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

[TheFerg714]

I agree, besides some news from DC and Dark Horse there wasn't much actual comic news to go around this year, not even from Marvel. I read somewhere recently that only 6% of attendees at comic con are actually comic-book readers.

God that makes my heart hurt... So theoretically, Valiant fans make up .06% of comic-con attendees.

[thewarning]

God that makes my heart hurt... So theoretically, Valiant fans make up .06% of comic-con attendees.

Yeah but Jason David Frank fans make up 20% of con attendees sooo

[Captain Craig]

Bloodshot Reborn #18 this week was great! I love how we got micro origin stories on most all of the other era Bloodshots.
Bring on BS USA!!

[tk1978]

Welcome! Hope you keep us apprised of your thoughts as you get caught up!

So 4 months later and I am caught up all the way through mid-March 2016, as in, I have read every single Valiant title since the relaunch through mid-March 2016 (other than that Quantum & Woody series that was not in the current continuity). And I must say that I am going to take a break, or possibly just stop altogether. Perhaps I've just burned myself out, but I am slowly coming to a conclusion that I just don't like superhero comics. I do realize that Valiant comics are superhero comics with a twist, at least some of them, but there is no escaping certain tropes. For instance, the first arc of Wrath of the Eternal Warrior. I really liked the scenes showing Gilad's interactions with his lost family, there was some nice character work involved but it was all ruined for me because issue 4 had an obligatory prolonged fight scene with some very bad and corny dialogue and the villain's name was Humongous (seriously??) Or Divinity - it was really a pretty good sci-fi story but it got ruined when Unity showed up to fight Divinity.

And now that I think about this, it wasn't really very often that I had one of those moments when you read something and you say to yourself, wow, this is so good. Maybe a couple of issues of Rai did that for me, maybe one or two Harbinger issues and maybe a single issue here and there. I did love the first two arcs of Bloodshot Reborn (I got halfway through the Analog Man and I didn't like nearly as much) and it may be the only title I may continue reading. Other than that, I either need a pro-longed break or stop altogether. Incidentally, I started reading Alex + Ada from Image recently and basically every single issue is making me think how great it is. Valiant as a whole just hasn't done that for me, unfortunately.

[kinggirlfriend]

So 4 months later and I am caught up all the way through mid-March 2016, as in, I have read every single Valiant title since the relaunch through mid-March 2016 (other than that Quantum & Woody series that was not in the current continuity). And I must say that I am going to take a break, or possibly just stop altogether. Perhaps I've just burned myself out, but I am slowly coming to a conclusion that I just don't like superhero comics. I do realize that Valiant comics are superhero comics with a twist, at least some of them, but there is no escaping certain tropes. For instance, the first arc of Wrath of the Eternal Warrior. I really liked the scenes showing Gilad's interactions with his lost family, there was some nice character work involved but it was all ruined for me because issue 4 had an obligatory prolonged fight scene with some very bad and corny dialogue and the villain's name was Humongous (seriously??) Or Divinity - it was really a pretty good sci-fi story but it got ruined when Unity showed up to fight Divinity.

And now that I think about this, it wasn't really very often that I had one of those moments when you read something and you say to yourself, wow, this is so good. Maybe a couple of issues of Rai did that for me, maybe one or two Harbinger issues and maybe a single issue here and there. I did love the first two arcs of Bloodshot Reborn (I got halfway through the Analog Man and I didn't like nearly as much) and it may be the only title I may continue reading. Other than that, I either need a pro-longed break or stop altogether. Incidentally, I started reading Alex + Ada from Image recently and basically every single issue is making me think how great it is. Valiant as a whole just hasn't done that for me, unfortunately.

I can mostly agree. I came to Valiant because I was done with Marvel and DC. Image is great but sometimes the books I read are on hiatus and I want something else to read. I'm also big on Euro comics from Humanoids and Titan but again, I don't read everything they put out and really just wanted something I could read with regular consistency that doesn't insult my intelligence. Valiant fits that to a "T". They may not hit the super highs of Image's best books but they never fall to the crummy depths that some of DC and Marvels books wallow in. Sometimes I do wish they were less action-y, especially when arcs are only 4-issues. But I look at it as the light entertainment that it is. For something deeper I'll have to look elsewhere, but for corporate comics there's none I'd rather read.

