Bloodshot Reborn #15 Review: Who Is Deathmate?

Bloodshot Reborn #15 continues Bloodshot Island with action, strategy, and a shocking revelation!

Bloodshot Reborn #15
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Mico Suayan
Published by Valiant Entertainment

Bloodshot Reborn #15 doesn’t go on sale until Wednesday, July 13, so watch out for spoilers!

Bloodshot Island started strong last month, with prominent Valiant action hero Bloodshot waking up on an island with counterparts from the Gulf War, Vietnam, World War II, and the Russian side of the Cold War. Plus a cute doggie named Bloodhound, my hands-down favorite. He quickly learned the rules of the Island – each day, everyone wakes up and tries to find a way out of the force field just off shore, and each day, the powerful Deathmate kills each of them. Overnight, their bodies are healed, and the game renews at sunrise.

Cover by Tomas Giorello

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This month’s offering shows our modern Bloodshot inspiring his battle-worn brothers and using his fresh perspective to change the strategy in a wildly different direction, making a grim but practical use of the fact that everyone’s going to die again today. This puts him face to face with Deathmate herself, and when the lethal lady drops her mask, Bloodshot’s world hits the strangest spin yet. And this is a man who hunted down trigger-happy civilian version of himself while guided by the hallucinations of his ex-girlfriend and a cartoon character.

Cover by Ben Oliver

Last week’s announcement of the Harvey Award nominees was a reminder of how great Valiant Entertainment has been this year, with the company snagging fifty nominations and representing four out of five nominees for four categories. Bloodshot Reborn has gotten justifiable praise here, with a nomination as both Best New Series and Best Continuing Series and nods for author Jeff Lemire, artist Mico Suayan, inker Tom Palmer, the first single issue, the first arc as a collection, and a special award for Excellence In Presentation.

Bloodshot Reborn #15 is a great example of this quality. The strategy session among the Bloodshots was creative and easy to follow, and the pairing up of modern Bloodshot with cheerful World War II Bloodshot led to rapid characterization and a sic-fi explanation of how each era’s high-tech soldier came to be. I wasn’t expecting Deathmate’s history to be revealed so soon, and the identity itself was a shock that dropped my jaw. (I was reading near a friend; he can testify to this fact.) If you’re not reading this book yet, get caught up as soon as you can.

The Bottom Line: Bloodshot Reborn has been one of the best books Valiant’s publishing right now, and Bloodshot Island may end up its greatest story. It’s not too late to get on board.

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