In their attempt to follow current trends, such as Marvel’s Ultimates, DC’s Absolute, and Skybound’s Energon Universe, Valiant announced a relaunch with Valiant Beyond. Valiant would much rather you be discussing their new universe launch, “meant to be a new jumping-on point for new readers,” but all attention has focused on a panel from Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot #1, written by Mauro Mantella with art by Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Juan Pablo Massa, colors by Brushu Studio, Rocio Zucchi, and Ludwig Olimba, and letters by Ezequiel Invernia, which went on sale this week.
In the book Bloodshot, the nanite-powered antihero fights vampires powered by Bloodshot’s blood. The story becomes problematic very quickly as we examine Bloodshot’s thoughts and motivations. Many saw it as transphobic, referring to tropes about children and even making references to adrenochrome later in the book.
Comic creator and former Comics Beat contributor Zoe Tunnell brought attention to the language used in the issue on Bluesky:
“I pride myself on my professionalism in comics. I don’t talk st about books I don’t enjoy. I am happy when folks get gigs even if I wish I landed them. So when I say the transphobic bullst in the new BLOODSHOT #1 comic is disgusting and should have never made it to print. Shameful s**t.”
The reaction was swift on social media, including on Reddit. Creators also took to social media to voice their anger.
One Redditor, with the username Kubrickwon, said, “It’s such forced political bullshit that it doesn’t even make sense in context. What’s funny is, I’m willing to bet this author is the first to complain about ‘wokeness’ in comics by saying things like ‘keep politics out of entertainment.’”
The comics community responds
Star Trek writer Tilly Bridges posted on Bluesky, “Hi yeah this is unacceptable/how sad that everyone involved felt they’d use their art to support the oppression of a horribly marginalized community/bigotry ruins everything it touches.”
“Horrific. There’s no way to read this as anything but bigotry, particularly with ‘irreversible change’ bolded in the caption. So many of us creators and readers of comics love the ideals, as far removed as they sometimes feel from real life, of superheroes who fight oppression. Not contribute to it,” added Haunted Girl co-writer Ethan Sacks.
In addition, Dune tie-in writer Lilah Sturges responded to Tunnell, “This is obscene. Suggesting that trans people are soulless bloodthirsty monsters is one of the most transphobic things I’ve ever seen. This isn’t cute or funny. It’s vile.”
Former Bloodshot writer Deniz Camp posted on X, “Bloodshot would hate transphobes and throw himself in front of a hail of bullets to protect a trans kid without hesitation. Just FYI.”
Alien Books releases a statement
Alien Books issued a statement addressing the controversy, calling it “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.
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.
We appreciate the feedback from readers, creators, and industry peers who brought this to our attention. We take this seriously and are committed to learning from it.
Alien Books values inclusion, empathy, and creative responsibility. We will do better.
But the apology did little to quell criticism. Marvel Comics write Vita Ayala said of Alien Book’s apology, “This was not an oversight. This was intentional. They knew what it said. They are just a small enough company w a strangely progressive enough fanbase (Valiant fans have been the #1 most supportive fans in comics in my experience) to try and hedge their bets when called out. Shameful.”
Some pointed out that blaming the language on being translation error was curious, given that Mantella is billed as a translator. Freelance editor Konnor Knudsen wrote, “This explanation is insultingly implausible and blatant gaslighting. Mantella is perfectly fluent in English. Take 2 minutes and go look up current Argentinian politics, what is said on the page is basically quoting Milei’s recent statements on trans people. This is reprehensible bullshit.”
Knudsen then went on to share screenshots of the Alien Books EiC responding to the controversy on Instagram. See below:
Indeed, Mantella is listed as a translator on his public profiles (see his Simon & Schuster author page below, which touts that he is an “Argentinian Comic Book writer and translator”). It seems like he should know better, as localization is often part of a translator’s job.
Mantella’s previous transphobic rhetoric
Others have noted this is also not the first instance of Mantella supporting transphobic rhetoric. Young Men in Love co-creator Joe Glass wrote that the writer “also, seems to forget that we can see his Twitter, which has examples of him liking and sharing transphobic stuff.”
Others also found instances of Mantella reposting right-wing profiles and memes. Comic writer Joshua Dysart replied to Tunell’s post with a screenshot of Mantella reposting the account Agenda 2030, a Spanish-speaking X account that regularly posts anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ content under the disguise of being a parody account.
A skeet from from Bluesky user HuMaNPeRSoN, wrote that Mantella also posted “a video espousing basically every anti-trans/anti-lgbtq opinion.”
And there are other examples of Mantella posting content from other right-wing accounts, such as @iluminatibot as far back as 2023. Alex Zalben at Comic Book Club Live explained the content of these memes as, “Depict[ing] a video of a woman on a mic with the caption ‘when they’re not at home why men are being feminized,’ and another with the man putting on clown makeup meme going from ‘there isn’t any DNA in the shots’ to ‘Turbo Cancer is good for you.’”
Since these posts were made the topic of public conversation, it appears that Mantella has deleted his X account (note: there are two accounts listed under Mantella’s name; one has indeed been deleted, and the other account appears to still be active but not used since 2017).
One Bluesky user pointed out that this isn’t the first time that Mantella has used questionable language in his comics, including a previous Bloodshot story with anti-abortion rhetoric.
Additional reporting by Ollie Kaplan.
Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot #1 Written by Mauro Mantella. Art by Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Juan Pablo Massa. Coloured by Brushu Studio, Rocio Zucchi, and Ludwig Olimba. Lettered by Ezequiel Inverni.
