By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/9/2015
Valiant Entertainment announced today via Comics Alliance that the publisher’s premiere superhero team Unity is coming to an end after two years of consecutive publication. BUt it’s going out with a bang and a laugh as the final issue, Unity #25 is set to be a humor comic written by both previous writers of the comic; James […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/2/2015
There are only a few nationwide book chains left but those that remain really like comics. For example, Hastings, the nationwide chain that sells both new and used books, is teaming with Valiant to offer, “The Craft of Comics” – live-streaming comics making worksh0p with James Asmus (writing), Clayton Henry (pencilling), Ryan Winn (inking) and David […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/26/2015
After restoring our collective brain patterns from last week’s insane Podcorn visitation, the men and women hand selected by the government to write the world’s premiere comic book news website, The Beat, sought a nap. A new member of the team known as Frank Oliver aligned himself amongst our ranks, and after some comic book […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/20/2015
Writer: Robert Venditti Artists: Robert Gill Doug Braithwaite Colors: David Baron Allen Passalaqua Brian Reber Letters: Dave Lanphear Convinced the unnatural disasters tearing our world apart are a direct result of the new Geomancer’s arrival, the combined forces of the Valiant Universe are forced to confront the Eternal Warrior about his new charge. But to […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/19/2015
Hot off the announcement of Powerless, a DC Comics inspired TV comedy about an insurance company that deals with damage caused by superheroics, NBC has put up the pilot episode for another comics-influenced comedy, Stunted, on their YouTube channel. Littered with comics and other nerd culture references, Stunted focuses on Eric (played by series creator Jeff Galante), […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/17/2015
Valiant Entertainment are bring their comics to your PlayStation menus.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/28/2015
Team Beat, a group of the world’s most elite comic book reading/writing forces assembled in the Stately Beat Staff Manor to deliver The Beat — the world’s premiere comic book website. Recently, Marvel and DC characters from decades past have found themselves wandering through the manner including Bessie the Hellcow, Ruby Tuesday, Vibe, Prez and […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/23/2015
Ninjak has been one of the most highly anticipated releases from Valiant Entertainment to date and…spoilers…we have been loving every issue of the comic here at The Beat. Each installment of the title has been full of intrigue and wonderful ideas that serve to enrich the character of Ninjak even further than before. With someone who has had so much representation in the Valiant Universe, watching the evolution of Ninjak as a solo character was a risky gamble. We’re almost five issues into the Ninjak title as Matt Kindt, Clay Mann and Butch Guice are continuing to document the experiences of everyone’s favorite British agent. The ninja is exploring the secrets of the Shadow Seven and Ninjak’s new friend Roku (if you could call her that.) The comic is still split into two different halves with the immediate portion drawn by Mann and the other section illustrated by Guice documenting the early days of Ninjak in Ninjak: The Lost Files. Each chapter of the book has been really slowly building to the ascent of Colin King into ninja extraordinaire. If you aren’t already reading this series from Valiant, let these preview pages from Mann and Guice change your mind. Also, look at these awesome covers from Lewis Larosa, Dave Johnson, Raul Allen and Cafu!
NINJAK #5
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by CLAY MANN with BUTCH GUICE
Cover A by LEWIS LAROSA (APR151766)
Cover B by DAVE JOHNSON (APR151767)
Variant Cover by RAUL ALLEN (APR151768)
Variant Cover by CAFU (APR151769)
The final secret of the Shadow Seven exposed!
Ninjak’s mission to destroy Weaponeer and its secret cabal of shinobi masters just got a bit more complicated…since the newest leader of Weaponeer is… Ninjak himself?! Meanwhile, Roku’s gone missing, but we all know the world’s deadliest woman is at her most dangerous when she’s out of sight!
Plus: Colin King’s past comes back to haunt him in a big way as NINJAK: THE LOST FILES reveals a deadly connection to Ninjak’s present as Clay Mann (X-Men) returns with Matt Kindt (THE VALIANT, RAI) and Butch Guice (Captain America)!
$3.99 | 40 pages | T+ | On sale JULY 29
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/15/2015
Writer:
Robert Venditti
Pencils:
Doug Braithwaite
Robert Gill
Colors:
David Baron
Brian Reber
Letters:
Dave Lanphear
The blockbuster Valiant event of 2015 starts here as New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (X-O MANOWAR) joins superstar-in-the-making Robert Gill (ARMOR HUNTERS: HARBINGER) and visionary artist Doug Braithwaite (ARMOR HUNTERS) to begin a thousand-year journey into the future of the Valiant Universe…and rain, fire, blood and war on the heroes of today.
