Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Keith wrote:Can't recall... have you read any A&A before this?
Vols 1-2. I liked 1 well enough and thought 2 got a little repetitive and less interesting so I went back to Harbinger/X-O until I completed those runs. Now I'm going through bloodshot so I can catch up in time for Salvation :)
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

I'm gonna have to redo the first post to link to individual reviews at some point when I'm less lazy :)
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Bloodshot vol 5

Finally this series gets good. As much as this is an iconic classic valiant character, I'd been struggling as to whether I was going to continue as I just didn't feel like this had a good character connection up until the Archer & Armstrong crossover -- which I thought may have been due to A&A. THe last arc prior to Mission Improbable was saved for me by a personal interest in a character that had cystic fibrosis, but I'd struggled through the series of senseless violence before that.

However, in this volume, there's finally reason to care about Bloodshot and his HARD Corps companions. Project Rising Spirit is using and abusing anyone they can get their hands on, and through various missions-- and Bloodshot finding a way out of their physical control over him-- Bloodshot and a couple of the HARD Corps decide to fight back against their company.

It's a really fun storyline broken up into 2-two issue chunks. The first is out on a mission and the second is Bloodshot vs. PRS. The twists are nice, I finally have reason to care about the heroes and something to root for.

As with most of the series, this is low art quality for Valiant books. It's about how I'd expect an indie comic to be, nothing special, pretty bland art. However the story has picked up to a point where I'm finally excited about the character in the VEI universe.

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

Post by otomo »

Bloodshot Volume 6

And as soon as it got exciting, it fell as flat as it could. This volume wraps up the end of this bloodshot series with issue 24-25 and some filler for another version of Bloodshot #1. In fact, it's all filler. Issue 24 has a different creative team entirely than before, giving a one-shot of some 80s version of Bloodshot in this universe that really didn't tie into anything. Issue 25 is more background filler stories of varying quality that give us the same sort of "Bloodshot had memories of someone else, sees a woman he loved, goes and sees her, gets chased by government as he causes problems and shoots a lot of people."

These takes are tired because Bloodshot wasn't really developed that much as a character. The whole nanites erasing memories, storing memories really needed to delve more into who he really was before, or what he's doing now that he's bucked that system, and build a cast of characters that are his support -- which they almost did with the HARD Corps storyline before this. However to see the series end like this is a shame.

The only saving grace of these issues is that the art in issue 25 for its lead story -- a retread of earlier concepts as I mentioned earlier -- was the best of the series so far. It was pretty to look at, and if we hadn't seen this storyline in the first couple of issues of the series already, it would have probably been pretty emotional and interesting. As it is, it's going to be something not followed up on and it's a sad end to a series that was finally starting to get its legs.

Other than the art of that one storyline, most of the art is extremely poor quality filler. This is though 24 and 25.

Because of the lack of follow through on the series storyline, and its extremely poor ending, issue 1 didn't merit a director's cut.

This is by far the most disappointing thing I've read from Valiant to date.

4/10
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

What's the Bloodshot #1 Director's Cut? Is it some sort of script, or b/w art?

Is this the same as the Bloodshot Dossier from the 2012 FCBD Special?

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

It was odd the way they ended the original Bloodshot series. With the monthly issues, things basically wrapped up with issue #23, and then rolled right into the Armor Hunters: Bloodshot mini which picked up where we had left off. Made sense. But then, several months later, they came back with #24 and #25, which just seemed kinda pointless as we were getting ready to roll into The Valiant.

I think they just wanted to successfully have all the original launches hit the 25 issue mark, but that's just speculation on my part.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:What's the Bloodshot #1 Director's Cut? Is it some sort of script, or b/w art?

Is this the same as the Bloodshot Dossier from the 2012 FCBD Special?
It's the first issue with like pencils, script, commentary kinda like they do in the pre-order editions of X-O. Not that exciting.
Keith wrote: It was odd the way they ended the original Bloodshot series. With the monthly issues, things basically wrapped up with issue #23, and then rolled right into the Armor Hunters: Bloodshot mini which picked up where we had left off. Made sense. But then, several months later, they came back with #24 and #25, which just seemed kinda pointless as we were getting ready to roll into The Valiant.

I think they just wanted to successfully have all the original launches hit the 25 issue mark, but that's just speculation on my part.
Interesting history I didn't know they had stopped it for a few months like that and came back. It must have been a pride of hitting 25 thing, there's really zero reason for those issues to exist.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by jeremycoe »

otomo wrote:
Keith wrote: It was odd the way they ended the original Bloodshot series. With the monthly issues, things basically wrapped up with issue #23, and then rolled right into the Armor Hunters: Bloodshot mini which picked up where we had left off. Made sense. But then, several months later, they came back with #24 and #25, which just seemed kinda pointless as we were getting ready to roll into The Valiant.

