Bloodshot Rising Spirit #1 review: The prequel begins

Did you know there is a Bloodshot movie releasing sometime in 2020 with Vin Diesel playing Bloodshot? Did you also know that there is a whole behind the scenes mess the took place with a company called DMG, who purchased Valiant and pushed out the owner and CEO? Did you know that DMG is a bit player in getting Hollywood movies released in Asia? Did you know that DMG saw dollar signs when Sony moved forward on the Bloodshot movie? Well… Now you do.

So what does any of that have to do with Bloodshot Rising Spirit #1? After several really good series of Bloodshot, one of which just came to an end not long ago, we are getting this soft reboot into a prequel. It’s out of the normal Valiant timeline, but guess what it is being used for? To set up the new movie. I’m not sure if anything in the comic is going to be echoed in the movie but this is Valiant’s way of creating the excitement around it. Only, there’s one small problem…no one asked for this. When we left Ray Garrison, he was in a good place with his family but now it appears, Valiant is just putting that aside to concentrate on the new movie push.

The setup: Angelo Mortalli is a loser. So he goes to kill some mobsters to prove himself for some other mobsters… or something along those lines. Then he goes to prison and a mysterious man belonging to Project Rising Spirit makes a deal to use Mortalli as the guinea pig for the Bloodshot program. Which is where nanites are injected into his body, which has the ability to self-repair, making Bloodshot the perfect killing weapon. Of course, something goes wrong in the program and we learn that the Mortalli history is just an implant. Basically fake memories that don’t take.

Whatever though… I am already tired because this is just a prequel. The story is being written by Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler. But is it them who had some great idea for a prequel story or is it Valiant/DMG who just want to create something for a lead up to the movie? Don’t worry though, Valiant runs seem to have a hard time making it past 12 issues anymore. So now I’m almost certain that this series will come to an end and a new Bloodshot series will be born that will hit when the movie releases. If it is a present version, then good. If it is just a continuation of this… the no thanks. I’m completely speculating here by the way, so maybe they will stick with this one. But there is really no way to tell. 

The pencils in this issue are by Ken Lashley, with finishes by Ryan Winn, Brian Thies, and Oliver Borges. The colors are done by Diego Rodriguez with lettering done by Simon Bowland. As far as the art, that’s a lot of people working on the art and for the most part, it was okay but not really up to my Valiant standards. Granted, this is all only my opinion, but I feel like the edges are too straight and the inking is way too bold and thick. There are way too many panels where Bloodshot has these really straight and jagged muscles as opposed to rounded. It almost feels more Manga than US Superhero comics art style at that point. Overall, I just wasn’t that impressed

Wrap Up

This series seems to be nothing more than a marketing ploy and lead up for the movie. However, it is being released way too early for a movie that is coming out in 2020, especially when Valiant tends to kill series with just twelve issues or less in a run. I’m going to have to pass on this one and recommend anyone who is interested in Bloodshot, to go back and pick up the Jeff Lemire runs. There’s really no reason to go back into a prequel after the character has come this far.

Last Updated on February 3, 2021.