Valiant Universe: Harbinger, Unity, Rai, A&A; current state & future prospects

[johnmahananda]

I Picked up the Valiant FCBC . Thinking of dropping some of my big two for Valiant stuff,

The plan is Since Bloodshot and Ninjak , those are the ones that I liked for new readership reasons. Then there is Unity which teams up Ninjak and Bloodshot , I think thats only 17 issues in, so thats not much of a hike to back track. To me Bloodshot - Ninjak - Unity seems like a reasonable round up for the Valiant line. And then Ultimately by reading these new runs I'll get exposed to other characters.

Titles that don't seem like my thing , would be Archer & Armstrong , Imperium and Divinity. Those titles seem more deeply knitted for those who followed Valiant longer.

I only recently got on the Valiant bandwagon, after having abandoned superhero comics for a long while.

So far, I've enjoyed:

Harbinger
Ninjak
Doctor Mirage (mini)
Divinity
Imperium
The Valiant (mini)
Ivar Timewalker

Overall, Valiant has a nice array of characters. The writing is rarely less than good and often much better than that. I rarely dislike the art.

I haven't read A&A or Q&W. X-O Manowar and Bloodshot don't do much for me. I've only read a few issues of Unity, which is OK.

One thing I'd say, as a complaint: Valiant doesn't have any truly compelling villains, except maybe Harada. But that's a minor quibble.

I pretty much avoid DC and Marvel these days, preferring Valiant, Image, Oni Press, Avatar and some Vertigo (which I guess is DC). Warren Ellis' Moon Knight arc was decent. IMO, Valiant is worth the investment...

[johnmahananda]

Forgot to say that Rai is very nice, too.

[ian0delond]

have you tried Bloodshot Reborn ?

[midas73]

Maybe I'm late to this (haven't been around for a while) but I saw that Valiant is soliciting some sort of "rare" retailer incentive Book of Death: Geomancer tie-in that you need to "ask your local retailer how to order". I noticed it's not on the Diamond consumer order form. I wonder how this will work. Certainly an interesting "stunt"...

http://www.newsarama.com/24222-valia...citations.html

I'm copying BugsySig's post on how the deal works from the thread on this very topic:

The first issue is 1:25 to Book of Death orders. If a retailer orders 25 copies,mthey get them at an 80% discount and the books are fully refundable. So technically a shop could order 25 books, return all 25 and sell the LotG issue for a buck and still make a profit. Issues 2-4 will be 1:10 to Book of Death.

So overall it seems much more attainable, and only the biggest of assholes will mark them up ridiculously. I'm still pissed it won't be available digitally, though. At least that's what it said in the July solicits.

DCBS is charging $20 for this. I think I'll pass. I have to say that this stunt by Valiant isn't very reader friendly. But I guess their key customers are the retailers. But I'm very disappointed that I, a loyal Valiant fan who has purchased EVERY SINGLE monthly comic they have published, will have to be missing this one...

[ksbord]

DCBS is charging $20 for this. I think I'll pass. I have to say that this stunt by Valiant isn't very reader friendly. But I guess their key customers are the retailers. But I'm very disappointed that I, a loyal Valiant fan who has purchased EVERY SINGLE monthly comic they have published, will have to be missing this one...

There ya go. Let Valiant know your feelings with your wallet... I think that is the most effective route. There has been argument after argument over the pros and cons at the ValiantFans site, but for the most part, it's the same people going back and forth. The only measure of this initiative is how it does in the stores, and if the majority of people pass on this, then Valiant will see that this didn't work. Or it could provide the results Valiant is looking for. We'll see.

I, a loyal Valiant fan who has purchased EVERY SINGLE monthly comic they have published, have my preorder in with Collector's Paradise out in CA. $75 and it gets me all the variants for BoD (6 covers), a signed print, as well as LotG. I also get preorder dibs on the remaining three issues of the series.

[harashkupo]

Just finished the Dead Drop issue and sadly I can't say I liked it all that much. If they had picked someone other than Aric then this could have been a pretty decent issue but I just couldn't get past that bad portrayal. Since this book switches to another character I'll give it one more try but so far this is off to a horrible start.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though.
I heard the new Handbook came out so I'm excited to get my hands on that.

[ksbord]

Just finished the Dead Drop issue and sadly I can't say I liked it all that much. If they had picked someone other than Aric then this could have been a pretty decent issue but I just couldn't get past that bad portrayal. Since this book switches to another character I'll give it one more try but so far this is off to a horrible start.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though.
I heard the new Handbook came out so I'm excited to get my hands on that.

Sorry to hear you didn't like it. Seems like it's been getting mostly positive reviews. I'm going to read it in just a bit, and will share my thoughts.

I have flipped through the handbook, and it looks great. An up to date resource on all things Valiant!

[harashkupo]

Sorry to hear you didn't like it. Seems like it's been getting mostly positive reviews. I'm going to read it in just a bit, and will share my thoughts.

I have flipped through the handbook, and it looks great. An up to date resource on all things Valiant!

I love me some handbooks for some reason.

About Dead Drop, I just couldn't get past how bad Aric was written. I have a pet peeve with characters either looking incompetent or getting jobbed. This had a bit of both and my personal bias pretty much took over.

