Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

X-O Manowar Vol 8.

This has a 3 part Armorines story -- which I understand is a callback to the original Valiant Universe, and an issue 0. I'll start with the issue zero which is a very elegant warrior tale from Aric's past as a Visigoth. Thoroughly enjoyed this character reflection vignette. Beautiful stuff, but that was bonus material to add into the storyline which is the Armorines.

I thought this was the weakest XO story so far. The villain Zahn (homage to Timothy Zahn?) was about the most 2-D awful generic corporate banging secretary on the side slimy dude ever. So much that it made me roll my eyes. Venditti has written great characters and great villains so far, so I was a bit surprised to see something such an overused and caricatured trope. The overall arc had an interesting storyline as Zahn was using the military group that Aric is working with to get near the armor so he could show his own armor was something all world governments should buy as an armor killer. That concept is fine, the execution ended up killing my suspension of disbelief in a couple spots: 1. the shrink ray guys going into the ear canal -- this came out of nowhere and I didn't see stuff like this existing in the universe, or in Zahn's technology in the set up of the arc. The way it was hidden was cute for the issue, but threw me out of the overall storyline. 2. When Aric was subjugated by it the excuse was that he was going to "wait for him to recover" to do battle with him so he could show off his armor for the audience -- if that's the case, why did he do it in the first place? Made no sense to debilitate Aric like that. Should have, if the intention was optics, had the bomb go off in his ears as he's getting blasted by the Armorines... then it would have provided the optic and taken Aric out. I don't buy that such a big time shrewd businessman is that stupid. That plot should have been vetted.

Art was fine. Standard XO fare, didn't bother me at all anywhere, good stuff. Hard to make more comments in a volume 8 as we've seen a lot of this artist before.

Just a lazy story I feel like. The concept could have had a lot better execution, and maybe I'm spoiled by the way Vendetti has handled pretty much every other storyline in the XO saga, but this fell short. 6/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Well then, I'd have to slow down at some point just because of $ and because that half-price books collection would dwindle. And so I did. Waiting on X-O vol 9 to get into my comic shop (not sure what's taking so long) as they had 10-13, so I'll be wrapping that up as soon as that arrives. For now, I had Rai vols 1-2 and just picked up 3 and got to reading those:

Rai vol 1.

Rai is really refreshingly different. A nice digital-art story and some of the best art I've seen in Valiant so far. I enjoy the whole set up, the whole 4001 universe, everything about new Japan and how it works. Really cool setting that's imaginative and an awesome sci-fi utopia. The character of Rai is cool too.

Kindt's storytelling has a lot of depth and is super fast paced as I've seen in his other work. I love how the perspective of Lula is set up, love the whole thing with the resistance and the like, and how Rai is a conflicted protector -- working for the father, yet seeing something wrong. The whole way he gets set off and triggered to kick off the storyline is beautiful work. There's a huge cast of characters, with a couple of names I recognize -- Dr. Silk, Spylocke, which I'm not sure if they're the same or different as I've come across elsewhere, but it's cool.

The art, as i mentioned before is some of the most beautiful I've seen. I've read Crain's Carnage book before and he is really excellent at making creepy looking things, and with his own style that's perfect for a sci-fi story like this. More creepy stuff the better, as he seems to really take his time detailing all that.

A great kickstart to a series and love the whole set up. The art will be the same quality and consistency all the way through (which I appreciate) so that's all I'm going to talk about there. 10/10

Rai Vol 2.


This volume starts off strong and gets weird with its perspective change as it talks about how the revolution went. I feel like maybe Kindt bit off more than he could chew and a lot of the changes/conclusion was rushed when it could have been extended a couple issues and stuck with the storytelling before. In a lot of ways it felt like a series wrap-up even though I know the series continues for another volume. This is Empire Strikes Back bad guy does his damage if the first volume was A New Hope, but because of that strange perspective shift, I wasn't as enthralled with this volume as the first. I really do like a lot that happened here, however. The history of Rai and predecessors is really interesting, Momo is a great character. Ivar is also really cool, and tying in the Valiant Universe with the Geomancer character are other benefits. Still, it wasn't quite up to what I was wowed about in the first volume. 8/10

Rai Vol 3.

