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

[kinggirlfriend]

I really hope Dysart is on board in some capacity, especially if Harada is involved!

[new_onslaught]

Man... huge news breaking about the new Harbinger Renegade (minus the s now!):

http://comicbook.com/2016/10/20/excl...illain-and-le/

and the teaser for Harbinger Wars 2:

http://www.cbr.com/valiant-teases-ha...-wars-2-event/

Ok, consider me officially pumped! This is sounding like some major stuff!!

Exciting! 10c

[kinggirlfriend]

Read UNITY Volumes 4 and 5, THE UNITED and HOME FRONT. I really enjoyed both of these. Probably my favorite Unity issues since the first volume. I'm hesitant to pick up the last two trades, the reviews aren't that great and the art is mad inconsistent. I love the characters so much though that I'll probably pick 'em up eventually. Otherwise I'm not sure where my Valiant reading will continue. Still have to finish Harbinger and X-O. Looking forward to the WRATH volume 2 trade coming out this week.

[ksbord]

Read UNITY Volumes 4 and 5, THE UNITED and HOME FRONT. I really enjoyed both of these. Probably my favorite Unity issues since the first volume. I'm hesitant to pick up the last two trades, the reviews aren't that great and the art is mad inconsistent. I love the characters so much though that I'll probably pick 'em up eventually. Otherwise I'm not sure where my Valiant reading will continue. Still have to finish Harbinger and X-O. Looking forward to the WRATH volume 2 trade coming out this week.

Trying to recall... what's left that you haven't picked up?

[kinggirlfriend]

Trying to recall... what's left that you haven't picked up?

This is what I have left, not including stuff not yet collected.

Will mostly likely read:
Unity Vol. 6 (Might skip Vol 7)
Harbinger Vol. 1-2, 4-5 (yeah I know I skipped around a bit)
X-O Manowar Vol. 6-10

Armor Hunters: Bloodshot
Bloodshot Vol. 3 - Will probably read this for the Harbinger Wars tie-in but the rest of the pre-Reborn series doesn't look that appealing to me.


Less sure if I want to:
RAI - All of it. Not the biggest fan of Clayton Crain. I might pick up the recent 4th volume with art by Cafu.
Faith - All of it. Although I'm definitely a fan of the character, I'm less sure I'd be interested in a solo title. Still tho, it is Faith ....


Will probably skip:
Quantum & Woody - All of it.
The recent A+A series - All of it.
Shadowman - Everything except issues #0 & 10. Will probably skip the rest.
Dead Drop - Will probably skip.
Delinquents - Will probably skip.
Eternal Warrior Vol. 1 - Will probably skip.

[TheFerg714]

Read UNITY Volumes 4 and 5, THE UNITED and HOME FRONT. I really enjoyed both of these. Probably my favorite Unity issues since the first volume. I'm hesitant to pick up the last two trades, the reviews aren't that great and the art is mad inconsistent. I love the characters so much though that I'll probably pick 'em up eventually. Otherwise I'm not sure where my Valiant reading will continue. Still have to finish Harbinger and X-O. Looking forward to the WRATH volume 2 trade coming out this week.

I really love Homefront too. It's easily the second best arc of Unity. The United is another story. It's a lot of fun, and Faith is great, but imo, Matt Kindt is overwhelmingly bad when it comes to introducing a bunch of random, inconsequential characters and acting like it's a big deal. He did it with #0, which I found very boring, he did it with The United, and he goes completely overboard with Warmonger. It might not be as big of a deal to other people, but it drives me crazy. You have no idea just how bad Unity can get until you read the rest of the series. I'd almost recommend it just to see how much it blows your mind. Unity is easily the most inconsistent series Valiant has ever made...

Will mostly likely read:
Unity Vol. 6 (Might skip Vol 7)
Harbinger Vol. 1-2, 4-5 (yeah I know I skipped around a bit)
X-O Manowar Vol. 6-10
Armor Hunters: Bloodshot
Bloodshot Vol. 3 - Will probably read this for the Harbinger Wars tie-in but the rest of the pre-Reborn series doesn't look that appealing to me.

Bruh! Harbinger, bruh! Get on that ****!
If you're into straight up brutal action romps, you might try out the first 2 volumes of Bloodshot. If not, you might as well just stay away. After Vol. 3, the series gains the H.A.R.D. Corps, which are awesome, but I didn't really like those issues very much at all. It was very middle-of-the-road for me.