I only started reading Valiant this past Spring, and only have a handful of books left to read. I think I'm close to burning out too, but it's not just Valiant, it's superheroes altogether. I'll always love them in my heart but at some point I guess I just had my fill. Like anything I guess I just need a break then I'll come back to it. This past weekend was the first time I didn't have a Valiant trade to read. Instead I read the Chilling Sabrina comic and some Blueberry by Moebius. They were both great! Just the change of pace I needed.

[armlessphelan]

I come and go with Valiant. Right now, I'm reading Faith and playing catchup on Rai and Bloodshot. Looking forward to a possible War Mother series.

[Captain Craig]

Wrath of Eternal Warrior #12 - back to crawling through Humongous domain, this time to save his son, wore me out in the opening arc of the book(Labyrinth). If I thought we had potential development going forward I might not have read this feeling like it was a pedestrian effort. However, the end is near at #14 and it only reinforces how this book is going out at a midway point and not a logical conclusion point.
SIGH, Gilly just can't catch a break even though this title is his longest run yet. The VALIANT faithful, in too large a number, are not very loyal to Gilad.

[thewarning]

Wrath of Eternal Warrior #12 - back to crawling through Humongous domain, this time to save his son, wore me out in the opening arc of the book(Labyrinth). If I thought we had potential development going forward I might not have read this feeling like it was a pedestrian effort. However, the end is near at #14 and it only reinforces how this book is going out at a midway point and not a logical conclusion point.
SIGH, Gilly just can't catch a break even though this title is his longest run yet. The VALIANT faithful, in too large a number, are not very loyal to Gilad.

Labyrinth was the third arc, I think, and it was probably the best treatment of the character in the new U. He was smart, strong, and victorious. One of the best four issues Valiant has put out to date, IMO. (Basically, don't be talkin' no smack about my Labyrinth.)

[BigLbo]

i saw the ninjak vs valiant trailer and while it seemed low budget in comparison to the DC/marvel movies of course, i liked what i saw. pretty damn cool.

[ksbord]

Labyrinth was the third arc, I think, and it was probably the best treatment of the character in the new U. He was smart, strong, and victorious. One of the best four issues Valiant has put out to date, IMO. (Basically, don't be talkin' no smack about my Labyrinth.)

Funny, I thought it was the second arc, if you include the couple prelude issues. Regardless, shame to see it go. I wasn't hugely fond of the first arc, but it kicked into gear with Labyrinth.

Britannia #2 was fabulous. That series has been great!

[TheFerg714]

Funny, I thought it was the second arc, if you include the couple prelude issues. Regardless, shame to see it go. I wasn't hugely fond of the first arc, but it kicked into gear with Labyrinth.

Britannia #2 was fabulous. That series has been great!

I suppose it's up in the air whether Labyrinth can be considered the second arc or third. Technically, the prelude is included in Vol. 2, for what it's worth. I'm starting to feel a little dumb for collecting in in single issues. This would've looked really nice as a three volume story on my bookshelf.

And on the topic of Brittania, I gotta say, I'm still not entirely sold on it, but I enjoyed #2 quite a bit more than the first issue. I want to see more of his detective/psychology abilities.

Oh, and Eternal Warrior was fun, but it seemed like a slight step back. This is probably Robert Gill's best work yet imo.

[new_onslaught]

On Brittania, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do. I am not entirely sure if I'll live it in the end, but it's growing on me.

[Dark-Flux]

i saw the ninjak vs valiant trailer and while it seemed low budget in comparison to the DC/marvel movies of course, i liked what i saw. pretty damn cool.

Its just a web series for Youtube, not a full feature film.
Its waaaay lower budget than the MCU films.

[JediKage]

Yeah a more fair comparison is Marvel Netflix.

[TheFerg714]

Yeah a more fair comparison is Marvel Netflix.

lol I doubt it. Honestly, I don't even expect DC/CW quality, but I don't think it looks bad, by any means. I think it looks like the highest quality web-series you could imagine, but at the end of the day, it's just a web-series.

I am expecting some crazy good action scenes though. Still not sure if it can rival the best of Arrow and Daredevil, but I'm hoping the fight scenes will blow me away, because Bat in the Sun's previous projects have been pretty fantastic.