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

[Geralt of Rivia]

Shadowman 13X
Shadowman 13-16
Shadowman: End Times 1-3
Punk Mambo 0
Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel 1-3

that's 12 issues. personally i hope this concludes Milligan's contract and we never hear from him again.

Glad I only endured just one of those Shadowman issues.

Im still surprised, Milligan's usually quite good at that sort of thing going by his Vertigo work.

I keep my fingers crossed for that EW mini.

[Shadowras]

Well, it confirms at least ONE alternate universe.

They used Solar for this as well as Darque at one point to breach barriers to an alternate universe. I really think that as part of Shadowman's rehab for the VU that Darque should've been used for this. It seems like a wasted opportunity by using Q&W as the basis of a story that could/will have lasting implications on things.

The worlds in danger and the Government calls Q&W, wheres Unity?

[ksbord]

Great news on second printings due to being sold out at the distributor level!

http://www.comicosity.com/valiant-an...unters-titles/

[cray_ws]

While I am loving this Armor Hunter "event", I'm not liking all these spin-offs because the price went up a whole freaking dollar. I'm not paying $4 for a monthly issue, especially digitally, that's highway robbery. They better lower their price or run sales more frequently otherwise I'm gonna be forced to drop them or wait when they are discounted. Valiant needs to stay course in what they are doing editorially, but their marketing and sales people better get a grip because Valiant can't handle any backlash for being greedy.

[midas73]

Is this an online thing? As far as I can recall, their print comics have always been $3.99. But if you get the Valiant bundle from DCBS (as I do) then you get them for 50% off.

[MECHANO]

Digitals have been $3.99 since X-O #1...

[TheFerg714]

While I am loving this Armor Hunter "event", I'm not liking all these spin-offs because the price went up a whole freaking dollar. I'm not paying $4 for a monthly issue, especially digitally, that's highway robbery. They better lower their price or run sales more frequently otherwise I'm gonna be forced to drop them or wait when they are discounted. Valiant needs to stay course in what they are doing editorially, but their marketing and sales people better get a grip because Valiant can't handle any backlash for being greedy.

Digitals and floppies have been $3.99 since the reboot.

But if you get the Valiant bundle from DCBS (as I do) then you get them for 50% off.

Holy moly, what?!? I'm signing up now! How does it work for Valiant? Do they still get the full amount allotted to each issue?

[ksbord]

Some cool tidbits from the recent Retailer Breakfast at the Baltimore Comic Con:

Valiant presented next, commenting on the extreme number of Harvey Awards nominations this year, with Quantum and Woody as the year’s “most nominated” series. They are coming out of their Valiant First initiative, starting with Rai #1 and recently with The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage #1. The Delinquents #1 was a “funny sell” that did very well. Throughout sell-outs they’ve continued to do multiple printings to meet demand. They feel like they’ve only “scratched the surface” on Valiant readership, and want to make it as “easy as possible” not to lose readers. That’s why they go to second or third prints quickly. They know Valiant is still in “early days” and so are still making a great effort to help retailers.

Rai #1 with 5 imprints of the first issue, was a massive success, and it’s their best reviewed title yet. A $9.99 trade paperback in coming in October, and issue #5 will be fully returnable.

Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel #1 artwork was shown, and if retailers order 12 copies, it’s 100 percent returnable.

The Valiant is also a massive development for the company, their “biggest intro piece” yet and hope that for many people it will be their first Valiant comic. It’s going to be their “most inclusive arc” yet and introduce people to “step into this product”. Their goal in the coming year is to get that “next reader” in steady growth. #2 of The Valiant will also be fully returnable.

They are doing “thousands” of The Valiant First Looks coming up, some being given out at the con, and these will be available to all shops who want them if they send in a list of their subscriptions. It’s a 16 page free book. There’s going to be a full-sized retail poster for the Valiant you can “opt in” for, and they will be using massive press push for the release of the Valiant, including social media, a podcast, and some things they’ve never done before (guarding that announcement against other publishers in the room).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/09/...ail-breakfast/

[krisis]

I ask this honestly and with an open mind, not trying to troll:

I have bought and read the Vol. 1 TPBs from X-O, Harbinger, and Archer & Armstrong and mostly just hated all three front to back (except for a few parts of A&A). Should I just give up on the Valiant reboot at this point? Is it simply not for me?

I'd love to be supporting this company as they continue to break new ground, but I don't want to keep buying books I dislike. I really enjoy everything Valiant has been doing in the press, I dig most of their creators, I'm obsessed with how they're slowly expanding their universe, and I even enjoy some of the general plots in their books. Those three TPBs just left me super-cold, for a variety of reasons - I thought X-O was an oppressively dull story, I couldn't get past the mental (and physical?) rape in Harbinger, and A&A was a little too over-the-top with the laughably evil conservative family.

Are there further developments or other series that might be worth trying? I could see how X-O might heat up and the initial hokeyness of A&A might subside. I'm also intrigued to make it to Unity, since I love Kindt's work.

Other stuff I like, for reference: Pre-Bendis X-Men (all of it), Captain Marvel (and KSD, in general), everything Hickman (including creator-owned), Unwritten, Planetary (and Ellis, mostly), Mind MGMT, Hellboy, Locke & Key.

