Bloodshot #0 Discussion

[Donovan]

The new iteration just always looked African American to me. From the cover of issue #1 onwards.

Not the first time in history that black people have been the subject of experiments. I like how this story element echoes that...

[bygranddesign]

And why did PRS try to kill him during that incident, anyway?

shooting him in the head leaves him unconscious

then PRS can re-program him by implanting new memories meant to motivate him for his next mission

I think the nanites by capturing soul(s?) gained enough consciousness over time to try and convince "Bloodshot" to go against its programming and against PRS

[Blood of Heroes]

Why does anyone even care about his ethnicity or race. And anyway why couldn't he be black? The guy is made up of several people, he's all of them really.

Anyway, does anyone have anything to say about the ending? I'm interested to here some opinions on that.

It's not that I care what his race is, I want to know why it seems to have changed.
Is the Bloodshot we see at the end of the book the same man/body that we just saw puke nanites into Harada's mouth? If it's a different guy, how many have there been? What happened to the last guy or the one before that? He is seemingly indestructible, so what gives?

I'm not complaining about him being black. Give me a break.

I'm not saying your racist I just think asking that question misses the point of the story. It's ambiguous as to what human body became Bloodshot, as its not really important. The body is the host of all these memories, and maybe even the "soul" of another man if you're into that kind of thing.

I may be missing the point, that is true. I was just pointing out that in all the previous books every false memory we were shown depicted him as a white guy. In this issue he is only shown as black. I just want to know why.

Maybe I'm not grasping the overall concept of Bloodshot this time around. Originally he was one guy. This time it doesn't seem like that's the case.

[bygranddesign]

And just throwing it out there ... the nanites being reprogrammed to capture souls could have led to it gaining consciousness ... which leads to even bigger things in the future - like sentient cities 2000 years from now

[BugsySig]

Why does anyone even care about his ethnicity or race. And anyway why couldn't he be black? The guy is made up of several people, he's all of them really.

Anyway, does anyone have anything to say about the ending? I'm interested to here some opinions on that.

It's not that I care what his race is, I want to know why it seems to have changed.
Is the Bloodshot we see at the end of the book the same man/body that we just saw puke nanites into Harada's mouth? If it's a different guy, how many have there been? What happened to the last guy or the one before that? He is seemingly indestructible, so what gives?

I'm not complaining about him being black. Give me a break.

I'm not saying your racist I just think asking that question misses the point of the story. It's ambiguous as to what human body became Bloodshot, as its not really important. The body is the host of all these memories, and maybe even the "soul" of another man if you're into that kind of thing.

I may be missing the point, that is true. I was just pointing out that in all the previous books every false memory we were shown depicted him as a white guy. In this issue he is only shown as black. I just want to know why.

Maybe I'm not grasping the overall concept of Bloodshot this time around. Originally he was one guy. This time it doesn't seem like that's the case.

There were some memories where he was black, its just that the last set of implanted memories became the dominant one in his conscience. But the memories come from real soldiers, so it just depends who they download them from.

And why did PRS try to kill him during that incident, anyway?

shooting him in the head leaves him unconscious

then PRS can re-program him by implanting new memories meant to motivate him for his next mission

I think the nanites by capturing soul(s?) gained enough consciousness over time to try and convince "Bloodshot" to go against its programming and against PRS

I know they wanted to reprogram him, but why send Pulse to knock him out and shoot him when they could have just ordered him back to base and reprogrammed him? He seemed to be in the town following orders to wipe out all the witnesses to the Grey Goo (which, by the way, they never explained how they stopped) so why wouldn't he follow orders to return to base? Were they afraid he'd go Grey Goo, too? Was he malfunctioning in some way? We don't know.

[CallMeBloodshot]

Why does anyone even care about his ethnicity or race. And anyway why couldn't he be black? The guy is made up of several people, he's all of them really.

Anyway, does anyone have anything to say about the ending? I'm interested to here some opinions on that.

It's not that I care what his race is, I want to know why it seems to have changed.
Is the Bloodshot we see at the end of the book the same man/body that we just saw puke nanites into Harada's mouth? If it's a different guy, how many have there been? What happened to the last guy or the one before that? He is seemingly indestructible, so what gives?

I'm not complaining about him being black. Give me a break.

I'm not saying your racist I just think asking that question misses the point of the story. It's ambiguous as to what human body became Bloodshot, as its not really important. The body is the host of all these memories, and maybe even the "soul" of another man if you're into that kind of thing.