This week, Valiant decided to open the Book of Death, the publisher’s upcoming event series featuring various established characters in a shared Universe. To really get a grasp on the Book of Death is to understand Valiant’s last event mini-series known as The Valiant, where Bloodshot, a man-turned-robot attempted to save the being known as the Geomancer (Earth savior) from The Eternal Enemy. Just in case you were wondering, The Eternal Enemy is a really bad dude and The Eternal Warrior is the person tasked with protecting the Geomancer from harm. Unfortunately, the latest Geomancer, Kay McHenry fell to the clutches of The Eternal Enemy when the monster took the shape of Mr. Flay — one of McHenry’s greatest fears. Since then, Tama, the next Geomancer was introduced in the climax of The Valiant as the young heroine contained a special item: the Book of the Geomancer. The book can see into the future of the Valiant world, but only Tama can read it. The Eternal Warrior has gone rogue with Tama and the Book of the Geomancer — abandoning his friends on the Valiant superteam Unity. Drama ensues.
This first installment of the comic does an admirable job of trying to suck new readers into the mythology of Valiant, but it’s hard for new readers to absorb everything needed to read the story based off of one issue. The first issue of The Valiant did a much better job easing in those readers, giving fans a surface level understanding of each character going into the event series. In Book of Death, each character has a small black box perched next to their first appearance as well as a character bio on the opening cover of the comic — the tactic is great for the uninitiated briefing them on what’s next for the Valiant world. This issue starts out slow, but fans don’t get a great read on the individual characters populating the event within this issue. Character relationships and dynamics aren’t going to seem clear until diving deeper in the Universe.
As per our interview with Valiant creator Robert Venditti, there is a lot of really complicated character work happening behind-the-scenes of the story. Relationships are directly being paid off within the course of the this issue get even more layers of intrigue. Without the added color represented within the lineage of X-O Manowar and Unity, readers likely aren’t going to find the nuanced character trait offered within this upcoming series. Much of this comic contains information that has been already released other places. The solicitation holds much of the plot threads in this issue — it’s really hard to piece together exactly where this story is headed going forward. It’s also incredibly hard to judge the revelation on the last page of the issue without understanding the full scope of where this crossover is headed. It’s this uncertain path that leads fans to question what the Valiant Universe that could be like following this story. The issue almost reads like a chess match in some respects, where pieces are moving around the board are being strategically placed.
In the flash forward sequence from the Book of the Geomancer, the title really shined. Seeing Doug Braithwaite’s artwork in the sequence was spellbinding. Also, the assortment of characters teased was a really interesting mix that should excite newer fans of the franchise from newer titles like Ninjak. The horror twist bookends that segment with a really striking sequence where Robert Gill starts to excel in conveying an emotion. Author Robert Venditti seems to have a good handle on writing prose for Braithwaite with a more regal sensibility to his work in these moments. Gill is an interesting choice for the event series, the way that the illustrator depicts the story is visually striking and noticeably horrific. The very first splash page is wonderfully evoked in the black-and-white teasers from the preview pages. Also, the reveal sequence shrouded in shadows was another really strong moment for the art team. The two pencillers on the comic don’t detract from the title either, making the juxtaposition a moment that helps differentiate the story from the multiple writers. A very specific kind of art is needed to depict some of the horror elements of the comic.
When the end of a story makes me curious enough to purchase the next, the tale is doing something right. While this isn’t a first issue chock full of massive revelations, it does pose interesting mysteries and an ending sequence that merits attention from longtime Valiant readers. However, this isn’t a title recommended to hand to someone who has no idea about the extended Valiant cannon.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/14/2015
With the immanent release of Valiant’s Book of Death crossover story this week and the announcement of the Wrath of the Eternal Warrior series set for November, author Robert Venditti is one of the busiest writers in comics (not to mention that he’s also cooking multiple titles in the DC Universe). The Eternal Warrior, one of Valiant’s strongest and most weathered characters in the publishing slate is set to star in the latter series. Venditti initially chose between X-O Manowar and The Eternal Warrior to get ready to launch the Valiant Universe way back in 2012’s Summer of Valiant, but now the author has the opportunity to go back and chronicle the ongoing adventures of The Eternal Warrior. The hero is a key piece of Valiant at the center of Unity, the publisher’s premiere superteam, he is also the protector of the Geomancer — another important player in the landscape of the Valiant world. The Beat sat down with Venditti to get briefed on our mission assignment with Wrath of the Eternal Warrior and to congratulate the author on the first completed issue of Book of Death.
The whole thing isn’t done, I’m still working on the last issue of it. The comic has been a lot of fun to work on. It’s definitely unlike any story I have ever done before, not just in terms of characters, but also the content. It has much more of a horror bend to it than anything I have done, which is part of the reason why I wanted take on the project. With everything that I take on, I try and do something different than what I have done before, so hopefully I am always growing and challenging myself. It’s just been a lot of fun because there are a lot of surprises coming up in the story. The nature of the event has allowed me to introduce a lot of concepts into the Valiant Universe and show a lot of characters from the previous Valiant Universe for the first time. You don’t get opportunities to do that kind of stuff too often.
