UNITY #1 Discussion

[jkingman]

I feel you on Secret Weapons II...I know "Unity" draws more attention, but its basically the same concept. We need something much more grand if this is truly worthy of the name "Unity".

+1

I'll really feel let down by VEI if it is "just a team book". I'm still expecting a major twist. If that twist never comes, then the "never been done before" thing will have been a marketing scam. I have faith that Dino would not lead us astray.

Surely once the opening 2-3 arcs are done it can only settle down as a team book? Hopefully Aric's involvement in Unity will be short lived as I'd prefer him to remain just in his own book and not appear constantly in other books ala VH1.

Unity has gotten off to a great start IMO, but long term it'll hopefully be an interesting team book with strong characters.

I agree. It looks like Aric will be sticking around for the second arc,but I hope this isn't long term. Eternal Warrior works in multiple books because his solo title can bounce around to different time periods and not overlap with his Unity appearances.

Personally I'd like to see a characters like Doctor Mirage and/or Kay McHenry added to the mix who could shine like Ninjak and Livewire have the opportunity to. Kay, especially, could be a driving force for the team.

that's how I felt too when they announced details of it, sounds like Secret Weapons and I've repeatedly seen Valiant folk say that a team book in Valiant has never been done, which isn't true. I loved the first issue, but yeah, I expect BIG TIME story to be worthy of the name UNITY...and I'm a bit bummed they are already leaking details about Unity 5. I don't like knowing what is coming in March! and just one cover image could spoil some things. As far as Kay leading the team, isn't that how SW worked, the geomancer guiding them?

ultimately, I still have faith something is going to happen that will knock our socks off.

[hunter_peterson]

I feel you on Secret Weapons II...I know "Unity" draws more attention, but its basically the same concept. We need something much more grand if this is truly worthy of the name "Unity".

+1

I'll really feel let down by VEI if it is "just a team book". I'm still expecting a major twist. If that twist never comes, then the "never been done before" thing will have been a marketing scam. I have faith that Dino would not lead us astray.

Surely once the opening 2-3 arcs are done it can only settle down as a team book? Hopefully Aric's involvement in Unity will be short lived as I'd prefer him to remain just in his own book and not appear constantly in other books ala VH1.

Unity has gotten off to a great start IMO, but long term it'll hopefully be an interesting team book with strong characters.

I agree. It looks like Aric will be sticking around for the second arc,but I hope this isn't long term. Eternal Warrior works in multiple books because his solo title can bounce around to different time periods and not overlap with his Unity appearances.

Personally I'd like to see a characters like Doctor Mirage and/or Kay McHenry added to the mix who could shine like Ninjak and Livewire have the opportunity to. Kay, especially, could be a driving force for the team.

that's how I felt too when they announced details of it, sounds like Secret Weapons and I've repeatedly seen Valiant folk say that a team book in Valiant has never been done, which isn't true. I loved the first issue, but yeah, I expect BIG TIME story to be worthy of the name UNITY...and I'm a bit bummed they are already leaking details about Unity 5. I don't like knowing what is coming in March! and just one cover image could spoil some things. As far as Kay leading the team, isn't that how SW worked, the geomancer guiding them?

ultimately, I still have faith something is going to happen that will knock our socks off.

I think it differs from the Secret Weapons in that it was a team-UP book and not an actual, somewhat stable team. They really haven't had that before. Even the Renegades had a few iterations.

I think the twist will be that they simply call on the team for favors, they don't really hang out or anything. So they kind of see a problem individually, think "I could use some more firepower for this" and then call in the other Unity teammates for help. But we'll see how they justify he team continuing forward, and also how Aric winds up replacing Harada.

[BugsySig]

I feel you on Secret Weapons II...I know "Unity" draws more attention, but its basically the same concept. We need something much more grand if this is truly worthy of the name "Unity".

+1

I'll really feel let down by VEI if it is "just a team book". I'm still expecting a major twist. If that twist never comes, then the "never been done before" thing will have been a marketing scam. I have faith that Dino would not lead us astray.

