A new comic book universe on the horizon – a review of Valiant’s comics “Brave”, “Bloodshot Rebirth: Colorado” and “XO Manowar: Soldiers”

Until recently, hardly anyone heard about the Valiant publishing house. It is true that recently some information has emerged about the alleged creation of a new movie world of superheroes created by screenwriters from the People’s Republic of China on the basis of American comic books little known in Poland, or the now defunct Fantasmagorie publishing house tried to introduce us to the slightly “ridiculous” duo of Quantum and Woody. This time, however, the KBOOM publishing house is in full swing and wants to introduce us to the world of Valiant quite seriously, which can be good for us, especially since Sony plans to screen several titles of this comic player.

A darker version of the superhero team

The first work I came across was the title of the Brave . It is a kind of introduction to a completely new universe, which, as I mentioned earlier, may be unknown to Polish comic book lovers. Valiant itself has existed since 1992, but in 2014 something happened that is known to Marvel and DC fans – a reboot, although in this case we could talk about a slight change to attract new readers. The title I am reviewing is like an introduction to the newly found comic book reality.

What deserves praise is the insert presenting the main characters, present at the very beginning. Thanks to this, we do not feel confused and we can boldly take the first steps in the presented story, which tells about one of the most powerful antagonists of this universe – the Immortal Enemy – returning every few years to bring about the era of chaos on Earth. The story itself has its pros and cons. First of all, the plot is coherent, logical, almost humorless, and which may please some – so serious that DC itself should learn from its younger “brother”. On the other hand, the small number of action and fight scenes discouraged me from reading further, and too much philosophical dialogues put me to sleep. The graphic layer is certainly a drawing masterpiece. Joe and Paolo Rivers took care of every little detail, because we can see not only the movement of the door opening, but also the hair waving in the wind. The River family’s talent and the way they show the world with lines is a true diamond to admire.

Brave is a story quite easy to read, but it is worth adding that fans of popular knitted stories may be slightly disappointed with the lack of intense action. However, it should be emphasized that if you intend to read the next volumes from Valiant that I have reviewed, you must also read this.

A little Punisher, a little Wolverine

Another item reviewed by me is Bloodshot Rebirth: Colorado . In a way, it is a continuation of the adventures of one of the protagonists of Bravery , which tells the story of a soldier at the service of the American and British authorities to perform missions that hardly any daredevil would undertake. However, the performance of ungrateful tasks is also associated with a terrible curse, namely the title character turns into a real superman with the help of nanites, which was created as a result of the project “Spirit” of a private company dealing with missions that require a large dose of violence.

However, this was the case only until the fight with the Immortal Enemy, because as a result of a fight with this powerful entity, Bloodshot loses nanites and remains an ordinary mortal. Unfortunately, on the horizon there will be killers who are confusingly similar to his previous “superversion”, which causes remorse in the title character who decides to stop his clones. The whole story is perhaps a cluster of well-worn motifs, known mainly from Marvel comics, but the scale of brutality and ubiquitous blood makes an electrifying impression. It is definitely not a comic book for people under eighteen.

Once again, the graphic layer deserves praise. This time Raúl Allén and Mico Suayan focused on drawing in the spirit of photorealism. Almost every frame is filled to the brim with such meticulously rendered details that you have the impression that you are dealing with a very good image of Ultra HD quality. Something amazing when a draftsman is able to reproduce the smallest wrinkle, droplet or line on the bark.

To sum up, the adventures of a distressed soldier are certainly not an outstanding epic, but they can surprise you with a few twists and turns. If you want to know the further fate of Bloodshot, this volume is a kind of must-have.

Antiquity in space and other revelations …

The last title from Valiant that was published by KBOOM is XO Manowar: The Soldier with the most action-packed, but also the most banal story. It is worth starting, however, by emphasizing the important fact that also here we are dealing with another character presented in the comic book Waleczni , but this time it is not a continuation of the threads started in the story with the Immortal Enemy.

The main character – Aric – is a 4th century Visigoth who, after the death of his parents at the hands of Roman legionnaires, swore revenge on the Roman Empire. The promise was almost fulfilled, nevertheless, during the attack of mysterious beings on his village, Aric was taken into space, where he began to discover a completely alien universe. After a few years, he managed to escape and steal one of the most technologically advanced armor in the history of the world – the XO Manowar. After several millennia and countless parsecs, it finally returns to Earth a few centuries later. Well, Aric managed to go back to his time as well, which is the 4th century AD

All that I have described before is just the introduction you should read before reaching for the Soldier . Why? For there is nothing that explains the genesis or at least a little bit of the earlier stories of this ancient superhero. We get a completely new story that is hard to assimilate if we are thrown into the deep without knowing the previous titles. I see the fault of the Polish publisher here. It would be good if the comic was accompanied by an insert showing at least a summary of what happened before, especially since the character of Aric is completely unknown. We get a comic book about the next war struggles of Visigoth from Dacia in space, which is interesting, but for a novice it can be a difficult journey.

The release itself is not bad. The volume includes three notebooks, an interview from 2017 with the authors of the series and concept graphics. As always, the graphics and the visual layer save Valiant’s position. In addition to the ubiquitous graphic realism, Tomas Giorello tries to create unpredictable twists that set the pace of the fights by randomly arranging frames. This artistic chaos only enhances the war experience we can get from the Soldier.

Give Valiant a chance

Valiant items released by KBOOM have their advantages and disadvantages, but it is worth reading them to understand that the US is not only the Avengers and the Justice League. Please don’t be put off by the fact that sometimes you don’t know what’s going on, because if you start reading these volumes in the order I have described, it will certainly be easier to understand the following threads. I can certainly recommend the items I have reviewed, but I expect the publisher to add some additions to the following volumes to help understand the mythology of comic books started by Jim Shooter.