Matt Kindt on ‘X-O Manowar: Agent’

[jaden_sai]

Exclusive Advance Interview: Matt Kindt on ‘X-O Manowar: Agent’
http://comicsbulletin.com/exclusive-adv ... war-agent/

Interesting

[SuperMage]

Beyond time, space, and reality, there lies the Unknown…and now it’s coming here! When soldiers from a mysterious foreign realm arrive on Earth, it’s up to the armored Visigoth known as X-O Manowar – newly returned to the planet and now the leader of his own elite G.A.T.E. unit – to deal with the intrusion. But are these otherworldly emissaries truly the threat they appear to be, or does a larger danger loom over the Valiant Universe still?

Worlds collide as Eisner Award-nominated writer Matt Kindt (Eternity, Grass Kings) and incendiary artist Juan José Ryp (Britannia) bring a new plane of existence crashing down upon our own in a brand-new jumping-on point for 2017’s best-selling series!

Eternity sequel? Yes please. Glad to see Matt Kindt is continuing to develop the Unknown in his other books. I wonder if the Barbarians arc will somehow lead into this?

[kinggirlfriend]

Exclusive Advance Interview: Matt Kindt on ‘X-O Manowar: Agent’
http://comicsbulletin.com/exclusive-adv ... war-agent/

Interesting

I like the sound of this. It's nice to see some post HW2 stuff and glad it isn't ignoring what came before it.
I'm glad that ETERNITY wasn't all throw-away characters. I wonder if the Divinities will make an appearance? How could they not?!

I do wish that they would have planned out out some of their artist choices a little better. Seems like there was no need to have Juan Jose Ryp skip a BRITANNIA arc. And since this is ETERNITY related wouldn't it have made more sense to have Trevor Hairsine work on this arc instead of the flashback arc that came before this? Even if Ryp for some reason couldn't do that BRITANNIA arc on time (though really what's the rush? I'm sure we all wouldn't have minded waiting for it if it meant consistent art on the series), it would have made sense for him to work on the previous flashback X-O arc since he often does the stories that showcase the past.

I often tout Valiant's consistency to non-believers but it's hard because usually they respond with, "I don't like how they switch artists so much." And "Too many fill-in artists on their books." I try to explain that A), they're all awesome, and B) it's by design. But it's hard sometimes seeing the bigger picture of why they choose the artists they do when it would often make more sense not to rotate the heck out of 'em.

Also they need to find a new adjective for Juan Jose Ryp. "Incendiary" is a great word but I think their copy writers have milked it to death.

[syzhang28]

Very excited about this. I remember Dinesh and Warren talking about this at New York Comic Con last year. They seemed excited! Hopefully enough of their input is still in the story.

[WrathOfArmstrong]

Definitely a cool turn of events, reading the title of this thread I thought it was a new mini-series or something, glad to know it's #19. We're getting an issue #19 everybody! Woo!

For all the doomsayers, Kindt is still sounds 100% behind this iteration of Valiant, as he was in the earlier HW2 interview. I'm glad he feels as free to write what he wants as he does in his personal projects.

[BugsySig]

This arc does sound interesting. I enjoy when concepts/antagonists from one book peak over into another without there necessarily being a “crossover.” It’s one of the joys of a shared universe and I wish we’d see it more often in VALIANT books.

[Sunlight on Snow]

Fantastic news and cover....

[TheFerg714]

JUAN JOSE RYP! YES!

...but where's LaRosa on the cover?

[Ryan]

CB: On your X-O run, you’ve delivered constant change, including an arc set in Aric’s past. Is that by design?

Kindt: Well, yeah… ha ha! I’ve been reading comics my entire life so I feel like you get to a certain point where you’ve seen everything and honestly, that’s what drives me and has driven me my entire career with my creator-owned work and everything else, and especially Valiant. Does the world really need another super hero comic? I think if you’re going to put a new super hero book out into the world at this point, there really needs to be a reason for it. It needs to be special.

I get what he's saying to a point, but this quote kind of bothers me. It's a weird thing to say when your job is to make great superhero comics and that's what the average fan is looking for when they go to the store to specifically spend their money on superhero stories.

I just don't believe that all the great superhero comics have been done already, and the fact that superhero movies are the most popular thing in the world tells me there's still a lot of demand for really well done straightforward superhero stories.

It just feels a little condescending. Like he'd rather be writing great literary novels but he's stuck having to write these silly superheroes.