[WeirdSpace]

I ask this honestly and with an open mind, not trying to troll:

I have bought and read the Vol. 1 TPBs from X-O, Harbinger, and Archer & Armstrong and mostly just hated all three front to back (except for a few parts of A&A). Should I just give up on the Valiant reboot at this point? Is it simply not for me?

I'd love to be supporting this company as they continue to break new ground, but I don't want to keep buying books I dislike. I really enjoy everything Valiant has been doing in the press, I dig most of their creators, I'm obsessed with how they're slowly expanding their universe, and I even enjoy some of the general plots in their books. Those three TPBs just left me super-cold, for a variety of reasons - I thought X-O was an oppressively dull story, I couldn't get past the mental (and physical?) rape in Harbinger, and A&A was a little too over-the-top with the laughably evil conservative family.

Are there further developments or other series that might be worth trying? I could see how X-O might heat up and the initial hokeyness of A&A might subside. I'm also intrigued to make it to Unity, since I love Kindt's work.

Other stuff I like, for reference: Pre-Bendis X-Men (all of it), Captain Marvel (and KSD, in general), everything Hickman (including creator-owned), Unwritten, Planetary (and Ellis, mostly), Mind MGMT, Hellboy, Locke & Key.

A&A becomes better with the next storyarcs, and so does X-O Manowar, but if you hated them from front to cover, I'd suggest trying some of the other series. If X-O is not your thing, I don't think Unity will be to your liking. You may want to give Rai a shot. The trade with the first arc will be out soon. When Armor Hunters is done and collected, I'd suggest trying that. It revolves around X-O Manowar, but it is more of a story involving X-O Manowar and some of the other Valiant characters than an X-O Manowar story like the series.

[ksbord]

I ask this honestly and with an open mind, not trying to troll:

I have bought and read the Vol. 1 TPBs from X-O, Harbinger, and Archer & Armstrong and mostly just hated all three front to back (except for a few parts of A&A). Should I just give up on the Valiant reboot at this point? Is it simply not for me?

I'd love to be supporting this company as they continue to break new ground, but I don't want to keep buying books I dislike. I really enjoy everything Valiant has been doing in the press, I dig most of their creators, I'm obsessed with how they're slowly expanding their universe, and I even enjoy some of the general plots in their books. Those three TPBs just left me super-cold, for a variety of reasons - I thought X-O was an oppressively dull story, I couldn't get past the mental (and physical?) rape in Harbinger, and A&A was a little too over-the-top with the laughably evil conservative family.

Are there further developments or other series that might be worth trying? I could see how X-O might heat up and the initial hokeyness of A&A might subside. I'm also intrigued to make it to Unity, since I love Kindt's work.

Other stuff I like, for reference: Pre-Bendis X-Men (all of it), Captain Marvel (and KSD, in general), everything Hickman (including creator-owned), Unwritten, Planetary (and Ellis, mostly), Mind MGMT, Hellboy, Locke & Key.

Sorry to hear your initial stabs at Valiant left you cold. I know it would be a lot to take the word of someone you don't know, but I can't stress strongly enough how amazing the runs of Harbinger and Archer & Armstrong have been. Fred Van Lente just penned an epic master stroke in A&A #23 that turned the entire run into one amazing mega-arc!

I'd say give the next volume of Harbinger a read, and if you are agreeable, the next two volumes of Archer & Armstrong. Some seriously good stuff happens. As to Unity... Reading X-O gets you there, but Valiant set up Unity as an entry point. If you like Kindt, this is where he begins. His work on Rai also has connections to Unity.

As to the rape in Harbinger... absolutely horrible, no doubt about it. It was a very difficult and deliberate choice of writer Joshua Dysart, and one that Valiant did not take lightly. I can only say, as ugly as it is, it's only the beginning of the story between Peter and Kris.

An additional thought... If you are cool trying the second volume of Harbinger, follow it up with the Harbinger Wars trade. HW is Valiant's first "event" which involves Harbinger and Bloodshot, and occurs after that second volume of Harbinger.

[krisis]

Thanks - that's exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. I can appreciate that some of these properties may have started a little slowly as they carefully crafted their origin stories (which, admittedly bore me), so if people who dig the sort of stuff I dig tell me it's worth another trade or two to decide I'm up for it.

(As to the rape in Harbinger, I just don't know if I can read a series whose protagonist starts out by committing rape on panel. I don't disagree with rape as a potential plot point for comics in general when it can be story-driven, but it happens to make me want the assaulter to die horribly - not read issue after issue of their arc of heroism and redemption.)

[Captain Craig]

I ask this honestly and with an open mind, not trying to troll:

I have bought and read the Vol. 1 TPBs from X-O, Harbinger, and Archer & Armstrong and mostly just hated all three front to back (except for a few parts of A&A). Should I just give up on the Valiant reboot at this point? Is it simply not for me?