Surely once the opening 2-3 arcs are done it can only settle down as a team book? Hopefully Aric's involvement in Unity will be short lived as I'd prefer him to remain just in his own book and not appear constantly in other books ala VH1.

Unity has gotten off to a great start IMO, but long term it'll hopefully be an interesting team book with strong characters.

I agree. It looks like Aric will be sticking around for the second arc,but I hope this isn't long term. Eternal Warrior works in multiple books because his solo title can bounce around to different time periods and not overlap with his Unity appearances.

Personally I'd like to see a characters like Doctor Mirage and/or Kay McHenry added to the mix who could shine like Ninjak and Livewire have the opportunity to. Kay, especially, could be a driving force for the team.

that's how I felt too when they announced details of it, sounds like Secret Weapons and I've repeatedly seen Valiant folk say that a team book in Valiant has never been done, which isn't true. I loved the first issue, but yeah, I expect BIG TIME story to be worthy of the name UNITY...and I'm a bit bummed they are already leaking details about Unity 5. I don't like knowing what is coming in March! and just one cover image could spoil some things. As far as Kay leading the team, isn't that how SW worked, the geomancer guiding them?

ultimately, I still have faith something is going to happen that will knock our socks off.

I think it differs from the Secret Weapons in that it was a team-UP book and not an actual, somewhat stable team. They really haven't had that before. Even the Renegades had a few iterations.

I think the twist will be that they simply call on the team for favors, they don't really hang out or anything. So they kind of see a problem individually, think "I could use some more firepower for this" and then call in the other Unity teammates for help. But we'll see how they justify he team continuing forward, and also how Aric winds up replacing Harada.

IMO, there needs to be some kind of common thread between the characters to act as a catalyst for getting the team together regularly. The Geomancer would make sense, or MI6.

For the first arc it's Harada. For the second it seems like it may be MI6. EW has a history with them, as does Ninjak, and for all we know Livewire could end up working for them as well. With Dr. Silk as the villain it makes sense for them to be involved.

[blujay]

I don't get why everyone is down on the idea of Unity being a "team book", team books are awesome

Besides I've heard a few people on the board discuss how they were disappointed that it's always Heroes vs Heroes in Valiant, so wouldn't a team book mean Heroes working together vs Villains...and you all know how much I harp on the villains thing, I feel with Unity they're gonna be getting there

[Carson]

I don't get why everyone is down on the idea of Unity being a "team book", team books are awesome

Besides I've heard a few people on the board discuss how they were disappointed that it's always Heroes vs Heroes in Valiant, so wouldn't a team book mean Heroes working together vs Villains...and you all know how much I harp on the villains thing, I feel with Unity they're gonna be getting there

Yup! Won't spoil it here, but it's safe to say there are indeed new bad guys in the pipeline. Or are they old bad guys...

[jmatt]

Question: Page 23. Unity has just leaped from their ship and is dropping in on Aric. Start of page 23 (5 minutes later), before they even land, Ninjak is reporting a large explosion outside the ship.

Harada replies "there have been developments, I need you to blow the ship".

Ninjak "... but what happened out there?!"

Unity lands, Aric dispatches them.

So, what happened out there?

[BugsySig]

Question: Page 23. Unity has just leaped from their ship and is dropping in on Aric. Start of page 23 (5 minutes later), before they even land, Ninjak is reporting a large explosion outside the ship.

Harada replies "there have been developments, I need you to blow the ship".

Ninjak "... but what happened out there?!"

Unity lands, Aric dispatches them.

So, what happened out there?

I read it as:

Unity deploys

5 minutes later...Ninjak radios Harada..."What happened out there?"

Flashback to 5 minutes earlier...Aric blows half the Unity team out of the sky

[bygranddesign]

Question: Page 23. Unity has just leaped from their ship and is dropping in on Aric. Start of page 23 (5 minutes later), before they even land, Ninjak is reporting a large explosion outside the ship.

Harada replies "there have been developments, I need you to blow the ship".

Ninjak "... but what happened out there?!"

Unity lands, Aric dispatches them.

So, what happened out there?

I read it as:

Unity deploys

5 minutes later...Ninjak radios Harada..."What happened out there?"

