By Brandy Dykhuizen. Project Rising Spirit is back, hatching evil schemes to manipulate past and future Bloodshots into wreaking havoc onto the unsuspecting masses. No longer relegated to a Black Ops war machine, Bloodshot is now being used by Project Rising Spirit as a weapon of terror and sabotage. Tapping into the same nanites that give Bloodshot his fighting and healing powers, PRS has devised a way to create a virus that transfers aggression and chaos through the rabble. With society crumbling around them and people hard at each other’s throats, PRS can ease just the right figurehead into the oval office, appearing to swoop in and save the day. See what they did there? Tear it down to the ground to make it great again – systemic implosions are the new sit-ins.
Neither the plot nor politics of Bloodshot U.S.A. are particularly subtle (PRS even namedrops Trump as a Presidential hopeful when revealing their scheme in a flashback), but let’s be honest – just one glance at your social media feed will remind you that nuance and innuendo have become flat-out irrelevant.
Courtesy of Valiant
Bloodshot U.S.A. cuts out the bullshit by depicting pious suits sitting atop ivory towers, looking down upon the rancorous, riled-up masses while a raft of poor schlubs floats far enough away from the insanity, thinking they still might be able to repair this mess. This book does everything short of shouting, “LOOK AT THIS. THIS is what you’re in for if we don’t work together and fix this!”
Bloodshot U.S.A. is a fun revival of a classic Valiant character with plenty of new twists and surprises thrown in. And if you’ve been fantasizing about slaying masses of zombified hate-mongers in recent months, Bloodshot U.S.A. will be happy to escort you through an alternate reality in which vitriol is viral and heads will roll.
Valiant/$3.99
Written by Jeff Lemire.
Art by Doug Braithwaite.
Colors by Brian Reber.
Letters by Dave Lanphear.
7 out of 10
