Rai #1 Discussion

[The Dirt Gang]

Anyone got a scan of the extra pullbox only pages they would be will to send me? Pretty please.

[dornwolf]

Okay new crazy idea. After reading Timewalker the guy who smacked Rai at the end is possibly Angel Prometheus

[hunter_peterson]

Okay new crazy idea. After reading Timewalker the guy who smacked Rai at the end is possibly Angel Prometheus

That's probably connected to the Prometheans that Ivar mentioned to Archer a while back, if you're right... who wants to bet Rai meets the Eternal Emperor if he falls to Earth? Could be possible/awesome...

[Heath]

I re-read Rai #1 last night, and it read a LOT better this time around. Still a little "cold" but not quite as confusing as the first time. I also caught something I somehow missed the first time - the current Rai has only been the current Rai for about a year.

I hope Lula continues to be a main character, not because I'm attached to her, but because it would suck for her to play such a big part in the setup of the first issue to just vanish after that.

[dornwolf]

I re-read Rai #1 last night, and it read a LOT better this time around. Still a little "cold" but not quite as confusing as the first time. I also caught something I somehow missed the first time - the current Rai has only been the current Rai for about a year.

I hope Lula continues to be a main character, not because I'm attached to her, but because it would suck for her to play such a big part in the setup of the first issue to just vanish after that.

Wait, he has? I thought he was supposed to be hundreds of years old.

[Heath]

Lula says: "He is human. They say he lives to one hundred, so if he can die, that means he's alive."

Rai says: "Father's reasons are often obtuse, but over the year that I have been working for him I have trusted his infallibility."

The year is presumed to be 4001 although the only date I've seen is the "41st Century" mentioned on the cover.

This, all combined, would imply to me that there is a new Rai every 100 years.

Further, I would also guess that there have been 10 previous bearers of the title "Rai." 10 x 100 = 1,000 years that there hasn't been a murder in Japan. Making the current Rai the 11th who is in his first year of duty.

[jmatt]

I hope Lula continues to be a main character, not because I'm attached to her, but because it would suck for her to play such a big part in the setup of the first issue to just vanish after that.

I'm thinking that with her statements about committing important events to paper, she will be something of a narrative scribe story device, like Archer's journal was in VH1.

[ShadowTuga]

Already re-read this 3 times ( 4 complete reads).
I have to say that the Plus Edition is the best looking comic VEI has published so far, IMHO. The quality of both the materials and content is just top-notch. The map, the Spylocke stuff, the Lula cartoons, crazy, ultra-innovative stuff. And the cover cardstock- I wished every comic had it.

[Carson]

I ... caught something I somehow missed the first time - the current Rai has only been the current Rai for about a year.

Due to all of the proofing errors over the last two years, I was not certian they meant for it to say "over the year..." As opposed to "over the years..."

Usually when someone is looking back at the past year they might say "over the last year..." Or "over the past year..." Simply "Over the year..." Sounds off to me.

[Carson]

Sorry, I should also post "holy crap this book was AMAZING!" Because, well, it is!

[Newton]

Is Lula a geomancer? Just popped into my head. I do not have any supporting reason to think that other than it instantly makes her more significant.

Very excited that future timeline stories are coming out now. The connection between timelines is one of the most uniquely cool things about Valiant.

Magnus is the only gold key character I miss, but I have total confidence VEI will make the future timeline just as cool w/o him.

[bygranddesign]

Is Lula a geomancer? Just popped into my head. I do not have any supporting reason to think that other than it instantly makes her more significant.

Yeah, nothing obvious supports that .. but it would be a pretty interesting plot line.

Because she is in Japan which hovers about 500k(?) miles away from earth - she may have NONE of her geomancer powers.

