Bloodhound Volume 2: Crowbar Medicine

Bloodhound (collected edititons) #2

by Dan Jolley, Leonard Kirk (Illustrator), Dave Johnson (Illustrator)

Ex-con and FBI consultant Travis Clevenger may not have superpowers, but he can put a beatdown on anyone who does! When a superhuman tragedy shocks the nation, a rogue scientist announces that he can avert future disasters by granting powers to citizens who pass his personal background check! The ensuing wave of new superhumans and national panic sets Clevenger and Special Agent Saffron Bell on their biggest--and most personal--case yet! Collects Crowbar Medicine #1-#5 and a story from Dark Horse Presents #23-#25!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2014

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm happy to be able to read more stories with Travis Clevenger in them, but this collection did not quite hit four stars for me. The big error is the story, which at some point resembles the Stamford incident that led to Marvel's Civil War crossover (more on that later).

Clevenger is an ex-Atlanta cop who is imprisoned for a murder that he did commit. He also excels at profiling super villains, especially those who eschew costumes and just go about using their powers to kill, rob, etc. Saffron, and FBI agent arranges for him to be released into her custody to track down these perpetrators. To keep the massively built man in line he has to wear a collar with a bomb in it around his throat.

Originally published by DC Commics it appears this story line would have benefited from a longer run. Clevenger is a violent man, there is no mistaking that or his hatred for supers. An attempt, a fairly good one actually, is made at giving Clevenger's character some depth and humanity.

The story that comprises the bulk of the collection centers on a doctor who develops a method for granting people powers, and the expected disasters happen. This would have worked better with a higher page count, and is only ok for the amount of space allocated to this idea and the development of Saffron and Clevennger.

[Doctor Action · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm... Not really any better than the first. Slightly worse, possibly. It is a few years old, of course, and much mainstream media has used the superfolk-are-a-risk setting in that time (Batman V Superman and Civil War movies, The Boys TV show) which doesn't really help this.

But, nah. I'm making excuses for it. The main character just isn't engaging enough. I never liked our admired him. The supporting characters were total clichés. There was a finale that had some detailed brutal violence that felt crass and unpleasant rather than justified and cathartic.

But in all, I was drawn to it by my curiosity in Dark Horse Comics and for pulp thrills so I can't complain too much. It entertained me enough to read to the end.