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Reviews
The Valiant by Dave Sharpe, Paolo Rivera, Joe Rivera, Dave Lanphear, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt
ogreart's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting team-up of many of the Valiant heroes, called to action by the Eternal Warrior, to help him protect the Geomancer. I liked that it went a little deeper than just a smash the bad guy type of book.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
Valiant Comics are back. That’s a thing.
If you’d have asked me a few years ago which comics would never come back, I would have said:
Solar: Man of the Atom
Warriors of Plasm
and probably ROM: Space Knight.
Solar: Man of the Atom got his powers by…who cares? Solar is like the king of the dollar comics bins. When someone has a big box of comics from the 90’s, and they’re really excited about it, dollars to donuts you’ll find some Solar in there.
Warriors of Plasm ran for about a year, and it was canceled. But I had a Plasm poster in my bedroom that I thought was pretty cool, even though the primary focus in the image was a portly dude in pants up above his belly throwing a haymaker.
And then ROM: Space Knight. I think the premise is mostly in the title. He’s a space knight. Robot. Guy.
One of these three titles has made a comeback, along with its brethren from Valiant. Any guesses?
Well, it’s Solar. And Valiant comics, in general.
The way I found out about it was from a comic book club I run at a high school. For work. Good god, thank everything that’s holy that I’m not visiting a high school twice a month just because it’s the only way I can get people to talk to me about comics. I mean, it IS, but that’s not the primary motivator, so all is good.
One of the kids in the book club told me that Valiant was putting out good books. And I was like, “Valiant? You mean…there are Valiant books out now? Not some old Solar: Man of the Atom books from your uncle’s garage or something?”
Nope. Valiant.
The characters they have running now aren’t the worst, honestly. A ninja, an immortal hobo, some guy who kills people with an axe, or at least tries. In this book, we mostly see him get housed over and over throughout history by the same infinite evil.
Bloodshot’s banter is fun. There’s someone who calls herself a Geomancer, whatever the fuck that is. She doesn’t even know herself.
This book kind of a big, whole universe book, and I guess it was weird to me because I don’t know very many of these characters. So seeing, you know, a giant robot and XO Manowar together at last was less exciting than it was supposed to be.
But there it is. Valiant comics. Who’s have thought?
If you’d have asked me a few years ago which comics would never come back, I would have said:
Solar: Man of the Atom
Warriors of Plasm
and probably ROM: Space Knight.
Solar: Man of the Atom got his powers by…who cares? Solar is like the king of the dollar comics bins. When someone has a big box of comics from the 90’s, and they’re really excited about it, dollars to donuts you’ll find some Solar in there.
Warriors of Plasm ran for about a year, and it was canceled. But I had a Plasm poster in my bedroom that I thought was pretty cool, even though the primary focus in the image was a portly dude in pants up above his belly throwing a haymaker.
And then ROM: Space Knight. I think the premise is mostly in the title. He’s a space knight. Robot. Guy.
One of these three titles has made a comeback, along with its brethren from Valiant. Any guesses?
Well, it’s Solar. And Valiant comics, in general.
The way I found out about it was from a comic book club I run at a high school. For work. Good god, thank everything that’s holy that I’m not visiting a high school twice a month just because it’s the only way I can get people to talk to me about comics. I mean, it IS, but that’s not the primary motivator, so all is good.
One of the kids in the book club told me that Valiant was putting out good books. And I was like, “Valiant? You mean…there are Valiant books out now? Not some old Solar: Man of the Atom books from your uncle’s garage or something?”
Nope. Valiant.
The characters they have running now aren’t the worst, honestly. A ninja, an immortal hobo, some guy who kills people with an axe, or at least tries. In this book, we mostly see him get housed over and over throughout history by the same infinite evil.
Bloodshot’s banter is fun. There’s someone who calls herself a Geomancer, whatever the fuck that is. She doesn’t even know herself.
This book kind of a big, whole universe book, and I guess it was weird to me because I don’t know very many of these characters. So seeing, you know, a giant robot and XO Manowar together at last was less exciting than it was supposed to be.
But there it is. Valiant comics. Who’s have thought?
joshgauthier's review against another edition
4.0
With my notably limited knowledge of the Valiant universe, reading the crossover event of sorts that is The Valliant, I was notably aware of my lack of background understanding. That being said, it feels as though Lemire and Kindt do a good job of bringing the reader up to speed quickly enough to engage with the story that they are telling.