I may be missing the point, that is true. I was just pointing out that in all the previous books every false memory we were shown depicted him as a white guy. In this issue he is only shown as black. I just want to know why.

Maybe I'm not grasping the overall concept of Bloodshot this time around. Originally he was one guy. This time it doesn't seem like that's the case.

True. I guess I just view Bloodshot's identity as more abstract. And I didn't think he looked black as Bloodshot all the time. Sometimes it was unmistakable, sometimes like on the last page it's tough to tell. It could also just be artistic interpretation. I like that its sort of ambiguous as to his identity. Is he the black guy from earlier? Or was he just used to capture his "soul"? The ambiguous nature of his identity (physical or otherwise) is fitting considering the mystery tht surrounds the characters. I'm glad they didn't do what so many new origin stories do these days; and that's reveal too much. They did tht with Wolverine and it kind of ruined the mysterious nature of the character.

Now what did that static mean on the last page ? Haha anyone have any ideas?

[bygranddesign]

My speculation on the different look of Bloodshot since 1992 (compared to 2012)

1) The current bloodshot is from a different dying soldier
2) The nanites slightly change the appearance of Bloodshot to fit the memory that has been implanted
3) Rapid biological changes / Evolution - Bloodshot is just evolving into his own look over time
4) Or simply different artist interpretations of the character

[bygranddesign]

Also, the 2nd Bloodshot was Vietnam - When was the first? The bloodshot with the tubes going into his chest?

General Redacted discovered the Faraway in 1955 ... and has been sending Tech to P.R.S via the faraway over time. One of the things he sends back are the Nanites. So P.R.S could have been experimenting with Bloodshot's since as early as 1955

[bygranddesign]

I know they wanted to reprogram him, but why send Pulse to knock him out and shoot him when they could have just ordered him back to base and reprogrammed him? He seemed to be in the town following orders to wipe out all the witnesses to the Grey Goo (which, by the way, they never explained how they stopped) so why wouldn't he follow orders to return to base? Were they afraid he'd go Grey Goo, too? Was he malfunctioning in some way? We don't know.

Forgot about that issue, The grey goo were nanites evolving, Pulse was there to knock out Bloodshot AND The Grey Goo. so her "pulse" stopped the Gray Goo

Why did they want BS knocked out? Maybe they changed their minds about him killing everyone? Or maybe The Grey Goo evolving and interacting with Bloodshot would cause some major issue ...?

Not sure ... maybe something that will be explored further down the line?

Or maybe Fan Fiction material ..

[Blood of Heroes]

Why does anyone even care about his ethnicity or race. And anyway why couldn't he be black? The guy is made up of several people, he's all of them really.

Anyway, does anyone have anything to say about the ending? I'm interested to here some opinions on that.

It's not that I care what his race is, I want to know why it seems to have changed.
Is the Bloodshot we see at the end of the book the same man/body that we just saw puke nanites into Harada's mouth? If it's a different guy, how many have there been? What happened to the last guy or the one before that? He is seemingly indestructible, so what gives?

I'm not complaining about him being black. Give me a break.

I'm not saying your racist I just think asking that question misses the point of the story. It's ambiguous as to what human body became Bloodshot, as its not really important. The body is the host of all these memories, and maybe even the "soul" of another man if you're into that kind of thing.

I may be missing the point, that is true. I was just pointing out that in all the previous books every false memory we were shown depicted him as a white guy. In this issue he is only shown as black. I just want to know why.

Maybe I'm not grasping the overall concept of Bloodshot this time around. Originally he was one guy. This time it doesn't seem like that's the case.

True. I guess I just view Bloodshot's identity as more abstract. And I didn't think he looked black as Bloodshot all the time. Sometimes it was unmistakable, sometimes like on the last page it's tough to tell. It could also just be artistic interpretation. I like that its sort of ambiguous as to his identity. Is he the black guy from earlier? Or was he just used to capture his "soul"? The ambiguous nature of his identity (physical or otherwise) is fitting considering the mystery tht surrounds the characters. I'm glad they didn't do what so many new origin stories do these days; and that's reveal too much. They did tht with Wolverine and it kind of ruined the mysterious nature of the character.

Now what did that static mean on the last page ? Haha anyone have any ideas?

I think ambiguous is the word for it. I just now noticed that this cover shows Bloodshot as multiple ethnicities.




