Re-reading: Eternal Warrior #1

xoken · Post by **xoken** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 12:48 am

Alright, I'm making an attempt at a start to a re-reading project.
I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do

For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.

The voting (I'm hoping) will help new readers make more educated descisions. If this turkey files maybe we can even do a list of the books according to average voting grade.

Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.

I figured the Eternal Warrior run was a good one to start with because its fairly entertaining the whole way through, its cheap and easy to own and doesn't require cross reading with other titles.

so....

ETERNAL WARRIOR #1

thoughts?

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 12:52 am

I'm in!

justin · Post by **justin** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:00 am

I like Eternal Warrior myself, he and his 2 brothers really had valid reasons for being. Although, I think Aram was suppose to be the geomancer and new found information I have dug up seems to fit that. But, we all know him as a drunk so thats why that never surfaced!

-justin

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:07 am

OK, just finished rereading it. Starts out a lot like Busiek's take on Conan ... good stuff. Rolls through some good old-fashioned Valiant storytelling. A complete story in one issue! What a concept!

Almost too bad it had to be tied to Unity. This would have done fine by itself, a la A&A 0.

I give it a 9.

shadowmite · Post by **shadowmite** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:14 am

Here's my story because I'm too lazy to type what I think of EW 1 (I'll do it tomorrow).

Last week I was at a con and I was flicking through some Valiant books when this little kid (must have been 10) asks me:

"Are those old comics"

so I say

"yes"

"how old are those? Aren't old comics worth like $100 each?", he says

"These are about 12 years old. They're not worth $100, although some of these used to be, in fact I bought this one for a quater from that guy" (I give him Eternal Warrior 1) "here you can have it"

He grabs the book and reads it right there while i'm still flicking through back issues of vh2. When hes done he has that look on his face that I think anyone that reads there first great valiant book has. Now this is the best part. He didn't buy the new xmen books he had in his hand, instead he went to the dealer that had eternal warrior 1 for a quater and bought the rest of his eternal warriors.

I made sure to explain to him about how the name valiant means you should buy the books because they're pretty good then I gave him xo 0...he couldnt believe the cover

magnusr · Post by **magnusr** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:26 am

shadowmite wrote:Here's my story because I'm too lazy to type what I think of EW 1 (I'll do it tomorrow).

Great story and it does tell a lot about Eternal Warrior 1.

/Magnus

xoken · Post by **xoken** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:46 pm

depluto wrote:OK, just finished rereading it. Starts out a lot like Busiek's take on Conan ... good stuff. Rolls through some good old-fashioned Valiant storytelling. A complete story in one issue! What a concept!

Almost too bad it had to be tied to Unity. This would have done fine by itself, a la A&A 0.

I give it a 9.

Exactly. The battle of mesopotamia is one of the best in all of Valiant history and like the rest of the eternal warrior run you see parts of history that are never addressed in comics or movies and they rock.

What really strikes me about the issue is how much you identify with Armstrong. Gilad is a self obsessed hot head. He doesn't see the bigger picture while as lazy as armstrong is he is the one that as a reader you feel knows better. Its nice to see Gilad needed to spend years with a geomancer to learn to think beyond fighting.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:59 pm

I've started my re-reading project. Gradually. Began with the TBPs and tonight I reached the Unity Saga (the last TPBs to read). It's probably been 10 years since I've read some of this stuff, but I had forgotten just how good EW #1 was. Although Shadowman is my #1 favorite character, that book doesn't REALLY start rocking until Bob Hall takes over. At this point in Valiant history, I think EW #1 was the best book Valiant had published.

The intro to the characters is done very well. We learn a lot about them without being hit over the head with in-depth narative. It's all character moments. We see their genesis, and a handful of major turning points in their lives along the way. Gilad and Aram are not the same people at the end of the book that they are in the beginning - they grow and evolve.

