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Bloodshot Salvation #4 Review: Decent but Cliched Tale of Two Brothers

Published Tue, 19 Dec 2017 22:00:37 -0600

by Joshua Davison

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We are given a history of the Scarred Man and his brother Danny. The two grew up on a farm with an abusive father who blames Danny for the death of his mother. The abuse continued to get worse and worse until Pete (the Scarred Man) comes up with a plan to make everything better for himself and Danny.

The comic plays out as a dark childhood version of the story, Of Mice and Men. However, instead of putting Lenny down, George targets the people who abuse Lenny.

To clarify, Danny is big but mentally handicapped. Pete cares for him deeply and is often looking out for his brother. He is the cleverer one and is often the de facto leader for Danny.

The relationship between Danny and Pete is the main thing that works in this comic. It's believable enough to hold the plot together, and I found myself genuinely caring for these two.

Unfortunately, the rest of the comic has a myriad of problems.

Firstly, the plot is fairly cliché. I compared it to Of Mice and Men, but many other pieces of fiction have given their version of the John Steinbeck work in the years since. You can fairly easily call the plot points well in advance, and that hinders the immersion greatly.

The second big problem is the dad. He's very flat. He's outright evil, says horrible things, and there's no reason for me to buy this as a character. He is one-dimensional, and his increasingly ridiculous actions severely damage the book. If he had a soft side or any redeeming quality, the book wouldn't veer to farce-adjacent territory as it does.

All this aside, the art is very good. Mico Suayan does some great work here with a highly detailed and deep art style which brings the tale to life in a gorgeous manner. Diego Rodriguez's color art adds to the visual quality, and the two put together an aesthetically phenomenal comic.

Bloodshot Salvation #4 is an alright read. The story is cliched, and the father is almost a parody of abusive fathers in fiction. However, the relationship between the brothers is endearing, and the art of Suayan and Rodriguez is beautiful. I can recommend it to anyone who is already enamored and following the Bloodshot: Salvation series. Beyond that, you should wait until the next issue to give this book a try.

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