Bloodshot And H.A.R.D. Corps #16 is a fast paced, fun adventure ride from writers Christos Gage and Joshua Dysart that culminates into one of the single most all action-packed issues to date.

Official Description from VALIANT:
Sometimes gunslingers go out the hard way. H.A.R.D. Corps has just experienced its first fatality. Bloodshot is severely weakened. He and Charlie are at each other’s throats. And the new rookies are a mess. It would be suicide to take on Harada now… so that’s exactly what they’ll do.

Toyo Harada and the Harbinger Foundation is a long reaching through-line in the Valiant Universe but only Bloodshot And H.A.R.D. Corps have enough fight in them to go after Harada time and time again. This issue turns up the heat after Bloodshot finally receives some much needed scientific medical attention after Harada’s attempt to extract Bloodshot’s nanites and he’s not nearly out of the woods yet. H.A.R.D. Corps enlists some new recruits who are unskilled and lack any kind of real talent and in desperate need of training. This is definitely not the team Bloodshot or Major Palmer want or need at the moment especially in the face of a new attack on Harada.

The most interesting and odd development takes place in Harada’s lab while trying to make developments with the nanites he did get from Bloodshot. The results are weird, shocking and bizarre but so off-the-wall it works with amazing effectiveness. Without spoiling the surprise, it involves the artificial intelligence implanted originally into Bloodshot at his creation and how it comes into it’s own in the Harbinger Foundation labs. Literally crazy, good stuff.

The rest of the issue is all out action at breakneck speed. I have always been a big fan of Emanuela Lupacchino’s art and her work here is no surprise and no slouch either. Gage and Dysart give her plenty to work with that spans the spectrum form the bizarre new creation in Harada’s lab, H.A.R.D. Corps and the all out assault of the Harbinger Foundation. The action is intense and Lupacchino makes it exciting and as entertaining as possible without losing you in the chaos.

Action fans will love Bloodshot And H.A.R.D. Corps #16 but it’s also as thought provoking as many of Valiant’s titles that never ceases to be fun and exciting. Bloodshot is relentless and so is this issue and makes most all other action comics pale in comparison but still understands how to have fun too. Bloodshot And H.A.R.D. Corps goes beyond the one dimensional action characters by providing diversity and depth and shouldn’t be missed by, not just fans of action but, fans of comics in general.

4/5