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

[TotalSnorefest]

Appreciate seeing you guys handling disagreements in a mature fashion. In general this is always a very positive, welcoming thread; I'm glad to see that disagreements get talked out mostly rationally too. This is just a notice to point out that, should anyone ever feel the need, it's always possible to notify a moderator or admin by using the report option, using the 'contact an admin' feature, or messaging me directly. Going forward, let's keep it respectful here.

Carry on, Valiant Stans!

[harashkupo]

Appreciate seeing you guys handling disagreements in a mature fashion. In general this is always a very positive, welcoming thread; I'm glad to see that disagreements get talked out mostly rationally too. This is just a notice to point out that, should anyone ever feel the need, it's always possible to notify a moderator or admin by using the report option, using the 'contact an admin' feature, or messaging me directly. Going forward, let's keep it respectful here.

Carry on, Valiant Stans!

Thanks for the open door offer and also the burst of positivity.

[HaveAtThee]

You had mentioned earlier that the 0 issue wasn't included in your HC. Were you able to to still get it?

No I went ahead and read the hardcover and it was excellent. I'm going to find a copy of Harbinger #0 as I understand (and as you've said) it's a big time introspective look at the Harada character. He's terribly fascinating. One of those "mystery wrapped in an enigma" type of characters. Kind of like a Lex Luthor/Stephen Strange mixture. I guess that Harada starts playing a bigger role in Harbinger as well as Valiant as a whole moving forward as well, can't wait to see. Now it's time for me to order Vol. 3 of X-O Manowar, A&A, Harbinger and Bloodshot. Also have to get Vol. 2 of Bloodshot Reborn as well as Ninjak vol. 1. Gonna be a busy week for me.

[new_onslaught]

No I went ahead and read the hardcover and it was excellent. I'm going to find a copy of Harbinger #0 as I understand (and as you've said) it's a big time introspective look at the Harada character. He's terribly fascinating. One of those "mystery wrapped in an enigma" type of characters. Kind of like a Lex Luthor/Stephen Strange mixture. I guess that Harada starts playing a bigger role in Harbinger as well as Valiant as a whole moving forward as well, can't wait to see. Now it's time for me to order Vol. 3 of X-O Manowar, A&A, Harbinger and Bloodshot. Also have to get Vol. 2 of Bloodshot Reborn as well as Ninjak vol. 1. Gonna be a busy week for me.

Harada is also in the first volume of Unity and Imperium is focused on him.

[thewarning]

Grabbed this week's books and my LCS also had a second A&A ashcan book they stuck in my box. Looking forward to checking everything out this eve.

Edit: read the A&A and it was not as good as the first. Princess Bride spoof with Archer and Faith, plus a bunch of cameos. Still these are pretty fun.

[scribbleMind]

I'm really enjoying the look into the previous Rai. I kind of wish that they started there, at the very beginning, instead of waiting until now. I liked Rai before, but for me delving into the previous Rai and Father's former efforts adds some extra richness that was missing before.

[ksbord]

I'm really enjoying the look into the previous Rai. I kind of wish that they started there, at the very beginning, instead of waiting until now. I liked Rai before, but for me delving into the previous Rai and Father's former efforts adds some extra richness that was missing before.

Agreed. On the previous Valiant U., the Rai's were all uniform "cookie cutter." I like this idea that they capture the zeitgeist of the current era in New Japan, and that just makes a rich field of future story ideas to explore. Orator-Rai, God-Rai, Bat-Rai ... Good stuff all around.

Divinity... man, I need to go back and re-read that one. Crazy deep concepts being tossed around, and I'm not sure I understand how the ending occurred.

[scribbleMind]

I'm not 100% sure either, but I think because she realized she couldn't directly change people, she changed something else that would then influence them instead. If everyone in the world got the same amount of money, and they like that, and they think, "This is what communism is? Fantastic!" Then she gets what she wants, and the change works because the people decided to support communism of their own accord.

Could be completely off base, though.

[thewarning]

I've said it before (maybe in this thread, maybe on the old board), but Hairsine's art looks so much better in B&W than colored. Just look at the backmatter in this issue. And know that this is absolutely not a complaint about how it looks in color. I just think it makes so much more sense in B&W. He's got such a weird style. It's so scratchy and forceful and kinetic, even at rest (non-action panels). I think Baron's colors, which are totally fine, just sort of compromise the rawness of it.

