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

[harashkupo]

My initial plan was to read a month's books every week. So first week would be X-O #1. Second week: X-O 2 and Harbinger 1. Third week: X-O 3, Harbinger 2, and Bloodshot 1... and so on. I think once we get to 7-8 books a month we could split the month in half. I made this geeky chart for myself, but I'm sure it would work for us too.
Attachment 39106

For people on the short bus(me), could you post what book on Sun/Mon and then we can throw out our thoughts or review Fri/Sat? Of course this could be one volume per week since it's only 4 issues and that pretty much covers over a year's worth of material.

[TheFerg714]

For people on the short bus(me), could you post what book on Sun/Mon and then we can throw out our thoughts or review Fri/Sat? Of course this could be one volume per week since it's only 4 issues and that pretty much covers over a year's worth of material.

I was thinking I'd post what we're reading at the beginning of the week, and we'd give our thoughts and talk about them as the week goes on. I wouldn't be opposed to reading everything by trade, but I thought it would be fun to read them how they were originally released, seeing as I wasn't buying everything monthly until Valiant Next, and I'm pretty sure most of us on this thread are in the same boat. I didn't even consider doing a community read thing with you guys, so I'm pretty much down for whatever, as long as there's enough interest.

[Inhuman X]

I discovered this at our other home just now and thought to share it here: Joshua Dysart is scheduled to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on http://www.Reddit.com/r/comicbooks - starting today at 10 AM PST. Similar to the chats done recently with Jim Shooter, anyone can sign up free for Reddit and be able to participate in conversing with Josh today. I'm not sure how long it's scheduled to go on for, so if you're interested, you've got about 45 mins to join up on Reddit. The thread with Dysart will be opened at the time it all begins. Will see if I can post a direct link then.

[Inhuman X]

What looks to be a direct link to Dysart's AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/...ter_harbinger/

Edit: He has been on and off through the day and a bunch of questions were answered even if it took a while for them to post. So have fun reading guys.

[Inhuman X]

Edit: It appears this issue is now fixed.

[Inhuman X]

Here are some from bits from the Rededit AMA:

Josh Dysart: To that end, if you felt unsatisfied by the ending of Imperium, it's because it's not over yet. Satisfaction is coming. It's cooking now. Thanks for reading it!

Josh Dysart: But I won't lie. Spending all of those years building up the Peter story with the intention of turning him into a good, likable character who had found his way, only to have the story yanked out from under me right as we were in the final stretch, so that all I got to tell was "disaffected ******* Peter" stories. It did change my relationship with the publisher a great deal. I still love Valiant, but I've been decreasing my workload for them ever since. I'll be back in the fold eventually, but that's the one event that really made me think how much better it is to do your own thing than to work for someone else.

Josh Dysart: I don't really have any involvement with the (Harbinger) movie. I have seen some drafts of the script, but I've added no elements to date.

Josh Dysart: I have spent enough time in destabilized regions, failed nation-states and, what is inaccurately called, the "third world" to have a global perspective that has changed me profoundly. I see now that poverty is perpetuated. Resources are finite. And the connection between progress in the "first world" and violence in the "third world" is a real thing. Imperium is about all of these difficult subjects. But with robots and ****.

Josh Dysart: I think that Harada has some absolute character flaws that make his ambitions far, far more difficult to achieve than they have to be. We could talk about that all day, his hubris, his belief that his vision alone is the only path, etc.But make no mistake, if Buddha or Jesus decided to upturn global supply and demand and force resource reallocation towards the most impoverished people on the planet they would also meet extreme resistance from those who benefit from the current systems.Those who are in power will always use the means of power to remain in power.

Take Gandhi, for instance. His struggle was real, he was just a single man with no real political power. He was beaten and jailed and his movement was subject to massacres in which thousands died. So, you know...
In the end, I don't know if struggle and violence works at all, or is the only possible way. Writing Harada and Imperium is part of how I try to answer that question for myself.

A Reader Question: The final line of Imperium is "The war, from the beginning, has been lost."
Is it because Harada, with all his powers, is simply not strong enough to go against all the governments of the world? Or is it something deeper? He seems to be fighting against human nature itself. And he's also fighting against his own nature.

Civilizations have been built on war crimes and crimes against humanity (such as experimenting on the pregnant woman), but he wants to build a utopia. Is it possible for one to exist when its pillars are built on things of that nature? Or has his willingness to compromise to such a degree doomed it to failure from the beginning?

Josh Dysart: My friend. You are the perfect Imperium reader. Let's approach your last paragraph fist. That is one of the central tenants behind Imperium. I don't know the answer. Imperium is about the inherent tangled knot of progress and violence. How one does not seem to exist without the other. Imperium is me wrestling, to some degree, with this idea. Now, your question about the last line at the end of the book. Yes, all of the above. You answered it perfectly. All of those things have conspired against Harada, and not the least of his enemies has been himself.

There is much more. Bless the man for taking time from the day to share with us Valiant fans.

[harashkupo]

Noooo! I can't believe I missed this. Thanks for posting this Inhuman, you are awesome. I'm about to click the link and looking forward to reading it.

A Reader Question: The final line of Imperium is "The war, from the beginning, has been lost."
Is it because Harada, with all his powers, is simply not strong enough to go against all the governments of the world? Or is it something deeper? He seems to be fighting against human nature itself. And he's also fighting against his own nature.

Civilizations have been built on war crimes and crimes against humanity (such as experimenting on the pregnant woman), but he wants to build a utopia. Is it possible for one to exist when its pillars are built on things of that nature? Or has his willingness to compromise to such a degree doomed it to failure from the beginning?