As far as the ending goes, I've only read it once. I'll get back to you later.

[vaevictis]

There is nothing saying the current Bloodshot is the same one focused on in this book, If you look, they show one in 1992 and a different one for 1993. I have a feeling we have not seen the last of these very unsympathetic "failed" Bloodshots.

[hunter_peterson]

I loved this issue! It was great and I hope Bloodshot ends up part of Unity down the line somehow.

As to the origin... to me, it seems like they used reanimated corpses for the first Bloodshot in (probably) the Korean War, but they found/made a permanent body for the nanites by the Vietnam War. They started trying to make him more targetable by uploading the memories of dead soldiers into the empty shell, but it wasn't enough until the narrator of this story managed to get the nanites to absorb a souls as it left a body (the 21 grams thing was a cool reference, I liked that it showed it on the monitor). But he was still programmed to hae no free will until Kuretich freed him.

I think his varying appearance is just them tailoring him to the times- he DOES have a malleable appearance, after all.

Overall, this was a fascinating take on a character who's been trying to find out who he is; he's nobody. Just a collection of other people's meat, memories and one man's soul. If anything, he's that one man. Very reminiscent of Frankenstein by way of cybernetic Venom meets Jason Bourne. Great stuff!

[pixierosa]

Kindt is a talented writer. This was a good story, and yes, you had to pay attention. There was a lot of eeek moments here but the violence was not done for the sake of violence. It served to drive home the point. In contrast, there was also some very nice elements such as the bits of greenery and leaves that float around the soldiers' boots - reminded me of the nanites when I first saw them, and then in the later panels where the nanites are swarming, the reverse happened. Interesting way to interplay the nature/life versus tech/life. Or maybe I'm reading to much into it.

I also enjoyed how they employed black panels to illustrate unconsciousness. At first, I thought it meant death because that soldier was being hacked to pieces (horribly brutal), but he wasn't dead. So perhaps, with the final black panel in the book, that may also indicate that the scientist wasn't killed, even though the commander obviously wanted him dead (Egyptian architects - nice bit of history for this "history" book).

I'm assuming that the nanites are continuing to "grow" - they are sentient but will continue to develop their own hive mind personality. It will be interesting to see if Bloodshot will be assimilated or if he will assimilate them. I have a prediction based off of what I read in Archer and Armstrong.

I liked the art more than I usually do in Bloodshot. The background for the panels, the journal narration, the style of the art all fit together nicely.

[CBurke76]

This issue was awesome! It was over way to quick. Here's hoping for a continuation issue #00.

[MarkRoseHFX]

[quote="The Beyonder"]What happened in panel 1 on pg 18? I'm guessing Bloodshot stole a the gun of a guy who had him in a headlock, and shot the guy by shooting through his own head by sticking the gun in his mouth?
/quote]

yeah exactly, he shot the dude in the head through his own freaking head. that's gotta be one of the gnarliest kills ever in comics.

[BugsySig]

Just thought of this, but could the problem with the "soul" of the soldier at the end be that he didn't have one? This was a guy who brutally assassinated two people, then proceeded to gun down "innocent" civilians after his chopper crashed. Maybe Rees's new programming did work eventually, but on the man we know as Bloodshot now.

[pixierosa]

I read that a bit differently, I guess. Sniper/assassin is a job that requires a lot of detachment, a definite soldier mentality. Doesn't necessarily mean he was soulless, but he follows orders, is expedient, and not unlike the original Bloodshot, left no witnesses.

I thought he was facing an angry mob and took some of them out first. Kill or be killed combat situation? I thought it was a fitting reference to the Frankenstein's monster mentioned earlier. The angry killing mob...only this time he started out human and was turned into Frankenstein.

[CallMeBloodshot]

This is a great little twist on the Frankenstein's monster story. It's unique in that Bloodshot himself is an amalgamation of an unknowable amount of people. Now having all these memories doesn't mean there's any essence, or soul, to his being. It could be that nanites are what give Bloodshot his "humanity". This is a very interesting concept to me that can drive my mind in circles the more I think about it.

Definitely a great issue, more and more as i reflect on it. But its great in a very maddening way. It spells nothing out and leaves much to us to assign our own meaning to the Bloodshot character. I thought this issue was going to answer all our questions, instead it leaves me with even more questions than I had before. I appreciate a comic that can challenge me like this.