To me, the great fun of working in a shared Universe with Valiant or DC is the idea that you can sort of become part of the tapestry because there is a line of writers that will come before you and a line of writers that will come after you. You know the extent to which you could contribute to it — it’s kinda like bringing some toys to the party and leaving some of the toys in the toybox so somebody else can play with them later. No matter what happens, I will have always put those toys in the box, and in some senses you are leaving a legacy behind.
I didn’t actually pitch Eternal Warrior, what you probably heard is that when Valiant reached out to me about pitching for their characters back in 2011, they sent me Bibles on all the main characters. The two that appealed to me were X-O Manowar and The Eternal Warrior. I could only pitch on one, but have always wanted to pitch on The Eternal Warrior. I never put anything down on paper, but he’s certainly someone that I have thought a lot about. He showed up briefly in X-O Manowar for a couple of issues and I wrote him a little bit in Armor Hunters. This is something that I have been talking to Valiant about for a really long time. A lot of that stuff is definitely making it into Wrath of the Eternal Warrior series.
Gilad the Eternal Warrior is immortal. This is going to be a different take on that concept. The series is about what he has to endure and what he has to sacrifice in order to be immortal. I think that we live in what can be a lot of times a really pessimistic world, but I don’t think Gilad would get out of the grave and fight for us if he didn’t believe that we were inherently good and worth fighting for. If he thought that the world was inherently evil, he would just stay dead and let us all fall to our own devices. What appeals to me about him is despite the millennia that he’s been alive, and despite the things that he’s seen, he still remains an eternal optimist in some ways — which I find fascinating.
That’s certainly one aspect of it. I also love the aspect that because of his age, he hasn’t read about history. He’s lived it…you know. That sets him apart from the rest of the Valiant Universe, just the way that he views the world is different from everybody else. One example of that that I always use is his axe. A lot of people would say he’s supposed to be a master tactician and he’s a great warrior, why would he carry around something primitive like an axe? That’s because to us an axe is just a blade and just a weapon. To him, seeing what the axe is capable of, it’s an extremely versatile tool. He can turn it over and use the heel as a hammer, he can heat the blade in a campfire and fry an egg on it, he can polish it and use it as a signal mirror, he can use it to chop down trees and make shelter. There’s all these uses and even the way he fights with it. He uses not just the blade, but the sharp edge, the curve of the blade and the heel. Whereas today, we think the gun is the more obvious choice because we know that the gun can shoot a bullet, but that’s all it’s gonna do for you — you’re not going to build a shelter with a gun!
Yeah, I would say that there are things we would perceive from our modern view and certainly the rest of the Valiant Universe as something that would be primitive or wild, but for him they are actually extremely cultured. That’s the inversion that makes it so interesting, we might think that he’s primitive, but really that’s because we are too primitive to discover how cultured he actually is.
Yeah, I think that those are different books and that those are different roles. I don’t know…in a way it would just make sense in whom it would be. It’s his mission to be at the center of everything, and that’s why he gets down out of the grave and he keeps doing what he does, because he’s at the center of things. It would be a harder book to write convincingly to have him be someone who wasn’t in the middle of everything, because why else would he do what he does? It’s just part of his DNA.
I have certainly read all that stuff, as well as the original Valiant run on the character as well. Much like X-O, we are really building on those things, trying to do it in a way that’s really different for the reader so it doesn’t seem like it’s anything that they haven’t seen before. He’s still gonna stay true to who his roots are as a concept — it’s going be a completely different take on those things.
That’s a tough one, that gets a little spoilery. Book of Death definitely sets up a lot of what we are going to be doing in Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, but Book of Death is completely self contained. If you pick up Wrath of the Eternal Warrior you can see how the foundation was laid in Book of Death, but it’s not going be a requirement to read Wrath of the Eternal Warrior.
Is there a way for you to communicate my smile? (Robert Venditti smiles.) I am super excited about it, he is a really talented guy. My first interaction with his work was when he was doing the covers for X-O Manowar, you just immediately see how he’s such an outside the box thinker. Not in a way that’s complex or alienating, but in a way that’s wholly unique.
They have a long history with each other. Aric didn’t know Gilad was The Eternal Warrior. Gilad was his mentor in a lot of ways when he was a child. He taught him how to fight with a sword, and was sort of a male role model for him as a Visigoth. At the surface, I think what people will find similar with them is that they have a man out of time aspect. They are actually polar opposites. Aric was actually someone who freed himself from the captivity of the Vine, the alien race that took him, then he came back to Earth from the modern day. Gilad has lived every single day. Aric has no constant in ethics and culture, while Gilad has witnessed all of that. So that’s obviously a big strain on their relationship in the modern day. There’s also a deep bond between them– a mentor and student bond. They have known each other and can relate to each other in ways that nobody on else can. They can become very antagonistic with each other as well — which I think is true of a lot of really deep friendships or brotherly bonds or things like that. They are inextricably bound to each other.
