Bloodshot

I'm not a major superhero kinda guy. I came to comics fairly late, and never managed to dive that much into the superhero realm. I think I always thought it was too big, with too much to catch up on, and a lot of the superhero books I read when I was younger always seemed like they knew something I didn't. That whole lore and world existed way before I was even born. I even came to Valiant's rebooted universe pretty late, only catching up with it recently. But with Valiant, I found a superhero universe I could actually jump into.

We haven’t heard much about the Bloodshot movie since the guys behind John Wick left the project some time back. It’s a bit of a tricky property to adapt, since the fan following isn‘t huge and the characters aren’t household names like the Justice League or the Avengers. The company that owns Bloodshot, Valiant Comics, has only been around since the ’90s. But now the movie is slowly picking up some steam, as it has just acquired Dave Wilson as a director.

Since its resurrection earlier this decade, Valiant Entertainment has rebuilt its roster of heroes into powerhouse franchises, and this year seems set to take advantage of that well-earned iconography. The publisher has teased a new initiative for 2017 titled Icons which seems to be a celebrating of the most, well, iconic characters under the Valiant banner.

At this point, you already know the deal with Valiant's big Stalinverse event, but on the off chance that you've forgotten, here's the short version: A shift in history is causing the Valiant universe to be overwritten by an alternate timeline where the Soviet Union has taken over the world, complete with their own versions of Valiant's greatest heroes to keep any would-be revolutionaries in line. And that, of course, includes the nanite-enhanced Komandar Bloodshot, who's being sent in to quell an insurgency in America, forcing the resistance to ask the question of how exactly do you fight Bloodshot? And the answer, of course, is that you make a Bloodshot of your own. Check out the preview --- including the first piece of the origin for new Valiant character Red Legend.

It seems that Bloodshot Reborn has one last gasp: A #0 issue by Jeff Lemire and Renato Guedes that will bridge USA with Salvation, and contains a reveal so shocking that one of the "cover" images Valiant sent us was literally just a red rectangle with the words "Top Secret! Major Spoilers!" written on it. Seriously.

I know we've all been waiting very patiently, but the day is finally upon us. Comics based on James Cameron's Avatar are finally coming next year on Free Comic Book Day! The comic book adaptation of the smash-hit blockbuster that everyone loves and remembers is just one of twelve Gold Titles as part of FCBD's 2017 celebration, which also includes Rick & Morty, Doctor Who and X-O Manowar. Announced today, Free Comic Book Day 2017 will be celebrated across the world on May 6th, and as usual the big name publishers, including Image, IDW, Boom, Oni and Titan, all have offerings as part of next year's crop of Gold Sponsor titles.

Help me out here, folks: What's the better short and pithy way to say that Ninjak, Valiant's deadliest secret agent ninja assassin, has had his body taken over by the same nanites that power Bloodshot, Valiant's deadliest and most indestructible soldier? I mean "Ninjak just got Bloodshot" is more accurate, but it's vague and doesn't really work unless you change it to "Bloodshotted" or something. "Bloodshot just got Ninjak'd," on the other hand, is a much better phrase, but doesn't quite have the ring of what's actually going on. Ah, you know what? Forget it. Just read Bloodshot USA #2 when it comes out next week, or check out the preview below to see for yourself what happens when Bloodshot and Ninjak get Ninjak'd and Bloodshot!

Ninjak finds himself lost in a world where the Soviet government maintains its control of the world by using super-soldiers that might seem pretty familiar in Divinity III. Now, one of those soldiers, Komandar Bloodshot, is stepping into the spotlight to reveal a world where Project Rising Spirit might actually be even more evil than they are in the regular Valiant universe, and we've got an exclusive preview to show you just how bad things can be. Especially if you're a rabbit.

There's a lot to love about Bloodshot USA. There's the fact that Jeff Lemire and Doug Braithwaite are following up Bloodshot Island, a story where the hook was that there were five Bloodshots, with a story where the hook is that there are millions of Bloodshots that have taken over the entire island of Manhattan and are not trying to kill everyone. Also, Ninjak's in it. But I think the best thing might be the page that gets new readers up to speed, where Bloodshot's former bosses at Project Rising Spirit talk about how he went rogue... and then went even more rogue. I always figured you could only go rogue once. Check it out, along with some of the other action, in a preview below!

After weeks of hinting at a top secret project with fan-favorite actors Michael Rowe and Jason David Frank, Valiant Entertainment finally pulled back the curtain on Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe at New York Comic Con. The first trailer for the upcoming digital series brought out the first appearances of familiar Valiant characters like Ninjak and Bloodshot, but we also got glimpses at Archer and Armstrong, X-O Manowar, and the villain of the first season, Roku. Developed by Valiant Digital in conjunction with Bat in the Sun --- they of the Super Power Beat Down --- Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe isn't set to arrive until 2017, but we had a chance to chat with some of the stars at NYCC to learn more about breaking new ground and setting the pace for Valiant's live-action efforts.