I think they just wanted to successfully have all the original launches hit the 25 issue mark, but that's just speculation on my part.
Interesting history I didn't know they had stopped it for a few months like that and came back. It must have been a pride of hitting 25 thing, there's really zero reason for those issues to exist.
I believe during those months there was never a month without a Bloodshot book on the stands. AH: Bloodshot #3 came out in September 2004 and then Bloodshot #24 came out in October. I don't dislike those issues. I seem to remember really enjoying #24. To each their own I guess.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

jeremycoe wrote:
otomo wrote:
Keith wrote: It was odd the way they ended the original Bloodshot series. With the monthly issues, things basically wrapped up with issue #23, and then rolled right into the Armor Hunters: Bloodshot mini which picked up where we had left off. Made sense. But then, several months later, they came back with #24 and #25, which just seemed kinda pointless as we were getting ready to roll into The Valiant.

I think they just wanted to successfully have all the original launches hit the 25 issue mark, but that's just speculation on my part.
Interesting history I didn't know they had stopped it for a few months like that and came back. It must have been a pride of hitting 25 thing, there's really zero reason for those issues to exist.
I believe during those months there was never a month without a Bloodshot book on the stands. AH: Bloodshot #3 came out in September 2004 and then Bloodshot #24 came out in October. I don't dislike those issues. I seem to remember really enjoying #24. To each their own I guess.
You are correct on that, my mistake. Guess it felt like a gap that I added on there!
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

As I go as quickly as I can through Bloodshot's history to try to catch up for the new series that's gonna drop next month, I come to The Valiant. Unfortunately, I started Bloodshot: Reborn not knowing it hopped to here then went to that series. For people starting The Valiant for sure read this before Bloodshot: Reborn and after Bloodshot's first series. I also recommend reading more of Archer and Armstrong and perhaps even the Eternal Warrior -- I haven't read a couple of those arcs yet but I forgot there was a Geomancer pre-Tama for a second.

It would have been nice not to have the ending spoiled by Bloodshot Reborn 1, but alas!

The Valiant

This is an event done right. Four issues. Epic pacing. A ton goes on, with character ground covered, this was about a good as it gets. The Eternal Warrior is struggling as he knows he's not been able to protect Geomancers from this evil force in the past, it's always caught up. The thing is death incarnate, it stalks, it's creepy, a great villain. This time, he has the help of the other heroes in the Valiant universe.

I love what this book did, both for the cool Geomancer storyline which I find intriguing and want more of, and for the development of the character Bloodshot. In the first Bloodshot series, the lack of character depth hurt a lot of the books, but here the storyline is used to humanize him -- as he learns to become human both figuratively and literally.

It does have a little deus ex machina that solves the issue over the course of it, but that actually is the start of a nice Geomancer storyline as well, that is equally intriguing to the one that unfolds here. I was happy all around. Pacing great, characters great, concept great.

And the art's great! I love Paolo Rivera's art as I have on many other books in the past. The art was slick and beautiful, some of Valiant's best work in general. Happy all around.

This ranks as one of my top stories TPBs from the Valiant universe I've read so far. It does require a lot of background though -- at least the first couple archer and armstrong volumes, and the Eternal Warrior, and it would help to be up on bloodshot's original series Vol 1 - 6 and Armor Wars, and have a cursory knowledge of who some of the other valiant heroes are. With that background this story is about as good as it gets.

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

Post by Keith »

Book of Death and Divinity should be on your short list for what to read next. Definitely recommend the Book of Death deluxe hardcover for the main series and the "Fall of..." one shots all in one volume.
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Keith wrote:Book of Death and Divinity should be on your short list for what to read next. Definitely recommend the Book of Death deluxe hardcover for the main series and the "Fall of..." one shots all in one volume.
I read Book of Death last night :) Will probably have a review up a bit later.
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Post by otomo »

Wrote this for amazon so figured I'd throw it on this thread.

Savage vol 1.

A very fun tale that mirrored the original Tarzan novel in modern times, with some different twists that add some supernatural flavor to it. A kid grows up in a jungle where there's dinosaurs and people trapped there like some bermuda triangle gone wrong sort of set up, and the men who crashed there before are extremely violent and have become, like the title suggests, savages.

It follows a kid who's grown up with the jungle, and like Tarzan lives and breathes it in a way the others can't coming from different backgrounds. Lots of action, so fast paced it's almost too fast paced and I immediately wished there was more.

The art is some of the most beautiful I've seen from valiant -- which says a lot because their standards are extremely high for the titles they produce.

Overall this is a great standalone adventure, you don't have to read any other valiant title to get what's going on and it's well worth the read. I only hope there's a second volume soon!