Yes, a lot of what I was just discussing is going to be in the second issue in Book of Death #2. They are also things covered in X-O Manowar and in Wrath of the Eternal Warrior as well.
BOOK OF DEATH #1 (of 4)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by ROBERT GILL & DOUG BRAITHWAITE
Cover A by ROBERT GILL (MAY151586)
Cover B by CARY NORD (MAY151587)
Cover C by CLAYTON CRAIN (MAY151588)
Cover D by JELENA KEVIC-DJURDJEVIC (MAY151589)
Character Design Variant by PAOLO RIVERA (MAY151591)
Valiant Icons Variant by PERE PEREZ (MAY151592)
Artist Variant by PAOLO RIVERA (MAY151593)
Blank Cover also available (MAY151590)“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.”
The Valiant heroes. X-O Manowar. Bloodshot. Ninjak. The Harbinger Renegades. Unity. This is how they lived. This is how they died.
Now we know. The Book of the Geomancer has recorded it all. But only a young girl – the last in a line of the enigmatic mystics who protect the Earth known as Geomancers – has seen this future come to pass, from the coming cataclysm to the dawn of the 41st century. Alone with her sworn protector, the Eternal Warrior – a soldier battle-forged across five thousand years of combat – the duo must defy their allies to stop the Dark Age that now threatens to eclipse our world.
Together, they are the number one target of every hero and villain on Earth. Either the Eternal Warrior hands her over…or they take him down. But can even he single-handedly protect one child when the entire Valiant Universe wages war against him?
The blockbuster Valiant event of 2015 starts here as New York Times best-selling writer Robert Venditti (X-O MANOWAR) joins superstar-in-the-making Robert Gill (ARMOR HUNTERS: HARBINGER) and visionary artist Doug Braithwaite (ARMOR HUNTERS) to begin a thousand-year journey into the future of the Valiant Universe…and rain, fire, blood and war on the heroes of today.
$3.99 | 40 pages | T+ | On sale JULY 15
WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR #1
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by RAUL ALLEN
Wraparound Cover by DAVID LAFUENTE
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | ONGOING SERIES | ON SALE IN NOVEMBER!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/14/2015
The nominees for this year’s Harvey Awards, as voted on by industry professionals, have just been announced and as usual they are a a surprising mix of books. Every year, one company seems to have distributed their ballots a little more aggressively among creators and this year is no exception, with Boom/Archaia and Valiant getting the most nominations, including a few unexpected ones. I think it’s safe to say no one saw JIM HENSON’S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW by Roger Langridge getting a Best Original Graphic Album nominees, and beating out Roz Chast but…hey, Roger Langridge is one of the great cartoonists so let’s not argue too much. Giving the list a quick survey it seems like everything is worthy in its own way so let’s just celebrate the diversity and wonder of comics in this golden age.
The Harvey Awards will be presented at a banquet for Saturday night, September 26th, during the Baltimore Comicon. This marks the 10th year the Harveys have been held at Baltimore.
BEST LETTERER
____ Aubrey Aiese, LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ Deron Bennett, HACKTIVIST, Archaia Black Label (BOOM! Studios)
____ Ed Dukeshire, THE WOODS, BOOM! Studios
____ Jack Morelli, AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ Josh Reed, DAMSELS IN EXCESS, Aspen
BEST COLORIST
____ Elizabeth Breitweiser, VELVET, Image Comics
____ Jordie Bellaire, MOON KNIGHT, Marvel Comics
____ Laura Martin, ARMOR HUNTERS, Valiant Entertainment
____ Dave Stewart, HELLBOY IN HELL, Dark Horse Comics
____ Matthew Wilson, THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Image Comics
BEST SYNDICATED STRIP or PANEL
____ DICK TRACY, Joe Staton and Mike Curtis, Tribune Media Services
____ DILBERT, Scott Adams, Universal Uclick
____ FOX TROT, Bill Amend, Universal Uclick
____ GET FUZZY, Darby Conley, Universal Uclick
____ MUTTS, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK
____ ALBERT THE ALIEN, Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Bautista, albertthealien.com
____ BATTLEPUG, Mike Norton, battlepug.com
____ GIRLS WITH SLINGSHOTS, Danielle Corsetto, girlswithslingshots.com
____ SPACE MULLET, Daniel Warren Johnson, space-mullet.com
____ THE PRIVATE EYE, Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente,panelsyndicate.com
BEST AMERICAN EDITION of FOREIGN MATERIAL
____ BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, Drawn & Quarterly
____ BLACKSAD: AMARILLO, Dark Horse
____ CORTO MALTESE: UNDER THE SIGN OF CAPRICORN, EuroComics/IDW
____ THE COLLECTOR, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ THE KILLER OMNIBUS VOL. 2, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
BEST INKER
____ Roger Langridge, JIM HENSON’S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ Danny Miki, BATMAN, DC Comics
____ Mark Pennington, ARMOR HUNTERS: BLOODSHOT, Valiant Entertainment
____ Joe Rivera, THE VALIANT, Valiant Entertainment
____ Wade Von Grawbadger, ALL NEW X-MEN, Marvel Comics
BEST NEW SERIES
____ BITCH PLANET, Image Comics
____ LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ MS. MARVEL, Marvel Comics
____ SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Image Comics
MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT
____ Steve Bryant, ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ Daniel Warren Johnson, GHOST FLEET, Dark Horse Comics
____ Chad Lambert, “KILL ME” FROM DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____ Babs Tarr, BATGIRL, DC Comics
____ Jen Van Meter, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment
SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