I'd love to be supporting this company as they continue to break new ground, but I don't want to keep buying books I dislike. I really enjoy everything Valiant has been doing in the press, I dig most of their creators, I'm obsessed with how they're slowly expanding their universe, and I even enjoy some of the general plots in their books. Those three TPBs just left me super-cold, for a variety of reasons - I thought X-O was an oppressively dull story, I couldn't get past the mental (and physical?) rape in Harbinger, and A&A was a little too over-the-top with the laughably evil conservative family.

Are there further developments or other series that might be worth trying? I could see how X-O might heat up and the initial hokeyness of A&A might subside. I'm also intrigued to make it to Unity, since I love Kindt's work.

Other stuff I like, for reference: Pre-Bendis X-Men (all of it), Captain Marvel (and KSD, in general), everything Hickman (including creator-owned), Unwritten, Planetary (and Ellis, mostly), Mind MGMT, Hellboy, Locke & Key.

I enjoyed XO as well as A&A from the start but I'm a VALIANT fan of old. That said I read Harbinger more out of loyalty for the first two arcs. To me the plot points and character building really didn't start to gel into a book I wanted to read till about issue #9/10. You are not wrong about the OTTP hokiness of the evil conservative parents in A&A. While I enjoyed everything else I found the political statements a bit heavy handed(as will the evil 1% group later but that's further down the road and is really a cog in a bigger wheel). XO though, I totally dug from the onset and try as I might don't think it was dull. Aric is clearly not yet written as broader character he is later I'll grant that. He's fairly one dimensional at this point 4-issues into the story.

A&A second arc introduces Aram(Armstrong's) brother, Gilad the Eternal Warrior as well as the Geomancer into the mix. I do feel that after this arc the book had become one of the top 3 reads from VALIANT in it's first year.
X-O's second arc introduces Ninjak and IIRC starts to show how Aric has to adapt to the new world a bit more. Humilty seeds get planted that grow by the time we get to UNITY a year later.

I'm not sure from your current reading list that Bloodshot might be something of interest. I'll just say that for the first year it was my second favorite book. I'm also eagerly awaiting the title to return in October with issue #24 after a hiatus.

Based on Hellboy as well as Locke&Key perhaps Death Defying Dr.Mirage might be up your alley? Issue #1 just hit though so it's trade will not be till Feb/March '15. I'm hesitant to say Shadowman as that book let me down and I say that as a die hard but who knows, maybe w/no background on the character you'll have a clean slate and may like it.

RAI has been super and just wrapped it's first acr, again I don't see an immediate tie, I'll just say it's well done. First trade probably will hit October.

If you try the second arcs of XO, A&A & Harbinger and don't see the puzzle pieces really laying down a groundwork & you try RAI and are still left indifferent or worse then VALIANT may just not be for you. You'll have kudos for having been patient with them though and trying out several titles for a few arcs.

[Shadowras]

Thanks - that's exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. I can appreciate that some of these properties may have started a little slowly as they carefully crafted their origin stories (which, admittedly bore me), so if people who dig the sort of stuff I dig tell me it's worth another trade or two to decide I'm up for it.

(As to the rape in Harbinger, I just don't know if I can read a series whose protagonist starts out by committed rape on panel. I don't disagree with rape as a potential plot point for comics in general when it can be story-driven, but it happens to make me want the assaulter to die horribly - not read issue after issue of their arc of heroism and redemption.)

I agree with your Pete comments, no matter how bad Harada is portrayed, Pete will always be the worst villain for me in this series.

[TheFerg714]

I have bought and read the Vol. 1 TPBs from X-O, Harbinger, and Archer & Armstrong and mostly just hated all three front to back (except for a few parts of A&A). Should I just give up on the Valiant reboot at this point? Is it simply not for me?

Well, yea. if you hated the cornerstones of the Valiant U, while some people adored them. Valiant just probably isn't for you.

I thought X-O was an oppressively dull story,

I mean, I would agree that it kind of felt like nothing happened, but I still liked it. Vol. 2- Enter Ninjak is completely badass and Vol. 3- Planet Death is epic sci-fi genius work.

I couldn't get past the mental (and physical?) rape in Harbinger,

(As to the rape in Harbinger, I just don't know if I can read a series whose protagonist starts out by committing rape on panel. I don't disagree with rape as a potential plot point for comics in general when it can be story-driven, but it happens to make me want the assaulter to die horribly - not read issue after issue of their arc of heroism and redemption.)

Well questioning your morality is like the main theme coming form this book. Pete does some f***ed up things, Harada does some f***ed up things. But are they both doing good in the process? Who really is the good guy of the story? If you dislike that you should just stop reading.

and A&A was a little too over-the-top with the laughably evil conservative family.

initial hokeyness of A&A might subside.

"Laughably evil" is kind of the entire concept. It's taking real-world problems/conspriacies, and making them legitimate conspiracies. It's a satire, and I love that it does weird and hokey stuff. The hokeyness will not subside. In the next volume there's a chase through a golf course on golf karts while shooting at each other. I think that's hilarious and awesome, but if you don't, definitely don't push forward.

You should still check out Quantum & Woody (buddy-superhero comedy), Unity (haven't read yet, but I've heard great things), Rai (awesome cyber-punk-future stuff), and Bloodshot (just a straight-up action comic; a lot of violence and bullets).