Bloodshot #11 – Review

By: Duane Swierczynski (Writer), Barry Kitson, Stefano Gaudiano (Artists), Brian Reber (Colorist)

The Story: We delve a little bit further into the Harada protocol as Bloodshot fights Toyo Harada. Meanwhile, we see how Kara tries to take care of the psiot kids.

The Review: Tie-in issues can be both blessing and curses sometimes, albeit it is unfortunately much more frequent to see the latter than the former. While it is a possibility to see a book regain focus as it takes advantage of a greater situation in the universe they are set in, it can also unfortunately kill the momentum that a book had by injecting various elements that don’t quite match up with what was going on before the event was launched. Thankfully, this event was brought up with what went up in both Bloodshot and Harbinger, which makes this crossover quite organic to the growth of both titles.

However, it seems that all the important plot advancement is set in the Harbinger Wars title as we get to see some more details of particular events from the crossover in the titles connected to it. It is a risky move that can actually pay off as we get some deeper analysis on how these characters think and feels through these scenes from the main comic, yet here it is mostly wasted, as it brings close to nothing new to the table, unfortunately.

Thor #611 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (writer), Rich Elson (art), Andy Troy (colors), and Joe Sabino (letters)

The Story: The souls of the Asgardians who fell during Siege come under attack in Hel.

What’s Good: It sure feels good to see a good old fashioned Thor story, rife with occult baddies, Hela, and trademark Norse heroism.  The last couple of pages in particular are something of a “hell yeah” in that last regard as Thor literally leads his men to hell.  That’s pretty damned awesome in concept alone and very, very “Thor.”

What makes it even more effective, however, is how Gillen has subtly made this upcoming war in hell into something of an echo of Siege itself.  In doing so, perhaps this story arc can be seen as a kind of redemption for the Asgardians.  Hela has turned herself into a castle to house the souls of the departed Asgardians from the attacking Disir and Thor and his band, at issue’s end, go to relieve the besieged.  Essentially, they’re fighting another siege, in hell, to save those who died in, Siege.  It’s really well orchestrated and I’m quite impressed with Gillen’s being able to find such an effective parallel to recent events.

Gillen does a great job with these Disir, who are really, really creepy.  The demonstrations of their power are also pretty impressive and, in one case, explosive.  I’ve got to say that Gillen doesn’t hold back one iota on the gore and violence.  One particular trick pulled by the Disir late in the issue is downright shocking.  All told, their used very effectively by Gillen.  I also thought it was pretty cool to see Hela back in action again.  In fact it’s just cool to see her in an important role again and a sign to me that it’s back to business as usual for Thor and that we’re leaving the event behind.

On art, I generally like Elson’s work.  It has a painterly feel that sort of reminds of classic fantasy pin-ups, which really suits Thor.