[Ramsay Snow]

I only recently got on the Valiant bandwagon, after having abandoned superhero comics for a long while.

So far, I've enjoyed:

Harbinger
Ninjak
Doctor Mirage (mini)
Divinity
Imperium
The Valiant (mini)
Ivar Timewalker

Overall, Valiant has a nice array of characters. The writing is rarely less than good and often much better than that. I rarely dislike the art.

I haven't read A&A or Q&W. X-O Manowar and Bloodshot don't do much for me. I've only read a few issues of Unity, which is OK.

One thing I'd say, as a complaint: Valiant doesn't have any truly compelling villains, except maybe Harada. But that's a minor quibble.

I pretty much avoid DC and Marvel these days, preferring Valiant, Image, Oni Press, Avatar and some Vertigo (which I guess is DC). Warren Ellis' Moon Knight arc was decent. IMO, Valiant is worth the investment...

Out of your "enjoyed" list, the only titles I don't like are The Valiant (thought it was average) and Ninjak (expected to like it, but didn't).

Rai is probably my favorite title, with Ivar coming in second.

Agreed on Unity. It's a title which is pretty popular in this thread, but from the issues I've read (first four issues, Armor Hunters section, and a recent arc), I haven't cared for it.

If you like Ivar, btw, you definitely need to read Van Lente's run on Archer & Armstrong.

[harashkupo]

Out of your "enjoyed" list, the only titles I don't like are The Valiant (thought it was average) and Ninjak (expected to like it, but didn't).

Rai is probably my favorite title, with Ivar coming in second.

Agreed on Unity. It's a title which is pretty popular in this thread, but from the issues I've read (first four issues, Armor Hunters section, and a recent arc), I haven't cared for it.

If you like Ivar, btw, you definitely need to read Van Lente's run on Archer & Armstrong.

What do you think of Harbinger and Imperium?

[AstroWolfboy]

Hey Thanks for all the Cool recommendations from before. Everyone here really seems to be really into the Valiant for the long haul. Maybe I will too. I'll post something when I go to my comic shop and stock up on some Valiant stuff.

But I guess I will ask a question or two. See Now over at Marvel the big event is Secret Wars. Is this - Book of Death - the same thing? An event that crosses over with all the titles? How many big events have taken place? Okay I'll leave it at that till I make that trip.

[harashkupo]

Hey Thanks for all the Cool recommendations from before. Everyone here really seems to be really into the Valiant for the long haul. Maybe I will too. I'll post something when I go to my comic shop and stock up on some Valiant stuff.

But I guess I will ask a question or two. See Now over at Marvel the big event is Secret Wars. Is this - Book of Death - the same thing? An event that crosses over with all the titles? How many big events have taken place? Okay I'll leave it at that till I make that trip.

There have been 2 'big events'. The first was Harbinger Wars which tied into Harbinger and Bloodshot. The second was a line wide event, Armor Hunters. That one included X-O and Unity while having side stories with Harbinger and Bloodshot. Without going into to much detail I will say that my favorite thing about these two events are that the writers have been able fit in both incredible character growth and the summer blockbuster action that you can always expect from event books.

[TheFerg714]

On the topic of Legends of the Geomancer, I'm gonna try my best to get the first issue, but I'm not going over $10. I'm really gonna feel left out if I don't get to read it though... spoilers:

I hope it's available to torrent somewhere.

end of spoilers

Agreed on Unity. It's a title which is pretty popular in this thread, but from the issues I've read (first four issues, Armor Hunters section, and a recent arc), I haven't cared for it.

So you've liked more than 3/5's of it? The second arc was very meh, but everything since (and before) has been great. You didn't like the Faith/United arc?

Everyone here really seems to be really into the Valiant for the long haul. Maybe I will too.

It's hard not to be in for the long haul when everything Valiant does is freakin great. The fact is... Valiant simply makes a better shared-universe than anyone else, and I want to support that.

But I guess I will ask a question or two. See Now over at Marvel the big event is Secret Wars. Is this - Book of Death - the same thing? An event that crosses over with all the titles? How many big events have taken place? Okay I'll leave it at that till I make that trip.

Book of Death is kind of the same thing. Technically Valiant has only had one "Secret Wars"-level event in Armor Hunters. Harbinger Wars was really just a crossover between two books, with an added mini-series. It looks like BoD is modeling itself after The Valiant; it's a big "event" (in the broadest sense of the word), but doesn't directly tie into anything else. The difference is that we're getting one-shots describing character's deaths with this one.

[TheFerg714]

Sorry, doublepost.

[gearsofcrabs]

Question time again. I've got all the Deluxe Edition HCs, I've read all of them besides Shadowman (just got it in the mail, might as well own all of them right?). Do I need to wait to read Armor Hunters until I read the second X-O one (which isn't coming out till freaking July according to Amazon)? Or any of the volume twos? I know the other titles have one-shots included but it's a mostly X-O centered event right? Or can I just go ahead and read it as is? And I guess will I need a random TPB to fill in the Unity gap between the volumes, or hope it gets a Deluxe too? I try to avoid trades if I can help it.