“Shotgun”
Written by Dan Jolley
Pencilled by Leonard Kirk
Inked by Robin Riggs
Colored by Loose Baumann
Lettered by Rob Leigh
Edited by Ivan Cohen
Published by DC Comics
Yesterday I found out this book is being cancelled. It really disappointed me. I enjoy this book every month. I can’t say I’m particularly surprised with the fact that it’s being cancelled. I mean, I knew it was coming eventually. The comic book business is just that, a business. And if Bloodhound isn’t making enough money for DC, then it’s just their right to take it off the market. I was on board for this book since day one. For some unknown reason, I felt compelled to pick up the first issue when I saw it on the stands.
After I read it, I told my good friend and fellow Nexus-er, Tim Stevens that it was worth checking out. He did, and every month since then, we praise the book and tell each other how much we enjoy it. However, we usually finish that with something along the lines of “yeah, but it’ll probably get cancelled soon.”
And now that’s true. After this, we will only get 3 more issues of Bloodhound.
And we will miss it. I have no intention of being an annoying fanboy and chastising DC for canceling the book. They did what they had to do.
The people who create this book, writer Dan Jolley, penciller Leonard Kirk, and inker Robin Riggs are all very talented artists who will have no problem finding another gig, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be with DC, so it’s not like DC is sniping them personally. It just didn’t work out.
But there was something about this book to me, and I can’t quite place it. Perhaps it is because of the underdog factor; I knew from the moment I read the first issue I knew it was on the endangered species list. Perhaps it’s a deeper thing, and I related to main character Travis Clevenger (though probably not). It’s more likely because I simply enjoyed the story.
Bloodhound is a different type of story, one I have not read in comics before. It happens in the DC universe, though as I’ve said before, it could very well be a tale dark enough for Vertigo. Because it’s got the edgy feel. No issue better exemplifies that better than this latest one.
Travis Clevenger is in prison. But one of the guards is a metahuman. And Travis has a innate ability to detect things like that. The guard is doing a sort of mind control technique on people in the prison, but people don’t really believe Travis because he is, well, a convicted criminal.
Needless to say, because this is his book, he makes it all right, and he saves the day. But the manor in which is does and how he gets there is positively chilling. We see the good and bad line that he walks get a bit blurrier.
And that sort of thing happened every issue, which is what make the book so interesting.
I could go on and on about what makes this series so good, but it would do no good. I feel bad about it’s cancellation. But if you can find all the issues, please do so. You’ll enjoy them.
