Rai #1 Discussion

[Phoenix8008]

Wait till you guys read #2, some people here will freak the SQUEE out, that's all i will say.

Freak out in a good way, or in a bad way??

[Newton]

LOVED Rai #1. I think I agree that it is the best #1 VEI issue. Rai was probably my favorite of the original characters and I thought this issue did it justice and then some. Had the right balance of tipping its hat to the original Rai and throwing in some new elements. Rai just seems B@d@$$%.

I am anxious to see if they keep the self contemplation/humanistic elements from the original Rai with the new incarnation.

Are we all assuming Rai is going to be tied to Bloodshot in VEI like he was in VH1?

What is everyone's take on the new Spylock?

[Elveen]

LOVED Rai #1. I think I agree that it is the best #1 VEI issue. Rai was probably my favorite of the original characters and I thought this issue did it justice and then some. Had the right balance of tipping its hat to the original Rai and throwing in some new elements. Rai just seems B@d@$$%.

I am anxious to see if they keep the self contemplation/humanistic elements from the original Rai with the new incarnation.

Are we all assuming Rai is going to be tied to Bloodshot in VEI like he was in VH1?

What is everyone's take on the new Spylock?

Love the dope purple suit with the guns John McClane style.
We had a good discussion about Spylocke on OTV, so I'll leave it at that.

[IMJ]

I'm not trying to pick a fight (you know that IMJ)

Of course not.

but I just don't understand this line of thinking. I look at it like this.....

If I'm hungry for a good burger.... I dont care if it get served on fine china, a paper plate, or in a cardboard box, if the burger tastes good..... I'm good.

Who cares what the number on the front cover says..... I want good stories with the characters I love. That's it. If the book is good, buy if not dont.

Honestly, I just don't get it. But to each their own.

I believe there is a correlation between the constant renumbering of books and the long term downward trend in readership. It's created confusion and barriers whereas it was supposed to remove barriers to entry. It's like a stock market graph - the little upticks in your portfolio are no cause to celebrate unless the whole trendline moves up over long periods of time from where they initially began. I believe renumbering simply serves the speculator market rather than building a foundational readership. I don't want to reward companies for short-sightedness and arbitrary liberal arguments anymore. It's like the new ASM having 9xxx variant covers - ridiculous.

Also, while I'm not galvanized in disagreement with your point, the "I want good stories with the characters I love" thing? This statement can be viewed as an example of an arbitrary liberal argument. We just say these things and if it gives us warmer fuzzies than the deeper thinking does, then the modern mental algebra dictates that the emotionally easier to digest argument is better, and we do that - I see it every day, every where. Warm fuzzies = the manipulative cash grab of a renumber as long as we can say it helps the readers.

On that note, if you want to read highly volumized books that are basically mini-series with various names and titles, that's totally fine with me. And so, I'm not saying that you are wrong, but I was just referring to your point in the broader context. Like you said, to each their own.

[Elveen]

Honestly brother I'm not sure what u r talking about.
I do know that I'm not arbitrary, and for sure not liberal.

My point is this:
I want good stories with valiant characters. I'm not a comic book fan,
I'm a valiant fan, always have been always will be.

We waited soooooooo long to have the dead universe raised. It happened.
The books are great (most of them). You know why?????

Great stories , great characters. Period.
I really don't care what is on the cover. Give me a blank cover.
Release only in tpbs. Cool.

You know what will raise readership? Good stories. Quality product.
Does renumbering hurt readership. ?????
But you know what, I'll trust Warren Simons, and Fred Pierce, two of the most respected dudes
In he industry. I'll trust Atom and Hunter, two of the hardest working dudes I know. ( you should see hunter, always working, taking calls, texting. All the time). I'll trust Dinesh.
One of the most passionate, driven dudes about what he is doing I've ever met. Also, Dino is brilliant.

So if they think this is the way to go. Then so do I.
...... As long as they keep putting out quality books.... I'm with them dudes.
If the future shows they were wrong, I'll be the first to say I was wrong and so were they.

I just don't see punishing your self, depriving your self because of the number on the book.

[IMJ]

Honestly brother I'm not sure what u r talking about.
I do know that I'm not arbitrary, and for sure not liberal.

My point is this:
I want good stories with valiant characters. I'm not a comic book fan,
I'm a valiant fan, always have been always will be.

We waited soooooooo long to have the dead universe raised. It happened.
The books are great (most of them). You know why?????

Great stories , great characters. Period.
I really don't care what is on the cover. Give me a blank cover.
Release only in tpbs. Cool.