____ James Asmus, QUANTUM AND WOODY, Valiant Entertainment
____ James Asmus & Fred Van Lente, THE DELINQUENTS, Valiant Entertainment
____ Ryan Browne, GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS, Image Comics
____ Fred Van Lente, ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG, Valiant Entertainment
____ Chip Zdarsky, SEX CRIMINALS, Image Comics
BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS
____ JIM HENSON’S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ LUMBERJANES, BOOM! Box (BOOM! Studios)
____ SISTERS, Scholastic-Graphix
____ SPONGEBOB COMICS, United Plankton Pictures
____ THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
____ HIT: 1955 TP, BOOM! Studios
____ MOUSE GUARD: BALDWIN THE BRAVE AND OTHER TALES HC, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ RAI VOL. 1: WELCOME TO NEW JAPAN TP, Valiant Entertainment
____ SIX-GUN GORILLA TP, BOOM! Studios
____ THE LOVE BUNGLERS, Fantagraphics
BEST ANTHOLOGY
____ DARK HORSE PRESENTS, Dark Horse Comics
____ IN THE DARK: A HORROR ANTHOLOGY, IDW
____ LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, Locust Moon Press
____ MASTERFUL MARKS: CARTOONISTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, Simon & Schuster
____ WILD OCEAN, Fulcrum Publishing
BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
____ HARVEY KURTZMAN’S JUNGLE BOOK: ESSENTIAL KURTZMAN VOLUME 1, Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Books
____ STERANKO NICK FURY AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. ARTIST’S EDITION, IDW
____ THE COMPLETE QUANTUM AND WOODY CLASSIC OMNIBUS, Valiant Entertainment
____ VALIANT MASTERS: H.A.R.D. CORPS VOL. 1 – SEARCH & DESTROY, Valiant Entertainment
____ WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK AND UNCLE SCROOGE: THE SON OF THE SUN (DON ROSA LIBRARY VOL. 1), Fantagraphics
BEST COVER ARTIST
____ Mike Del Mundo, ELEKTRA, Marvel Comics
____ Francesco Francavilla, AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ Jenny Frison, REVIVAL, Image Comics
____ Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, or JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION
____ BACK ISSUES, Comic Pop
____ COMIC BOOK CREATOR, TwoMorrows Publications
____ HEROES OF THE COMICS: PORTRAITS OF THE LEGENDS OF COMIC BOOKS, Drew Friedman, Fantagraphics
____ MASTERFUL MARKS: CARTOONISTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, Monte Beauchamp, Simon & Schuster
____ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL HISTORY, Andrew Farago, Insight Editions
SPECIAL AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION
____ ARMOR HUNTERS, Josh Johns and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment
____ HARVEY KURTZMAN’S JUNGLE BOOK: ESSENTIAL KURTZMAN VOLUME 1, John Lind and Philip R. Simon, Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Books
____ LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM, Andrew Carl, Josh O’Neill, and Chris Stevens, Locust Moon Press
____ JIM HENSON’S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Scott Newman, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ THE VALIANT, Kyle Andrukiewicz and Warren Simons, Valiant Entertainment
BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM ORIGINAL
____ ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ JIM HENSON’S THE MUSICAL MONSTERS OF TURKEY HOLLOW, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ SECONDS, Ballantine Books
____ THE WRENCHIES, First Second Books
____ THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books
BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
____ AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE, Archie Comic Publications
____ DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ SAGA, Image Comics
____ SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ THE VALIANT, Valiant Entertainment
BEST WRITER
____ Jason Aaron, SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Image Comics
____ Jen Van Meter, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment
____ Brian K. Vaughan, SAGA, Image Comics
____ Mark Waid, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ G. Willow Wilson, MS. MARVEL, Marvel Comics
BEST ARTIST
____ Clayton Crain, RAI, Valiant Entertainment
____ Roberto de la Torre, THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE, Valiant Entertainment
____ Chris Samnee, DAREDEVIL, Marvel Comics
____ Fiona Staples, SAGA, Image Comics
____ Jillian Tamaki, THIS ONE SUMMER, First Second Books
BEST CARTOONIST
____ Steve Bryant, ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, Dark Horse Comics
____ Howard Chaykin, BLOODSHOT #25, Valiant Entertainment
____ Farel Dalrymple, THE WRENCHIES, First Second Books
____ Terry Moore, RACHEL RISING, Abstract Studios
____ Dan Parent, KEVIN KELLER, Archie Comic Publications
____ Andy Runton, X-O MANOWAR #25, Valiant Entertainment
BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
____ ARMOR HUNTERS #1, Valiant Entertainment
____ “Breaking Out”, DARK HORSE PRESENTS #35, Dark Horse Comics
____ JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER: WITCHES #4, Archaia/BOOM! Studios
____ MULTIVERSITY: PAX AMERICANA, DC Comics
____ RAI #1, Valiant Entertainment
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/30/2015
The #ValiantSummit just wrapped, where the publisher announced a whole bunch of new titles and announcements from Valiant Entertainment’s comic book line in a live setting. One of the first and biggest announcements was X-O Manowar #50, a landmark achievement in publishing giving the current state of the industry. The issue will feature the writing talents of Robert Venditti — who launched the new Valiant Universe with X-O Manowar #1 alongside Bloodshot: Reborn artist Mico Suayan. The comic is shipping in 2016.