[TheFerg714]

I get what he's saying to a point, but this quote kind of bothers me. It's a weird thing to say when your job is to make great superhero comics and that's what the average fan is looking for when they go to the store to specifically spend their money on superhero stories.

I just don't believe that all the great superhero comics have been done already, and the fact that superhero movies are the most popular thing in the world tells me there's still a lot of demand for really well done straightforward superhero stories.

It just feels a little condescending. Like he'd rather be writing great literary novels but he's stuck having to write these silly superheroes.

I 100% AGREE! Very well said.

Disclaimer: Matt Kindt is incredibly inconsistent, but I don't want him to leave the Valiant U anytime soon.
I'm really sick of people like Kindt refusing to just tell a good *SQUEE* superhero story, and instead acting like they're smarter than everyone else and finding a way to flip it on it's head. He didn't want Unity to be a "traditional" superhero team, and look where that went... nowhere. He dislikes writing about magic, but as soon as he got his hands on Ninjak, who's supposed to be about espionage/ninjas, he throws him into the deadside and has him fight Master Darque. And finally, when he got his hands on X-O he decided to take him out of the "mainline" universe for 18 *SQUEE* issues.

Again, it's whatever, I like Matt Kindt, but especially after The Last Jedi and hearing about the laughably bad ideas for the new Watchmen HBO series, I'm just so done with all of it. Subversion is fine sometimes, but can't we just get a normal *SQUEE* superhero story every once in a while?

[BugsySig]

CB: On your X-O run, you’ve delivered constant change, including an arc set in Aric’s past. Is that by design?

Kindt: Well, yeah… ha ha! I’ve been reading comics my entire life so I feel like you get to a certain point where you’ve seen everything and honestly, that’s what drives me and has driven me my entire career with my creator-owned work and everything else, and especially Valiant. Does the world really need another super hero comic? I think if you’re going to put a new super hero book out into the world at this point, there really needs to be a reason for it. It needs to be special.

I get what he's saying to a point, but this quote kind of bothers me. It's a weird thing to say when your job is to make great superhero comics and that's what the average fan is looking for when they go to the store to specifically spend their money on superhero stories.

I just don't believe that all the great superhero comics have been done already, and the fact that superhero movies are the most popular thing in the world tells me there's still a lot of demand for really well done straightforward superhero stories.

It just feels a little condescending. Like he'd rather be writing great literary novels but he's stuck having to write these silly superheroes.

The way I read it was: What can I do that hasn’t been done before? How can I make a superhero book new and different?

I think it’s a good way to go into it. Don’t just rehash old tropes, try new things, put in a new twist. Of course you can only do so much, but you can make a common theme fresh. Saga is basically Romeo and Juliet. East of West is the classic Western Revenge Tale. But they keep things fresh by putting them in new environments and adding new elements. And every now and then someone does something that’s never been done before. But how many times can you stand Wolverine regenerating and stabbing someone through the chest before you move on to something else?

[jmatt]

The way I read it was: What can I do that hasn’t been done before? How can I make a superhero book new and different?

That's how it reads to me. Not that he doesn't like superheroes, just that he wants to add a wrinkle to keep it fresh and interesting.

[Ryan]

I 100% AGREE! Very well said.

Disclaimer: Matt Kindt is incredibly inconsistent, but I don't want him to leave the Valiant U anytime soon.
I'm really sick of people like Kindt refusing to just tell a good *SQUEE* superhero story, and instead acting like they're smarter than everyone else and finding a way to flip it on it's head. He didn't want Unity to be a "traditional" superhero team, and look where that went... nowhere. He dislikes writing about magic, but as soon as he got his hands on Ninjak, who's supposed to be about espionage/ninjas, he throws him into the deadside and has him fight Master Darque. And finally, when he got his hands on X-O he decided to take him out of the "mainline" universe for 18 *SQUEE* issues.

Again, it's whatever, I like Matt Kindt, but especially after The Last Jedi and hearing about the laughably bad ideas for the new Watchmen HBO series, I'm just so done with all of it. Subversion is fine sometimes, but can't we just get a normal *SQUEE* superhero story every once in a while?

I haven't read enough Kindt to form a strong opinion on his writing, but I don't understand flipping things on their head so much that they're unrecognizable, just for the sake of seeming 'fresh'. If people like the idea of a barbarian from the past in alien armor fighting aliens, then they buy X-O, and it's weird when you get something totally different.

I feel like that's also the editorial staff's job to rein in writers from this kind of stuff and try to keep things somewhat on-brand. I don't think there's much actual editing done anywhere in comics these days though, it's the 'nothing matters' era.