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

Post by kinggirlfriend »

otomo wrote:And the art's great! I'm a big fan of Tomas Giorello, who worked as a team with another artist here. The art was slick and beautiful, some of Valiant's best work in general. Happy all around.
Paolo Rivera did the artwork on THE VALIANT. Good stuff! Wish he'd done more for Valiant.

I actually started with this series then moved onto BLOODSHOT REBORN and WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR, then I backtracked to all the earlier series. It was all new and interesting and I just wanted to read all of it.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

kinggirlfriend wrote:
otomo wrote:And the art's great! I'm a big fan of Tomas Giorello, who worked as a team with another artist here. The art was slick and beautiful, some of Valiant's best work in general. Happy all around.
Paolo Rivera did the artwork on THE VALIANT. Good stuff! Wish he'd done more for Valiant.

I actually started with this series then moved onto BLOODSHOT REBORN and WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR, then I backtracked to all the earlier series. It was all new and interesting and I just wanted to read all of it.
DERP! You're right on the artist, sorry I was looking through Giorello's history yesterday to see what else he'd done and just forgot what I was reading. Paolo Rivera is also one of my favorite comic artists. Good to know this works stand alone!
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by kinggirlfriend »

otomo wrote:
kinggirlfriend wrote:
otomo wrote:And the art's great! I'm a big fan of Tomas Giorello, who worked as a team with another artist here. The art was slick and beautiful, some of Valiant's best work in general. Happy all around.
Paolo Rivera did the artwork on THE VALIANT. Good stuff! Wish he'd done more for Valiant.

I actually started with this series then moved onto BLOODSHOT REBORN and WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR, then I backtracked to all the earlier series. It was all new and interesting and I just wanted to read all of it.
DERP! You're right on the artist, sorry I was looking through Giorello's history yesterday to see what else he'd done and just forgot what I was reading. Paolo Rivera is also one of my favorite comic artists. Good to know this works stand alone!
No worries. It's been a joy reading through your reviews. I went through the same journey this past year, reading through all the trades, and it's great reading everyone's opinions.

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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

otomo wrote:Wrote this for amazon so figured I'd throw it on this thread.

Savage vol 1.

A very fun tale that mirrored the original Tarzan novel in modern times, with some different twists that add some supernatural flavor to it. A kid grows up in a jungle where there's dinosaurs and people trapped there like some bermuda triangle gone wrong sort of set up, and the men who crashed there before are extremely violent and have become, like the title suggests, savages.

It follows a kid who's grown up with the jungle, and like Tarzan lives and breathes it in a way the others can't coming from different backgrounds. Lots of action, so fast paced it's almost too fast paced and I immediately wished there was more.

The art is some of the most beautiful I've seen from valiant -- which says a lot because their standards are extremely high for the titles they produce.

Overall this is a great standalone adventure, you don't have to read any other valiant title to get what's going on and it's well worth the read. I only hope there's a second volume soon!

9/10
Ah---ah----ahhh---Archer & Armstrong vol.3----CHOO!!

:P
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

Keith wrote: Ah---ah----ahhh---Archer & Armstrong vol.3----CHOO!!

:P
At the moment the debate on that is "do I open my A&A Hardcover Volume 1 that's sealed lol
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

otomo wrote:
Keith wrote: Ah---ah----ahhh---Archer & Armstrong vol.3----CHOO!!

:P
At the moment the debate on that is "do I open my A&A Hardcover Volume 1 that's sealed lol
Haha... if memory serves, that one is sold out, so I understand the debate!
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

And on my break from Bloodshot for a moment:

The Book Of Death

A four part crossover event in the Valiant Universe. The Eternal Warrior is trying to protect the new Geomancer, Tama, and strange things are happening -- people are dying. The Geomancer is blamed and Unity is sent to stop them. Behind the scenes Darque, who I'm happy to see again, is controlling another Geomancer who has split-powers because of the way Tama showed up from another time. Darque wants to harvest all of the Geomancer's powers in order to take the powers for himself, and is trying to get to Tama to kill her so that can happen.

Over the course of this, Tama is forced to read from the Book of Death which outlines bad things that are going to happen. Every time she does, events seem to get worse as prophecy and the supernatural interact with the Eternal Warrior's mission.

The battle between the Eternal Warrior and the other Valiant heroes is really fun, reminds me a lot of the way Batman takes down the Justice League with the understanding of their weaknesses. The Eternal Warrior has millennia of battle experience to draw upon and it shows.

Art is wonderful. Love Robert Gill + Doug Braithwaite -- the latter is on the current XO Manowar series and does a stellar job there as well.

Overall, the story progressed quickly, was a super fast paced read. It didn't quite have the depth of The Valiant, but it was fun nonetheless and one of the better additions to the Valiant Universe.