An ancient evil, a battle between good and evil through the ages, a wild cast of characters--The Valiant is an epic superhero/sci-fi/horror adventure that showcases both strong writing and fantastic art. For me, it was definitely a case of diving into a much larger story being told, but the volume delivered from start to finish, and I enjoyed it every step of the way.
An ancient evil, a battle between good and evil through the ages, a wild cast of characters--The Valiant is an epic superhero/sci-fi/horror adventure that showcases both strong writing and fantastic art. For me, it was definitely a case of diving into a much larger story being told, but the volume delivered from start to finish, and I enjoyed it every step of the way.
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
An edited review of this book will come sooner or later, this last one was pretty bad.
btmarino84's review against another edition
5.0
Six months ago if you'd told me that a character named "Bloodshot" would have a character arc that would make me ugly cry I would've laughed in your face but here we are...
Lemire's scripting of the scenes between Bloodshot and Kay is just phenomenal and has me very excited to see what he does with Bloodshot in the new book. I'm happy to see him just killing it in the superhero department again since Animal Man eventually started leaving me cold and I never went and checked out his Green Arrow or Justice League United.
He and Kindt made a great team (Kindt is the MVP of the Valiant line right now, writing so many books at once and doing such great things with them all) and Paolo Rivera is a gift from on high. I was so happy to see more of his art. His work is beautiful, from the subtle facial expressions that is "acting" in all the scenes to the epic splash pages and horrifying creatures, he nails it all. And he does his own colors (I think?) perfectly.
Lemire's scripting of the scenes between Bloodshot and Kay is just phenomenal and has me very excited to see what he does with Bloodshot in the new book. I'm happy to see him just killing it in the superhero department again since Animal Man eventually started leaving me cold and I never went and checked out his Green Arrow or Justice League United.
He and Kindt made a great team (Kindt is the MVP of the Valiant line right now, writing so many books at once and doing such great things with them all) and Paolo Rivera is a gift from on high. I was so happy to see more of his art. His work is beautiful, from the subtle facial expressions that is "acting" in all the scenes to the epic splash pages and horrifying creatures, he nails it all. And he does his own colors (I think?) perfectly.
carroq's review against another edition
4.0
Hoo boy. The creative team on this book is fantastic. Now, this isn't a great place to jump into Valiant comics. It helps to know the characters going into it, particularly Bloodshot, Gilad the Eternal Warrior, and the Geomancer. These characters make up the heart of the story. Throughout time an entity known as the Immortal Enemy comes around to kill the Geomancer, who is a protector of the Earth. With a new Geomancer on the scene, the Immortal Enemy decides to strike in an attempt to send the world into another dark age.
I like the guises that the Immortal Enemy takes on throughout the book. We see some of its appearances in the past, which include some classic creatures. The most recent visage is something important to the Geomancer. I felt like this was a nice touch because it adds some tension for the character. The scenes between Bloodshot and the Geomancer are superb. This book also provides background on Gilad, including the origin of the three scars on his face.
The art is good. Clearly, the creators had a lot of fun putting things together. There are some big battle scenes featuring the various Valiant universe characters, and more intimate moments that dial things back. The events in this book have a major impact on the ones that follow, so its definitely worth picking up.
I like the guises that the Immortal Enemy takes on throughout the book. We see some of its appearances in the past, which include some classic creatures. The most recent visage is something important to the Geomancer. I felt like this was a nice touch because it adds some tension for the character. The scenes between Bloodshot and the Geomancer are superb. This book also provides background on Gilad, including the origin of the three scars on his face.
The art is good. Clearly, the creators had a lot of fun putting things together. There are some big battle scenes featuring the various Valiant universe characters, and more intimate moments that dial things back. The events in this book have a major impact on the ones that follow, so its definitely worth picking up.
shirohige's review against another edition
3.0
Si hay una obra ideal para entrar en el universo Valiant es este. Aparte de presentar de forma certera a personajes eje de la editorial como Bloodshot, Gilad y la Geomancer,profundiza en ellos haciendo del evento más que un mero cruce si no que empatizamos con la inacabable batalla perdida del Eternal Warrior o esa estática infinita de Bloodshot por conocer o temer su verdadera identidad (sus dialogos fruto de Jeff Lemire andan muy bien), sin embargo es la coherencia -marca registrada de la editorial- y el conocimiento de Kindt sobre este universo es el que sin duda lo hace salir ganando.
lukeisthename34's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful. I feel like a kid reading comics for the first time again with all the new content Valiant is putting out. Great art with deep but narrative focused stories.
tmaluck's review against another edition
3.0
I keep seeing this book praised as a supposed perfect jumping-on point for getting into Valiant's universe, but I disagree. I think this event is an example of Valiant's 4-issue story pattern not giving the characters enough room to breathe. The story is told with Kindt+Lemire's usual efficiency, but for a threat as huge and world-shaking as The Immortal Enemy, he kind of comes and goes too quickly.