[Ryan]

The way I read it was: What can I do that hasn’t been done before? How can I make a superhero book new and different?

I think it’s a good way to go into it. Don’t just rehash old tropes, try new things, put in a new twist. Of course you can only do so much, but you can make a common theme fresh. Saga is basically Romeo and Juliet. East of West is the classic Western Revenge Tale. But they keep things fresh by putting them in new environments and adding new elements. And every now and then someone does something that’s never been done before. But how many times can you stand Wolverine regenerating and stabbing someone through the chest before you move on to something else?

I agree that no one wants the same things rehashed over and over. No one wants boring, repetitive, paint-by-numbers stories. But there's a fine line between adding a new twist throwing out the whole formula.

Saga and East of West are both creator-owned stories that can do whatever they want as long as they can keep their audience coming back and buying the books. It's a little different with work-for-hire on established characters that have history in the market and are in an established genre.

There are certain expectations. There's a reason why X-O #1 sells 70,000 copies and Kindt's creator owned #1 sells 10,000. People want to like these characters. But when you read it and instead of it being an exiting story about a barbarian from the past in Alien armor kicking Alien *SQUEE*, it's Aric with no armor and a bunch of characters no one cares about on some random alien world as Kindt tries to write a Gene Wolfe novel.

That's when one questions whether these writers even like these characters at all. Because any hardcore fan who loves these characters can imagine hundreds of cool stories with these characters as they are without needing to dust off abandoned sci-fi manuscripts and shoehorn the characters into them. That's not to say hardcore fans should write the stories, because writing is a skill and a profession that takes years to develop. I just wish it seemed more like these writers really loved and embraced these characters the way that old school fans do (and Dinesh does).

[agent_graves]

My thoughts are why isn’t this the next chapter for Divinity, the next mini?? These plot threads are from Eternity.. Looking forward to asking Matt at HeroesCon next weekend...

[AnarchoMambo]

People want to like these characters. But when you read it and instead of it being an exiting story about a barbarian from the past in Alien armor kicking Alien *SQUEE*, it's Aric with no armor and a bunch of characters no one cares about on some random alien world as Kindt tries to write a Gene Wolfe novel. ).

Dude, I am essentially the biggest Gene Wolfe fan ever. I understand your point-of-view. But from my perspective, the Valiant story told in the tone and timbre of one Mr. Gene Wolfe is a completely desirable possibility. In fact, I feel that the characters deserve it. And Dinesh also certainly approves, given that Kindt was commissioned to build up the Unity, Divinity, Rai, Ninjak, and XO Manowar titles during Dinesh’s tenure.

[Ryan]

People want to like these characters. But when you read it and instead of it being an exiting story about a barbarian from the past in Alien armor kicking Alien *SQUEE*, it's Aric with no armor and a bunch of characters no one cares about on some random alien world as Kindt tries to write a Gene Wolfe novel. ).

Dude, I am essentially the biggest Gene Wolfe fan ever. I understand your point-of-view. But from my perspective, the Valiant story told in the tone and timbre of one Mr. Gene Wolfe is a completely desirable possibility. In fact, I feel that the characters deserve it. And Dinesh also certainly approves, given that Kindt was commissioned to build up the Unity, Divinity, Rai, Ninjak, and XO Manowar titles during Dinesh’s tenure.

I didn't explain that very well, I love Gene Wolfe and I'm all for Valiant having the ambition to try and make literary sci-fi stories that have depth and great characters like Wolfe's novels. I'm saying that the feeling I got from X-O was that Kindt was trying and failing to do a Wolfe novel and it just came off as pretentious to me, on top of having nothing to do with being a good X-O Manowar story.

I get the impression that Kindt read all the old Valiant comics in a weekend after he got the job and just kind of pulls some of the surface elements from them to shoehorn into existing concepts he already has for sci-fi stories. It doesn't seem like he had any interest in Valiant (or even superhero comics) before he started writing for Valiant, which makes it strange to me that Valiant has basically become Kindt-verse. It would be fine if the stories were great and represented the Valiant characters well, but to me they don't.

I know a lot of people on here might be here because they like Kindt-Valiant, I'm just giving my opinion on it. I've only read some of the stuff so I'd love to hear people who disagree or have examples of his great stories that I might have missed.

[TheeBaldMoose]

I get the impression that Kindt read all the old Valiant comics in a weekend after he got the job and just kind of pulls some of the surface elements from them to shoehorn into existing concepts he already has for sci-fi stories.

