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

[ksbord]

what is weird to me is no Livewire mention since that is the main romantic entanglement for Ninjak. I mean Faith, I know she is popular but...

That's a good point. Maybe just an oversight by the author?

[sifighter]

More news... Live action Valiant is on the way, Ferg pretty much called it:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08/...or-and-savage/

Alright! I really enjoy a lot of the work behind the Super Powered Beat Downs so I think this will be really cool.

[Shadowras]

Wished if it was on TV, but I'm still excited for this.

[ksbord]

Actors involved in this Valiant webseries:

Michael Rowe - Ninjak
John Morrison - The Eternal Warrior? (I'm betting this is so)
Jason David Frank

Others possibly involved:

Nicola Posener (mentioned in a Twitter post, English actress)
Kevin Porter (photographed/posted on instagram with Michael Rowe)
Some other dude named Derek (photographed/posted on instagram with Michael Rowe)
Chantelle Barry (mentioned working with Mike Rowe and Kevin Porter and New York Comic Con. Also posted instagram photo with hair dyed red for a secret comic book project announcing in Oct at NYCC #villain... Roku?)

[ksbord]

Thoughts on today's offerings:

Bloodshot Reborn #16 - Best In Show today. Action packed continuation of the storyline while mysteries abound. What is PRS up to, and what did they do to Kay? Ray gets the upperhand for now, but I'm sure it won't continue to be that easy. Great work from Lemire and Suayan.

X-O Manowar #49 - Venditti powers on to the end. Satisfying big battle w/ X-O, the Armorines, the team formerly known as Unity, and some surprise allies hitting the Torment in Manhattan. Boy, between this and the upcoming Bloodshot USA, it sure sucks to be a New Yorker in the Valiant U. Interesting cliffhanger that will hopefully lead to revelations in the final issue next month.

4001 AD #4 - ... and this is how the event ends... not with a bang, but with a "WHAT NEXT??" It wasn't bad, wasn't earthshaking... just kinda ends. I wouldn't be surprised if this marks the end of Kindt's run on Rai. It smacks of finality with enough material seeded for a new writer to come in and run with things. Guess we'll see.

[JasonTodd428]

Thoughts on today's offerings:

Bloodshot Reborn #16 - Best In Show today. Action packed continuation of the storyline while mysteries abound. What is PRS up to, and what did they do to Kay? Ray gets the upperhand for now, but I'm sure it won't continue to be that easy. Great work from Lemire and Suayan.

X-O Manowar #49 - Venditti powers on to the end. Satisfying big battle w/ X-O, the Armorines, the team formerly known as Unity, and some surprise allies hitting the Torment in Manhattan. Boy, between this and the upcoming Bloodshot USA, it sure sucks to be a New Yorker in the Valiant U. Interesting cliffhanger that will hopefully lead to revelations in the final issue next month.

4001 AD #4 - ... and this is how the event ends... not with a bang, but with a "WHAT NEXT??" It wasn't bad, wasn't earthshaking... just kinda ends. I wouldn't be surprised if this marks the end of Kindt's run on Rai. It smacks of finality with enough material seeded for a new writer to come in and run with things. Guess we'll see.

I really liked Bloodshot Reborn this week as well. Loving what Lemire and Suayan are doing there. I'm really looking forward to finding out just what is going on with PRS here and what exactly they did to Kay. 4001 AD was a bit of a let down to me though. I guess I was expecting more out of it or something. It wasn't bad by any stretch it just disappointing.

[TheFerg714]

I really liked Bloodshot Reborn this week as well. Loving what Lemire and Suayan are doing there. I'm really looking forward to finding out just what is going on with PRS here and what exactly they did to Kay. 4001 AD was a bit of a let down to me though. I guess I was expecting more out of it or something. It wasn't bad by any stretch it just disappointing.