You know what will raise readership? Good stories. Quality product.
Does renumbering hurt readership. ?????
But you know what, I'll trust Warren Simons, and Fred Pierce, two of the most respected dudes
In he industry. I'll trust Atom and Hunter, two of the hardest working dudes I know. ( you should see hunter, always working, taking calls, texting. All the time). I'll trust Dinesh.
One of the most passionate, driven dudes about what he is doing I've ever met. Also, Dino is brilliant.

So if they think this is the way to go. Then so do I.
...... As long as they keep putting out quality books.... I'm with them dudes.
If the future shows they were wrong, I'll be the first to say I was wrong and so were they.

I just don't see punishing your self, depriving your self because of the number on the book.

Some good points here. I'll trust the Valiant crew as well and see where the story goes. So far, I'm liking the new Rai launch.

[jmatt]

Wait till you guys read #2, some people here will freak the SQUEE out, that's all i will say.

That made me smile. Can't wait for the next issue.

[dornwolf]

Something I've noted. Rai at the start was physically on the 4001 level, so does that mean that Japan was building a new district every year?

[BugsySig]

Something I've noted. Rai at the start was physically on the 4001 level, so does that mean that Japan was building a new district every year?

Only if they started in 1 AD.

[agent_graves]

The art was amazing, (Crain's style fits the futuristic setting) the story being told, not so much...

It's still early though, I'll at least stick around for the first arc...

[The Dirt Gang]

Anyone know how to get ahold of the extra 15 pages if you don't have a pullbox? Unfortunately, I don't have a pullbox anymore and I'm trying to keep up with trades. I really like to see this extra 15 pages especially if there is a map involved. I've always been a bit of a geek about maps.

Anyhow, I hope this isn't the only chance to get this content (as they are saying now). If anyone has an extra they are willing to sell, please let me know.

[bygranddesign]

Here's the map!

[String]

While the artwork blew me away and I found myself studying it and admiring it and loving it a little bit more with every page, I was a bit disappointed with the scripting. The narrative jumping around was distracting. Who is telling the story here? Lula or Rai? What's the voice that Rai hears a few times? Is that "Father?" It's not very fatherly and doesn't even appear to be addressing Rai directly. Is he picking up a news cast? An emergency announcement? What happened at the diner? Was Rai able to save anybody there? Did he even try (other than yelling "get out!")? What happened to him in the explosion? Did he "teleport" out the same way he left Sector 4001? Is that what the blue electric sparky looking things around his body was supposed to imply? Or was that him healing from the explosion? I found some of the details like that a little confusing.

Despite my problems with it, it was still pretty good. I really liked the characterization of Lula and Rai. There wasn't enough of Spylock to get a sense of his character, but what was there interested me. I think it was a great start at building the world of Rai. But I just wouldn't rank it has highly as everyone else here seems to. I'd give it more like 6 out of 10 as a standalone issue. But I do have a feeling that once a few more issues are out and an initial arc has completed, the overall ranking for that arc will be much higher than for this one issue alone.

I understand the concerns.

I've read enough Kindt at this point to see a pattern in the way he likes to tell a story. He seems to skip the setup a lot of times to a plot point and get right to the meat of what he wants to show us. For example, the Unity team breaking out of the cannister that ends up killing all the brainwashed workers in this past Unity issue - He didn't feel the need to tell us how they got there - it was more important to show the results of that situation.

In this issue - I think Kindt has developed so much detail and so much background on these characters and in this futuristic environment - that it makes us lost because we don't know what Kindt knows. And Kindt is not going to give us the breakdown of how everything works in one issue. Rai seems to run around in the traditional superhero fashion .. but he also has the ability to transport himself. In the original it was called the nerveweb. Kindt doesn't bother going into those details just yet - I think he just wants us to feel like a fish out of water.

In regards to specifically the explosion - and the diner. Rai says the med pt's will help the survivors - so most likely there were some deaths. Rai expressed confusion and concern over the chaos .. but getting to Spyloke was top priority. I think for better or for worse, Kindt wants to skip the emotional devastation of a scene like that and get us right back into the story. He sort of the opposite of Pak in that regards - where Pak likes to tug on our emotions and focus on relationships - Kindt is more interested in showing us the next cool thing about this world he built for us. I don't think its a perfect issue but I give it a 9/10 because he achieved his mission in immersing us into this world.

I agree with that assessment but I have to wonder if that is the best approach for the introduction of a classic character that would hopefully attract new readers. I found the story a tad murky mainly because we are given little to no information about this Rai, other than he is perceived as a 'myth' and that he is the 'defender and protector' of Japan. And while Kindt may not want to explain all (as he has done in Unity with Silk) in the first issue, some context would be appreciated. For example, if Rai teleports via a tree, I for one would like to know how he did it.

