodshot faces one identity after another, interspersed with a scientist or two commenting on the effectiveness of the new methodology of what essentially amounts to throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks.

If this was the first issue, then I’d be telling you to pick the series up; Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #6 is probably a better jumping on point in terms of quality than we’ve had all series – and since this prequel series takes place before Valiant’s first Bloodshot story since relaunching, you could actually just start here in conjunction with the recap and ignore the first five issues.

Overall, this represents a strong increase in the quality over previous issues – whether that’s due to Eliot Rahal and Rags Morales joining the team or not I’ll leave up to you. After the struggles the series has had thus far, it’s refreshing to see that there’s still hope that Bloodshot: Rising Spirit can end on a high note.

Story: Kevin Grevious, Eliot Rahal
Art: Rags Morales and John K. Snyder III
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse Letterer: Simon Bowland
Story: 8.2 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.