Collective Consciousness: The Valiant #1
CTG’s Collective Consciousness column is group study of a single issue. All of our writers submit a review for a chosen issue and we put them together under one moniker so you can see just how diverse our tastes are! It’s a lot of fun to put together and we hope you have fun reading it. As with all our reviews please share your thoughts on the review, the book, or both. This week we’ll be taking a look at the latest offering from Valiant Entertainment, The Valiant #1.
The Valiant #1 (of 4)
A battle ten millennia in the making is about to begin...
The Eternal Warrior has protected the Earth for more than 10,000 years. A master of countless weapons and long forgotten martial arts, he is guided by the Geomancers - those who speak for the Earth. During his long watch, the Eternal Warrior has failed three times. Each time, the Geomancer was killed...and a new dark age for humanity began. Each time, he was unable to stop The Immortal Enemy - a monstrous force of nature. A civilization killer. A horror that appears differently each time it arrives...and whose seemingly only purpose is to bring disorder and darkness to the world. Now, the time has come for The Immortal Enemy to return once more. But, this time, the Eternal Warrior will be ready. This
time, he has a force greater than any single warrior. This time, he has...THE VALIANT.
An entirely self-contained, new reader friendly comics event spotlighting Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Geomancer, and a cast of heroes and villains from across the Valiant Universe, THE VALIANT is a visionary new adventure from three of the greatest creative talents in comics today.
This miniseries is brought to us by the all-star creative team of writing tandem Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt and pencil by Paolo Rivera.
Now let’s find out what the CTG writers had to say about the issue.
Robert James Cross
I was wondering why this all seeming so familiar to me and then I remembered that a month ago I reviewed a similar title called ETERNAL WARRIORS: DAYS OF STEEL that was also from this comic publisher. I'm assuming they're related because of their similar characters and lingo. But unfortunately this comic suffers from what I like to call "forced exposition," meaning that a lot of the dialogue that could be thrusting the story forward is taking the reader on a tour of the past lives of all the characters. Of course it doesn't start out this way, firstly we meet Gilad who is an immortal Geomancer (dumb name, I know) and he takes on another immortal beast who keeps showing up throughout time as different gods and monsters of lore. It's a cool concept, but the writing is a bit flawed. The art is not flawed; it's very nice and very structured in its appearance. This means that where you'd usually find lines that are rough in most comics...aren't rough here, almost streamlined inking. I dig it. Stay for the concept and art, leave for the writing.
FD White
The Valiant #1 is simple in premise, but epic in scope and execution. It's basically shaping up to be an epic game of Cat and Mouse that has been going on for centuries. The Immortal Enemy (terrifyingly brought to life by Paolo Rivera's incredible designs) hunts and kills a Geomancer every few hundred years or so. Geomancers represent good, The Immortal Enemy - bad. We've seen it before, but that doesn't mean that it's still not an enthralling read. With killer artwork and a serviceable plot filled with interesting characters. This is a must-buy comic that you can just pick up and read, no prerequisites required.
9/10
Kalem Lalonde
I haven’t read much Valiant in my time with comics but I’ve heard so much praise towards them. The Valiant seems to be a mini-series focused on The Eternal Warrior but having an ensemble cast to accompany him. Based on the creative team alone I was pretty certain this would be a great read and I was very right. This is a comic worth purchasing! The Valiant opens up with an awesome and profound sequence following The Eternal Warrior through time as we see what an immortal man thinks of time and the effect of eternal failure on a person. The depth hooked me right on the spot and had me invested in the story within the first few pages (Lemire’s fingerprints were all over this opening). The team then takes the time to introduce a great cast of characters while setting up the plot for the rest of the series. If you haven’t ever read Valiant, this is really a great place to jump on. It’s powerful and compelling with enough charm to entice readers into coming back for the next issue.
Forrest Hollingsworth
This is an interesting comic. There’s really good art and design and the dialogue is believable. All things I look for especially in number 1’s. That immortal enemy thing is terrifying and still cool in all the best ways and the story seems like it might be the perfect set up for some cool clashes between that beastly thing and our hero. The thing is, it all feels kind of contrived. Like I’ve seen it before. This immortal struggle between good and evil across the ages with one person both unaware and maybe unwilling at the middle of it. One evil, persistent. One good, unwavering but also defeated. It’s a classic story, one that doesn’t have any interesting twists or turns here yet and it’s hard to tell if there will be any of those pivotal moments at all. Overall, this is a good telling of an overdone story but it’s hard to see much more than that right now.