[Blood of Heroes]

I'm more interested in what you think of the ending haha

After reading it again, I think that Rees is dead. Here's why:

The first panel of the last page is Bloodshot's perspective, his hands grabbing hold of Rees' head. The rest of the page is from Rees' perspective. First he sees Bloodshot. Then he sees the right side of Bloodshot's face. Next he sees his office, which is directly behind him. The last thing he sees is Bloodshot's face again, this time approaching from the left side. Bloodshot has just twisted Rees' head 360*.

[pixierosa]

I'm more interested in what you think of the ending haha

After reading it again, I think that Rees is dead. Here's why:

The first panel of the last page is Bloodshot's perspective, his hands grabbing hold of Rees' head. The rest of the page is from Rees' perspective. First he sees Bloodshot. Then he sees the right side of Bloodshot's face. Next he sees his office, which is directly behind him. The last thing he sees is Bloodshot's face again, this time approaching from the left side. Bloodshot has just twisted Rees' head 360*.

Ick. And yes, I believe you're right. Originally I thought those lines on the art were meant to be a bit like video feed - but it's actually to depict motion. Then, credits, fade to black.

*shudders*

Also, it only makes sense. What else were they going to do with this guy? Keep him hidden since the 90s?

[Blood of Heroes]

I also like the Reagan assassination panel.

[CallMeBloodshot]

I'm more interested in what you think of the ending haha

After reading it again, I think that Rees is dead. Here's why:

The first panel of the last page is Bloodshot's perspective, his hands grabbing hold of Rees' head. The rest of the page is from Rees' perspective. First he sees Bloodshot. Then he sees the right side of Bloodshot's face. Next he sees his office, which is directly behind him. The last thing he sees is Bloodshot's face again, this time approaching from the left side. Bloodshot has just twisted Rees' head 360*.

Wow man good work I think you're right I love the art, but its not plain as day what's happening sometimes haha.

[Blood of Heroes]

I'm more interested in what you think of the ending haha

After reading it again, I think that Rees is dead. Here's why:

The first panel of the last page is Bloodshot's perspective, his hands grabbing hold of Rees' head. The rest of the page is from Rees' perspective. First he sees Bloodshot. Then he sees the right side of Bloodshot's face. Next he sees his office, which is directly behind him. The last thing he sees is Bloodshot's face again, this time approaching from the left side. Bloodshot has just twisted Rees' head 360*.

Wow man good work I think you're right I love the art, but its not plain as day what's happening sometimes haha.

Pixierosa is right. The lines kinda make it look like a video feed, but it is supposed to be depicting motion. So unless Bloodshot decided to swing dance with Rees...

[Blood of Heroes]

The narration at the end is a little confusing to me.

At the same time Bloodshot emerges from the pool of nanites, Rees is asked "Are you finished? Has he grown a conscience?" This question is then answered on the yellow legal pad: "I told him 'yes' of course. But I really didn't know. Time will tell." And on the last page, the narration continues with: "I wonder if I will ever get to see him again..."

But the whole time Bloodshot is rampaging, Rees is having a conversation with the General (is that Hutch?). And finally Bloodshot enters the room and unscrews his head. When did he have time to write this stuff down? During the conversation?

It's probably something that would go unnoticed by someone who isn't dissecting every last panel, but something about it just seems a little off.

[Bone-A-Fach-ee]

First off... on the race issue. It is a completely legitimate question, without any racist overtones. It's the same question as "is he shooting himself with his left hand?" Its just one more element to the character. We've had this discussion before on the Marvel board about Nick Fury. Seriously, no one here says anything mean about anyone, or anything. Obviously a question like that isn't meant to be racist. And anyone who takes it as such needs to ease up a bit. It doesn't affect anyone's enjoyment of the books, it's just another question to understand as much about the character, and book as possible. Not a fan of anyone making someone feel like a *SQUEE* for asking that question.
Now, onto Bloodshot #0. I'm surprised no one mentioned the name of the amputee solider in the early pages. As soon as I saw that, I thought of Kara's brother. Granted, the timeline would probably be off for that to be her brother. But, I looked back, and they never give us her last name.
This soldier's name was James Darrow Shaw. Think we'll see it pop up again somehow? Why show it, and not use it again?
The issue was interesting. Not sure I learned what I wanted to about Bloodshot. I did like the art, and like other people were saying, why is he all of a sudden shooting himself in the mouth? Why are those soldiers attacking him? Weren't they the ones who just activated him?
More questions, less answers! Entertaining though!