I think my favorite line is when the Geomancer tells Gilad his head is full of onager dung. Gilad tells him Aram used to say that and the Geomancer says, "I know. The Earth laughed when he did." I don't know why, but that cracked me up. Maybe it was the bit of humor right after a rather intense moment.

I also liked that Gilad's clothing retains some consistency - the claw/spiked glove on his right hand and the armor/jacket accoutrements on his left arm.

All-in-all a very excellent book.

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:06 am

Give us another, xoken.

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 6:18 am

A solid Valiant book.
Great art and story. 9

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:51 pm

I brought this issue with me to the station and had a chance to reread it....WOW I forget how good EW really is. Of course there were some soft spots but what a start to the series.

Quality 9 this is what Valiant is all about.

-Brian

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:12 pm

i didn't read any other posts in this thread yet so that i would not be swayed...i may be swayed later-but for now-these are my thoughts on the book...great introduction. you learn a lot about this guy. story wise it is all very nice-good bits of humor and still plenty of mystery left for future development.
okay-so why did i give it a five?
i thought the art was terrible. it reminds me of mad magazine art. this is what i consider "valiant house style". pretty bland.
my next beef is the unity aspect....this is unity chapter 2? huh? this is not a unity issue at all-this is as unity as solar 11...i guess because of the release date and the blue line on top of the cover it IS a unity issue, but it makes no sense to me. this should have been release the month prior to unity, and then issue #2 could have been unity chapter 2.

that's not alot to beat up on the book so bad though-perhaps i was a tad harsh on my voting...
i hate the cover too though-another cover that has nothing to do with the contents...why a wwII german? why not a columbian drug lord like the guys inside busting into the hotel room?

i think that they really blew it when they retroactively introiduced ivar as another immortal...they had it all set up to use gilad's son kalam...gil's father claimed that he "knew the signs" and that kalam was another like aram and gil...it would have worked far better...the brothers might not have even known about him (possibly) or they might've had clues...ah what could have been...

the line about the earth laughing whenever aram told gil his head was full of onager dung is classic!

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:12 pm

i didn't read any other posts in this thread yet so that i would not be swayed...i may be swayed later-but for now-these are my thoughts on the book...great introduction. you learn a lot about this guy. story wise it is all very nice-good bits of humor and still plenty of mystery left for future development.
okay-so why did i give it a five?
i thought the art was terrible. it reminds me of mad magazine art. this is what i consider "valiant house style". pretty bland.
my next beef is the unity aspect....this is unity chapter 2? huh? this is not a unity issue at all-this is as unity as solar 11...i guess because of the release date and the blue line on top of the cover it IS a unity issue, but it makes no sense to me. this should have been release the month prior to unity, and then issue #2 could have been unity chapter 2.

that's not alot to beat up on the book so bad though-perhaps i was a tad harsh on my voting...
i hate the cover too though-another cover that has nothing to do with the contents...why a wwII german? why not a columbian drug lord like the guys inside busting into the hotel room?

i think that they really blew it when they retroactively introiduced ivar as another immortal...they had it all set up to use gilad's son kalam...gil's father claimed that he "knew the signs" and that kalam was another like aram and gil...it would have worked far better...the brothers might not have even known about him (possibly) or they might've had clues...ah what could have been...

the line about the earth laughing whenever aram told gil his head was full of onager dung is classic!

dave · Post by **dave** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:14 pm

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:40 am

One of my all time favs

.

5000 years of living in a single issue. It's one of the best origin issues ever done because by the end of the issue we fully understand who this character is, what he can do, and who his friends and family are. All that in one issue! And Gilad just rocks

.

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:00 pm

Well said, Todd. Goes to show you what Shooter is capable of writing.

Jaknife · Post by **Jaknife** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:07 pm

Todd Luck wrote:One of my all time favs .

5000 years of living in a single issue. It's one of the best origin issues ever done because by the end of the issue we fully understand who this character is, what he can do, and who his friends and family are. All that in one issue! And Gilad just rocks .

except for ivar.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:25 pm

Jaknife wrote:
Todd Luck wrote:One of my all time favs .

