Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

And because I couldn't put this series down:

Bloodshot Reborn Vol 2

This continued from Volume One to the point where the first felt like a half story. There are still nanites out there in other hosts, and Bloodshot is off to hunt them. This volume has all sorts of twists and turns, and the pace slows a bit in the first two issues with a lot less action than we're accustomed to seeing in Bloodshot, but it serves the story well. I feel bad for the people who read this one issue at a time waiting for monthly releases though! This volume definitely wouldn't have worked at all in that format.

Lemire does a great job at continuing to build sympathy for the characters. The twists even though they are numerous are a bit predictable, but I don't mind that at all. I like how it progressed and how it resolved. My one irk here is that as this series progresses, it's very clear he isn't writing women that sound like women. They all sound like men in the way they're voiced, especially the detective and the spirit of Kay. Kay I can forgive a bit because she's a nanite thing but when it's all the characters, it's a bit much.

Art took a little step backward in this series as well. The detail isn't as crisp as vol 1, and there are some stiff figures at points. It's still very solid and I enjoyed it.

Overall, I had fun with the story despite the nitpicks. I like how this all progressed from issue one and resolved here -- and still leaves something open with this Bloodshot Island concept that is thrown about a bit but not revealed. Pacing wise, obviously this is a great series of graphic novels, as I couldn't put it down from issue 1 to issue 9. I look forward to seeing how the next storyline progresses.

9/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

otomo wrote:
Keith wrote:Great reads, otomo!! :thumb:

Were the "Fall of..." one-shots for BoD included in there' or did you read just the BoD tpb? If not, I'd recommend those asap. Not only are they essential reading, but the Fall of Bloodshot issue leads into the 4001 AD: Bloodshot issue (which I think you read, right?), which will then come into play in the new Bloodshot Salvation series next year.
Well... like A&A.... I have the hardcover, and it's sealed lol. I'm almost even more hesitant to open this one. I may have a couple of the individual issues though let me see if I have bloodshot.
Again with the shrinkwrap!! :D :kidaround:

Hopefully you have them available in your single issues. The "Fall of..."s are all good reads, definitely not to be missed. Bloodshot and Harbinger were absolute triumphs, imo, and Ninjak was really good as well especially for what it implies relating to 4001 AD. I think X-O was the weakest of the bunch, but still an enjoyable read. The nice thing is that they are completely independent of the BoD main miniseries, so you didn't miss anything there.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

Keith wrote:
otomo wrote:
Keith wrote:Great reads, otomo!! :thumb:

Were the "Fall of..." one-shots for BoD included in there' or did you read just the BoD tpb? If not, I'd recommend those asap. Not only are they essential reading, but the Fall of Bloodshot issue leads into the 4001 AD: Bloodshot issue (which I think you read, right?), which will then come into play in the new Bloodshot Salvation series next year.
Well... like A&A.... I have the hardcover, and it's sealed lol. I'm almost even more hesitant to open this one. I may have a couple of the individual issues though let me see if I have bloodshot.
Again with the shrinkwrap!! :D :kidaround:

Hopefully you have them available in your single issues. The "Fall of..."s are all good reads, definitely not to be missed. Bloodshot and Harbinger were absolute triumphs, imo, and Ninjak was really good as well especially for what it implies relating to 4001 AD. I think X-O was the weakest of the bunch, but still an enjoyable read. The nice thing is that they are completely independent of the BoD main miniseries, so you didn't miss anything there.
Yes, they're just pretty darn good standalone issues! Page 2 of Fall of Ninjak is so cool! I wish I could do that. :lol:

@otomo
You should definitely read the first arc of Imperium and the first Divinity mini before Fall of Harbinger. Otherwise there will be too many confusing references. For the other "Fall of..." one-shots you're ready to go.

Also, make sure to read the first Divinity mini before the second arc of Imperium.

And don't forget to read Omegas before Imperium.