The Valiant #1 (of 4)
A battle ten millennia in the making is about to begin...
The Eternal Warrior has protected the Earth for more than 10,000 years. A master of countless weapons and long forgotten martial arts, he is guided by the Geomancers - those who speak for the Earth. During his long watch, the Eternal Warrior has failed three times. Each time, the Geomancer was killed...and a new dark age for humanity began. Each time, he was unable to stop The Immortal Enemy - a monstrous force of nature. A civilization killer. A horror that appears differently each time it arrives...and whose seemingly only purpose is to bring disorder and darkness to the world. Now, the time has come for The Immortal Enemy to return once more. But, this time, the Eternal Warrior will be ready. This
time, he has a force greater than any single warrior. This time, he has...THE VALIANT.
An entirely self-contained, new reader friendly comics event spotlighting Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Geomancer, and a cast of heroes and villains from across the Valiant Universe, THE VALIANT is a visionary new adventure from three of the greatest creative talents in comics today.
This miniseries is brought to us by the all-star creative team of writing tandem Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt and pencil by Paolo Rivera.
Now let’s find out what the CTG writers had to say about the issue.
Robert James Cross
I was wondering why this all seeming so familiar to me and then I remembered that a month ago I reviewed a similar title called ETERNAL WARRIORS: DAYS OF STEEL that was also from this comic publisher. I'm assuming they're related because of their similar characters and lingo. But unfortunately this comic suffers from what I like to call "forced exposition," meaning that a lot of the dialogue that could be thrusting the story forward is taking the reader on a tour of the past lives of all the characters. Of course it doesn't start out this way, firstly we meet Gilad who is an immortal Geomancer (dumb name, I know) and he takes on another immortal beast who keeps showing up throughout time as different gods and monsters of lore. It's a cool concept, but the writing is a bit flawed. The art is not flawed; it's very nice and very structured in its appearance. This means that where you'd usually find lines that are rough in most comics...aren't rough here, almost streamlined inking. I dig it. Stay for the concept and art, leave for the writing.
FD White
The Valiant #1 is simple in premise, but epic in scope and execution. It's basically shaping up to be an epic game of Cat and Mouse that has been going on for centuries. The Immortal Enemy (terrifyingly brought to life by Paolo Rivera's incredible designs) hunts and kills a Geomancer every few hundred years or so. Geomancers represent good, The Immortal Enemy - bad. We've seen it before, but that doesn't mean that it's still not an enthralling read. With killer artwork and a serviceable plot filled with interesting characters. This is a must-buy comic that you can just pick up and read, no prerequisites required.
9/10
Kalem Lalonde
I haven’t read much Valiant in my time with comics but I’ve heard so much praise towards them. The Valiant seems to be a mini-series focused on The Eternal Warrior but having an ensemble cast to accompany him. Based on the creative team alone I was pretty certain this would be a great read and I was very right. This is a comic worth purchasing! The Valiant opens up with an awesome and profound sequence following The Eternal Warrior through time as we see what an immortal man thinks of time and the effect of eternal failure on a person. The depth hooked me right on the spot and had me invested in the story within the first few pages (Lemire’s fingerprints were all over this opening). The team then takes the time to introduce a great cast of characters while setting up the plot for the rest of the series. If you haven’t ever read Valiant, this is really a great place to jump on. It’s powerful and compelling with enough charm to entice readers into coming back for the next issue.
Forrest Hollingsworth
This is an interesting comic. There’s really good art and design and the dialogue is believable. All things I look for especially in number 1’s. That immortal enemy thing is terrifying and still cool in all the best ways and the story seems like it might be the perfect set up for some cool clashes between that beastly thing and our hero. The thing is, it all feels kind of contrived. Like I’ve seen it before. This immortal struggle between good and evil across the ages with one person both unaware and maybe unwilling at the middle of it. One evil, persistent. One good, unwavering but also defeated. It’s a classic story, one that doesn’t have any interesting twists or turns here yet and it’s hard to tell if there will be any of those pivotal moments at all. Overall, this is a good telling of an overdone story but it’s hard to see much more than that right now.
A Look Inside