Yes and no. Matt has some pretty far out there stories, but I don't think he has a space book anything like X-O. Yes, he misses the mark a few times in this story, but for the most part, this is unlike many of the stories. Most of his sci-fy revolves around mystery (Revolver, Red Handed, Mind MGMT, etc), with books like Either involving different realms of reality. This is his one and only space adventure (I do believe). I will say that he loves to hide little things here and there, to make them seem like they don't matter, only to make them come back and totally surprise the reader. he does that in many of his books, he likes the "surprise" feel.

It doesn't seem like he had any interest in Valiant (or even superhero comics) before he started writing for Valiant, which makes it strange to me that Valiant has basically become Kindt-verse. It would be fine if the stories were great and represented the Valiant characters well, but to me they don't.

He may not have EVER written a superhero book before coming to Valiant. But, if you look back at what he has done with Valiant, he's done pretty well. Before he was handed the keys, he co-wrote "The Valiant" which was spectacular. Ninjak was a solid book, very solid. Sure, it had some dips and lulls, but solid through and through. Divinity has been out of this world, as there has been nothing but oooh's and aaah's. I guess when I look back on your statement where he doesn't represent Valiant Characters well, I just don't get it. His writing, from the get, has shaped Valiant. All the way back to "The Valiant", he helped shape Bloodshot. Ninjak shaped Ninja-K and Shadowman. All of this before anyone said anything about Kindt-verse. Kindt-verse happened long before anyone called it Kindt-verse.

When Valiant is done, and statues are built, the Mount Rushmore of Valiant will more than likely have Matt Kindt's face on it. I know this won't be a popular statement, but Matt Kindt may be more important than Dysart when it comes to building up Valiant.

[kinggirlfriend]

He may not have EVER written a superhero book before coming to Valiant. But, if you look back at what he has done with Valiant, he's done pretty well. Before he was handed the keys, he co-wrote "The Valiant" which was spectacular. Ninjak was a solid book, very solid. Sure, it had some dips and lulls, but solid through and through. Divinity has been out of this world, as there has been nothing but oooh's and aaah's. I guess when I look back on your statement where he doesn't represent Valiant Characters well, I just don't get it. His writing, from the get, has shaped Valiant. All the way back to "The Valiant", he helped shape Bloodshot. Ninjak shaped Ninja-K and Shadowman. All of this before anyone said anything about Kindt-verse. Kindt-verse happened long before anyone called it Kindt-verse.

When Valiant is done, and statues are built, the Mount Rushmore of Valiant will more than likely have Matt Kindt's face on it. I know this won't be a popular statement, but Matt Kindt may be more important than Dysart when it comes to building up Valiant.

I agree. Just based on quantity of titles he wrote he should be included. I believe he's written more than anyone else at Valiant:

The Valiant (4 issues co-wrote w/Lemire)
Bloodshot #0 (1 issue)
Ninjak (27 issues)
Book of Death: Fall of Ninjak (1 issue)
Unity (24 issues)
Divinity (4 issues)
Divinity II (4 issues)
Divinity III (4 issues + Red Brigade back ups & Divinity #0)
Eternity (4 issues)
RAI + 4001AD (20 issues)
Rapture (4 issues)
X-O Manowar (19+ issues)
HW2 (6 issues)

123 issues! No one else even comes close. IMO, the Valiant Mount Rushmore would be Dysart, Venditti, Van Lente, and Kindt. He has trouble sometimes sticking the landing but looking at that list and it's hard for me to argue that I didn't enjoy the majority of his work.

[kinggirlfriend]

For shats and giggles I decided to break down the other three guys:

Robert Venditti (80 issues)

4001 A.D.: X-O Manowar (1 issue)
Armor Hunters (4 issues)
Armor Hunters: Aftermath (1 issue)
Book of Death (4 issues)
Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar (1 issue)
Eternal Warrior: Awakening (1 issue)
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior (14 issues)
X-O Manowar (52 issues)
X-O Manowar 25th Anniversary Special (1 issue)
X-O Manowar: Commander Trill (1 issue)


Fred Van Lente (65 issues)

Archer & Armstrong 25 issues (plus Archer #0)
Delinquents (4 issues co-written)
Armstrong and the Vault of Spirits (1 issue)
Immortal Brothers: The Tale of the Green Knight (1 issue)
Legend of the Geomancer (4 issues)
Generation Zero (9 issues)
Ivar, Timewalker (12 issues)
War Mother (4 issues plus 4001AD issue)


Joshua Dysart (64 issues)

Armor Hunters: Harbinger (3 issues)
Bloodshot and H.A.R.D.Corps (9 issues)
Book of Death: Fall of Harbinger (1 issue)
Harbinger (26 issues)
Harbinger Wars (4 issues)
Harbinger: Omegas (3 issues)
Harbinger: Bleeding Monk (1 issue)
Harbinger: Faith #0 (1 issue)
Imperium (16 issues)

[kinggirlfriend]

Aaaaaand, Jeff Lemire comes in a distant 5th place with 43 issues.