Omegas -> Imperium #1-4 -> Divinity (Vol. 1) -> Imperium #5....

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by kinggirlfriend »

otomo wrote:Everything's on my list to read :) I'm gonna have the whole universe read at some point! Even Valiant High!
VALIANT HIGH is a lot of fun! Definitely worth reading after you're caught up with all the in-continuity stuff.

A&A Volume 3 has a lot of background stuff that ties into the Immortal Bros and ultimately SAVAGE. And it's just one of the best Valiant stories, IMO. Really really fun stuff.

BTW, Bloodshot USA will be included in Deluxe Volume 2! The final Diamond solicits had it listed. Amazon still has to update their description.

And yeah, what Sunlight on Snow said, it gets tricky but going forward a bunch of stuff references each other. Imperium, Divinity, etc.

You're in for an amazing time!

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

kinggirlfriend wrote:
otomo wrote:Everything's on my list to read :) I'm gonna have the whole universe read at some point! Even Valiant High!
VALIANT HIGH is a lot of fun! Definitely worth reading after you're caught up with all the in-continuity stuff.

A&A Volume 3 has a lot of background stuff that ties into the Immortal Bros and ultimately SAVAGE. And it's just one of the best Valiant stories, IMO. Really really fun stuff.

BTW, Bloodshot USA will be included in Deluxe Volume 2! The final Diamond solicits had it listed. Amazon still has to update their description.

And yeah, what Sunlight on Snow said, it gets tricky but going forward a bunch of stuff references each other. Imperium, Divinity, etc.

You're in for an amazing time!
Oh fun interesting that that ties in. I'm very interested but I still don't think I'm ready to crack that yet. Turns out the only Book of Death End issue I have is Harbinger.

And glad to hear that about Bloodshot Deluxe! It turns out I have all the issues of those (found em at half price!) so I don't have to wait for now but glad that'll be in there -- thought that was weird on amazon.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Bloodshot: Reborn Vol 3

This took a time jump 30 years in the future at the start of the issue, with a very artfully paced back and forth to the current timeline. Bloodshot bought Magic a bunch of land, or stole it through manipulation rather, and they're set off for a life alone in the woods! Happy ending... or maybe not.

I usually don't do too many spoilers in these but for this one I have to: this ends up an "only a dream" sequence, which I typically hate seeing done in books, but it was so excellently written and crafted I actually forgive that trope for once. The future is Bloodshot's lived there for decades and suddenly everything goes wrong and he has to fight for survival in this future world. That story is fun by itself as it co-exists with Bloodshot getting attacked in the real world and eventually bloodshot reboots and wakes up in time for the next Bloodshot Island arc. I was wondering when were going to get there.

It spoils a bit, yes, but the story's still worth reading for the details -- and there's a lot of them. It's really well done and I enjoyed it.

On the art, we got some Lewis LaRosa, so it was taken back up a notch again into some of the best of Valiant's work. Glad I got the hardcover to see slightly oversized images of this! So pretty.

I don't know if these issues were shorter than the ones prior, but it felt like it. Loved it, can't wait for the last arc of Bloodshot: Reborn.

10/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Got a cold so I stayed home sick from work today... which means I just sat around reading comic books :)

Bloodshot Reborn Vol 4

The final chapter of this series, which had promised Bloodshot Island several issues ago -- and it delivers. Now I was a bit scared because last time an Island was promised to me, it was Spider Island, but Valiant delivers where Marvel has not for a long time. Bloodshot wakes up on an Island where there's a bunch of other Bloodshots from days past of the PRS program. They're all together and on the run -- hunted down over and over. They get killed and wake up the next day and do it again as a training program for probably the coolest part of the whole series so far: Deathmate. Deathmate is some new weapon even more badass than Bloodshot and the reveal of who/what it is is very cool.

