That said, we wish good things for Valiant in 2023, and we sincerely hope the publisher’s troubles will soon be over. You get the impression Valiant needed to be done with the title, which doesn’t project confidence.

It’s telling that this issue ends the series with a simple “End.” without any sense of a resolution to the arc or anything remotely resembling a conclusion. It’s no secret Valiant is in the news lately for running into financial woes. As first exposures go, Zawadzki makes a great first impression. You can count every drop of blood and lick of flame, and the character’s expression of pain, anguish, and suffering are palpable.

Regarding the art, this is our first exposure to Zawadzki’s work, and his art style here is a close approximation of Jon Davis-Hunt’s excellent work on the previous three issues. In effect, one issue has four different stories happening at once, with a heavy suspicion that some pieces of those stories are not real, so keeping it all straight is a chore. Bloodshot sees Verlane but simultaneously relives a memory about the “death” of his family that may or may not be real against an enemy that may or may not have ever existed in reality. Verlan sees and doesn’t see Bloodshot as his vision is clouded by trauma. The downside of the issue is the wonky narrative flow. The physical fight isn’t the only battle going on as each soldier wrestles with his own memories and personal demons. Michael Verlane and Bloodshot as the two soldiers scrape and claw their way toward a final confrontation. Camp effectively gets you to empathize with Sgt. Bloodshot is sent to stop the soldier before more lives are lost while recognizing kinship with the broken, suffering soldier.

Deniz Camp piles on layer after layer of catharsis about a soldier broken by too much violence. Let’s cover the issue first and then talk about what this means for Valiant. The series simply stops at the end of this issue. You’re probably thinking – “End of the series? What are you talking about, Mr. BLOODSHOT: UNLEASHED #4 is a poignant, emotionally deep issue with a bizarre ending that marks the end of the series.

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