Less sure if I want to:
RAI - All of it. Not the biggest fan of Clayton Crain. I might pick up the recent 4th volume with art by Cafu.

Actually, starting with Vol. 4 might be a great idea for you, seeing as it's a prequel. I honestly haven't been too impressed with Clayton Crain outside of Rai, but he does wonders with that book. Still though, if for whatever reason you don't like Crain on Rai, you might as well just stay away. I would recommend checking out that War Mother one-shot though, and the Bloodshot issue ties in directly to his BoD one-shot.

Faith - All of it. Although I'm definitely a fan of the character, I'm less sure I'd be interested in a solo title. Still tho, it is Faith ....

This is the exact same way I feel. Although luckily, it has impressed me so far. You just have to keep in mind that it's basically superhero porn. Faith is meant to be the prototypical hero, and that's where she shines best. I've found the last two issues to be hilarious and genuinely emotionally moving.

Will probably skip:
Quantum & Woody - All of it.
Delinquents - Will probably skip.

Dude! What are you doing with your life! I just got done rereading Q&W, and I loved it. I suppose it's the type of book that won't appeal to everyone, but I highly recommend it. Same goes for Delinquents, but gets even higher praise from me due KANO and A&A.

The recent A+A series - All of it.

I don't blame you, that series is awful. However, I would advise you try and pick up issue #5 (the Faith/Archer date issue). It blew me away.

[kinggirlfriend]

See Ferg, just like that you get me all excited again to try new Valiant comics! If money and time was free I'd read all of it. "Dude! What are you doing with your life!" LOL, you're right, I'm not really doing a damn thing right now except workin'. Alright, it might be a minute but I will at least give Q&W vol 1 a shot. Delinquents does appeal to me a little because of A&A and Fred.

Yeah I get what you mean about introducing characters out of the blue that are supposed to hold a lot of weight. The UNITED could've used a bit more build up or background. I actually really liked UNITY #0, it was fun seeing the other legacy type characters. And the art by Cary Nord was great! I really enjoyed FAITH #0 too. The art by Gill had some weird faces but overall I really liked that it fleshed out Faith's background and bridged her time between Armor Hunters and Unity. Good, good stuff all around, IMO.

I did read the 4001 BLOODSHOT issue and thought it was great! A really good followup to the BoD issue. BLOODSHOT USA aside, I'd love to see more of the future Bloodshot by Braithwaite.

And going forward I'm still following NINJAK, WRATH, BLOODSHOT and DIVINITY. And once they're collected I'm looking forward to BRITTANIA and possibly GEN ZERO and RENEGADES. Not sure about SAVAGE yet.

[TheFerg714]

See Ferg, just like that you get me all excited again to try new Valiant comics! If money and time was free I'd read all of it. "Dude! What are you doing with your life!" LOL, you're right, I'm not really doing a damn thing right now except workin'. Alright, it might be a minute but I will at least give Q&W vol 1 a shot. Delinquents does appeal to me a little because of A&A and Fred.

Well, trust me, it's just an expression, I'm not doing anything with my life either lol. I, however, am content with doing nothing, as long as I can still provide for myself and my significant other, and spend some quality time with Overwatch and Valiant comics.
On the topic of Delinquents, don't go in it for Van Lente. It's very much an Asmus-based book, and showcases his style of humor which admittedly isn't everyone's cuppa tea. Kano's art is mind-bogglingly unique and innovative though. The best part about it is that the characters get matched up with the characters you wouldn't assume would naturally go together, ie: Quantum/Armstrong and Woody/Archer.

Yeah I get what you mean about introducing characters out of the blue that are supposed to hold a lot of weight. The UNITED could've used a bit more build up or background. I actually really liked UNITY #0, it was fun seeing the other legacy type characters. And the art by Cary Nord was great! I really enjoyed FAITH #0 too. The art by Gill had some weird faces but overall I really liked that it fleshed out Faith's background and bridged her time between Armor Hunters and Unity. Good, good stuff all around, IMO.

Oo, yea that Faith issue is good. I forgot it was included in that volume. I'm currently having an ongoing argument in my head about where that issue belongs in my longbox... Does it work better as a predecessor to Faith? A prelude to The United? Or an epilogue to Harbinger? So many options!
And honestly, I hated Unity #0. I found it exceedingly boring. The idea of a long line of Unity teams is probably one of my list favorite ideas in any Valiant book.