The groundhog's day effect was just used once to show us what's going on, and our Bloodshot learns from it and comes up with a plan. On the other end, the FBI agent is brought before the Project Rising Spirit crew and learns of their plans -- which as she says toward the end is quite mustache twirly. That part is a little iffy story wise, as everyone's been much more of rational/realistic actors up until this point but it was still very enjoyable nonetheless.

The last issue of the series is actually a one shot vignette of the past -- similar to the way the first bloodshot series ended, but this one was done much better with artist Tomas GIorello, who does great work. It doesn't quite match the art from the rest of the arc, which is excellent and in that realistic style by itself, but it's good nonetheless.

Thoroughly enjoyable and I want a Deathmate series.

9/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Bloodshot USA

The epic conclusion to the series as we see Project Rising Spirit's dastardly plans to release a nanite virus into the population. They do and everyone becomes Bloodshots. Our team of real Bloodshots from Bloodshot island are picked up by Ninjak and brought back to New York to deal with it. Meanwhile, Magic and the FBI Agent are in the clutches of PRS.

The villains in this arc, like the end of Reborn implied, really do go over the top mustache twirly here. The complicated plan to rullllle the wooooorld sounds like Dr. Evil making some magma. It's a bit of a stretch from how Lemire set up the early arc where it was such a personal story. The last couple arcs were leading up to this but it didn't quite feel right. That said -- if you read it and don't overthink it, there's still a lot of fun to be had here, and i had fun with the series.

The other part of this series that didn't quite work as well as I'd hoped is on the layout end of things or on the nanite populace execution. I was a bit confused as to who were getting hit by nanites and who weren't. It seemed not to really have any rules beyond what they felt like putting in the story. I mean, I cheered a bit when there was Ninjak Bloodshot at the end of the first issue, I won't lie, but why didn't some other characters get hit with that when they breathe in the same air whether in an office building or not? On the layouts, I didn't get this grand scope out of it that all of manhattan was under this nanite problem. It would have been a bit bigger than Ging-GR containing things if that would be the case, and it wasn't really shown as much as we were told things were happening that were bad. With a little more editing of the script to push this, I think it could have created a bit more epic of a feel to make this a better conclusion.

Art was of course great. Doug Braithwaite does a great job here as he does on the current XO Manowar run. It doesn't have the gritty/realism feel that most recent Bloodshot does, but that wouldn't have worked with this story anyway. As I said there was a bit of an issue with the layouts really never getting to the epic battle that I'd hoped, but I think that may have been more on the scripting end than on his end from what i've seen of XO.

Overall, however, the way things resolved with Deathmate/Bloodshot and all that was very satisfying. A nice end to the story even if it didn't pick up all the way to where I'd hoped it would. It was pretty straight forward and fun regardless.

8/10




Annnnnd I'm all caught up for the new series :)
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

Your review of Bloodshot USA makes me wonder if Bloodshot Reborn #0 was included? It serves as the bridge between Reborn and Salvation, so if you haven't read it than you best check it out! Along with Fall of Bloodshot and 4001 AD: Bloodshot, that is. :poke: Then you'll be all caught up! :headbang:
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

otomo wrote:I want a Deathmate series.
Absolutely!

But without Image Comics this time! :P

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

So it's official - Jeff Lemire's Bloodshot run is by far your most favorite series by now. At lease according to the numbers:

BSR Vol. 1 - 10/10
BSR Vol. 2 - 9/10
BSR Vol. 3 - 10/10
BSR Vol. 4 - 9/10
BS USA - 8/10

:thumb:

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:So it's official - Jeff Lemire's Bloodshot run is by far your most favorite series by now. At lease according to the numbers:

BSR Vol. 1 - 10/10
BSR Vol. 2 - 9/10
BSR Vol. 3 - 10/10
BSR Vol. 4 - 9/10
BS USA - 8/10

:thumb:

Ooh I need to do an analysis of it. It's weird because this story for sure made me feel the grossest reading it and that's not something I usually seek out lol. But the quality was extremely high all the way throughout and I couldn't put it down. Moreover Lemire did this WHILE I wasn't inclined to like the main character, which is kinda crazy to think about.