And we get right back to it. This was a fast paced volume again I read in one sitting. The side-characters set up before have formed their own resistance together to take down the Father and New Japan. Rai is cast out to earth with his own adventure, trying to find help, rehabilitate and get back to New Japan. Epic battles ensue, I love all of the cartoon watching in between battles that the characters do, and how those have subliminal messaging that Spylocke encoded into them. There's danger looming and so much more of New Japan to discover. I was a little thrown off that Izak has this whole group of his aliens there that just are there hidden in a section, but I was able to suspend disbelief of that a little bit. Love Rai's adventures on earth and everything he did there. It ends in a nice cliffhanger that gets wrapped up in 4001, which I didn't know, and that's my only gripe that I now have to wait to get another book. About the most exciting Valiant stuff I've read here. The art coloring wise in this issue took a darker turn -- and I feel like some of that dark muted colors stepped on Crain's super-detailed art at points, but it's a minor complaint as that matched the tone of the book. 10/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by brucehartshorn »

These reviews are wonderful in their detail and scope :thumb:

FANTASTIC job! Reviews like these are a tremendous help to VEI's efforts so a big THANKS for all your work :clap:

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

Your reviews continue to be pretty awesome! It's always fun reading them. :thumb:

Now you must have read about 3 (or 4) years of VEI publications in less than 2 months. :clap:

---
otomo wrote:Well then, I'd have to slow down at some point just because of $ and because that half-price books collection would dwindle. And so I did. Waiting on X-O vol 9 to get into my comic shop (not sure what's taking so long) as they had 10-13, so I'll be wrapping that up as soon as that arrives.
Vol. 9 (Dead Hand) is a continuation of and conclusion to Armor Hunters; both featuring Control. There won't be any more Control- and Armor Hunters-related stories in Vol. 10-13. It's safe to continue reading Vol. 10-13 and catch up on Vol. 9 later on - Dead Hand (#34-37) is great but is has no significance for what's happening in #38-50.

---

Ever since his very first appearance in the 90's Magnus series Rai has been one of my favorite characters and I'm pretty sad Kindt's run ended with 4001AD. I can't get enough of the far future of the Valiant Universe and am looking forward to Faith and the FF as well as the War Mother mini series. Hopefully we'll see Rai again, too.

Also, there is no better artist to draw New Japan than Crain - he was the perfect fit for the series and like you mentioned it was cool having him on the book from start to finish. While I like Valiant's approach to let artists rotate on series and characters there also need to be some series like Divinity, Britannia, and Rai with the same creative teams (artists) throughout.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

I still haven't gotten 4001 sadly. Really want that but my original pick up was a half price books giant stack where I got most of these titles for like $4 a piece -- so it's slowed me down on that front for what I got. I do have the rest of X-O now and after my own book launch and convention I had to go to finally have time to catch up completely. I'll be an X-O X-Pert within the week :D

X-O Manowar Vol 9.

A return to form! I mentioned I was rather disappointed with the last volume mainly because of cheesy elements and suspension of disbelief, but this picked up right where I left off in terms of what I love about X-O. A nice space adventure where Aric heads back to the Vine planet (I love vine stories so much, such a well done culture!) where they are getting attacked by some robot collective giant thing who is part of the Armor Hunters. They call for Aric's help and Aric comes to defense.

Art is good aside form the first issue where it's a little shaky with a fill in artist. There are some parts of that where it threw me out a bit, but that's what happens when there's fill in artists, otherwise, I'm quite happy with Diego Bernard's work. It fit the story well and his work on the cool robots/world-weapon thing and vine were solid. I'm spoiled with the new X-O series but this is good for a comic.

I was very happy with this plot. Stakes were high, Aric got to do his thing, I liked the little personal elements with Saana getting upset with his leaving without saying goodbye, showing his priorities for war over family in a way that we wished he wouldn't do it, but we understand on readers that he has his duty. The scenes back to the visigoth days weren't as impactful as a lot of the others in the run so far, but there weren't many of them either.

