Catalyst Prime (New CB Universe)

[Phantom]

I thought, without researching or asking ~ that 7 days would be released one per week ~ that would have been a great event.
Yes I actually thought it would be one issue per week.
Stretching it over such a long time, is abit of a shame.

All titles stopping for such a long event is annoying as well.

[SwiftMann]

All titles stopping for such a long event is annoying as well.

I always assumed they weren't coming back (versus going on hiatus for the event). I know I'm done.

[Phantom]

Oh, their not coming back. Ok WOW.
Hope they do.

[leonmallett]

I have 1-3 in my to read pile, but I want to crack through Accell volume 4 and Superb vol 4 first, and i think Noble vol 4 is due soon, so probably that too.

[ironherc]

So is this confirmed as a dead universe? if it is such a shame. They had some cool heroes like Accel.

[Ryan]

Just discovered this universe, I'm surprised no one has mentioned that the Senior Editor behind Catalyst Prime, Joe Illidge, has become the new Executive Editor at Valiant. So these books might offer a bit of a 'things to come' for Valiant.

I just read the FCBD special 'white event' and Noble #1. My overall impression is that I liked them, I appreciate how they have a straightforward feel of just trying to be good sci-fi/superhero stories while seeming fresh. I love the more realistic approach, definitely getting a New Universe/early Valiant vibe there, which is great.

Having said that, I'm going to dig in from a critical perspective. These are the 2 most important issues of a new universe launch, the free issue that is an origin and setup for the entire universe that will surely have a larger print run and new reader exposure than any other thing they put out; and the first issue of the flagship hero which will also get a lot of new eyes.

The FCBD issue was a little too muddled for me. The dialogue was usually good, but all the jumping around was confusing and all the different characters made it hard to keep track or form a strong impression. We don't need a flashback scene for every astronaut, it's too overwhelming and I don't know why I should care about all these characters. Just show them interacting and dealing with the crisis, we'll figure out who they are from that. The superhero action at the beginning (one year after the event) is never tied in to the rest of the story and so just sits there as another confusing and disjointed scene. The shifts in art style and a few digital gaffes make it feel not as highly tuned as you'd want for a showcase universe opening book.

I really like the ambition of the story though, as well as the hard sci-fi take. As a reader who's looking for that, it's probably enough to pique the interest and make you want to know more about what will come next. As a casual reader on the fence, I don't think it leaves a strong enough impression that you would want to run out and order the books. They launched 7 (or so?) titles out of this, and yet in 27 pages of story you would have no idea who any of those characters would be.

Noble #1 - I liked this. Intriguing story that didn't tell too much, just enough to make you curious. Great action, with the hero demonstrating his powers instead of explaining them. Cool looking hero with a great metal mask/helmet.

Now for the critique - almost the entire issue was one long action scene. 16 of the 22 pages were for just the one scene. A lot of action is fine, but the problem is all in one scene it gets too repetitive. The dudes had a tranq gun to his head twice and he just gets out of it twice. This scene could have been cut down immensely and still been really cool with him demonstrating his powers and kicking *SQUEE*. Then there could have been more time to develop him and the plot more. For an issue 1 it feels a little skimpy, and as a casual reader I'm not sure there's enough there to really get me excited.

Looking at the sales figures, Noble #1 had the highest in the line with 4,915 and then #2 shows up with 2,191 before dropping off the charts until Diamond started reporting the top 500 in Dec 2017 where #7 comes in at 925 (!). That's sort of eye-popping and I don't know how these series continue with such low numbers.

After reading these 2 issues I have more hope for the next phase of Valiant. I will try to read more of the Catalyst line when I get a chance, but from these it looks like Joe Illidge has the right kind of sensibilities to do good things at Valiant.

[Edited for clarity]

Remember right after the Dinoverse ended when VEI hired the guy who made a muddled and mediocre superhero universe with really poor sales despite professional production values, only to then make muddled and mediocre superhero comics with poor sales despite professional production values for Valiant? Fun times.

I just thought about this again due to the recent news about Oni Press firing everybody. Oni and Lion Forge had merged in 2019.

[Jayden]

Hopefully it succeeds and they stick with it.