X-O's first run had some great arcs but it also had some completely non-inspirational arcs, and the art didn't compare to this. Harbinger same. they were too up and down. Maybe the new XO will be different.

Shadowman... well, yeah the end of that... lol

And I haven't read enough of the other series yet really to have much of an opinion.

So I guess it is overall, the best done with no real downside.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Next stop....

Ivar, Timewalker vol.1


This story starts out with Doctor Who grabbing his compan--

Sorry, let me rephrase that and file the serial numbers off. Ivar steps through a time portal and grabs Neela, a woman who is inventing something that could change the course of human history. He tries to take her through time to stop it. The first issue is interesting, but it's much more Neela's story than Ivar's, who is just a side character causing everything to happen.

The book takes a turn for the worse in issue 2, where Van Lente uses the first couple pages to get into political virtue signalling, something I got a bit annoyed with him doing in Archer & Armstrong as well. It's more pronounced here, with Neela proudly exclaiming that she's a proud person of color in a really unrealistic manner which I'll stop again. Neela is Indian, I work in a field with a lot of Indians, and from what i've seen, I've never heard one shout about how they're a person of color. Even those in political realms, and in my area of San Francisco there's a lot of that going on, I usually hear that terminology come from black people, never heard it from Indians. Not only does it throw out of the comic on the unrealistic dialogue level, but it shows that Van Lente is kind of lumping all minorities together in order to make odd political statements in his comics. For what reason? No idea as it has nothing to do with the plot at all and is pointless to the book. If it were a one off it wouldn't be a big deal, but it's then followed up with a very bizarre line that's an insult to white people by Ivar, who's supposed to be someone going through time. Both the Immortal from thousands of years ago and Neela the super-genius Indian physicist have the exact same voice as a consequence, and it kills the book. I'm surprised that got past editorial.

Fortunately, after this, the first volume at least doesn't go into that. It's very out of place to see these characters saying these types of things, especially at different points in space-time where modern politics don't make sense at all. Perhaps if they were just complete idiots of characters, but we're told over and over how much they're geniuses.

Anyway, onward to the story. It bogs down a little in some time travel stuff that goes a little all over the map in a Doctor Who fashion. Fans of the current doctor who run might enjoy it as a bit of a knock off. We find there's some weird stuff happening at the end of time which is somewhat interesting, but with very little attachment to the characters/story thus far it's not quite enough to hook.

The saving grace is issue 4 where Neela tries to break time. This is a good issue and is extremely compelling and does a different take on time travel that I haven't seen much of. The way it's handled and the bar scene where the Neelas meet each other is really good, some of the finer points of comics. Because of this issue alone, I'll keep reading this series.

Art is average early Valiant work. This is when they kind of tried to look like all the other Marvel/DC books on the shelves (which they did in most of their early books) and didn't quite stand out. Nothing super exciting or bad in it, average as to what would be expected. I do give the artist props as he has to draw costuming/props from different periods of time. Must have been fun to do.

There's some good humor here and also some nice creative concepts, but the Doctor Who mimicking start, the fact that it's not Ivar's story even though it's billed as that, the senseless politics insulting readers' intelligences, make this one of the more painful books to read in the line.

5/10 .
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Divinity

An astronaut in a Russian program goes out to the furthest reaches of space on a 30 year journey to meet the unknown, propelled by some drugs that keep him in a state of cryo-suspension until he makes it. When he gets there... he finds he had no idea what was in store for him. And when he returns, the world has changed.

This is a very different Valiant book. It actually feels a lot like an indie Image sorta title with some very unique stuff going on. A mystery, not a lot of action, a very slow build but a magnificent one at that. The only thing that gives it away as a Valiant book is much later as the Unity heroes attempt to ascertain what this Divinity is and stop him -- because of his unlimited power, not because he's done anything wrong. It's a very weird moral story, where you're not sure the heroes are on the right side, but you sort of understand what they're doing also.