I loved the whole concept and way this was executed. A difficult battle, high stakes, lots of death and destruction that had real consequences storywise -- not just for a shock, and impact both the universe and Aric. It is in some ways getting to be a litttttttle bit of a "here's the green lantern corps of the Valiant Universe!" though, which i hope doesn't go any further in the series. There's that element which is a bit of a copy, understandable as the writer does write for Green Lantern Corps regularly, and then the villain was a little bit of a copy of Galactus without as much background detail or interesting elements. Still, those are classic things in comics so it worked fine. Minor nitpicks.

Overall, I had fun with this story, plowed through it in one sitting and I'm excited for the next volume.

9/10 .
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Zhuge1 »

Great job on the reviews! I hope these are getting posted to Amazon too! :D

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

I read the last bits of X-O's first run, and I got lazy about doing individual reviews as they kinda blended together. So I did a combined write up for the whole series:

http://delarroz.com/?p=1314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My big takeaway is that I don't really see at all how it went from issue 50 to the current series. This backstory like...really didn't matter at all for what's currently going on in Kindt's run. As much as I liked some of the stories in it, and of course the origin helps, really could jump on #1 here without knowing anything and I don't think readers would miss much at all. The point it actually really makes it bothersome for me is that he's just sleeping with some alien chick in the new series first issue. Kinda need to know that something happened to his wife or whatnot for that to rest easy for me, otherwise it leaves a little sour taste for my hero. I was hoping for something emotionally impactful on that at the end of this run, but didn't see it.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

As i mentioned before, I ran out of TPBs from that big stack I found at Half Price books awhile back, which has slowed me down considerably in my reading all Valiant. I have picked up all the current series going on, so reading those issues, but not something for this thread. However I did get in the mail today:

4001 A.D.

By Matt Kindt and Clayton Crain

Holy hell. I talk up the X-O Manowar stuff quite a bit, and I raved about Rai vols 1-3, of which I was really upset to find out that vol 4 that I had was not the conclusion to this storyline, but that i needed 4001 AD (not good numbering system for random people grabbing the books). So I held off on Rai vol 4 and waited until I had a spare amount of time to read to pick this up.

It's wall to wall action. There's nothing else to it. You don't really need Rai 1-3, but it provides so much backstory and set up that's what makes you care about the characters here. Really this does bring the future-Valiant to epic event level like I've never seen. The crossover elements are incredibly well done. It reminds me a lot of what I wanted Marvel's 2099 universe to be with the future heroes, but this was done right.

Rai takes on Father, the head of New Japan for about the biggest battle I've ever seen in comics. All of the characters pitch in, all were necessary to the storyline and not superfluous, it was a masterfully crafted story that was impossible to put down. Without too many spoilers, it was satisfying ending, and didn't feel too happy at the same time (I mean... it was kinda tragic really if you think about it, even with the last few rosey pages) and wow.

Just wow.

And the art? It's the best I've maybe ever seen in comics. Stunning visuals on every page. Imaganative detail as the scenes progress. This may be Valiant's crown jewel and something that's impossible to top. I could stare at this graphic novel all day long and never get bored. And I might just read it again just to do that.

Fabulous science fiction. Fabulous action. A great intro to .a world that still has a lot of possibilities. I hope to see more eventually.

10/10. Would give it one louder if I could.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Rai Volume 4

By Matt Kindt and CAFU

After 4001 AD's greatness, perhaps one of the greatest science fiction comics of all time, anything becomes a little bit of a letdown. I think perhaps it owuld have been better to put these out as one off one shots or a mini-series like "Rai: Past and Future" or something than to label it issues 13-16 of the original series. The numbering of 4001 AD and this series are already confusing enough.

This is a prequel volume as the 4th in the Rai series, which used 4001 as its climax. As irritating as that is, I love this series and so I can forgive their numbering mistakes.

Matt Kindt does great with what he can for one-shot prequel fill in history style books. The first issue here with the kid-Rai actually is really touching, and the ending pulls on the heart strings. The issues 14-15 tie together for mostly one story which also impacts the 16th and final issue, but they're kind of independent at the same time, showing different iterations of Rai and how father used them over the course of history, how he made "mistakes" like the three little bears, etc. This one was too soft! This one was too hard!

And it was okay. I see why this wasn't put out as the first, and i wouldn't as a prequel recommend reading this first. The mystery of the first couple volumes of Rai is paramount for making that story work. But, at the same time, I think labeling this volume 4 is a misnomer.

