Bloodshot Reborn #17

Bloodshot Reborn #17

Written by: Jeff Lemaire

Art by: Mico Suayan

Published by Valiant Comics

In this issue we follow our hero Ray Garrison, Bloodshot as he tries to either liberate former Geomancer Kay Mchenry, or end her life. Kay's body has been transformed into Deathmate Project Rising Spirit's new version of Bloodshot.  Bloodshot doesn't want to Kay to end up as a weapon, and he might end up having to finish her off, unless of course she get to him first.
We get lots of good stuff in this issue. Project Rising Spirit which has been the central villain since issue one of the first Bloodshot series, hasn't really been portrayed as the best villains thus far. I think that with the ending of this issue they may have upped their game. The main highlight besides the Rising Spirit stuff had to be the fight between Bloodshot and Deathmate, where our hero gets beaten down pretty badly, but like all comic book heroes Bloodshot keeps persevering. Is he able to defeat his former friend? Is it too late to save Kay? Will Bloodshot be forced to kill the person that essentially gave him his freedom? Buy this issue and find out.
Oh the art in this book. We are lucky that we've been getting the quality of art we have in this book. It's a beautiful book, everything is perfect in my eyes. The colours are awesome and every page pops. There is a panel where Deathmate shows up behind Bloodshot, and we get an over the shoulder shot, with a caption reading "uh oh", that was awesome. Another highlight is a splash page of Bloodshot with a flame thrower. The art doesn't have to do the heavy lifting here, but it's like the perfect side dish to an amazing steak.

I've enjoyed this story, this entire series since the first issue. Jeff Lemaire has taken a character that was only half fleshed out, a character that was really nothing more then a shoot em up action hero into a flawed but compelling character. Issue by issue, we have been treated to a brilliant series that is probably Valiant's best series. There's debate in boxing and MMA about the pound for pound best fighters, well Bloodshot Reborn is the pound for pound best book I have the pleasure of reading each month. I hope we get some answers about how Kay ended up in the hands of Rising Spirit. The epilogue comes out the following week so we won't have to wait long for these answers hopefully. The series will be transitioning into the Bloodshot USA story next month, and that story is set up at the end of this issue. So the story continues shortly, and we got a great story arc here, excellent read with amazing art.