I was gripped in this on a level rare to my reading comics. It's not your average superhero tale, even though the superheroes you're familiar with end up in it. It's just a wonderful story. I can't say more without spoiling it and it's so worth the read and not having spoiled. I feel like this is on a level of Watchmen or Sandman comics wise and really everyone should be reading this.

The art is that detailed realistic style that's not super action packed but is really richly built and tells the story and the world nicely. I love the whole way Divinity and his world are shaped and how it's crafted. Can't speak highly enough.

Do I love this or Rai or X-O 2017 more? I'm frankly not sure. I'll have to reread it all in a year and get back to you.

10/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Ivar, Timewalker vol.2

We go to ancient rome with dinosaurs and stay there for a few issues. It kind of slows the storyline down with the whole end of the universe thing. I like meeting ancient origin-ish Ivar, but I think it wandered a little too far off the rails and isn't the tightest of stories. I don't have a ton to say because I sped through these chapters. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite either. Art remained on the average level that the rest of the book had so far. Fun enough that I kept reading.

7/10

Ivar, Timewalker vol. 3

A Doctor Who-esque conclusion where things get undone. Ivar makes some comment in the past about taking her for a bride or whatever, oldschool barbarian style, and she flips out and spends a couple pages in an angry feminist rant -- back to modern politics where it doesn't really belong in the story. It wasn't as bad as the first volume, but coupled with that this book's become a bit annoying.

The love story element really fell flat as there was no build of emotion between the characters. I wish there was, but there wasn't. It's rare when i wish that had been left out of a story because I usually want them beefed up more, but in this instance, I wish it'd been left out.

I do give Van Lente props for tying in everything -- the dinosaurs, the love story and the whole walking around the future and running into past versions from earlier in the series did tie in. That is cool and though it did get convoluted as a story at times, it tied up. I do like at the end that it kind of admitted it was Neela, Timewalker on a splash page and not really Ivar as a storyline -- they probably should have billed it as The Timewalker or The Timewalkers as such as it really didn't feel like Ivar's story.

The politics killed the series, but even without that, not my favorite Valiant work. It wasn't horrible and I wasn't annoyed by the storyline and what was done ot the character like I was Shadowman, but it could have been a little tighter.

6/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

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The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage vol 1

We have the story of a woman who does spiritual work bringing people in touch with dead past lovers and the like, a mystic, when she gets hired by a creepy rich dude to investigate a chain that binds him to some sort of demon. There's more here than meets the eye, and Dr. Mirage goes into the deadside in search of her former husband. I'm a There was a lot going on and it was a little chaotic at points. On the deadside there's a horde of demons trying to get out and make their way into the world for all sorts of nasty reasons as well, it only gets more complicated from there.

The art style is a gritty noir feel. The colors often have a page with a backdrop of a certain color like blue or purple and everything kinda shaded in between. It's not my favorite art style but it does work for this story to give it a more serious feel so we know not to expect a superhero tale out of this.

The story is very complicated as mentioned, and I can't say more without giving the whole plot away. How everything worked together was a little hazy and I think it may have been a little too ambitious for what it was. Still I enjoyed the main character, thought she was interesting enough, and enjoyed the plot overall. Some of the deadside art and demons were very interesting to look at. I'm still not sure how things work mechanically over in that realm, or if this was another realm not necessarily the deadside that Mirage was playing in, as it seems to vary from series to series. I'd like that buttoned up a little bit for the universe.

This also didn't feel like a Valiant book, which I don't necessarily mean as a criticism. It felt a lot more like an image book just from the miniseries I see lately. But keep that in mind that you're going to get something very different from the Valiant superhero books in this. It feels very disconnected from the world both in feel and in the way the story went.

It's an interesting start to a character we saw just briefly in Shadowman, and it was an interesting enough of a concept that I look forward to the next volume.

