The Valiant #1

[hunter_peterson]

I was super impressed with this book in every way, story, art and the high quality of the published issue.

I went to 3 shops yesterday and the shop owners all noted the quality and said they had no damaged books, they were very pleased.

I even got a few people to give it a try, it was such a pretty book it was an easy sell and felt I very confident recommending it.

5/5 for me, I hope brings in a lot of new readers.

I just to choose to forget that FVL made Kay mute

I always figured she wasn't permanently mute, that he was just showing us how making her unable to speak isn't a weakness for her. Basically showing that unlike Zatanna she can't be beaten with a roll of duct tape and some sneaky walking. But I can see why others might think she was made permanently "mute". (She could still talk easily, after all.)

[jmatt]

Well, I'm a little late to the dance and everyone has made pretty much the same comments I would. Well done and a perfect introduction for new readers.

But no one has mentioned this: Kay can fly? I don't have a problem with it and we've seen a Geomancer take the form of a crow recently. And it will make for more interesting action moving forward, it's an improvement over Geoff's (VH1) only ability which was limited to merely listening to the Earth's pleas.

[Tony_H]

This is in my top 3 issues of the year. Among (lots of) other things (mostly noted above), the Bloodshot sequence was vintage VanHook/Perlin, right down to the dialogue between Bloodshot and Alcott.

[jkingman]

I'm going to have my 16 year old daughter read it. She's read Harbinger all the way thru Harbinger Wars, including the Bloodshot issues, but that's all the Valiant she's read, so I'd like to hear her take on how it was to be introduced to all these characters with this book.

I will report back

[jkingman]

Well, I'm a little late to the dance and everyone has made pretty much the same comments I would. Well done and a perfect introduction for new readers.

But no one has mentioned this: Kay can fly? I don't have a problem with it and we've seen a Geomancer take the form of a crow recently. And it will make for more interesting action moving forward, it's an improvement over Geoff's (VH1) only ability which was limited to merely listening to the Earth's pleas.

yeah, I was shocked when I saw that, but immediately thought it was cool. can't wait to see more of what the Geomancer can do!!!

[Aomalle27]

Just finished this issue, and sadly I can't say it was all that great. Nice exposition on Gilad and his eternal fight to protect the Geomancer from the Eternal Enemy. Even makes logical sense why these others characters ( Bloodshot, XO, Aram) would make appearances ( he needs to recruit warriors to help him in his fight); but there's just too much that doesn't mesh with whats come before.
1) In the initial A&A arc where EW is introduced; he's clearly at the beck and call of the Earth, full on
EW earth warrior mode, which contradicts the EW from the first EW arc where he foresakes the Earth, and is a aged " hermit" of sorts. Chrinologically doesn't jive. 2) Why the varied depictions of EW? I understand aging, but A&A EW looked vibrant, like the EW of vh1; whereas EW in XO and Unity is older but still pretty similar in appearance, whereas EW from first arc of the self title looks old but more native american, like Turok.... and this EW (assuming this takes place around the time of Armor Hunters, and it must since XO appears and he was on the Vine planet for thousands of Earth years)
again appears in the XO/Unity visage, which is fine but how do you go from Old ( EW 1st arc) to young (A&A) to old again? 3) what happened to the houses that were established in the first two EW arcs? Does the Eternal Enemy work for one of the houses? Death? If so, what's Gilads' sons' role? What happened to Gilad's so? EW 4 depicted him as a servant of death, yet we haven't seen him since. 4) when exactly does this take place in current Valiant timeline? Too much confusing stuff, and jumbled
continuity ( which is a problem in VEI right now) Good issue, just not great. I'll give it a go though, I think it does show promise if for nothing else than a good standalone mini.