5000 years of living in a single issue. It's one of the best origin issues ever done because by the end of the issue we fully understand who this character is, what he can do, and who his friends and family are. All that in one issue! And Gilad just rocks .
except for ivar.

Who didn't exist at the time

k_c_collectibles · Post by **k_c_collectibles** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 5:34 am

I gave it an 8 out of 10. I really liked the story, but it was not a 10 in my book. I think that being part of Unity hurt a bit being a first issue, but not significantly so. Jim Shooter is an AWESOME storyteller! Hopefully the new owner has him write some stories for the "new" Valiant - even if it is under a different name.

Chris

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:05 pm

I thought it was a pretty solid read. Worthy of a 9.

dave · Post by **dave** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 6:55 pm

what does that mean "being a unity issue" when i read it-it doesn't seem like it had any trouble with unity-more like it had trouble CONTAINING any unity...could you explain what you mean?
(just to be clear-not trying to pick a fight or say you're wrong, just not real clear on what you mean...)

88keyz · Post by **88keyz** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:42 pm

My all time favourite Valiant issue. I had been reading in Wizard about this new comic company at the time that was releasing comics with some solid story telling and good continuity. So that weekend I took a trip to my local comic shop and looked for the earliest Valiant issues I could find in any one series. The only #1 I could find was Eternal Warrior, which I purchased for $4, as the other issues were already scooped up by many local collectors who had already discovered the joys of Valiant. The only other issue that caught my eye that day was Magnus #12, for $4.50, which I didn't buy because who wants to start at issue #12. Boy could I kick myself now. I have never again seen this issue for sale and it was only a couple of months later when copies of Magnus #12 were going for over $100. Not that I would have sold it but it sure was a status symbol in the early 90's. I've since managed to acquire copies of most Valiant keys from the Unity and earlier days missing only Magnus #12, Shadowman #1 and Solar #10. I still have a found place in my heart for all of my Valiant comics and the Unity crossover is maybe the best multi-series crossover produced by any comics company.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:20 pm

88keyz wrote: The only other issue that caught my eye that day was Magnus #12, for $4.50, which I didn't buy because who wants to start at issue #12. Boy could I kick myself now. I have never again seen this issue for sale and it was only a couple of months later when copies of Magnus #12 were going for over $100.

That's almost enough to make a grown man cry.......

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:36 pm

88keyz wrote:My all time favourite VALIANT issue. I had been reading in Wizard about this new comic company at the time that was releasing comics with some solid story telling and good continuity. So that weekend I took a trip to my local comic shop and looked for the earliest VALIANT issues I could find in any one series. The only #1 I could find was Eternal Warrior, which I purchased for $4, as the other issues were already scooped up by many local collectors who had already discovered the joys of VALIANT. The only other issue that caught my eye that day was Magnus #12, for $4.50, which I didn't buy because who wants to start at issue #12. Boy could I kick myself now. I have never again seen this issue for sale and it was only a couple of months later when copies of Magnus #12 were going for over $100. Not that I would have sold it but it sure was a status symbol in the early 90's. I've since managed to acquire copies of most VALIANT keys from the Unity and earlier days missing only Magnus #12, Shadowman #1 and Solar #10. I still have a found place in my heart for all of my VALIANT comics and the Unity crossover is maybe the best multi-series crossover produced by any comics company.

hey 8 deuce......

Hola compadre......

Sorry about the Mag #12..... keep lookin for it..... it will come up.

(actually you could buy one from one of the dudes here if you wanted)

eternalfan · Post by **eternalfan** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:28 am

Eternal Warrior was my favorite Valiant book and fav Valiant character. I really hated the concept of the Eternal Warriors that came along later. I'm really stoked to see what the reboot is going to do with Gilad. I really liked the aspect in old series where the first few pages were a "history" lesson of sorts.

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Re-reading: Eternal Warrior #1

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