7/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage vol 2

A four issue mini this time, same creative team as the first installment. It's billed as a new series "Second Lives" which is also the title of a TV program that apparently the characters had before Hwen died and they're trying to resurrect that -- as well as get Hwen's ghost, found in vol. 1, back into some sort of corporeal form.

This follows a much more linear path than the first series, and is easier to follow as a consequence. Dr. Mirage is looking for these scrolls from antiquity to get Hwen back, and it turns out there's already an evil spirit who has been devouring the power within these and destroying the scrolls and other ghosts. They travel around a lot in order to hunt these scrolls down and confront the ghost.

While the convolutedness of the first one was an issue, this one has pacing issues. A lot of travel, get scroll, see ghosts, next task. With very little action and a lot of explanatory dialogue, it becomes an issue of talking heads in different locations. I feel like this could have been condensed to 3 issues and had the same amount of story in it.

There was also remarkably less of a sense of danger to the characters than in the first issue. I don't feel like the ghosts can really get hurt, and Dr. Mirage herself doesn't quite interact with them corporeally, so the tension level is rather low. They're trying to save other ghosts is what it comes down to, and there's a disconnect because ghosts are already dead. It's hard to get over.

Still, the personal moments were nice. The relationship is solid. The cast of side characters developing are likable. There's good parts to the mini as well.

Art wise it's much the same as last volume, the arty-noir sort of style that feels like it's out of image comics. I don't know if there were delays or whatnot but other artists were brought in to assist issues 3-4 and because of the very unique style of the art, it's a stark contrast when they're brought in, even with the same colorist atop them. Some of those scenes were a bit jarring. Not bad, just distracting.

Overall, the series was okay. I didn't mind reading it, but it wasn't the most exciting of Valiant titles either. They need at least a little more action and to cut down on the endless talking scenes going into endless talking scenes to make this work better as a comic, I think. Not a bad effort, and decent characters make it worth a read.

6/10
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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Ninjak vol 1

Ninjak starts out in action, as our hero takes on a lady named Roku, but it turns out he's rescuing her from some place in Russia. Not a lot of context, not sure what's going on, but the story really builds and unfolds masterfully. Eventually, Ninjak is sent to infiltrate this group called the Shadow Seven, gaining the trust of the one person they have info on to get the info on the others.

It unfolds over five issues, revealing a little bit more as each one goes along. Kindt drips us the information very slowly, and combines with glimpses of NInjak's past as a kid. Interestingly, there's a . b-story in every issue. I usually tune b-stories out as they're not as good as the A, but in this case the way this unfolded actually made the A story more interesting. The B story is Ninjak's origin story and it's maybe more important to pay attention to than the main line.

The art is some of the best I've seen on a valiant ongoing book. Just solid line work, beautiful colors. I don't always love the whole like real scenery put into the backgrounds -- this has blurred buildings, but it fit for the mood. Most impressive on that end was the part when they went to that weird debaucherous club and there were lots of animals as I know those are a bit hard to draw. Pure eye candy.

I loved this. Ninjak as a side character has been one I haven't been remotely interested in reading about. I thought the whole concept was cheesy and Marty Stu-ish, but Kindt made me love the character as much as any other valiant character I've read. One of the best comic arcs out there.

10/10
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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Ninjak vol 2

Ninjak is now after the Shadow Seven, one by one to go take them down. Things get a bit hairy as one of them has set up a nuke as a kill switch -- if he or she dies, so goes a whole city. And no one knows which of them has that kill switch set. This book has a lot of very interesting origin stories of these shadow seven characters, who tie into Ninjak's past. I would like to see all of them again sometime. Each issue has a new backstory, each issue has Ninjak dealing with one.

The B-story is more of Ninjak's past, this time with the undying monk at a monestary, his training there and how it went. It was very compelling, maybe even moreso than the the early issues.

