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Bloodstrike #26 Comics Review
By Dan Horn
March 28, 2012 - 16:34

Image Comics
Writer(s): Tim Seeley
Penciller(s): Franchesco Gaston
Inker(s): Franchesco Gaston
Colourist(s): Franchesco Gaston
Letterer(s): Crank!
Cover Artist(s): Tim Seeley and Carlos Badilla
$2.99 US



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Bloodstrike #26 marks the third Extreme Studios property reboot from Image Comics this year. In Bloodstrike's case, the brutally funny and very talented Tim Seeley of Hack/Slash notoriety takes the reigns with Franchesco Gaston on art. Much like the Prophet and Glory relaunches before it, this rebirth of sorts for the former Rob Liefeld character does a wonderful job of taking what could best be described as "what was wrong with comics in the 90s" and giving it a nice shot of relevance, subversion, and panache in the disproportionately-rendered arm.

This issue finds Seeley having a blast writing the latest chapter of the adventures of Cabbott Stone, aka Bloodstrike. There's an interesting balance here of over-the-top action, tongue-in-cheek humor, B-movie tropes, and modern allegory. When you consider the accurate parallel between a disillusioned undead black-ops warrior whose work is never done and the real-world military service member who is in a constant combat tour rotation, both of which are presupposed to be emotionless killing machines without regard to the physical and psychological toll their work exacts upon them, it's a pretty damned incisive metaphor. Seeley doesn't expound much further on that subtext besides laying it out in this issue, and there are a few hiccups here and there, including some hackneyed melodrama. However, with this first issue, Seeley gives readers much more than exposition; he gives them a solid story as well, which is something we don't see very often in debut issues these days.

Gaston's art is superb; a sleek, stylized, bombastic illustrative display with a fantastically versatile palette. The interiors of this issue are certainly worth the price of admission alone, and it's a sensible price point at that. It's another promising start for a Liefeld revisionist.
Rating: 7.5/10

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Bloodstrike #26 Comics Review