While on a mission in Macau, Jillian Alcott, daughter of MI6 high-up Neville, has been kidnapped by Emil Sosa, a soul-sucking mutant, gangster, and Very Bad Thing, and superpowered special agent Bloodshot is sent in to rescue her and take Sosa out of commission...
This is a mediocre comic, which shouldn't surprise you at this stage. This issue is particularly worse, however, as due in part to the crummy storytelling, and in part of the terrible panel size and structure, barely any story is told here at all! That summary above? That was basically a complete synopsis!
Bloodshot is boring in almost all issues of his series, and this is no exception. He's a Liefeldian character, plain and simple. His powers continue to make him a Gary Lou (as in Mary Sue), and suck all suspense from the story, and he narrates constantly, which can get annoying. What's really funny is that he narrates so much, but physically says so little this issue.
Sosa is a recurring villain from other Valiant series Shadowman, and his final appearance in Valiant Comics is here. Yep, what Jack Boniface failed to do in two issues, Bloodshot does in two pages! He's pretty boring here. He has no personality to him besides 'Eeeeevviill', and the issue is so tiny that he really has nothing of note going for him as a character. Plus, a lot of his dialogue is either hilariously bad ("I will suck out your soul and dance on your corpse!!"), or really forced exposition.
Mohammed Mekkel, Sosa's new mentor, is a pretty nothing character, and maybe I'm just reading too much into things, but he seems kinda drawn like a racist caricature, which is not appreciated! (he also suffers from Youngblood's Disease). He seems to die midway through the climax, but the end reveals that he's alive, and teases for his return. I've no idea why though, as he has no character here, not even as a villain, and he never appears in anything Valiant beyond this issue, making it just seem pointless. It could be fine if the writing just had him be weaseling away to pastures new, but that's not what his narration at the end implies.....
Other Valiant comics character, Eternal Warrior Gilad makes an appearance at the start, which feels tacked on and pointless. As for Jillian, she's both a cardboard character, and a damsel-in-distress. Not a good combination!
One scene is pretty stupid. Bloodshot stabs a guy in the throat with a knife, making sure that they exhale before he does so, so there'll be no scream. *sigh* If someone gets stabbed simply in the back, regardless of how they're breathing, they won't scream, but if you hurl a Crocodile Dundee bowie knife into their neck, then they really won't friggin' scream, because you just stabbed them in the neck!
The artwork is decent, although one bit is odd. When Jillian kicks Mekkel, not only is his face abruptly turned bone white, but the scene suddenly warps into the friggin' negative zone for a panel! That is to say, the illustrator couldn't be bothered drawing an actual background, so simply had everything behind the characters bare white. With only a month to get ready, I can see why you'd take such a route, dude-Your fingers might have have gotten gangrenous otherwise!
This issue of Bloodshot is just plain boring (too boring to even want to screenshot much for). Don't bother reading it, ever.
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