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A review by tmaluck
The Valiant by Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt
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.