Post by razkazz on Aug 18, 2012 21:41:27 GMT -5
I can't believe this comic was revived! Of all the comics I enjoyed growing up this is pretty much the last I expected to ever see brought back.
There was this dollar store just off of the boardwalk at the beach I visited when I was younger that sold 3 packs of comics for a dollar. It was amazing, I'd pick up like 12 comics a day. I must've gone home with 100 new comics by the end of the week (several were doubles and even triples, but for that price who cares). As you could imagine, most of the titles were Liefeld-derived early Image stuff and there was some cool Valiant stuff thrown in as well. Actually, the Valiant/Image crossover "Deathmate" books were probably the prize of the lot, freaking awesome.
Say what you will about Liefeld but I had hours of fun with those books. Admittedly, even back then most of the storylines were dumb and uninteresting, but Bloodstrike was the one that had an actual cool hook to it. It was essentially a Universal Soldier ripoff with a superhero twist. And it was awesome because, unlike other comics, you'd see the heroes get completely destroyed every issue. Limbs would be ripped off, guts would be torn out, and afterward the bodies would be picked up by the government and put back together--it was a blast. It was also drawn by Dan Fraga whose stuff was more solid than Liefeld's, so even back then Liefeld wasn't that involved with it; you can't make fun of me!
Just as surprising as the book making a comeback is that, in terms of quality, it's the best thing I've read in a while. It's the perfect balance of badass and witty, similar to the new Deathstroke but better. I've been catching up on some of the New 52 titles and I'm liking them but this easily trumps all the DC stuff I've been reading.
They really took the best approach to relaunching it. For some reason after the original series' 10th issue the team was killed off (for good this time) except for the main character, who wore a plain red mask from then on and took on the moniker of Bloodstrike for himself; and that was fucking weak. Rather than start over from scratch, I think it's really neat that the new series picks up at issue 26. And the new creative team seems to agree that losing the rest of Bloodstrike sucked because in the first story arc they've already brought back the other members.
Now we just need to lose the red mask. Probably my only complaint with the new series is the Grifter symbols they've added to the mask. In the original series the main dude had those symbols on his face like Reiko from Mortal Kombat for some reason, but having them on the mask makes it seem like even more of a ripoff.
But seriously, it's the best kind of 90's nostalgia trip to see all the silly stuff still there from the original series, but now used in more awesome and creative ways while simultaneously poking fun at itself.
I urge everyone to pick it up and give it a try. Forget the whole Liefeld connection, it's a great comic and I think everyone here'll love it!
There was this dollar store just off of the boardwalk at the beach I visited when I was younger that sold 3 packs of comics for a dollar. It was amazing, I'd pick up like 12 comics a day. I must've gone home with 100 new comics by the end of the week (several were doubles and even triples, but for that price who cares). As you could imagine, most of the titles were Liefeld-derived early Image stuff and there was some cool Valiant stuff thrown in as well. Actually, the Valiant/Image crossover "Deathmate" books were probably the prize of the lot, freaking awesome.
Say what you will about Liefeld but I had hours of fun with those books. Admittedly, even back then most of the storylines were dumb and uninteresting, but Bloodstrike was the one that had an actual cool hook to it. It was essentially a Universal Soldier ripoff with a superhero twist. And it was awesome because, unlike other comics, you'd see the heroes get completely destroyed every issue. Limbs would be ripped off, guts would be torn out, and afterward the bodies would be picked up by the government and put back together--it was a blast. It was also drawn by Dan Fraga whose stuff was more solid than Liefeld's, so even back then Liefeld wasn't that involved with it; you can't make fun of me!
Just as surprising as the book making a comeback is that, in terms of quality, it's the best thing I've read in a while. It's the perfect balance of badass and witty, similar to the new Deathstroke but better. I've been catching up on some of the New 52 titles and I'm liking them but this easily trumps all the DC stuff I've been reading.
They really took the best approach to relaunching it. For some reason after the original series' 10th issue the team was killed off (for good this time) except for the main character, who wore a plain red mask from then on and took on the moniker of Bloodstrike for himself; and that was fucking weak. Rather than start over from scratch, I think it's really neat that the new series picks up at issue 26. And the new creative team seems to agree that losing the rest of Bloodstrike sucked because in the first story arc they've already brought back the other members.
Now we just need to lose the red mask. Probably my only complaint with the new series is the Grifter symbols they've added to the mask. In the original series the main dude had those symbols on his face like Reiko from Mortal Kombat for some reason, but having them on the mask makes it seem like even more of a ripoff.
But seriously, it's the best kind of 90's nostalgia trip to see all the silly stuff still there from the original series, but now used in more awesome and creative ways while simultaneously poking fun at itself.
I urge everyone to pick it up and give it a try. Forget the whole Liefeld connection, it's a great comic and I think everyone here'll love it!