If you want a little extra detailed background, this is nice, but otherwise, it falls a little flat. The little flow chart in the back of these graphic novels even lists it as (optional). I don't think it adds a ton, but I don't regret reading it either.

CAFU's art is wonderful. A solid artist, but I did just come off Clayton Crain for reading 4001 and the climax to the main storyline here, so I can't help but not love it quite as much.

It's alright, but imminently skippable. I've come to expect a little better out of Valiant books.

7/10 .
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

otomo wrote:4001 A.D.

Holy hell.

It's wall to wall action.

Just wow.

And the art? It's the best I've maybe ever seen in comics. Stunning visuals on every page. Imaganative detail as the scenes progress. This may be Valiant's crown jewel and something that's impossible to top. I could stare at this graphic novel all day long and never get bored. And I might just read it again just to do that.

Fabulous science fiction. Fabulous action. A great intro to .a world that still has a lot of possibilities. I hope to see more eventually.

10/10. Would give it one louder if I could.
Great reviews as usual. :thumb:

Here's a little extra for you in case you haven't seen it yet. A time lapse with commentary from Clayton Crain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QaojHj1GG4

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by kinggirlfriend »

See, I felt the opposite way. I thought RAI Vol. 4 was great and the 4001AD was just kinda just ok. I actually prefer CAFU over Crain. Too much action and not much of an event per se, really it should have been RAI vol 4. As far as best sci-fi comic ever I don't think it's even close. Stuff by Mobius and Enki Bilal by Humanoids and Metal Hurlant are filled with not only more action but are much more thought provoking and mature. I'm talking books like THE INCAL, METABARONS, NIKOPOL TRILOGY, BEAST TRILOGY, etc. RAI is solid pulp sci-fi superhero comics, but I don't think of it as genre pushing the way other sci-fi comics have been.

After everything's said and done I'm much more interested about the future this leaves the 4002AD Valiant Universe in.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

kinggirlfriend wrote:See, I felt the opposite way. I thought RAI Vol. 4 was great and the 4001AD was just kinda just ok. I actually prefer CAFU over Crain. Too much action and not much of an event per se, really it should have been RAI vol 4. As far as best sci-fi comic ever I don't think it's even close. Stuff by Mobius and Enki Bilal by Humanoids and Metal Hurlant are filled with not only more action but are much more thought provoking and mature. I'm talking books like THE INCAL, METABARONS, NIKOPOL TRILOGY, BEAST TRILOGY, etc. RAI is solid pulp sci-fi superhero comics, but I don't think of it as genre pushing the way other sci-fi comics have been.

After everything's said and done I'm much more interested about the future this leaves the 4002AD Valiant Universe in.
Of course you're right but it's not a fair comparison at all. You're comparing a monthly comic and reboot of an existing superhero in a shared universe to an OGN from back in the 80s when stuff like this was still visionary. Besides, nobody said Rai was genre pushing or thought provoking. I don't even think Otomo meant to say "best sci-fi comic ever" - the "best maybe ever" was about the art.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by kinggirlfriend »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:Of course you're right but it's not a fair comparison at all. You're comparing a monthly comic and reboot of an existing superhero in a shared universe to an OGN from back in the 80s when stuff like this was still visionary. Besides, nobody said Rai was genre pushing or thought provoking. I don't even think Otomo meant to say "best sci-fi comic ever" - the "best maybe ever" was about the art.
Not just the art, it was in his review of Volume 4:
otomo wrote:Rai Volume 4

By Matt Kindt and CAFU

After 4001 AD's greatness, perhaps one of the greatest science fiction comics of all time, .....
I get that it was probably hyperbole, it just really stuck out to me. And I meant my comment more as, "Well if you like this then you should really check out this other stuff." The best science fiction IS thought provoking. And as hyperbolic as it may be I still read "best ever" to mean, well, "best ever".

I expect Valiant to be comparable to comics from 30 years ago, their best stuff is thought provoking and adult, even if at the end of the day it is just a "reboot of an existing superhero in a shared universe", which sounds like a bit too many quantifiers IMO. But I get what you're saying.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Where i may differ opinion wise is I mostly prefer pulpy stuff to genre pushing. I'd take a Moorcock or Burroughs over a Heinlein or Asimov any day in regular fiction. Genre pushing creates the best perhaps innovation we'll call it, but I don't think necessarily innovation translates into best story. Rai vols 1-3 + 4001 AD was a super gripping story and impossible to put down.