[ThatDarnCabbage]

Just finished this issue, and sadly I can't say it was all that great. Nice exposition on Gilad and his eternal fight to protect the Geomancer from the Eternal Enemy. Even makes logical sense why these others characters ( Bloodshot, XO, Aram) would make appearances ( he needs to recruit warriors to help him in his fight); but there's just too much that doesn't mesh with whats come before.
1) In the initial A&A arc where EW is introduced; he's clearly at the beck and call of the Earth, full on
EW earth warrior mode, which contradicts the EW from the first EW arc where he foresakes the Earth, and is a aged " hermit" of sorts. Chrinologically doesn't jive. 2) Why the varied depictions of EW? I understand aging, but A&A EW looked vibrant, like the EW of vh1; whereas EW in XO and Unity is older but still pretty similar in appearance, whereas EW from first arc of the self title looks old but more native american, like Turok.... and this EW (assuming this takes place around the time of Armor Hunters, and it must since XO appears and he was on the Vine planet for thousands of Earth years)
again appears in the XO/Unity visage, which is fine but how do you go from Old ( EW 1st arc) to young (A&A) to old again? 3) what happened to the houses that were established in the first two EW arcs? Does the Eternal Enemy work for one of the houses? Death? If so, what's Gilads' sons' role? What happened to Gilad's so? EW 4 depicted him as a servant of death, yet we haven't seen him since. 4) when exactly does this take place in current Valiant timeline? Too much confusing stuff, and jumbled
continuity ( which is a problem in VEI right now) Good issue, just not great. I'll give it a go though, I think it does show promise if for nothing else than a good standalone mini.

Also, where is Gilad's daughter? Greg Pak's story is clearly unfinished, and with the current Eternal Warrior miniseries having nothing to do with that makes me wonder if they'll ever finish it. I do want to know more about those other houses and how they fit into the rest of the universe. It genuinely feels like that first Eternal Warrior series has become out of continuity and has been swept away.

[erwinrafael]

Actually, if you just assume that that Greg Pak series did not exist, all your problems would be solved.

[BugsySig]

Actually, if you just assume that that Greg Pak series did not exist, all your problems would be solved.

I'm pretty sure it was all a dream, and when Gilad woke up he found Patrick Duffy in his shower.

[QUARTZ]

Excellent first issue, couldn't be more pleased, probably my favorite Valiant comic so far. Stellar start with a nice epic feel.

[Captain Craig]

this could very well be the best Valiant comic book this year.

In a year where RAI doesn't have 5 issues out, perhaps. As good as this issue was, it's one issue doesn't trump RAI.

But no one has mentioned this: Kay can fly?

I should've duplicated my thoughts from the CBR Review thread here. I made note of it over there.

[erwinrafael]

We've already seen Kay fly in A&A, in her first appearance.

[Bone-A-Fach-ee]

I think it's safe to say that Pak's story is swept under the rug, much like the entire X-Men movie franchise since DOFP.
One thing I think is strange is that the Eternal Enemy refers to himself as that as well. Does he not have another name? Why does he keep killing Geomancers? Balance?
And is he the only one that can permanently scar Gilad? We've seen him injured, cut, shot, all of that, but it all heals. Except those scars. Is he destined for another one soon? If so, poor Kay. Was her going out there, flying, using her powers what "woke" EE?

And... umm.. was that 2nd geomancer's boobs just sorta hanging out, like that was the fashion at the time? Am I the only perv that noticed that? Heh...

And I'm really glad I stayed away from the previews as well. Holy moly was there a lot of pages out there before this book was released.

[BugsySig]

The Immortal Enemy is rather plant-like and seems to spring from the Earth itself. Perhaps that is why it can hurt Gilad.

But the killing can't just be about balance. Otherwise, why let Gilad (or Armstrong) live?

[bygranddesign]

Greg had a thread about The Immortal Enemy awhile back... viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44728" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll re-post my thoughts here

"Plant-like" is interesting

You may be right

But my guess ... the immortal enemy is the environment's way of protecting itself / Culling Humanity so it can continue to thrive. This plant monster is its way of protecting itself from Humanity's destruction of the environment. So "plant-like" would make sense as its answer to stopping Humanity.