This run though suffers from inconsistent art. I'm guessing there were timing issues so some were brought in to do different flashback scenes and the like. The quality varies, though is still on the good side for the most part. The style changes are noticeable though.

I blew through these rather quickly. I love this storyline, and now very much care about Ninjak as a character where I hadn't prior to starting the series. Even with the art inconsistencies, it was a great read.

9/10
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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Ninjak vol 3

If you've read my other reviews, you'll know that I had a distaste for the direction they took Shadowman. This Ninjak storyline is basically an attempt to bring Shadowman back to the Valiant universe in a way that respects that story, which does a lot to color my taste for the storyline.

Ninjak is sent into the Deadside along with Punk Mambo to see what happened to a prior team that went in there and to bring back Shadowman, who's become some sort of warped-loa version of himself and no longer Jack. There's a lot of cool stuff that goes on over these issues, but Valiant has been so inconsistent as to what the Deadside is, that it bothers me every time we see a story there. This one felt like a regular world with some magic stuff going on here and there sprinkled in -- a big difference from the ghost-world of the dead that it was in the first couple of Shadowman arcs. If I took this story out of that and didn't think about the inconsistencies, then it's pretty well-done, but I can't do that because I have this universe in my head now.

I kinda hate the character of Punk Mambo too. It's awkward when Ninjak refers to her as "punk" or "mambo" as if it's a regular first or last name. It just doesn't work as a name, I'm sorry. Nothing Kindt could have done there and it's a nitpick, but it irked me every time.

It bugged me because it became a crossover rather than continuing Ninajk. It was more important to Shadowman than Ninjak as a character story-wise, and I was enjoying Ninjak's story. I did like the way it was framed as Nelville telling MI-6 about the mission, that was clever and interesting. And I liked the deadside island-monster thing.

The art was fabulous. The cool deadside stuff, lots of detailed scenery, I was very happy on that side. I could have stared at these issues without a story and probably been happier.

Overall, the story was crafted well, the characters were done right. If you're interested in the Deadside, you'll like it. It wasn't badly written in any way shape or form, but I may just be too traumatized by Shadowman to like a story involving him in this universe until they severely overhaul what's going on there. It'll take time, but this book didn't accomplish that, just set the stage for it being able to happen. I do recommend reading this before Rapture, as it helps one know what's going on a bit there when that series begins. This is going to be more of a personal taste mark than anything objective about the book.

7/10
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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Running out of TPBs... but I just ordered a punch from Paradise Comics on this very board, so I can start up again soon :) .

Faith vol .1

I almost wasn't going to read this GN, but it was there and I want to be up on valiant. Faith is the fat girl who flies, and she's got a very distinct, sometimes annoying, voice of all-too-chipper nerd references. Which actually worked great as comic relief in Harbinger, but I'm not sure it's fantastic for her own book.

We see Faith operating under a secret identity in a news room, hanging out, dreaming, eating, and that is about 3/4 of the first issue. Not a great way to introduce the character. There were only a couple pages of superheroing and only 2 pages of action in the whole issue, which really was not a great intro to the book. It took to issue 2 for a real plot to start to develop, and to see some of Faith's personal relationships happen. I like that the whole "superman in the newsroom" trope was eventually thrown on its head, as it obviously doesn't work well if you think about it -- that was nicely done. Later when it's revealed Faith is fighting the Vine who is kidnapping psiots... well it worked okay.

Again there was a reluctance to action. The ending climax went into a dream sequence again for a page, and then immediately jumped to "after the fight". Classic "show don't tell" problem here with the book -- which went on most of the time. Some decent ideas were set up, but every time the execution needed editorial to step in and say "knock out 2-3 of these pages of exposition and actually SHOW faith and Archer's fight against the vine here." It would have done a ton for the book. I found myself rewriting it in my head to fix the issues.

What did it do right? As I said, the concept of the story was fine, all the personal relationship stuff ended up interesting once you got past the first issue. Faith's voice is super annoying -- but I think Jody stayed in that voice very well, and it was accurate to the character.