Keep in mind I had this complete and I plowed through these within a couple months of each other (I was waiting on this conclusion for a bit but that was it). So the action might have been a bit much for people who read individual issue wise, and I could see how it could not be quite as exciting in that context (as you don't get much bang for your buck that way). Having a single issue of that fast of a pace on repeat would be difficult to read this storyline, I think.

And 4001 doesn't work without Rai 1-3 either. I view that as one storyline though for my maybe best ever claim purposes. I'll have to wait and cool on it a few months and reread to see if I still hold that opinion but fresh off of it I was pretty floored.

Art wise... I still can't get over some of the visuals that Crain made. Those were pretty cutting edge and different, plus stunning. It's a style, and I think that style may be my favorite, but understand differences there too. It's definitely not standard comic book feel.

And thanks for the youtube link! That is awesome :D
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

kinggirlfriend wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:Of course you're right but it's not a fair comparison at all. You're comparing a monthly comic and reboot of an existing superhero in a shared universe to an OGN from back in the 80s when stuff like this was still visionary. Besides, nobody said Rai was genre pushing or thought provoking. I don't even think Otomo meant to say "best sci-fi comic ever" - the "best maybe ever" was about the art.
Not just the art, it was in his review of Volume 4:
otomo wrote:Rai Volume 4

By Matt Kindt and CAFU

After 4001 AD's greatness, perhaps one of the greatest science fiction comics of all time, .....
I get that it was probably hyperbole, it just really stuck out to me. And I meant my comment more as, "Well if you like this then you should really check out this other stuff." The best science fiction IS thought provoking. And as hyperbolic as it may be I still read "best ever" to mean, well, "best ever".
Hm, I may have paid more attention to the first (4001 AD) than second (Rai) review and didn't really notice that line. facepalm

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Britannia vol. 1

What's both cool and a risk with Valiant is every time you pick up a new title, you might be getting something completely different. This was about as different as I've seen not only from other Valiant books, but from almost all modern comics.

This is the story of a Roman investigator, who gets tasked by Emperor Nero and a mysterious order of Vestal Virgins who are part cleric part sorcerors, to go to Britannia and see what's going on there as weird things are afoot. The first issue really delves pretty far into his backstory, which I found a little boring at the beginning of the story, but I see how it helped me care about the character later on. Some sacrifices in pacing were made both to establish Rome, this weird magic and demons, Britannia, the character, it had a lot to do.

I think the story really picks up with the third issue when the main character puts together what's going on with a twist, and with some local druids. The second issue was almost another first issue set up type, as it set up what was going on in Britannia like the first established the character and rome. Because of the odd pacing, I think the story suffered a little, but I was pleased with the conclusion. Oddly, I think the side characters of Eryn and his slave Bodmall were the most compelling part of the book. I'm far more interested in them than the main storyline really.

I think it went a little far into the gratuitous blood and sex as well. With Rome there's a tendency to want to go there as we see in modern TV shows and I'm not sure how much it adds to things. When every character is debaucherous and awful, no characters end up sympathetic -- and that ends up a problem for the book as well.

The art style was really something I didn't love. A lot of teeth gritting, odd poses, strange faces and the coloring was a little too bland-dark so that everything kind of blurred together. The art had a few shining moments -- cool looks to the demon scenes, and I think Bodmall in issue 3 had some nice panels where she looked quite stunning, but for the most part, this was on the weaker end for Valiant books.

Overall, I applaud the innovation. I like the type of story, and I would like more odd settings like this in comics as a reprieve from the general superhero books. However, I think this could have possibly been cut down to 3 issues on the pacing end, and two full issues of set up for a story of four is a bit much. Hopefully the 2nd iteration accomplishes what I wanted from this!

6/10 .
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

otomo wrote:Britannia vol. 1

What's both cool and a risk with Valiant is every time you pick up a new title, you might be getting something completely different. This was about as different as I've seen not only from other Valiant books, but from almost all modern comics.