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

Post by otomo »

Go check the OP now. I've cleaned it up and made it a thing :) Back to Bloodshot so I can catch up for Salvation! I'm looking at the Hardcover vol 2 that's coming out in November... and I'm a bit confused why they shortened it and didn't put USA in there?

Bloodshot Reborn: Vol 1

This went far darker than the carnage/gore/rambo-style original Bloodshot run. The concept is dark enough even with that, but this takes a more personal bent. You see a broken down motel, drug use, alcoholism, depression, serial killers, an investigation, there's a lot going on here.

Bloodshot is away from Project Rising Spirit. The Geomancer cured his nanites from his system at the expense of her life. Now, Bloodshot is just a man, taking an identity from one of the ones he was infused with. He has a folder of information of who he really is, but he can't bring himself to face that. He's depressed, not sure what to do with his life, having no purpose and it shows.

Now this does go into the trope of the reboot I see a LOT in books lately I like to call "let's have Superman walk around!" The idea is that you take away the powers, show the human, and build the powers in gradually so that they become something novel and interesting. It psychologically tricks the readers into forgetting that the flying is normal and so when it happens it fills us with elation. the X-O Manowar reboot in 2017 right now is using this same kind of tactic in rebuilding the character. It lets us connect with them on personal levels too , showing them as human. In this and XO, it shows the men as kind of broken, distant from who they are. However that's where the similarity ends.

Bloodshot has a couple of things going on -- he sees hallucinations of Kay, the dead Geomancer and a part of him he calls Bloodsquirt, kind of like the Beavis to his Butthead. Bloodsquirt is all about the senseless violence and encourages it. People are going on serial killing rampages, and having the white skin and blood red chest that makes Bloodshot iconic. The FBI is hunting them down, and honing in on the real Bloodshot, and he's hunting these killers down and fast learns he's the only one who can really control the nanites -- otherwise the nanites rip these people apart. Finally Bloodshot starts to develop a supporting cast as he meets a girl named Magic, who's been beaten by her boyfriend who had some nanites in him. We learn there's a few more folk with nanites out there and Bloodshot needs to hunt them down before they do something terrible.

The art is fantastic. Beautiful lines throughout, very well detailed and the colors give that dark realism feel of a lot of modern comics. The cartoony visage of Bloodsquirt is often pasted on top, and looks very out of place -- but in a good way. I actually rather enjoy the artistic risk taken there and how it adds a sense of comic relief to a very heavy story artistically. The issue where it gets a little zany and goes full bloodsquirt (I think it was #4) actually is really nice as a change of pace as well. Couldn't be happier.

This story is far too dark for my usual tastes. It feels terrible to read this -- and it's meant to. Lemire has taken us to a really negative place, rock bottom in this person's life. However, that said, even though it's not my idea of fun, I recognize greatness when I see it. This story is so well crafted, the characters are so well done, the art game is stepped up to such a degree from the prior Bloodshot series, it's doing a ton for the character. I'm frankly very happy with the direction it's gone. It reminds me of Punisher MAX, where Garth Ennis took the Punisher to new depths by making this dark personal story out of him, when in the past he was a gun-toting teeth-gritting anti-hero like Bloodshot was before this. This volume has done for the character of Bloodshot what that series did for the Punisher, and it's great work. Definitely parental advisory warning this one, and you have to be in the right space for it but it's some of the best Valiant work I've read all that considered.

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

Post by Keith »

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.
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Sunlight on Snow
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

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.
Hopefully, still this year... or did they cancel it as well? :lol:

The "Fall of..." one-shots are pretty cool. You (otomo) really shouldn't miss them, and I bet they're already on your list anyway.

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Keith
Rockin' out in Torquehalla
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Posts: 2454
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:01:36 am
Valiant fan since: 1992
Favorite character: Timewalker
Favorite title: FVLs Archer & Armstrong
Favorite writer: FVL
Location: Saint Louis
Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by Keith »

Sunlight on Snow 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.
Hopefully, still this year... or did they cancel it as well? :lol:

The "Fall of..." one-shots are pretty cool. You (otomo) really shouldn't miss them, and I bet they're already on your list anyway.
Haha... let me do a quick fix on that sentence: "...which will then come into play in a Bloodshot Salvation arc next year."
Good Morning, that's a nice tnetennba.
The thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in...

otomo
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Re: Discovering the Valiant (VEI TPB Reviews)

Post by otomo »

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.

Sunlight on Snow wrote:Hopefully, still this year... or did they cancel it as well?

The "Fall of..." one-shots are pretty cool. You (otomo) really shouldn't miss them, and I bet they're already on your list anyway.
Everything's on my list to read :) I'm gonna have the whole universe read at some point! Even Valiant High!
Like XO Manowar or Conan The Barbarian? Check out my new graphic novel, DEUS VULT on IndieGoGo now: Deus Vult: http://igg.me/at/deusvult.


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