Anyway Divinity was good otherwise, too. A bit of a reductionist Morrisonian theory of time in one spot. And that one explanatory bubble from Livewire was pretty clumsy. I do like the fundamental idea that these two cosmically huge forces are basically just negating each other in ways beyond punching real hard.

[JediKage]

I agree I rather read it like a Manga quite frankly. B&W.

It is pretty good. The thing is nothing can really occur as long as they don't agree. Myshka mirrors Addams v Harada pretty heavily though. In the we have the power, the world is suffering thus its our obligation to fix it and make it better. Vs Addams who is like free will all the way, let the normal sort things out. Difference being She cant be checked by anybody but Divinity.

[harashkupo]

I've said it before (maybe in this thread, maybe on the old board), but Hairsine's art looks so much better in B&W than colored. Just look at the backmatter in this issue. And know that this is absolutely not a complaint about how it looks in color. I just think it makes so much more sense in B&W. He's got such a weird style. It's so scratchy and forceful and kinetic, even at rest (non-action panels). I think Baron's colors, which are totally fine, just sort of compromise the rawness of it.

Anyway Divinity was good otherwise, too. A bit of a reductionist Morrisonian theory of time in one spot. And that one explanatory bubble from Livewire was pretty clumsy. I do like the fundamental idea that these two cosmically huge forces are basically just negating each other in ways beyond punching real hard.

What did you think of Ian Hannin's coloring during the Harbinger Wars tie-ins? I liked it and felt Hannin was a perfect match for Hairsine. Personally his work never looked better than those four issues.

[Captain Craig]

I'm really enjoying the look into the previous Rai. I kind of wish that they started there, at the very beginning, instead of waiting until now. I liked Rai before, but for me delving into the previous Rai and Father's former efforts adds some extra richness that was missing before.

I'm also really digging the history and glimpses into prior Rai's but feel now is the right time for it. Had they tried the linear approach I'm not confident we'd be where we are with the title. This also serves as a good starting point for those coming into the series perhaps for the first time or trying it out due to 4001 A.D.

[thewarning]

What did you think of Ian Hannin's coloring during the Harbinger Wars tie-ins? I liked it and felt Hannin was a perfect match for Hairsine. Personally his work never looked better than those four issues.

Nice, I'm gonna have to dig em out and take another look at them! Been meaning to revisit HW for a while, now – this weekend seems like a good opportunity.

[kinggirlfriend]

Received BOOK OF DEATH Deluxe in the mail and have begun to work through it, albeit slowly. So far it's just ok. I liked how Gilad took down Unity. The art while not bad isn't what I would call stellar. The main reason I picked the Deluxe was to get the awesome cover by Rivera. I can't help but feel the series would have been much stronger and be seen more as a proper follow up to THE VALIANT with him on art duties. Feels like a missed opportunity.

I also went ahead and read the synopsis for LEGENDS OF THE GEOMANCER. At first I played with the idea of picking up the issues but after an ebay search and looking at the prices I'm gonna have to pass. The art looks great, much better than the actual BoD mini. The story sounds more interesting. This should have been the main thing. Or maybe a 2 issue prelude before the proper BoD mini. As I get more and more into NuValiant I can't help but get angry about this. The fact that Fred Van Lente wrote it only adds insult to injury. grrrrrrrrr *end rant*

[thewarning]

A bunch of us have similar feelings about Gill's art, but I've come to really respect his craft, even if his style isn't all there yet (particularly with faces). He will really commit to a page, and you can see that he's working it to the hilt. It's been impressive to watch his work evolve over the past two years. Not sure he'll ever be one of my favs, but, yeah. I think you can really see the work he puts into it, and that is rewarding to me.

I was lucky to get the Geomancer book through my LCS at cover price, and much as I love FvL and Ryp and the work they did on the book, it was overall sorta disappointing, not really necessary, and I definitely wouldn't recommend forking over the dough to pick em up. IIRC, each issue was shorter than standard length, too. I'm glad I bought them, but absolutely think the whole thing was the iffiest decision they've made since relaunching.