At this point, I feel more of a connection to Lulu, who may offer a better view of Rai through her own preconceptions and how they are changed when she faces the real thing. Of course, one larger question is how does this monstrosity of a Japan relate to the war-torn world as seen in Eternal Emperor.

With terrific art, this was a decent first issue.

[The Dirt Gang]

Thanks bygranddesign. That map is the *SQUEE*. I love Kindt's work. I just hope they release this content in some other fashion even as a digital download. I don't really understand trying to limit content from the consumer. I'm willing to pay for that extra 15 pages and yet I can't. Hopefully, I find a copy somewhere.

[kjjohanson]

Something I've noted. Rai at the start was physically on the 4001 level, so does that mean that Japan was building a new district every year?

This is something that caught my attention to. And then I stopped and thought: Wait. have they actually said this is 4001 A.D. or just that this is Rai in 4001; maybe they were always referring to a sector, knowing that we would assume they were referring to a year. Maybe this some other year entirely, only a few hundred years in the future, or many thousands of years in the future.

And then I looked back at the cover.

[Phoenix8008]

I'm looking forward to getting my pullbox copy from DCBS in a few weeks. I wanna be able to read the little tags on the map!

[Spylocke]

This might be the first comic I have ever read with extra material I liked this much. Lula Lee was hilarious and the review for the Spylocke movie put the dreadful idea in the my head that Michael Bay is still making movies in 4001.

While the character of Rai is pretty skimpy there was some great world building. The art was sleek and beautiful which really made the creepily paternalistic and controlling future Japan come to life. Some people criticize Crain's art as being pretty but cold and lifeless but I think it worked great here.

The only thing I have an issue with is Spylocke's new look. I can't be the only one distracted by how much he looked like Deathstroke when he had on his eye patch. As complaints go that's pretty minor and definitely won't stop me from using this new Spylocke as my avatar when it becomes available.

[kjjohanson]

Some people criticize Crain's art as being pretty but cold and lifeless but I think it worked great here.

"Cold and lifeless" might be going too far, but I certainly think his work could be a little more expressive. Take the scene in the sushi restraurant [sic; I don't know what that is but apparently it's a thing in 4001] for example; the faces of the customers show a little surprise, but their bodies should be more animated. On the first panel of the following page, if the customers are rushing out the door (as seems to be the intention, if they're looking for the constables), then they would be spaced out a little more, because people don't run that close to each other. The extra spacing would suggest more action, I think.

[Jace]

My review for Rai #1 is up on my channel if anyone is interested I'd appreciate the view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1NoVYbOpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bygranddesign]

The only thing I have an issue with is Spylocke's new look. I can't be the only one distracted by how much he looked like Deathstroke when he had on his eye patch. As complaints go that's pretty minor and definitely won't stop me from using this new Spylocke as my avatar when it becomes available.

The picture of Spylocke in the dead eyes movie poster would make a good avatar

[Spylocke]

Some people criticize Crain's art as being pretty but cold and lifeless but I think it worked great here.

"Cold and lifeless" might be going too far, but I certainly think his work could be a little more expressive. Take the scene in the sushi restraurant [sic; I don't know what that is but apparently it's a thing in 4001] for example; the faces of the customers show a little surprise, but their bodies should be more animated. On the first panel of the following page, if the customers are rushing out the door (as seems to be the intention, if they're looking for the constables), then they would be spaced out a little more, because people don't run that close to each other. The extra spacing would suggest more action, I think.

Yeah, I was expecting something along the lines of a major panic over the first murder in a millennium...maybe the people were just so sheepish that they assumed Father and Rai had everything under control.

[bygranddesign]

I'm looking forward to getting my pullbox copy from DCBS in a few weeks. I wanna be able to read the little tags on the map!

It's very awesome

There is so much cool stuff on that map to explore and mine stories from.. It's pretty mind blowing.
I'm not sure one title (Rai) can show us this world completely .. Might need another title(Spylocke?) or a limited series - anthology would be cool too.

From Ancient Rome to feudal japan to 21 century manhattan to pre-historic replica sectors - it's basically a smorgasbord of important periods of time and important places in time.

The upper levels might be the most mysterious and intriguing - the haunted caves, pt murder world and the forbidden level - content unknown

[Spylocke]

Oh please let there be a Yul Brynner PT in the Positronic Murder World.

[wallyj84]

Is there a way for those of us who don't live in the US to see the extra material?

[Moots]

In the comic you can see that Lula is thinking in pink captions/thought bubbles, and if I remember correctly, grandmother talked in pink ''thought'' bubbles in the VH1 Rai. Could this mean that she is/will become grandmother?