Resurrected superpowered corpse Bloodshot is continuing on the trail of his past self to find out what he is now that he's no longer Raymond Garrison. His search leads him to Vietnam, where a superhuman Triad assassin named Warcat is out for his blood. Their fight is short-lived, however, as Voodoo warrior Shadowman comes onto the scene and draws their attention to a a mechanical army of the living dead, and the unwilling trio have to fight for their lives...
This two-parter in Acclaim actioner Bloodshot has a well-written action story, which delves both into Bloodshot's past, and present.
The present story is ok, albeit a bit bare, and there's an interesting flashback story with Raymond Garrison, which, due to its content, is an important memory for Bloodshot to be looking answers from, rather than just being pointless padding.
Unfortunately the narration in these two issues can get a bit long winded
Bloodshot is a good main character with a a neat superpower set, and one that makes sense, and doesn't feel overpowering.
Fellow Acclaim character Shadowman is decent in this story. While he unfortunately doesn't actually interact with Bloodshot much until the end, he's not just here for name value. His presence is actually genuinely important to the story, in more ways than one! This story also serves as a neat backdoor pilot if you will. It may entice you to pick up his own series!...Of course I would recommend you not do that, because while it may be the second best Shadowman series there is, that doesn't mean it's all that good.
Warcat is a confusing character. Her entire involvement in this story is unexplained, and there's little to her besides being seductive, and possibly murderous. While her background is partially explained in a brief narration box, it's still a tad confusing why she's a human cat. Also, given that the cat getup isn't a costume, does that mean she's naked? Then 1, where are her proper boobs and 'netherregions', and 2, does that mean sex with her is bestiality?...No, I'm not saying that to be immature, Bloodshot actually bangs her. Geez, no wonder he put a bullet in his brain in the flashforward three issues ago!
D.O.A. Agent Sinclair is completely wasted, not because he's just not used much, but because his scene at the end of this story adds so much, yet the character did so little else in this story, and in future issues.
Like I said, The dialogue in these two issues is longwinded sometimes. "Re-read lines. Scan Between. Doubletalk. Governmentspeak. Stone cold Garrison don't give a damn denial. Look see what he wouldn't couldn't. Casualties of war could learn, did learn. They just had no interest in D.O.A.'s teachings. Their schooling: Lives ended too soon, and for no good reason. Their diploma: A shrieking passion for life fueled by rage and grief. Their gold star: Aluminium naptheate and aluminium palmate. Petroleum gel, aka napalm. Sticks to everything. Burns at 1562 degrees Fahrenheit. School's out for summer."
Other dialogue is amusing. "Shurikens. Useless weapons...Mycotoxins on the tip are another story. Ochratoxin-Ergotamine-Aflatoxin. Grain-based fungal derivatives. Central nervous system decimation. Liver and kidney failure. Nature's way of saying 'Die screaming!'."
The art in these issues is mostly pretty good, despite some odd angles to faces here and there. There's one moment of off continuity though, between the end of Issue #11 and the start of #12, involving Bloodshot's attire, and how he's suddenly wearing them, despite having no time in the zombie attack to put them on.
Another problem is the placement of some narration boxes that should have been before the final panel with Sinclair, but instead, you'll read his dialogue, then the boxes, effectively out of order because of this, which loses the effect a bit.
The cover to Issue #11 is great! It's got neat and dynamic character poses, and plenty going on! Issue #12's cover on the other hand, is not so good. The characters are posed decently, but the nothing background, which also happens to be bright pink does not add to anything.
This is a quite good two-parter of Bloodshot, even if its story doesn't tell quite enough...
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