Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Bloodhound #1

By Koppy McFad
July 25, 2004 - 14:21

A rocking first issue that gets this new series off to a strong start. Travis Clevanger, the "bloodhound" of the title, is a disgraced cop with extraordinary detective skills, particularly in tracking superhuman criminals. Clevanger is in jail for the murder of his partner but the Feds want his help in tracking a new serial killer. Travis is on the verge of turning them down when a prison riot, which is actually intended to cover for his murder, breaks out.

This issue has an excellent mix of action, characterization and exposition. Unlike too many first issues out there, BLOODHOUND gives us just enough information about the lead character to make him interesting, then immediately throws him into action, showing us what we can expect from future issues. Some of the violence may be excessive but the writer and artists clearly want to show this is more of a gritty crime drama than a superhero saga... even if some of the characters do exhibit metahuman abilities.

Kirk's art has definitely improved from his earlier efforts, not that he was a bad artist before but his sense of realism has increased while his fight scenes have become more powerful, perhaps because he is showing ordinary people in conflict rather than demons battling superheroes.
This first issue not coincidentally reminds me of the first issue of the PUNISHER miniseries that also had the lead character fighting his way through a prison. I doubt that this title will ever approach the popularity of the Punisher but if the rest of the series is like this, it should be quite a lot of fun.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12