Image credit: Jason Brown, midlifegamergeek.com
After digitally reading the first issue of Valiant’s Bloodshot series, set in an Ultimate/Absolute-style rebooted alternate universe, I didn’t read any more.
You see, the writer (I won’t mention his name here, and I’m not trying to promote it) inserted a thinly veiled transphobic rant into the story, if at all. While the reimagined Bloodshot was an interesting concept, it overshadowed the whole thing, made worse when fans did a little research and discovered overtly transphobic social media posts by the author. The chapters in the first three issues of Bloodshot ended quietly, and the publisher, Alien Books, postponed publication of the sequel due to the fallout. Then it was announced that Dan Abnett was writing a one-off special, and that’s exactly how I came back.
This special is a proper prequel, focusing on Bloodshot’s training leading up to his first mission. It takes advantage of the disjointed nature of time and memory caused by the constant wiping and rebooting of nanite-enhanced Bloodshot candidates.
While it’s packed with brutal and bloody action, it manages to weave an interesting story that goes beyond the main story, revealing a clever and compelling ending at the end.
It’s certainly far ahead of the main series, and has the huge added bonus of being completely free of transphobia of any kind. Sadly, Alien Books hasn’t stopped working with the writers of the original Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot, and at least they’re still writing the next story arc for the series. I’m not going to bring it up, but this special proves that the characters have life and that Alien has the potential for a series if they hand over the reins to a decent (in more than one sense of the word) writer.
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