Next up is Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, which Robert Venditti teased in our exclusive interview covering the Book of Death with the author — Venditti noted that the Eternal Warrior is one of his favorite characters in the Valiant Universe. Raul Allen is joining Venditti to draw the comic, which is launching in November. Also, the publisher debuted the cover to the first issue, a wraparound cover with David Lafuente linework.
The last issue of the previous Dr. Mirage series teased that the series was coming back, but Valiant has now confirmed the next comic entitled The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives. The comic is another four-issue mini with author Jen Van Meter and Robert De La Torre returning as the creative team set for a December debut.
Valiant is releasing eight of their first issues for a dollar each in the publisher’s One Dollar Debut line. The comics company also released the information that the landmark Book of Death event has over 70,000 pre-orders. Take a look at the new trailer for the event here. The summit was a fine showing from Valiant, containing news that fans should be excited about while offering newcomers the chance to get in on a new #1 with Wrath of the Eternal Warrior and the publisher’s own One Dollar Debut line of comics.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/23/2015
Valiant is getting in on the Bay Area comics announcements train with an event next Tuesday that will be live streamed via Periscope Twitter’s live streaming app straight from Twitter HQ. #ValiantSummit, as is hashtagged will feature Robert Venditti (BOOK OF DEATH, X-O MANOWAR), Jen Van Meter (THE DEATH-DEFYING DR. MIRAGE), Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani, Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons, and Director of Marketing, Communications & Digital Media Hunter Gorinson giving news, announcements, and live Q&A.
The news will be preceded by a Valiant 101 catch-up for newcomers before moving on to news on the Venditti’s BOOK OF DEATH summer event and the reveal on more publishing news.
To join in, tune in to the @ValiantComics stream on Periscope on Tuesday, June 30th at 3 pm EDT/12 noon PDT.
Teaming with Twitter is a pretty smart way to get some news out there. I haven’t seen too many comics peeps using Periscope yet, so seems like an interesting move for all.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/22/2015
Comic Blitz Founder Jordan Plosky on the floor of HeroesCon 2015
by Harper W. Harris
On Saturday, I got the chance to speak with Jordan Plosky, founder of Comic Blitz, a new comic app that operates much like Marvel Unlimited, only not just limited to Marvel. Although the company has only Valiant and Dynamite on board at this stage, they have plans to announce many more publishers’ comics being available via the app soon. Interested comics fans can go to ComicBlitz.com now to join the beta while it’s open. Here’s what Jordan had to say on the floor of HeroesCon.
HH: First I’ll let you take the lead and tell us what Comic Blitz is, how it got started, and what it’s all about.
JP: Sure. The easiest way to describe Comic Blitz is thinking about Netflix for digital comic books. So, as a customer you’d be paying one low monthly fee for access to all the comics we have on our platform. At launch, which is in the very near future, we’re going to have thousands of comics on board, you will literally have unlimited reading, there’s no way you could breeze through everything we have in one month. You’ll have unlimited reading for a very, very long time.
HH: So how does Comic Blitz plan to really differentiate themselves from other digital comics distributors?
JP: It’s great that digital has been the opposite of what everyone thought it was going to be, right? It was going to be the downfall of the industry, but it’s not, it’s been the greatest proponent for print since newsstands. Digital is the new newsstand. So what differentiates us from the other platforms out there today is the value proposition. So for $10 a month, for the price of one graphic novel you not only have access to an entire comic book shop, but you can read everything. You don’t have to choose with your wallet if you want to buy the latest Hawkeye book or read a Hawkeye book from the 70’s or something like that. When you’ve already paid your entrance fee, you have access to whatever we have. So the wallet doesn’t do the choosing; you just get to read and read and read as much as you’d like. You finish one issue? You can just tap a button that says read next issue and go straight from one to the next, you don’t have to go back to a menu, you don’t have to close open, open close, it’s just a seamless transition from issue to issue.