4001 A.D.: Bloodshot (1 issue)
Bloodshot Reborn (20 issues)
Bloodshot Salvation (12 issues)
Bloodshot U.S.A. (4 issues)
Book of Death: Fall of Bloodshot (1 issue)
Divinity III: Komandar Bloodshot (1 issue)
The Valiant (4 issues, co-written)

[BugsySig]

He may not have EVER written a superhero book before coming to Valiant. But, if you look back at what he has done with Valiant, he's done pretty well. Before he was handed the keys, he co-wrote "The Valiant" which was spectacular. Ninjak was a solid book, very solid. Sure, it had some dips and lulls, but solid through and through. Divinity has been out of this world, as there has been nothing but oooh's and aaah's. I guess when I look back on your statement where he doesn't represent Valiant Characters well, I just don't get it. His writing, from the get, has shaped Valiant. All the way back to "The Valiant", he helped shape Bloodshot. Ninjak shaped Ninja-K and Shadowman. All of this before anyone said anything about Kindt-verse. Kindt-verse happened long before anyone called it Kindt-verse.

When Valiant is done, and statues are built, the Mount Rushmore of Valiant will more than likely have Matt Kindt's face on it. I know this won't be a popular statement, but Matt Kindt may be more important than Dysart when it comes to building up Valiant.

I agree. Just based on quantity of titles he wrote he should be included. I believe he's written more than anyone else at Valiant:

The Valiant (4 issues co-wrote w/Lemire)
Bloodshot #0 (1 issue)
Ninjak (27 issues + BoD Fall of Ninjak)
Unity (24 issues)
Divinity (4 issues)
Divinity II (4 issues)
Divinity III (4 issues + Red Brigade back ups & Divinity #0)
RAI + 4001AD (20 issues)
Rapture (4 issues)
X-O Manowar (19+ issues)
HW2 (6 issues)

119 issues! No one else even comes close. IMO, the Valiant Mount Rushmore would be Dysart, Venditti, Van Lente, and Kindt. He has trouble sometimes sticking the landing but looking at that list and it's hard for me to argue that I didn't enjoy the majority of his work.

True, no one really comes close in terms of quantity, but FVL, Dysart and Venditti all surpass him in overall quality. The guy is extremely creative, but can’t always get across the finish line. Divinity is definitely his crown jewel at VEI, followed by this XO run. The rest is kind of meh.

[kinggirlfriend]

He may not have EVER written a superhero book before coming to Valiant. But, if you look back at what he has done with Valiant, he's done pretty well. Before he was handed the keys, he co-wrote "The Valiant" which was spectacular. Ninjak was a solid book, very solid. Sure, it had some dips and lulls, but solid through and through. Divinity has been out of this world, as there has been nothing but oooh's and aaah's. I guess when I look back on your statement where he doesn't represent Valiant Characters well, I just don't get it. His writing, from the get, has shaped Valiant. All the way back to "The Valiant", he helped shape Bloodshot. Ninjak shaped Ninja-K and Shadowman. All of this before anyone said anything about Kindt-verse. Kindt-verse happened long before anyone called it Kindt-verse.

When Valiant is done, and statues are built, the Mount Rushmore of Valiant will more than likely have Matt Kindt's face on it. I know this won't be a popular statement, but Matt Kindt may be more important than Dysart when it comes to building up Valiant.

I agree. Just based on quantity of titles he wrote he should be included. I believe he's written more than anyone else at Valiant:

The Valiant (4 issues co-wrote w/Lemire)
Bloodshot #0 (1 issue)
Ninjak (27 issues + BoD Fall of Ninjak)
Unity (24 issues)
Divinity (4 issues)
Divinity II (4 issues)
Divinity III (4 issues + Red Brigade back ups & Divinity #0)
RAI + 4001AD (20 issues)
Rapture (4 issues)
X-O Manowar (19+ issues)
HW2 (6 issues)

119 issues! No one else even comes close. IMO, the Valiant Mount Rushmore would be Dysart, Venditti, Van Lente, and Kindt. He has trouble sometimes sticking the landing but looking at that list and it's hard for me to argue that I didn't enjoy the majority of his work.

