UNITY #1 Discussion

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UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by greg »

:high-five:

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by swtor1091 »

I haven't read it yet :( its only 9 my time and the LCS doesnt open until 10 so I have to wait another hour or so. The wait is killing me :lol:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Donovan »

Loved Ninjak. That dude needs his own title, stat.

The Unity team death was telegraphed from the moment we first met them. I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're (EDIT: Valiant) going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look and name, unless it's Q&W or A&A! So while their appearance was meant to show that Aric could handle "the best of the best", it seemed like padding. A waste of time.

The art was at it's best during the action sequences, and was a bit of a let down during the talking sequences. That being said, I don't know how else you could have made Harada and Gilad's conversation more visually exciting. But it did feel a little dull during those parts.
Last edited by Donovan on Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Donovan »

swtor1091 wrote:I haven't read it yet :( its only 9 my time and the LCS doesnt open until 10 so I have to wait another hour or so. The wait is killing me :lol:
For the cost of two cups of coffee, or a fifth of a pack of cigarettes, you could read it on Comixology like I did! :D

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by greg »

The Beyonder wrote: I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look
You obviously haven't read Invincible. :lol:

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Donovan »

greg wrote:
The Beyonder wrote: I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look
You obviously haven't read Invincible. :lol:
heh - no I haven't!

Let me also state that The Captain would probably stick around in A&A or Q&W, but didn't seem like a long term Unity candidate... :)

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Chiclo »

We recorded a Unity commentary track for the podcast. It ran really long.

I grieve for the loss of The Captain. We barely knew him.

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Phoenix8008 »

Can't wait to get this book tonight after work! They better have it as well as Harbinger and A&A! If I'm missing any of these books today I'm gonna be a very unhappy customer. :hope:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by paradise »

Phoenix8008 wrote:Can't wait to get this book tonight after work! They better have it as well as Harbinger and A&A! If I'm missing any of these books today I'm gonna be a very unhappy customer. :hope:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by kjjohanson »

greg wrote:
The Beyonder wrote: I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look
You obviously haven't read Invincible. :lol:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by VEI Reborn »

Unity freaking rocks!!



I love where this book looks to be taking us. This is going to be an epic battle for a long time to come. They had me fooled for a second on the Unity team as I thought, "Valiant you tricked me! So Unity is actually about a new team of characters not Harada, EW, Ninjak etc]......and then well Decapitated and skull shot through the other guys chest = bad *SQUEE*!

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by kjjohanson »

Renee Rousseaux?
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by BugsySig »

This book rocked so hard. Great set up for the title, and while we don't see "Unity" unite, we at least get all the characters appearing in the issue (unlike the first 2 years of New Avengers).

Braithwait's art is dope. It definitely gives the book the visual weight that VEI is going for. Kindt script is awesome. A great read that fully developed the characters of Harada, Gilad and Ninjak for new readers.

Having your commanding officer's flaming, severed head used as a projectile for which to pass through your body and result in your own death is the VALIANT death of the year, hands down. FLAMING DEATH HEAD! I think I saw that band live at Hammerjack's in 1988... :hm:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by tchalla8 »

kjjohanson wrote:Renee Rousseaux?
yeah, seriously....couldn't they have avoided choosing the name of a Hollywood actress?
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by tchalla8 »

The Beyonder wrote:The Unity team death was telegraphed from the moment we first met them. I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're (EDIT: Valiant) going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look and name, unless it's Q&W or A&A! So while their appearance was meant to show that Aric could handle "the best of the best", it seemed like padding. A waste of time..
If I imagine reading that from the perspective of a new reader it would have come across as pretty freakin' awesome. They wouldn't have seen that coming.
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by BugsySig »

tchalla8 wrote:
The Beyonder wrote:The Unity team death was telegraphed from the moment we first met them. I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're (EDIT: Valiant) going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look and name, unless it's Q&W or A&A! So while their appearance was meant to show that Aric could handle "the best of the best", it seemed like padding. A waste of time..
If I imagine reading that from the perspective of a new reader it would have come across as pretty freakin' awesome. They wouldn't have seen that coming.
I am not a new reader, and while I fully expected XO to wipe them out, I did not expect it to go that badly or for them to die in such impressively horrible ways. I liked it :thumb:
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by swtor1091 »

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Loved it. Making me wait for Livewire until next month is the really only problem I had with the issue. The art was so beautiful and the writing suberb. Can't wait for next month
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by swtor1091 »

Here is my full review
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by the1captain »

Great issue. Looking forward to seeing were this is going. 2 nitpicks though. 1) Why is Gilad still nursing a cast on his arm? Art for issue 2 looks like he still has it. How long should it take for him to heal? I seem to remember him healing faster from worse wounds.

