What happens when all of New York has been turned into bloodshot zombies?
In issue 2 of ‘Bloodshot USA’ that’s the least of Ray Garrison problems since he’s dealing with losing his head. Ironically, he’s the only one who’s thinking things through. Between cleaning up Project Rising Sun’s mess and trying to revert Kay back into a human being, Ray has to rely on not only the nanites running through him, but his ability to problem solve under great stress.
Relying on past battles Ray is able to save Ninjak, formulate a plan to help Kay and hopefully save New York. Still through all the action there are deep layers of a storyline that lies not in things and people blowing up, rather the narrative relies on the relationships forged throughout the time Bloodshot was fighting his way off the island. It’s as if PRS was preparing him for this moment. For Ray he doesn’t care about being the hero, he only wants to survive long enough to have a life. That’s where writer Jeff Lemire puts ideologies to the forefront. The Bloodshots are finally free and are able to make their own choices. No one’s endlessly dying or being a guinea pig. But is it freedom if the rest of the world is burning around you? When in another ironic turn becomes the moral center. When Bloodshots Vietnam and Cold War want to cut their losses, Ray reminds them that freedom has a cost. To have the ability to make choices, there have to actually be some. In the situation that they’re currently in the only real decision to make is to stay and fight.
Lemire has put Ray into an unusual position. In his own comic book he has to hold everyone together. You don’t usually see him as a leader. He seems to always act from a place of a surviving gutter rat. Whenever he has tried to protect someone they usually end up dead. Considering this track record Ray has still formed lifelong friendships like Ninjak. In a comic where people who care about you are trying to end your life it may not seem like a good thing to have friends at all, but for Ray it works in his favor. In the end of this series you get the sense that the main Bloodshot will grow from past failings. If not Lemire will most likely find another near cataclysmic mess to drag Ray through – with a considerable amount of humor and irony.
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