Michael Lazarus, aka Bloodshot has had a hectic few weeks, and is now enjoying a nice quiet holiday in Puerto Rico. Enjoying the serenity, and the fact that no-one is trying to kill him, he meets and hits it of with a woman named Trish. But despite trying to shut down for a week, Bloodshot keeps noticing suspicious things about a nearby hotel room, and eventually stops ignoring it is mere paranoia and decides to investigate...
Bloodshot #12 is a load of fun by this crummy series' standards! The story here isn't amazing by any definition of the words, but it's a pretty entertaining read. I really like how most of the nefarious goings-on are completely peripheral, with the main focus being Bloodshot trying to buckle down and enjoy his holiday.
A scene I really like is when Trish asks Bloodshot what he does for a living-Is he a pro wrestler? Football player? He automatically answers with this...
...I love that aspect of his nanites. He knows nothing about art, yet when backed into a corner, he can produce an immense wealth of knowledge out of nowhere, surprising himself in the process. It's a shame that it's an aspect completely wasted by this series, just like literally every other one!
When reading this story, a thought crossed my mind-Who is this guy? Twelve issues in, and we really have no idea who Bloodshot is. I don't mean that literally, as if his identity is meant to be a mystery. What I mean is that we have no idea what his personality is. What kind of alcohol shots does he prefer, what does he think of his lifestyle, and why is he a secret service agent? Why is he involved in all of this action stuff rather than just living a quiet life? Bloodshot has the personality of a silver brick, and he's only remotely enjoyable in semi-comedic circumstances
Bloodshot's dialogue in the climax is like a cheesy John Wayne movie, but that might actually be the point, given an earlier scene of him watching a Marion Morrison movie on TV.
What's definitely stupid dialogue though is when, after their date's finished, Trish asks Bloodshot into her room, but then goes against it when she notices he seems nervous about the prospect. The problem is that he didn't say anything to her that'd make him seem nervous! And then Bloodshot narrates about how "The closest I've gotten to capping off a romantic evening since I was a normal man, and I blow it"-Blow what? All you did to 'blow' your date was say "Well, I...I" and then your date immediately interrupted you and waffled on about how "Oh, but if you're not in the mood, I understand".
More on the subject of dialogue, there's a weird emphasis at one point. It feels like this line should be "...And let them sort it out", referring to Bloodshot letting the police arrest the crooks at the end instead of getting more involved than he already has, but instead, the bold emphasis is on 'sort', which just feels off.
The artwork here is decent, but there are a couple of missteps. Bloodshot's pistol is still drawn ridiculously huge, the mobster guy Alberto Cordova has Youngblood's Disease, the sound effect for 'knock' is 'nok' (what the hell?) and the inking of dialogue is pretty crummy in a couple of spots. As for the humorous cover, it's very good!
All in all, this is a surprisingly decent issue of Bloodshot! Next to #2, it's the only issue thus far that I could genuinely label 'good', rather than 'mediocre' or 'crummy'. Pretty sad that 'surprisingly decent' is a high form of compliment for Bloodshot. What's better, however, is that Issue #14 is actually damn good! If you're a fan of the current Bloodshot series, and are curious about the original incarnation, I recommend nothing from it besides those 2 issues...
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