Flashback to 5 minutes earlier...Aric blows half the Unity team out of the sky

Yes, that's how I read it

Kindt seems to like to play with the narrative like that .. and sort of put a twist on what you would expect as a reader

The panels show the flashback to what happened with Harada narrating the scene for Ninjak

[jmatt]

I dunno, it seemed like an awfully big fireball for having "gut shot" one and plinked the other, which happened way up in the sky, not on the ground.

And 5 minutes is a long time to fall. Did they jump from 90,000 feet with no suits? It's like -100 degrees at that altitude with no air.

I'll have to go back and read again. It didn't get a flashback sense.

[Ras the future fan]

I don't get why everyone is down on the idea of Unity being a "team book", team books are awesome

Besides I've heard a few people on the board discuss how they were disappointed that it's always Heroes vs Heroes in Valiant, so wouldn't a team book mean Heroes working together vs Villains...and you all know how much I harp on the villains thing, I feel with Unity they're gonna be getting there

Yup! Won't spoil it here, but it's safe to say there are indeed new bad guys in the pipeline. Or are they old bad guys...

Who we haven't seen yet Dr Eclipse, Mon-ark, the Malevs, Erica Pierce?

[Carson]

Well, the previews are everywhere so it's safe to say Unity is going to get tangled in the web of Dr Silk next issue!

[BugsySig]

I dunno, it seemed like an awfully big fireball for having "gut shot" one and plinked the other, which happened way up in the sky, not on the ground.

And 5 minutes is a long time to fall. Did they jump from 90,000 feet with no suits? It's like -100 degrees at that altitude with no air.

I'll have to go back and read again. It didn't get a flashback sense.

Well I believe Aric's blast went through the Unity members and blew their ship too. And Gilad said they needed to jump from the stratosphere (or something) to keep Aric from detecting them, so they were pretty high up.

[agent_graves]

I started out getting all the Valiant books for about the first 6 months, then I sold them all, not because I didn't like them, it was more so a financial thing, well, Unity pulled me back in, I thought it was a pretty decent first issue, made me want a Ninjack solo though...

[Dallow Spicer1]

I started out getting all the Valiant books for about the first 6 months, then I sold them all, not because I didn't like them, it was more so a financial thing, well, Unity pulled me back in, I thought it was a pretty decent first issue, made me want a Ninjack solo though...

Welcome back!

[Shadowman99]

I quite liked it all in all, but despite not actually reading any of the hype, simply knowing that there was huge hype for the book made expectant of really grand things: not sure exactly *what* I was expecting, but I realised whilst reading the book that it had to spend so much time establishing the characters and setting for new readers that it detracted from the 'potential amazing-ness' that everyone had promised the book had. It was good, and I enjoyed it: but not great like I had been expecting, in my opinion.

The opening pages with the photographer's account of Aric's landing were probably the best part of the whole book I thought, in terms of storytelling and art. I actually thought the art was a little bit poor in a few spots, but not enough to detract from the overall quality.

The action scenes were entertaining, and I have to say, I really appreciated the 'gag' with the 'Unity' team. I was fooled and couldn't believe that Valiant had 'gone there' and made this lame looking team the focal point of the story... So when they got blown to pieces over the next few pages, I really appreciated the joke, and thought it was really grand of Valiant to have pulled that in possibly their most attention-grabbing book of the year

And the flaming head through the chest... Regardless of the person here on the board that totally hammered everything about the issue, and complained about the flaming-head-through-the-chest death, I thought it was really, really funny. I considered at the time the reality of that happening, which actually just made it all the more entertaining! Would the head really set on fire like that? Would that lazerbeam really sever it from the body like that? What are the odds that it would be propelled in that particular direction on that particular trajectory at that particular moment in time? What are the odds that Aric intentionally tried to achieve that? What are the odds that he even *could*? How does a flying flaming head penetrate body armour and bone like a hot knife through butter? - All these thoughts make you realise how ridiculous that was, yet make it so much funnier

