Lost In A Maze Of False Memories: Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Bloodshot now remembers being an agent for a predecessor of Rising Spirit in late 19th Century Boston. He was then called Blood Moon, but this just turns out to be another memory implant from Rising Spirit. Regardless, this engram sticks, and Bloodshot believes that he was just recovered from the sunken remains of the U.S.S Maine. Cormac is worried this will fail as badly as the previous engrams, but Olga is more confident. In fact, she is confident enough to send Bloodshot out on a new mission.
Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3 finds the hero further lost in the memory maze forced upon him by the Rising Spirit program.
This leaves Bloodshot seemingly at the mercy of Rising Spirit and, more specifically, Olga and Director Cormac.
We get more of the nature of the relationship between Cormac and Olga in this issue too, and it’s something different than straightforward boss and subordinate.
The nature of Rising Spirit still holds a lot of mysteries. The mission itself shows this even further, as Bloodshot’s teammates clearly don’t know the extent of what the hero is going through.
Despite all of this, Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3 still comes off as a little thin. Though we have some minor revelations and a bit of action, I came out the other end of this comic feeling a little dissatisfied.
The artwork, brought about by the team of Ken Lashley, Oliver Borges, and Ryan Winn, is quite solid. It gives the characters a lot of expression, has some well-framed scenes, and delivers a good action sequence towards the end. Andrew Dalhouse’s color work is up to snuff too, giving the book a good color treatment throughout.
Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3 isn’t the most exciting Bloodshot comic in recent memory, especially considering the smash hits that were Reborn and Salvation, but it is an entertaining read, especially for those who have an interest in the character. If Bloodshot is your Valiant hero of choice, then feel free to pick this one up.
Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3 comes to us from writer Kevin Grevioux, breakdowns by Ken Lashley, finishes from Oliver Borges and Ryan Winn, color artist Andrew Dalhouse, letterer Simon Bowland, cover artist Felipe Massafera, and variant cover artists Harvey Talibao with Kevin Talibao, Ryan Bodenheim, and Ken Lashley with Ulises Arreola.