This is the story of a Roman investigator, who gets tasked by Emperor Nero and a mysterious order of Vestal Virgins who are part cleric part sorcerors, to go to Britannia and see what's going on there as weird things are afoot. The first issue really delves pretty far into his backstory, which I found a little boring at the beginning of the story, but I see how it helped me care about the character later on. Some sacrifices in pacing were made both to establish Rome, this weird magic and demons, Britannia, the character, it had a lot to do.

I think the story really picks up with the third issue when the main character puts together what's going on with a twist, and with some local druids. The second issue was almost another first issue set up type, as it set up what was going on in Britannia like the first established the character and rome. Because of the odd pacing, I think the story suffered a little, but I was pleased with the conclusion. Oddly, I think the side characters of Eryn and his slave Bodmall were the most compelling part of the book. I'm far more interested in them than the main storyline really.

I think it went a little far into the gratuitous blood and sex as well. With Rome there's a tendency to want to go there as we see in modern TV shows and I'm not sure how much it adds to things. When every character is debaucherous and awful, no characters end up sympathetic -- and that ends up a problem for the book as well.

The art style was really something I didn't love. A lot of teeth gritting, odd poses, strange faces and the coloring was a little too bland-dark so that everything kind of blurred together. The art had a few shining moments -- cool looks to the demon scenes, and I think Bodmall in issue 3 had some nice panels where she looked quite stunning, but for the most part, this was on the weaker end for Valiant books.

Overall, I applaud the innovation. I like the type of story, and I would like more odd settings like this in comics as a reprieve from the general superhero books. However, I think this could have possibly been cut down to 3 issues on the pacing end, and two full issues of set up for a story of four is a bit much. Hopefully the 2nd iteration accomplishes what I wanted from this!

6/10 .
Nice review although I love everything about this book that you find rather negative especially the dark atmosphere around the edges of the Roman Empire but I can appreciate that you're still trying to see the positive aspects of Britannia. I can't imagine how this book would look like if you removed all the violence and sex, and the dark atmosphere from it. I guess this story is much more fun if you're a fan of Juan Jose Ryp's style... and you're not. Needless to say I really dig his rough and unpolished style. For me, it's the perfect fit for the story.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:Nice review although I love everything about this book that you find rather negative especially the dark atmosphere around the edges of the Roman Empire but I can appreciate that you're still trying to see the positive aspects of Britannia. I can't imagine how this book would look like if you removed all the violence and sex, and the dark atmosphere from it. I guess this story is much more fun if you're a fan of Juan Jose Ryp's style... and you're not. Needless to say I really dig his rough and unpolished style. For me, it's the perfect fit for the story.
Yeah, the art style threw me. Just something about it. I did end up liking this better than II even still, and I'm pining for more actual Britannia and druid stuff because I think that was the most interesting part of the book! I'd still buy a III if that were a part of it.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by jmatt »

Really enjoying your synopses, Otomo. :thumb:

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

I am now into hardcovers... but I'll split up via TPB as best I can.

Harbinger Vol 4 (15-19)

This starts out with some relaxing after Harbinger Wars, which I actually liked a lot. Really got into some character moments which were fun and I actually liked the change of pace. Around the second issue of this series when it got into Torquehalla mode, I started to get irritated with it and hoped this wasn't a "we are living in his dream" issue, where they project into someone's head. I see this far too much in sci-fi, and while that was kind of the case in this series, the overarching plot of it all was actually fabulous and made up for it. I didn't find myself annoyed in the least by that trope as the issues went on, which is fantastic.

I really like the intigration with Harada and the Harbinger Corp and how it all played out. This is a VERY twisty arc so there's not much more I can say without spoiling, but you will be hooked the whole way through.

The art was pretty mediocre. It was fine, but on the low end in terms of valiant book quality.

Overall, I had fun with it, and am excited for the next arc. Of course this didn't feel as big as Harbinger Wars, but the change of pace was nice.

7.5/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Harbinger Vol 5 (20-25)

I was intrigued by the end of volume 4 that I immediately jumped to this arc, and I'm glad I did. This actually surpasses Harbinger Wars as the best arc of the book for me. The way it starts out with the soon, showing a glimpse into the future and goes back to such an epic confrontation between the Renegades and the Harbinger corporation, wow.