Also, despite the historical contexts in the first issue, by the end I couldn't help but ask, "Why is the Geomancer so important?" Is it because last time Earth lost one, the Black Plague ravaged Europe? Humanity kinda bounced back from that. I feel like a heartless supervillain for saying that, but seriously, I wasn't invested in Kay the Geomancer's survival. Her brief rapport with Bloodshot was okay, but was cut short. More blanks needed to be filled. Even by the end of the story, UPDATE: read Archer & Armstrong Vol. 2 to get the deets on Geomancer.
And another thing! One of the coolest things about "The Delinquents" and "Divinity" was how each book subverted the tropes of splashy action shots and all-out finale brawls to take much more interesting routes and creative layouts. When this book recruits all of Valiant's major cast to take turns slamming The Immortal Enemy, the fight looks cool (shoutout to the Riveras Junior and Senior for excellent artwork) but ultimately serves no purpose beyond the novelty of a massive team-up... that, again, ends too quickly and doesn't feature enough character moments to flesh out everyone's contributions. On the other hand, being done-in-four prevents reader burnout or exhausting any given angle.
I would call this an interesting event for Valiant, and definitely worth reading among their books, but it's far from a strong introduction to that universe. I have some grievances with the story and fleshing out of characters (or lack thereof), but the art (as broken down in the bonus pages, which I always enjoy, especially the Valiant style of showing off the stage-by-stage process with everyone's commentary) is a consistent pleasure to look at, whether it's the Enemy's creepy face-splitting visages, playful use of sound effect lettering, or plain ol' clean, detailed line work.
Also, despite the historical contexts in the first issue, by the end I couldn't help but ask, "Why is the Geomancer so important?" Is it because last time Earth lost one, the Black Plague ravaged Europe? Humanity kinda bounced back from that. I feel like a heartless supervillain for saying that, but seriously, I wasn't invested in Kay the Geomancer's survival. Her brief rapport with Bloodshot was okay, but was cut short. More blanks needed to be filled. Even by the end of the story,
Spoiler
everyone's like "eh, too bad" and moves on. And we get a Geomancer from the future? Was there really a conflict or need to fight at all?And another thing! One of the coolest things about "The Delinquents" and "Divinity" was how each book subverted the tropes of splashy action shots and all-out finale brawls to take much more interesting routes and creative layouts. When this book recruits all of Valiant's major cast to take turns slamming The Immortal Enemy, the fight looks cool (shoutout to the Riveras Junior and Senior for excellent artwork) but ultimately serves no purpose beyond the novelty of a massive team-up... that, again, ends too quickly and doesn't feature enough character moments to flesh out everyone's contributions. On the other hand, being done-in-four prevents reader burnout or exhausting any given angle.
I would call this an interesting event for Valiant, and definitely worth reading among their books, but it's far from a strong introduction to that universe. I have some grievances with the story and fleshing out of characters (or lack thereof), but the art (as broken down in the bonus pages, which I always enjoy, especially the Valiant style of showing off the stage-by-stage process with everyone's commentary) is a consistent pleasure to look at, whether it's the Enemy's creepy face-splitting visages, playful use of sound effect lettering, or plain ol' clean, detailed line work.
frasersimons's review against another edition
4.0
While the third issue hampers it a bit with the large big battle against a big bag that is ineffective—something I am _so_ tired of—the plot is fairly refreshing and a misdirected McMuffin only augments this. Granted, I do not read these comics, so all of it was new to me, and perhaps elements of this are played out from the various lines they stem from. Coming at it fresh, though, I can say it’s a great onboarding collection. Great art, something larger communicates about stories. I think it’s asking a bit much to have it land a more cerebral point, and the ending was a mixed bag, especially not knowing the characters pretty much whatever, ‘till now. Still. Better than expected.