With the latest arc of Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps, art legend Bart Sears makes his return to Valiant Comics! Co-writers Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart take Valiant’s one-man army deep into Africa as Bloodshot and the H.A.R.D. Corps must deal with a crisis involving oil in Nigeria and a face from Bloodshot’s extremely troubled past. There are explosions, fights, helicopters and copious amounts of bulging muscles as the “Get Some!” arc begins!
Bloodshot and the expendable commandos of H.A.R.D. Corps face off against a network of terrorists in the heart of Africa! But as Bloodshot digs into the multinational oil company that’s signing his paychecks, he’ll soon find himself confronted by the complex truth behind the terror and face-to-face with an older, scrappier, more grizzled generation of superhuman soldier from the glory days of the Cold War and secret armies. Familiar faces from the pasts of many characters pop up, making the action in Africa just a bit more personal.
As someone who hasn’t been keeping up with Bloodshot, I was worried I’d be lost in over a year’s worth of backstory, but Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart did a great job of using the recap page to give relevant information, while also writing a story that seems to be fairly easily understood on its own. The fast pace and big action in the script would be at home in any Rambo movie, but that’s a perfect fit for Bloodshot. Seeing the personal relationships develop between members of H.A.R.D. Corps led to some nice character moments, which were done well in between all the action sequences.
Bart Sears was a big artistic force in the previous Valiant universe, and it’s great to see that he’s still just as good. He gives Bloodshot a great action-packed and kinetic style, which is fantastic for all the explosions, knife fights, and rippling biceps that populate the pages. It’s also great to see that Sears’ style feels as much at home in the current generation of Valiant books as it did in the previous incarnation.
With an action-packed story that’s fairly easy to pickup, Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps is a great read. Valiant has been steadily releasing great comics and this is no exception. Issue #18 would work fantastically as an action movie scenario, but it’s even better to see it as a Bloodshot story.
Art: 8/10
Script: 8/10
Parental Concern: Moderate. Blood, guts, violence.