This is really one of those books where everything changes, yet really it stays the same. The progression really reminds me of old X-Men books before things got way too convoluted over in that other universe, with the intrepid X-Men trying to do all they could just to gather together and survive (without the silly costumes of course). I actually find myself caring about these characters, however, a lot more than the mutants.

A couple of criticisms I have -- one, Charlene, I don't quite get how certain things developed with her as it doesn't make sense given her powers. Two, Harada goes a little TOO angry villain who's just yelling and cursing and hating. It's a bit out of character for him who's been in very explosive situations before, as he reminds us constantly, and he's always been a smug/cool kinda person. I don't mind a personal fight and battle, but the dialogue didn't match up at points to who I view Harada as. They set it up to some degree as having him a little crazy, going on low sleep, etc. but I still didn't quite buy it.

Art was fine. About the same for this entire run, nothing super exciting, but nothing bad either. A very standard, average book for the modern age on that level.

Overall, my nitpicks are a little small, and I may have even missed reading something on one of them. The ending is epic, and it really feels like a war occurred, with real consequences thereof. I can't wait to see how this continues.

9/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Moved onto the Bloodshot vol 2 hardcover which collects:

Bloodshot Vol 4.


I'd always had a hard time getting into Bloodshot. The first couple issues were intriguing, and I liked the crossover with Harbinger for a sec, but the overall concept is a little too gritty for me -- the character is really Wolverine meets Punisher as he's controlled by military forces and is simultaneously fighting that control.

I likewise found it hard to get into the HARD Corps storyline. There just wasn't a lot to connect to. The characters are all posturing "I'm bad *SQUEE*" all the time, both the villains and heroes (hard to tell which is which a lot of the time, also something that bothers me), and so it's not that exciting. Harada from Harbinger has Bloodshot captured here, and the storyline is busting him out and complications that ensue from that. we get very brief introductions of the HARD Corps, not much to latch onto before we're thrown into action. The characters introduced aren't super likable as their whole stories are "we're about to die anyway so we're just gonna get some cool tech and kick *SQUEE* and who cares" for the most part. That said, there is a big bonus for me personally as one of the characters has Cystic Fibrosis, which is a terrible disease -- my son has that, and I appreciate something obscure being brought to awareness via fiction. It actually really increases my caring about the book that little thing.

The art is okay. Very standard style art from the late 90s until now, nothing that wowed me or threw me out of the story for the most part.

Overall, I didn't love this storyline but the CF character Flatline keeps me interested.

7/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

In the Bloodshot Volume 2 hardcover so the next review ends up:

Archer & Armstrong Vol 5.


This is the Mission Improbable storyline, which composes of 2 issues of A&A and 2 issues of Bloodshot as a crossover. Most of the time, I hate crossovers and events and all of that -- at least when the big 2 companies do it. So far, everything I've seen valiant wise has made these special stories worth it. And with this book, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts on a number of levels.

A&A have defeated the cult that had Archer trapped in it since childhood, and he's about to ascend through some secret society rituals to the head of the organization. However, P.R.S. and Bloodshot have something else in mind, as they're after Archer to bring him in and reprogram him for what they say is to destroy the cult, but P.R.S. is really a part of it and there's more nefarious things going on. Lots of battles ensue. Armstrong gets drunk. And actually this series does a lot better at developing the character of Bloodshot and the HARD Corps than the series did by itself in the prior volume.

I love how it progresses. This is the best paced story I've read of both A&A or Bloodshot so far, and it was a lot of fun. The characters, especially Armstrong, are very endearing. I love the quirky humor, and it plays really well off the gritty bloodshot to bring some balance that was missing in the book prior to this. It served to humanize Bloodshot.

The art is the one qualm I have with this -- it's about the poorest I've seen from Valiant. Very light on detail both on line and colors, almost self-pub indie book quality. A bit disappointing as the story was so fantastic, though it did communicate things, it could have upped its game a little bit on that level.

However, with my enjoyment of the story, and the caring about the characters more than I have in prior volumes of both series, I can forgive a little lack of depth in the art.

8/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

Can't recall... have you read any A&A before this?
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

Keith wrote:Can't recall... have you read any A&A before this?
I remember reading his reviews about the first 2 trades but not seeing any about the Faraway & SCW.


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