True, no one really comes close in terms of quantity, but FVL, Dysart and Venditti all surpass him in overall quality. The guy is extremely creative, but can’t always get across the finish line. Divinity is definitely his crown jewel at VEI, followed by this XO run. The rest is kind of meh.

I do agree that the FVL, Dysart and Venditti surpass him in quality. I do however really love UNITY. I think it's very strong save for the last two arcs, one of which he had nothing to do with. But TO KILL A KING and HOMEFRONT are some of my favorite VEI stories.

RAI could have been stronger, something about it never gripped me. But he didn't start falling out of favor with me until recently. Specifically X-O and HW2. I'm one of those weirdos that absolutely loved RAPTURE. And honestly I think X-O is a lot of fun, it''s just that damn ending that doesn't sit right with me. But it started off with a bloody bang!

[Sunlight on Snow]

Then Kindt and VanHook are the only ones who have written more than 100 stories thus far.

[BugsySig]

He may not have EVER written a superhero book before coming to Valiant. But, if you look back at what he has done with Valiant, he's done pretty well. Before he was handed the keys, he co-wrote "The Valiant" which was spectacular. Ninjak was a solid book, very solid. Sure, it had some dips and lulls, but solid through and through. Divinity has been out of this world, as there has been nothing but oooh's and aaah's. I guess when I look back on your statement where he doesn't represent Valiant Characters well, I just don't get it. His writing, from the get, has shaped Valiant. All the way back to "The Valiant", he helped shape Bloodshot. Ninjak shaped Ninja-K and Shadowman. All of this before anyone said anything about Kindt-verse. Kindt-verse happened long before anyone called it Kindt-verse.

When Valiant is done, and statues are built, the Mount Rushmore of Valiant will more than likely have Matt Kindt's face on it. I know this won't be a popular statement, but Matt Kindt may be more important than Dysart when it comes to building up Valiant.

I agree. Just based on quantity of titles he wrote he should be included. I believe he's written more than anyone else at Valiant:

The Valiant (4 issues co-wrote w/Lemire)
Bloodshot #0 (1 issue)
Ninjak (27 issues + BoD Fall of Ninjak)
Unity (24 issues)
Divinity (4 issues)
Divinity II (4 issues)
Divinity III (4 issues + Red Brigade back ups & Divinity #0)
RAI + 4001AD (20 issues)
Rapture (4 issues)
X-O Manowar (19+ issues)
HW2 (6 issues)

119 issues! No one else even comes close. IMO, the Valiant Mount Rushmore would be Dysart, Venditti, Van Lente, and Kindt. He has trouble sometimes sticking the landing but looking at that list and it's hard for me to argue that I didn't enjoy the majority of his work.

True, no one really comes close in terms of quantity, but FVL, Dysart and Venditti all surpass him in overall quality. The guy is extremely creative, but can’t always get across the finish line. Divinity is definitely his crown jewel at VEI, followed by this XO run. The rest is kind of meh.

I do agree that the FVL, Dysart and Venditti surpass him in quality. I do however really love UNITY. I think it's very strong save for the last two arcs, one of which he had nothing to do with. But TO KILL A KING and HOMEFRONT are some of my favorite VEI stories.

RAI could have been stronger, something about it never gripped me. But he didn't start falling out of favor with me until recently. Specifically X-O and HW2. I'm one of those weirdos that absolutely loved RAPTURE. And honestly I think X-O is a lot of fun, it''s just that damn ending that doesn't sit right with me. But it started off with a bloody bang!

Unity has moments for sure. All his books do. But when you’re writing 3 or 4 at a time, that’s a lot of plates to spin and not drop a few.

Overall I thought Unity wasn’t handled properly as a concept. Not from a character standpoint, but as a title itself. Unity was THE event of the 90s...one of the top of ALL TIME...Unity should have been VEIs “Event Book” where major stories and events like Armor Hunters and The Valiant took place. Instead it was relegated to “tie-in” status or brushed aside all together. Kindt admitted the Valiant was supposed to be an arc of Unity, and so was Divinity. Imagine if those stories took place as part of an ongoing “event” Unity book?!? Even if Unity was a series of mini series, it could have been huge. Instead it petered out before it even hit issue 25.