HH: So you guys are really trying to kind of implement binge reading into comics instead of having to de-bag and board or search through a box of single issues.
JP: Yeah, we think so. We’re not saying, “Don’t go out and buy the physical copies, don’t go out and collect.” We’re collectors, we do the same thing. But the convenience for just reading something, we find that digital is the most convenient way to do it. So you can have the issue ready and you don’t have to go dig it out of your longbox or something, risk bending or creasing it, you can read it digitally and know that your copy is tucked away safe in the box that you put it in and you never have to touch it again.
HH: That’s really cool–I hadn’t thought about it as being a supplement to your physical collection.
JP: This is like your new reader’s copy in a way. You get your collectable and then you have your copy you can read on your tablet.
HH: Tell us about what publishers and creators you’ve gotten involved so far and who’s on deck to be added to the app in the future.
JP: Right now as part of the beta test we have a selection of comics from Valiant Comics and Dynamite Comics. That’s kind of all we’re revealing at the moment is those two publishers, but it’s safe to say that we have much more content than the 18 titles we have in the beta test, from both of those, and as I’ve said, we’re going to have thousands of comics from several top ten publisher and several other reputable publishers. There’s going to be a lot of stuff that people might have seen in comic shops but maybe have already spent their weekly or monthly allowance on comics already before they can get to that other issue. You know, “Oh, I heard about that” or “that looks cool, but I already spent my $4 over here,” so people who are very aware of everything else that’s going on in comics that might have passed them by, this is a great way to catch up on all of that.
HH: I’ve heard myself say those exact words, missing something and then never really going back to read it, so I totally get that! So as far as Valiant and Dynamite go, will you guys have their entire back catalog as well as new issues, and how will that work?
JP: So there are different deals in place with every publisher that we have; some publishers we get their content one month after its released in print and other digital formats. Some publishers its three months, some wait until the trade comes out and we’re a month after that, so that way they get to sell their single issues and the trade and make the money their going to make, and then it comes on here and extends the life of that comic even more. Something that people might not realize if they’re not way deep into the comic industry is that there are no residuals, there are no syndication rights the way that movies and TV have. So if a movie comes out in a movie theater, does gangbusters there, then comes to Netflix and VOD, then its on cable and in syndication forever, they constantly make money on that. A lot of creators don’t see that kind of money, if they’re not making a comic every single month, if their trade doesn’t do well, they’re not making the kind of money that other forms of media are making. So something like this, if we are successful it means success for the entire industry because the publishers make the majority of the money that comes into this, and then if the publisher is making more money, they get to put more money into books, pay creators more, get more royalties to creators. It’s win-win for fans, publishers, and creators, for everybody.
HH: So you mentioned you guys are in beta right now. How can people get involved with the beta, and what does that give them access to at this point?
JP: If you go to ComicBlitz.com, there’s a link right there to sign up for the beta test and we’ll send you a link for the beta. It will be closed after a certain amount of people sign up, I’m not sure how many spaces will be left by the time your readers see this, so sign up as soon as possible if you’re interested in doing the beta test. What you’re going to find is sort of a bare bones product, in the tech world it’s called an MVP (minimal viable product) just to see like, these are people that are interested in this, they can give us some feedback as to what they might want to see in a digital comic reader before we start building things that nobody wants and we get their feedback on the the things that we’ve already implemented as well. So you get to read the comics for free, there’s no commitment to buy it after we go live, but obviously we’re hoping you’re going to like it enough to sign up for a subscription and keep reading digital comics with us.
HH: This sounds really cool…I’ve gotten a chance to check out the beta here at HeroesCon and it looks very nice. Do you have an official launch date for the app at this point?
JP: Yes, we’re setting up at Boston Comic Con, so that’s July 31-Aug 2nd, we’re going to have a booth there and that will be our official launch, so about six weeks from now.
HH: I’ll be really excited to see what you have coming up next and to see how the app continues to grow!
JP: We’re excited to unveil it, excited to be able to let people know that we’ll have more than the 18 titles available in the beta. Hopefully people will be surprised and excited for what we have to offer them when we do launch. Thanks!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/18/2015
X-O Manowar has been an instrument of war over the past 30+ issues that has seen Aric of Dacia dismember and kill others with the X-O suit of armor. Then, he started to change. As a king of his Visigoth people that are once again reunited — Aric was thrust into a survival role, and is now constantly attempting to keep the fighting away from his home in the Valiant Universe. The upcoming X-O Manowar storyline entitled ‘Exodus’ stays in that same tradition, as the tale see’s Aric attempting to once again keep the peace. When the Vine and one of Aric’s old enemies come back to Earth, he’s going to have his hands full over the next couple of issues. The creative team on Exodus features none-other-than Robert Venditti alongside the excellent Rafa Sandoval, formerly of DC Comics, now a Valiant exclusive.