Another thing I thought was funny, was that (having never read anything with him in) I thought Ninjak was originally an oddly-drawn Harada projecting a younger shell than normal whilst he was complaining about his food in Romanian. It wasn't until perhaps the next page that I realised it was Ninjak! Similar suit, similar hair, oddly drawn face... Which was kinda funny. Overall my first impression of Ninjak was pretty bad: It really annoyed me that he has all these really unfeasable technologies at his disposal that seem *just* right for that particular occasion. Boots that grip walls? A translating earpiece that also allows him to somehow instantly speak another language as well? Please. It was tosh. But on the other hand, when he started doing his ninja thing and sneaking around the space ship he was more enjoyable. Don't know where he'd hidden that can of explosive foam about his suit earlier in the comic though

Overall, the action was good and the story entertaining, so I'm looking forward to the next issue and seeing what happens there. No idea where the story will go from here (having not read previews/solicits in my usual manner), but it wasn't the ultra-amazing comic that it'd been built up to be I feel, at the expense of not alienating new Valiant readers: A wise decision in my opinion.

One thing that I just don't understand though: I don't know why everyone on the board is so insistant on seeing this 'Erica Pierce' appear in the new Unity comic. I never read the original Unity so I am a bit ignorant of what made her this character that everyone has such a boner for, but does it really matter if she appears in this new version of Unity? I can't really tell why nobody's content to simply let this new comic be what it will be, without shoehorning relics from the past into it I'm just so tired of seeing everyone insisting at every opportunity that this photographer character must somehow turn out to be 'Erica Pierce' that I really need to finally get this off my chest. If I put it out there, I might actually get to the point where I understand at last why this is such a big deal.

By all means, let the stone-throwing begin.

[bygranddesign]

One thing that I just don't understand though: I don't know why everyone on the board is so insistant on seeing this 'Erica Pierce' appear in the new Unity comic. I never read the original Unity so I am a bit ignorant of what made her this character that everyone has such a boner for, but does it really matter if she appears in this new version of Unity? I can't really tell why nobody's content to simply let this new comic be what it will be, without shoehorning relics from the past into it I'm just so tired of seeing everyone insisting at every opportunity that this photographer character must somehow turn out to be 'Erica Pierce' that I really need to finally get this off my chest. If I put it out there, I might actually get to the point where I understand at last why this is such a big deal.

By all means, let the stone-throwing begin.

Erica Pierce is important to the original Unity as Harada is to Harbinger and Darque is to Shadowman. From the perspective of someone familiar with Unity, it is natural to expect and want to see Erica Pierce as a major character at some point. You might have a boner for her too if you read the original.

I think most of us fans of the original have now come to grips that this is a very different Unity than the original - and I don't think many of us believe the photographer is Erica anymore unless they are saying it tongue in cheek.

[lorddunlow]

One thing that I just don't understand though: I don't know why everyone on the board is so insistant on seeing this 'Erica Pierce' appear in the new Unity comic. I never read the original Unity so I am a bit ignorant of what made her this character that everyone has such a boner for, but does it really matter if she appears in this new version of Unity? I can't really tell why nobody's content to simply let this new comic be what it will be, without shoehorning relics from the past into it I'm just so tired of seeing everyone insisting at every opportunity that this photographer character must somehow turn out to be 'Erica Pierce' that I really need to finally get this off my chest. If I put it out there, I might actually get to the point where I understand at last why this is such a big deal.

By all means, let the stone-throwing begin.

Erica Pierce is important to the original Unity as Harada is to Harbinger and Darque is to Shadowman. From the perspective of someone familiar with Unity, it is natural to expect and want to see Erica Pierce as a major character at some point. You might have a boner for her too if you read the original.

I think most of us fans of the original have now come to grips that this is a very different Unity than the original - and I don't think many of us believe the photographer is Erica anymore unless they are saying it tongue in cheek.

But she does look like Erica Pierce...

[bygranddesign]

But she does look like Erica Pierce...

troublemaker..

[leonmallett]

Talking with one of the guys working in my LCS today; Unity was intriguing enough for him to try it, and on trying it and enjoying #1 he is finally diving in. I had my doubts about the strategy of variants+++, but maybe it is those kinds of seeds that can lead to growth?

[Captain Craig]

But she does look like Erica Pierce...

troublemaker..

That's a different title altogether.