ADVANCE REVIEW: The Valiant #1

STORY BY:Â Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt
ART BY:Â Paolo Rivera
COVER BY:Â Paolo Rivera
PUBLISHER:Â Valiant Entertainment
COVER PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE:Â Wed, December 10th, 2014

The self-contained comic“s event gets underway with Valiant Comics, The Valiant. Right off the bat I want to say that this is one of the main draws for me with this book is that it is a self-contained miniseries event. Knowing this walking in made me feel happy for not having caught up with the last few months of the Valiant Universe and could sit down and read this quite happily knowing all the characters and allowing the story to unfold without getting lost in continuity.

This first issue sets up the battle to come; for centuries the Eternal Warrior has protected the Geomancer against the immortal enemy and each time he has failed, and a dark age for humanity descends. This time however, he is able to draw upon some of the world“s greatest heroes to help in this battle, cue XO-Manowar, Bloodshot and Archer. Kindt and Lemire balance this large cast wonderfully in this opening issue giving each some great character moments and action scenes, in particular Bloodshot“s action sequences are great fun. You can tell that both writers are having so much fun writing this book cramming it full of great drama and action whilst crafting a story that feels epic. You know a massive showdown is coming between the heroes of the Valiant Universe is coming and this issue builds that excitement to fever pitch now you know who is involved and what the stakes are.

Paolo Rivera makes this book look absolutely stunning, his simple clean line work is so detailed that not a panel is wasted in this opening issue. The range of emotions that he is able to display really sells some aspects of Lemire and Kindt“s script, in his hands these hard hitting emotional situations really have impact allowing you to get into the mind set of these characters and empathise with them not just through words but visually as well.

The colours are not as bright and vibrant as you would expect for superhero comic however, it fits the theme perfectly, a lot of earthy tones have been used in this book and I think that is intentional as this is a battle to protect the Geomancer plenty of browns, greens and beige everywhere in the book but, it doesn“t make it drab it instead offers you a different look at the valiant universe away from Psiots and Armour and Hunters.

Overall The Valiant is a solid first issue, setting the scene, ramping up the stakes and reminding us why this cast of characters are utter badasses. New fans will be able to jump on here and get a great introduction to the Valiant Universe whilst current readers will enjoy this next chapter of the Valiant Universe and the ramifications that this will have for the characters in their own titles.

By Matt Deery

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Author Profile

Matt Deery

Matt Deery is an avid comic reader from the UK, relatively new to the writing scene but, enjoying being part of the Comic Crusaders team and getting to talk about some the books that I adore. Will read almost anything Marvel, with Spider-Man and Iron Man being my all time favorite comic book characters and has recently found a love for Image and Valiant books and generally anything Sci FI or Espionage related. Check out my twitter @brujah69ad if you want to stop by and talk comics, video games or movies!