2) not this issue per se, but looking at the preview art for X-O 18. What the hell is up with that art?! Horrible! Cary Nord has done so much better. Is this a new inker and/or colorist? Wow. Especially being something so dramatically different from the art in Unity 1. and they are supposed to closely tie in.

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Aomalle27 »

I wasn't super enthused for this debut, mostly because I knew there had to be a setup before Aric fights the teased Unity team of Harada, EW, Ninjak and Livewire. That said, Unity v1.0 was excellent. Captain was cheesy Tom Selleck awesomeness, and that decapitating death, that also ended Ether's life, was superb. The fact that Bomb and Mirror saw no action at all before being snuffed was comepletely unexpected, and a refreshing take on the Superhero team template. All the members died. Although, a Unity 0 seeing the formation of said v1.0 team would be something I'd be interested in, especially seeing as how inept they were in their first and only mission. Looking forward to issue 2. This has been a phenomenal week for Valiant, what with this debut, a solid effort on Harby, and the always great, and especially exceptional this week A&A... (seriously, if you're not reading A&A you are really missing out)

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Donovan »

the1captain wrote:2) not this issue per se, but looking at the preview art for X-O 18. What the hell is up with that art?! Horrible! Cary Nord has done so much better. Is this a new inker and/or colorist? Wow. Especially being something so dramatically different from the art in Unity 1. and they are supposed to closely tie in.
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by tchalla8 »

The Beyonder wrote:
the1captain wrote:2) not this issue per se, but looking at the preview art for X-O 18. What the hell is up with that art?! Horrible! Cary Nord has done so much better. Is this a new inker and/or colorist? Wow. Especially being something so dramatically different from the art in Unity 1. and they are supposed to closely tie in.
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by Donovan »

It's a gorgeous approach, it just seems like it's better handled on sketch covers and convention sketches, and not to tell an entire story. My main concern with it was just that there's too much white. As a colourist myself, I always approach colour in terms of a) using it to tell a story and b) separating planes so that back, middle and foregrounds separate properly. All that white on the pages sucks the depth out of it for me.

Back to Unity - did anyone else feel that Gilad didn't really look like the Gilad we've seen in A&A and even his own book to me? Maybe it was the costume, I don't know... In my head, I actually had to put effort into reminding myself that it was Gilad in the panels he appeared in.

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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by BugsySig »

The Beyonder wrote:It's a gorgeous approach, it just seems like it's better handled on sketch covers and convention sketches, and not to tell an entire story. My main concern with it was just that there's too much white. As a colourist myself, I always approach colour in terms of a) using it to tell a story and b) separating planes so that back, middle and foregrounds separate properly. All that white on the pages sucks the depth out of it for me.

Back to Unity - did anyone else feel that Gilad didn't really look like the Gilad we've seen in A&A and even his own book to me? Maybe it was the costume, I don't know... In my head, I actually had to put effort into reminding myself that it was Gilad in the panels he appeared in.
On Nord: it's the type of work that some will love and others will not. At least VALIANT isn't afraid to experiment. I'd rather they try then play it safe.

On Gilad: Artistic license I guess. But he was drawn more gruffly (is that a word :? ) than we have seen. The cast shows how recently this was in relation to his XO appearance, and shows he does not heal immediately. That makes him vulnerable and differentiates him from Bloodshot, and even Archer.
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Re: UNITY #1 Discussion

Post by hunter_peterson »

BugsySig wrote:
tchalla8 wrote:
The Beyonder wrote:The Unity team death was telegraphed from the moment we first met them. I blame the cheesy moustache of "The Captain". No way they're (EDIT: Valiant) going to design a character who they want to keep around long term and give him such a ridiculous look and name, unless it's Q&W or A&A! So while their appearance was meant to show that Aric could handle "the best of the best", it seemed like padding. A waste of time..
If I imagine reading that from the perspective of a new reader it would have come across as pretty freakin' awesome. They wouldn't have seen that coming.
I am not a new reader, and while I fully expected XO to wipe them out, I did not expect it to go that badly or for them to die in such impressively horrible ways. I liked it :thumb:
I think they served that purpose, but also as an explanation of why Unity isn't just Harbinger Foundation minions. Harada tried that, it didn't work, so he's trying something else. It's a pretty good conceit that the actual team is Plan B. Makes their battle seem way more one sided.

And Harada wants to capture Aric? This means he wants the suit. Which is bad. Hopefully this just leads to Aric joining Unity later, like the Hulk in the first issue of the Avengers being their villain and then joining.

Pondering aside, this book was *SQUEE* awesome! I want the next one in my brain right now! NOOOOOOW!

EDIT: Yes, gruffly is a word, Bugsy. And accurate! :thumb:


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