Josh Dysart: My friend. You are the perfect Imperium reader. Let's approach your last paragraph fist. That is one of the central tenants behind Imperium. I don't know the answer. Imperium is about the inherent tangled knot of progress and violence. How one does not seem to exist without the other. Imperium is me wrestling, to some degree, with this idea. Now, your question about the last line at the end of the book. Yes, all of the above. You answered it perfectly. All of those things have conspired against Harada, and not the least of his enemies has been himself.

There is much more. Bless the man for taking time from the day to share with us Valiant fans.

Nice! That's exactly the type of question I would've asked.

[Sandman55]

Valiant has been great lately...Divinity 1 and 2 were stellar. Currently loving 4001 A.D. and I pretty much picked that up without reading any RAI. Now I have read all three volumes of Rai. 4001 AD is better than the 3 volumes in my opinion mainly just been loving the ART in that one. Valiant does a very good job with these SCI Fi - Fantasy stories. Haven't read the XO Manowar series but have loved issues #47 and #48. I am a fan of the Lemire Bloodshot run as well. Anyone else looking foward to Brittania?

[thewarning]

Josh Dysart: But I won't lie. Spending all of those years building up the Peter story with the intention of turning him into a good, likable character who had found his way, only to have the story yanked out from under me right as we were in the final stretch, so that all I got to tell was "disaffected ******* Peter" stories. It did change my relationship with the publisher a great deal. I still love Valiant, but I've been decreasing my workload for them ever since. I'll be back in the fold eventually, but that's the one event that really made me think how much better it is to do your own thing than to work for someone else.

Wow, so it sounds like Harbinger was cancelled at 25 as opposed to reaching its "natural conclusion." Calls all of those MILESTONE ISSUES into question, if you ask me.

[scribbleMind]

Man. It suuuuuuucks to hear they snatched Harbingers away from Dysart. I think we all assumed that he was building up to something and that Imperium was just the second part of that, but the fact that our assumptions were true and that his plans were thrown by the way side is really disheartening. I'm going to assume they wanted a Harbingers book out before they started press for the movie, and Dysart had to be sacrificed, but if they want to make Harbingers a long lasting movie franchise they need the best stories they can get and they probably crippled if not outright destroyed a really excellent climax to all the build up that Dysart has been doing since day one.

[Inhuman X]

From a Rededit Mod for the Valiant List: Barring any changes, we also have an AMA for Fred Van Lente scheduled for Thursday, August 25th, at r/Comicbooks.

Noooo! I can't believe I missed this. Thanks for posting this Inhuman, you are awesome. I'm about to click the link and looking forward to reading it.

I actually wish I had heard of this earlier too. I got lucky and learned of it an hour before hand. I actually thought about all of you that loved his Valliant work so I did try to share as soon as I found out. We have had a lot of Harada discussions here and he shares good stuff in the AMA. Even mentions his inspiration and love for Sunlight on Snow.

Wow, so it sounds like Harbinger was cancelled at 25 as opposed to reaching its "natural conclusion." Calls all of those MILESTONE ISSUES into question, if you ask me.

Man. It suuuuuuucks to hear they snatched Harbingers away from Dysart. I think we all assumed that he was building up to something and that Imperium was just the second part of that, but the fact that our assumptions were true and that his plans were thrown by the way side is really disheartening. I'm going to assume they wanted a Harbingers book out before they started press for the movie, and Dysart had to be sacrificed, but if they want to make Harbingers a long lasting movie franchise they need the best stories they can get and they probably crippled if not outright destroyed a really excellent climax to all the build up that Dysart has been doing since day one.

That was a big OH NOES moment for me in that he is my favorite Valiant writer and the idea that the publisher alienated him left me wondering how much more I would see. However in other Q&A you get the idea that from editorials perspective he was taking too long in getting Stanchek back on track as a respectable guy for what they want out of the book and maybe had driven him in a deeper hole than they like with the movie coming and all. I don't know. Sometimes from my perspective you just need to let a good writer work a story.

[harashkupo]

I'm a little worried because he mentioned that he has a mini and a one shot with Valiant and then he's working on his own stuff. My break from this phase of Valiant might be longer than I thought.

[ksbord]

Josh Dysart crafted an amazing run with Harbinger, it stands out as the "go to" title when recommending Valiant to someone. I regret that it looks like we won't see his plans come to fruition.

That being said, something about this rubs me a little wrong. In this and other interviews he tends to throw shade a little too easily... maybe it's just the way I interpreted his comments, but he comes of... whiney? I don't know...

As JMS put it so eloquently: "Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.” That resonated with me as I read his comments.

[Captain Craig]

Eternal Warrior #10 - "The Dying One" this is a character concept that looks to hold some possibilities for Gilad. I now need to know just why it is that his essence/spirit/soul jumps around like it does. It took 10 issues to really tell the opening of this title but now that it's done I feel like it was worth the build up. I know the odds are low, in lieu of that as of now I assume his life force jumps are random, but what about if he jumps into the living body of someone that matters to Gilad? What if he jumped into a powerful psiot of some nature? I'm sensing some real scenarios that make for interesting character growth for all involved down the road.

[harashkupo]

Josh Dysart crafted an amazing run with Harbinger, it stands out as the "go to" title when recommending Valiant to someone. I regret that it looks like we won't see his plans come to fruition.

That being said, something about this rubs me a little wrong. In this and other interviews he tends to throw shade a little too easily... maybe it's just the way I interpreted his comments, but he comes of... whiney? I don't know...

As JMS put it so eloquently: "Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.” That resonated with me as I read his comments.

LOL YES! A B5 quote. You my friend have become exponentially more awesome.