The fact that she is named after a cartoon character that is a propaganda tool for showing kids how DANGEROUS earth is - makes for an interesting ironic plot point. Also in that pullbox extra story she talks about how she doesn't want to go to Earth which furthers the irony and is a bit of foreshadowing. It could be for whatever reason her Parents/Father know what she is and don't want her to go to Earth so they program her with so much propaganda to the point where it overwhelms any genetic desire to be on earth

But when she finally ends up on Earth (for whatever reason) instead of being the scary place she imagines and has told it is .. she instead manifests overwhelming energy and power and she finally finds her destiny - to save Earth.

[jmatt]

Because she is in Japan which hovers about 500k(?) miles away from earth

Where did it say that? That would be twice as far away as the moon. No falling to Earth from there...

[Chiclo]

Because she is in Japan which hovers about 500k(?) miles away from earth

Where did it say that? That would be twice as far away as the moon. No falling to Earth from there...

More like falling into Earth (or possibly Lunar) orbit, probably an unstable one that falls apart in a short period of time.

[bygranddesign]

Because she is in Japan which hovers about 500k(?) miles away from earth

Where did it say that? That would be twice as far away as the moon. No falling to Earth from there...

Sorry I was waaaaay off with my guess but that's why I had the question mark there. I just wrote that number without really looking into it - just meant to say if Lula was a geomancer that perhaps being so far from Earth prevents her from that realization.

[kjjohanson]

Did anyone else think it wasn't completely clear that Japan was in orbit without the map from the Plus edition?

[Phoenix8008]

Did anyone else think it wasn't completely clear that Japan was in orbit without the map from the Plus edition?

Once I got to the last panel it became pretty clear, but before then? No. That's what rereading is for though!

[Heath]

While I had assumed the whole time, based on VH1 knowledge, that Japan was in earth orbit, I felt the last panel was sufficient confirmation of that. I just want to know if it can transform into a dragon.

[Phoenix8008]

While I had assumed the whole time, based on VH1 knowledge, that Japan was in earth orbit, I felt the last panel was sufficient confirmation of that. I just want to know if it can transform into a dragon.

Ooooohhhh! I hadn't thought of that possibility! THAT would be awesome.

[bygranddesign]

Did anyone else think it wasn't completely clear that Japan was in orbit without the map from the Plus edition?

That was the point of ending the issue with that splash page - For anyone who didn't know that important info(and didn't get the Plus edition with the map) that last page was a nice little shock for them. I'm sure Kindt will go into more detail on the how and why in future issues.

[FormerReader]

Finally got to read my copy today. I think they did a great job on the first issue. Rai was one of the characters I didn't want them to stray too far from the original on. I think they kept the key concepts, while doing a good job creating a new world for us to enjoy. Nicely done VEI.

I have to say the last two title they have released have become my top two favorites. I hope they can now do the same for Shadowman, Eternal Warrior and Bloodshot. None of which I'm terribly satisfied with.

[jmatt]

Did anyone else think it wasn't completely clear that Japan was in orbit without the map from the Plus edition?

I agree, without the extra pages, there's really no reference to that until the end.

[Moots]

Is Lula a geomancer? Just popped into my head. I do not have any supporting reason to think that other than it instantly makes her more significant.

My first thought was that she is to become Grandmother. I base this on the very lose bases that in the VH1 valiant grandmother talked with pink ''thought bubbles'', and Lula does that too.

[Phoenix8008]

Is Lula a geomancer? Just popped into my head. I do not have any supporting reason to think that other than it instantly makes her more significant.

My first thought was that she is to become Grandmother. I base this on the very lose bases that in the VH1 valiant grandmother talked with pink ''thought bubbles'', and Lula does that too.

Boy, that's a reach... but nothings impossible I guess.

[Chiclo]

Were I to build such a mechanical city orbiting the Earth, the best place I know of for that city to orbit the Earth would be for that object to orbit the fifth Lagrangian point in the Earth-Moon system (as long as Japan is smaller than 4% the size of the Moon), a point that drags 60 degrees (just under 5 days) behind the Moon in the arc of the Lunar orbit.

That would mean that city would be about 238,000 km above the Earth, roughly the same as the Moon.