The art was okay. Standard good indie art, not quite up to what I've seen of most valiant stuff. There were a few panels where faces went really weird and contorted and I'm just not sure what was going on there. The dream sequences were such a wash of color with too much stuff on the page that I found myself skipping them. Not the best, but it wasn't horrible either.

And that nearly sums up the book, not the best, but it wasn't horrible either. As I said the first issue was about the worst of it, with very little going on at all. It picked up a bit from there and it was alright for a quick skim but it was very hard to get invested in the book with very little tension, and the tense moment hand waived and moved onto the next nerd talk or dream sequences. It would have been pretty simple to move things around, make some cuts, and make this into a bit better of a superhero book. It had a couple cool conceptual points, but also some fairly standard plot ideas. Still, better than most Marvel books out on the shelves.

5/10 .
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otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

The Eternal Warrior vol 1:

Gilad the eternal warrior has forsaken his task, he's tired, burnt out of fighting, and chosen a peaceful life. Valiant's done this kind of character reboot a couple of times with this, Bloodshot, and now XO Manowar, and though it's a similar story -- it works every time and each has its own flare that kinda works for that trope.

6000 years ago, Gilad's daughter killed his son, left him for dead, went scorched earth. She's returned because she's being hunted by gods she chose to serve, and needs his help. There's all sorts of twists and turns, and of course a lot of good action, as we weave back and forth between past and present. It's exactly what I wanted out of an eternal warrior book in a lot of ways.

I met the oldest geomancer in the valiant universe, three we've gone through who really get much screen time in the modern era, his name is Buck. And I pretty much enjoy the characters, and the gods as the backdrop.

Art was very good. It's got flashback scenes and they switch up artists a bit, but I enjoyed it all the same, nothing threw me out. Was just solid regular comic art -- excepting for the Clayton Crain portions, which certainly did stand out, but as beautiful.

Overall, fun. I am interested in the 2nd volume as this was really just an introduction piece. I'm not super emotionally invested but it was a nice action romp. Interested to see how this goes.

8/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by kinggirlfriend »

I like it a lot too.
Unfortunately none of it is ever followed up on. Volume 2 jumps to 4001AD and tells an entirely separate story. It also has no ties to RAI or any other future Valiant story. But I really like it. Volume 3, DAYS OF STEEL is also a separate tale set during the dark ages. It has wonderful art by Cary Nord and I just love it to pieces.

It's not until Venditti takes control in THE BOOK OF DEATH and WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR series that we get consistent characterization and world building. And he's a great part of Kindt's UNITY, IMO.

I've liked pretty much everything Valiant has done with Gilad, my only complaint is I wish there was more. I also wouldn't mind if they followed up on the ideas and worlds introduced in the first 2 volumes.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

kinggirlfriend wrote:I like it a lot too.
Unfortunately none of it is ever followed up on. Volume 2 jumps to 4001AD and tells an entirely separate story. It also has no ties to RAI or any other future Valiant story. But I really like it. Volume 3, DAYS OF STEEL is also a separate tale set during the dark ages. It has wonderful art by Cary Nord and I just love it to pieces.

It's not until Venditti takes control in THE BOOK OF DEATH and WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR series that we get consistent characterization and world building. And he's a great part of Kindt's UNITY, IMO.

I've liked pretty much everything Valiant has done with Gilad, my only complaint is I wish there was more. I also wouldn't mind if they followed up on the ideas and worlds introduced in the first 2 volumes.
Me, too.

We need more Gilad, Rai, and 4002 AD.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

otomo wrote:Art was very good. It's got flashback scenes and they switch up artists a bit, but I enjoyed it all the same, nothing threw me out. Was just solid regular comic art -- excepting for the Clayton Crain portions, which certainly did stand out, but as beautiful.
The art in the first arc is fantastic especially Crain's. He needs to do more stuff like this... in broad daylight... so we can actually see it!


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