Comics this week

Bloodshot #7- This is a strange issue. Just when the attack on Project Rising Spirit comes near a close last week, suddenly we are pulled into a flashback issue. The issue is well-written by Duane Swierczynski but the timing of this flashback issue is very strange. We were already at the basement of the Project Rising Spirit compound, Bloodshot already found the harbingers kids…and this issue is a flashback? Like I said earlier, this is a well-written issue, just very strange timing for it.

Demon Knights #16- My God, it's a time jump! A time jump in an American comic? I read a lot of manga and manhwa so it’s common for it but it’s practically unheard of in an American comic! I mean Reed Richards’ son has been seven for close to 40 years but new writer Robert Venditti push forward the time line by 30 years. This issue starts 30 years after the battle of Avalon as The Horsewoman is being hunted down by bounty hunters. After a short and slightly strange explanation on how she managed to keep her youth after 30 years, she is thrown into a dungeon where she met Exoristos and the Shining Knight (both of whom are still young). They soon meet the man who put the bounty on them, Al Jabr. Now a grumpy old man and the leader of Moorish Spain, their former teammate had gathered the Knights back together as the vampire Cain is currently ravaging Europe and he need their help to stop the vampire (though as a man of science he refused to admit there is such a thing as a vampire). Now taking over from Paul Cornell and Diogenes Neves is no easy task, but I have to say this opening issue from Venditti and artist Bernard Chang leave me hopeful. Venditti’s story is almost a continuation of Cornell’s despite a 30 year time difference and Chang’s lighter lines looks suitable for the story. His work during the scenes in Moorish Spain was especially good. Also the main overall story of Cain tied in nicely (for once) with DC desire to put Demon Knights, Stormwatch, JL Dark and I, Vampire into one production house. It seems our worries are for nothing; there’s life for the Demon Knights after Cornell and Neves. 

Threshold #1- Threshold is going to be a new anthology series by DC that focused on space adventures. Considering the vast amount of space/cosmic characters in DC, this series is long overdue. Picking up from last week’s Green Lantern: The New Guardians Annual (which really is Threshold #0), undercover Green Lantern agent Jediah Caul is fighting for his life after being left behind by Arkillo, Carol Ferris and Saint Walker. The back-up story is on Larfleeze who has been robbed by someone insane enough to try it. Now I won’t say this issue is great but it does serve its purpose; which is to deliver stories and characters of the wider cosmic stage to the readers. And that is something I look forward to.