[kinggirlfriend]

In the trade they slot FAITH #0 between issues #12 and 13. So between the first and second part of THE UNITED. Basically you get her introduction to Unity, then her backstory leading up to her joining Unity.

Unity #0 seems out of place and should have went into the next volume.

I understand what you mean though, #0 does run the risk of coming off as cliched. I do expect grander/smarter concepts from Valiant. I don't think Unity should ever have been a series, but instead maybe a series of specials during the events to show the heroes coming together.

[TheFerg714]

Man, I gotta say, I'm disappointed in this week's offerings.

Bloodshot USA was fine, but nothing special. I wasn't blown away by Braithwaite's art, which is strange, and Kozol seems out of character. I understand that he's in boss mode right now, but I think in the past we've seen him be a snarky, over-the-top scummy, *******, and he really just comes off as a faceless head of an evil company. The Kay stuff was great, and the spoilers:

Unity members being taken over by nanites

end of spoilers was quite the cliffhanger to leave us on. I'm still pretty pumped for the next issue, but I don't think this was the bang that we've come to expect from Lemire's previous intros.

Heroscape? Cornermen that can only teleport when there's a corner in the room? Animalia doesn't want to fight? Gen. Zero is Archie now? I'm so not into this issue, and subsequently, the series so far. At first I was giving them a pass, and trusting Fred Van Lente on the boring, seemingly opposite direction they were taking these characters, but I think I'm officially done. I still might pick up the next issue, but it's off my pull list.

[kinggirlfriend]

Heroscape? Cornermen that can only teleport when there's a corner in the room? Animalia doesn't want to fight? Gen. Zero is Archie now? I'm so not into this issue, and subsequently, the series so far. At first I was giving them a pass, and trusting Fred Van Lente on the boring, seemingly opposite direction they were taking these characters, but I think I'm officially done. I still might pick up the next issue, but it's off my pull list.

That's disappointing to hear. I was trade waiting this but a little on the fence. Now I might give it a pass. Hopefully RENEGADES will be better.

[ksbord]

I'll counterpoint..., I loved the issues yesterday. Generation Zero is, IMO, some brilliant stuff, and FVL is knocking it out of the park! Crazy creative concepts. This guy thinks that if you enjoyed FVLs A&A and Timewalker, then you will like Gen Zero.

[kinggirlfriend]

I'll counterpoint..., I loved the issues yesterday. Generation Zero is, IMO, some brilliant stuff, and FVL is knocking it out of the park! Crazy creative concepts. This guy thinks that if you enjoyed FVLs A&A and Timewalker, then you will like Gen Zero.

I did really love FVL and Francis on those two titles. About as perfect as comics get.

[TheFerg714]

I'll counterpoint..., I loved the issues yesterday. Generation Zero is, IMO, some brilliant stuff, and FVL is knocking it out of the park! Crazy creative concepts. This guy thinks that if you enjoyed FVLs A&A and Timewalker, then you will like Gen Zero.

Well it's cool that someone is liking it. And I want to point out that I would feel very bad if you ended up ignoring a series that you might like, just because I don't like it.

With that being said, I wholeheartedly disagree. I would use the word 'weird', over creative. I just can't get over the fact that an Archie-esque, high school teen drama is exactly what I didn't want from Gen. Zero. Maybe I'm being too hard on it, and it'll win me over within a few issues, but the direction, boring art (sorry Portela fans), and strange mischaracterizations are really turning me off from this book.

[ksbord]

Well it's cool that someone is liking it. And I want to point out that I would feel very bad if you ended up ignoring a series that you might like, just because I don't like it.

With that being said, I wholeheartedly disagree. I would use the word 'weird', over creative. I just can't get over the fact that an Archie-esque, high school teen drama is exactly what I didn't want from Gen. Zero. Maybe I'm being too hard on it, and it'll win me over within a few issues, but the direction, boring art (sorry Portela fans), and strange mischaracterizations are really turning me off from this book.

Fair enough, my friend. To each their own, right? Sorry to hear it's not doing it for you. For me, this series is hitting all the right notes. It was described from the start as Archie meets The Authority, and I feel that's been pretty accurate. Wish I could say I had the same level of enjoyment with A&A and, to a lesser extent, Faith.

Meanwhile, I grow more and more optimistic about Harbinger Renegade. Valiant clearly has huge plans around this title, which bolsters my confidence. And that art in the previews... fantastic!!