New Valiant keeps up the cancel culture with new Bloodshot comic
1 Comments Published by Avi Green on Sunday, August 17, 2025 at 10:32 AM.
Did Mark Millar once say cancel culture has ended? Well as the following from Comic Book Club Live makes clear, along with Valiant themselves, it's not over by a long shot:
It's been a while since I'd heard of the revived Valiant, which at this point nobody seems to particularly care about, and what they're doing, groveling to people upholding damaging medical surgeries, is not going to encourage anyone who's a realist to try out their comics. To think, that the late Jim Shooter and company would sell off the properties all for this? Okay, I realize the Valiant creations were bought by the current sources years after Acclaim closed it down, but even so, it's apparent at this point what Shooter developed 35 years ago has not amounted to much decades later. Maybe because he wouldn't deviate from the cliched pamphlet format, and only years later was the original Valiant reprinted in paperback/hardcover archives. With the current leftists in charge of Valiant, and chances are they long had staff like this minding the store, that's exactly why it's not worth buying their new takes on what Shooter originally developed with artists like Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith back in the day. Above all, this proves cancel culture is far from over.
Yesterday (August 15), news about a seemingly transphobic bit of narration in Alien Books/Valiant’s Bloodshot #1, the official kick-off to the new-reader-friendly Valiant Beyond initiative, spread across every bit of social media from Reddit to BlueSky. While Alien Books, publisher of Valiant, was quick to issue an official statement apologizing on behalf of themselves and writer Mauro Mantella, per unearthed tweets, it seems Mantella has been reposting anti-trans and other dicey posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) for a few years now.The Argentinian contributor is reportedly disowning his own scripting, as is Alien Books themselves, as the following, pathetic press announcement they gave to Comic Book Club makes clear:
In the comic book, which hit stores on Wednesday (August 13), the character of Bloodshot is hunting vampires who have been hypercharged thanks to a version of his own nanite-infused blood. While killing a vampire, Bloodshot’s narration reads, “There are kids who want to be bitten to become vampires because their favorite influencer says they are one. And parents who force their children into that irreversible change… just to feel modern… and believing that they’ll be thankful for it when they grow up.”
These lines in particular stood out as a thinly veiled allegory for anti-trans talking points. In the released statement, Alien said, “That was never the intention. The original line was written by an Argentinian creator and was unfortunately a case of nuance being lost in translation.”
Alien Books and writer Mauro Mantella sincerely apologize for the harm caused by the phrasing in Bloodshot #1. While the story takes place in a fictional world of vampires and cults, we understand that a specific line of dialogue has been read as alluding to real-world issues, specifically, the discrimination faced by trans people.I'm afraid this is yet more classic neo-censorship in motion, and reminds me of a time when Brian Bendis groveled over a line applied to a villain, and indicated he was willing to have it altered in upcoming reprint and/or digital formats. Some of the people cited who complained about the Bloodshot script were pretty nasty and crude, and those are the kind of people they see as worth kowtowing to? Sigh.
That was never the intention. The original line was written by an Argentinian creator and was unfortunately a case of nuance being lost in translation. We fully recognize that intent does not erase impact, especially when dealing with subject matter that affects real lives and communities.
We are taking the following steps immediately:
The dialogue in question will be updated for all digital and collected editions to better reflect the intended fictional context.
Going forward, all scripts will undergo a more intense review by our proof readers as part of our editorial process to ensure clearer, more responsible storytelling.
It's been a while since I'd heard of the revived Valiant, which at this point nobody seems to particularly care about, and what they're doing, groveling to people upholding damaging medical surgeries, is not going to encourage anyone who's a realist to try out their comics. To think, that the late Jim Shooter and company would sell off the properties all for this? Okay, I realize the Valiant creations were bought by the current sources years after Acclaim closed it down, but even so, it's apparent at this point what Shooter developed 35 years ago has not amounted to much decades later. Maybe because he wouldn't deviate from the cliched pamphlet format, and only years later was the original Valiant reprinted in paperback/hardcover archives. With the current leftists in charge of Valiant, and chances are they long had staff like this minding the store, that's exactly why it's not worth buying their new takes on what Shooter originally developed with artists like Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith back in the day. Above all, this proves cancel culture is far from over.
Labels: bad editors, censorship issues, golden calf of LGBT, indie publishers, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics
No sympathy for people who go after children, they deserve a comic book calling them out but sadly Valiant and the creator are cowards.