If that was true .. then the question would be why would the Geomancer/Earth Goddess fight against the Immortal Enemy? Perhaps the Earth Goddess originally created the Immortal Enemy .. but soon realized it was too destructive / too out of control? Or its just a rogue monster for the environment and it needs to be stopped.

The irony would be if EW/Bloodshot etc destroy the Immortal Enemy ... this ends up NOT being a good thing in the long run as Humanity/Progress continue to spiral out of control and destroys the environment - which leads to why Earth in 4001 is in such bad shape.

[bygranddesign]

The Immortal Enemy is rather plant-like and seems to spring from the Earth itself. Perhaps that is why it can hurt Gilad.

But the killing can't just be about balance. Otherwise, why let Gilad (or Armstrong) live?

Yeah I agree, I think because its a part of the Earth itself - That may be why the scar is permanent. + its a reminder of him failing to protect the Geomancer.

I also hope they expound upon why the Earth goes into darkness after a Geomancer is killed by the Immortal Enemy. Buck of course dies in the A&A arc - and there was no worry indicated that this would cause an age of darkness (although maybe thats why Gilad was going so berzerker about it).

But I would assume that the death of Geomancer has to be by the hands of the Immortal Enemy to cause the age of darkness.

[bygranddesign]

Actually, if you just assume that that Greg Pak series did not exist, all your problems would be solved.

I'm pretty sure it was all a dream, and when Gilad woke up he found Patrick Duffy in his shower.

I'd hate to see them just ignore the Pak run. I do think they can resolve these inconsistencies.

But 'it was all just a dream' could be a good fall back plan.

[Aomalle27]

Ill have to go back and check; but I don't remember Gilly having those scars in Unity or XO? Anyone save me the trouble of digging through back issues to check that? Is it safe to assume there was a geomancer as part of Aric's tribe, seeing as it wasn't an age of Darkness, and Gilly seems to be always present to protect the geomancer...
Could Immortal Enemy be some mystical construct of the Vine? Thus averting humanities possibility of tapping into the vine's collective conscious?

[BugsySig]

Ill have to go back and check; but I don't remember Gilly having those scars in Unity or XO? Anyone save me the trouble of digging through back issues to check that? Is it safe to assume there was a geomancer as part of Aric's tribe, seeing as it wasn't an age of Darkness, and Gilly seems to be always present to protect the geomancer...
Could Immortal Enemy be some mystical construct of the Vine? Thus averting humanities possibility of tapping into the vine's collective conscious?

Gilad has the scars in XO when fighting with the Visigoths. Pretty sure he had them in all the Unity flashbacks too.

In the first issue of the Pak run, he had three lines painted on his face, so it could go either way.

As for the Vine, VDitti has said the first and only time they visited Earth (until Aric returned) was in XO #1.

[jmatt]

And I'm really glad I stayed away from the previews as well. Holy moly was there a lot of pages out there before this book was released.

Same here, didn't read a single one. Why spoil the fun?

[erwinrafael]

We've already seen Kay fly in A&A, in her first appearance.

This is what I was talking about. I interpret it more as levitation than walking on water.

[erwinrafael]

Actually, if you just assume that that Greg Pak series did not exist, all your problems would be solved.

I'm pretty sure it was all a dream, and when Gilad woke up he found Patrick Duffy in his shower.

I'd hate to see them just ignore the Pak run. I do think they can resolve these inconsistencies.

But 'it was all just a dream' could be a good fall back plan.

Or Ivar could vist it in his own series and then cause the erasure of those moments from existence.

[RogueJedi74]

Agree with many of the comments here. This is an outstanding book. What a great way to build this arc. I instantly wanted the next book. This is the Eternal Warrior I have been waiting for.

[Brapbrap]

this could very well be the best Valiant comic book this year.

In a year where RAI doesn't have 5 issues out, perhaps. As good as this issue was, it's one issue doesn't trump RAI.

Rai isn't even good the first arc is just Bloodshot #1 decompressed in to 4 issues

[iwantvaliant]

The Valiant #1 was amazing. Best first issue of the year.