Yea, Bloodshot was pretty great. No complaints on my end, although I'm very curious about what the deal is with Kay as well. I didn't find 4001AD to be a let down per se (especially due to those beautiful splash pages on Earth), but it definitely wasn't the bang that I was expecting. Everything sort of fell into place as I had assumed it would. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting something a little... more. With that being said, now that 4001 is over, I absolutely stoked to reread everything, in trade order. I think the Rai tie-ins are gonna feel like quite the history lesson when reading them all in a row, and I'm eager to see if everything holds up on the second time around.
Oh, also X-O was great. Venditti's really nailing this major, earth shattering event feel. It really feels like a definitive conclusion, which is rare in such a long series nowadays.
EDIT: Also, GIN-GR was amazing in this issue.

[JasonTodd428]

I didn't find 4001AD to be a let down per se (especially due to those beautiful splash pages on Earth), but it definitely wasn't the bang that I was expecting. Everything sort of fell into place as I had assumed it would. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting something a little... more. With that being said, now that 4001 is over, I absolutely stoked to reread everything, in trade order. I think the Rai tie-ins are gonna feel like quite the history lesson when reading them all in a row, and I'm eager to see if everything holds up on the second time around.

Those splash pages were great. Yeah, I think I'm going to reread 4001 again myself. Like I said the ending wasn't bad it just wasn't what I was expecting either but it does deserve a reread. It probably didn't help that I'd read Bloodshot right before it either.

[thewarning]

It was just standard Kindt fare to me at this point. I haven't been a real fan of his books in what feels like a pretty long time (this last issue of Rai was impressive, though). I feel like the "4002" narration at the end had been planned from Rai #1, but it was such a banal revelation. I haven't found the 4001 universe to be that compelling and I'm really, really lukewarm on Ninjak. Not sure I'll read the next series he'll be attached to.

Other books this week were good, looking forward to seeing how both arcs wrap up.

[TheFerg714]

It was just standard Kindt fare to me at this point. I haven't been a real fan of his books in what feels like a pretty long time (this last issue of Rai was impressive, though). I feel like the "4002" narration at the end had been planned from Rai #1, but it was such a banal revelation. I haven't found the 4001 universe to be that compelling and I'm really, really lukewarm on Ninjak. Not sure I'll read the next series he'll be attached to.

Other books this week were good, looking forward to seeing how both arcs wrap up.

B-but what about Divinity?

[thewarning]

There will be surely be some intentional anti-climax since he's much more interested in the meditative than the purely exciting. Let's see how D2 ends, I guess.

(Not this D2)

A70-15221.jpg

[Muadib]

Something i'd like to say about the Valiant Universe right now, which is problem that has bothered it in all three incarnations.

Not enough good villains.

A superhero universe lives and dies by its antagonists and other than Masgter Darque and Harada who do we really have?

Wheres our Sabertooth and Doctor Doom and Reverse Flash and Joker and Mandarin and all the rest?

If they want people to keep reading Valiant they are gonna have to seriously up their game on the villains front.

[Shadowras]

Something i'd like to say about the Valiant Universe right now, which is problem that has bothered it in all three incarnations.

Not enough good villains.

A superhero universe lives and dies by its antagonists and other than Masgter Darque and Harada who do we really have?

Wheres our Sabertooth and Doctor Doom and Reverse Flash and Joker and Mandarin and all the rest?

If they want people to keep reading Valiant they are gonna have to seriously up their game on the villains front.

Good point, a villain I really liked from the Timewalker series last year was the Mistress, if developed well she can be Valiant's Kang. The villains group called the United also had some potential.

[thewarning]

Something i'd like to say about the Valiant Universe right now, which is problem that has bothered it in all three incarnations.
A superhero universe lives and dies by its antagonists and other than Masgter Darque and Harada who do we really have?

Dr Silk, too. But, otherwise, yes. A bunch of promising villains that get don't get revisited.

[ksbord]

Agreed with the consensus on the villains... Darque and Harada have been the most impactful, but beyond that? Silk is an obvious candidate, his appearance in the current Ninjak arc will help. I'll also throw Commander Trill out there for consideration. And I hope The United can make a reappearance.

I think it's difficult for a villain to gain traction in the current decompressed storyline reality of comics these days. A couple of arcs runs most a year of storytelling, so it's easy for a new character to fall to the wayside.