X-O Manowar spent so much of his life fighting the Vine and now he must be their champion – how will Earth react, said editor Valiant Editor Tom Brennan. Or his fellow survivors of Vine enslavement for that matter? We’re going to answer those questions and more, and Rafa Sandoval’s ability to brilliantly blend character drama and widescreen action is the perfect compliment to Rob’s story of what it truly means to be a hero.
X-O MANOWAR #39 (NEW ARC! “EXODUS” – PART 1)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by RAFA SANDOVAL
Cover A by RAFA SANDOVAL (MAY151599)
Cover B by ROBERT GILL (MAY151600)
Variant Cover by CAFU
Variant Cover by BRENT PEEPLES
$3.99 | 32 pages | T+ | On sale AUGUST 12 (FOC – 7/20/15)
The issue comes right after X-O Manowar #38, which is Aric’s big wedding issue that also features a cadre of excellent artists and writers.
X-O MANOWAR #38 (WEDDING SPECTACULAR!)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI with AMY CHU, ANDY RUNTON, and RAFER ROBERTS
Art by RAFA SANDOVAL with CLAYTON HENRY, CAFU, ANDY RUNTON, and RAFER ROBERTS
Cover A (Wraparound) by RAFA SANDOVAL (MAY151599)
Cover B by CARY NORD (MAY151600)
Cover C by CAFU (MAY151601)
Variant Cover by JAY FABARES (MAY151603)
Variant Cover by TOM FOWLER ((MAY151604)
Blank Invitation Variant Also Available (MAY151602)
$4.99 |48 pgs.| T+ | On sale JULY 1 (FOC 6/8/15)
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 5/14/2015
The Valiant, Valiant’s own massive event series shifted everything in the publisher’s shared universe around to bring forth a new era in the history of the company. Now the publisher is trying to evoke a new direction for the Valiant Universe via the Book of Death. This title is the next big Valiant event crafted by the first author to ever create material in the 2012 relaunch of Valiant: Robert Venditti, who’s working alongside illustrators Doug Braithwaite and Robert Gill. Here, the author is set to take on more characters, concepts, and ideas than ever before (almost every character from the new Valiant world was featured on that previous teaser poster seen below!) We sat down with Robert Venditti to pick his brain about the upcoming event before the first issue goes on sale.
Here’s a SPOILER warning for The Valiant before we dive into our conversation below:
Comics Beat: Can you give fans a primer for the Book of Death in the wake of The Valiant?
Robert Venditti: Yes, the Book of Death is about the new Geomancer, Tama, who we met at the end of The Valiant. Tama is a Geomancer that has come back from the the present. She is a young child, Tama was sent back by Gilad: the Eternal Warrior. He’s meeting her for the first time. He knows she’s a Geomancer, but he doesn’t know her on any personal level. Meanwhile all these things are going on in the Valiant Universe that I am almost hesitant to describe as natural disasters because they are far more horrific than that, but they are driven by nature and the environment. Gilad and Tama are wondering why now? What is the cause of it? Is the Earth acting out? What is the story? Meanwhile, Unity is wondering on some level if Tama is going to be causing this voluntary, or involuntary, or if she maybe the key to stopping it all. They want it back but Gilad doesn’t trust all of them because Geomancers have been killed before, most recently Kay McHenry in The Valiant. It’s his responsibility to protect Tama and find a solution for the problem.
I’m almost curious structurally if this story is almost the inverse of The Valiant, with the Geomancer character dying at the beginning — it seems as if Gilad has a completely different perspective now?
I think perspective is a great way of looking at it — perspective is what’s driving the entire story. You know, Gilad is someone who has been around for ten thousand years. He’s seen dark ages come and go — he’s seen all manner of things. He’s viewing the current events though this very long-term perspective that he has in the background of history, and of the planet, and of the Geomancers. Where the rest of the Valiant Universe is looking at this through the normal lifespan of the short-term perspective — I think the difference of those two perspectives is at the heart of the conflict. Whether you look at things from sort of a long term or short term point of view. In terms of picking up from The Valiant, or how it’s structured differently, I guess on some level The Valiant was the end of the relationship with Gilad and the Geomancer being Kay McHenry who we see dead at the end of that series. Spoilers! (Laughs.)
This is more the beginning of the relationship between Gilad and Tama, so I would say that they are opposites in that regard.
Can you elaborate on the themes and concepts of death in the Book of Death?
Let me think about that for a minute, I don’t want to give anything away! With the concept of death and the natural course of life, you might want to call it the circle of life? Obviously, death, life, and rebirth are the kinds of things that we have established with Kay McHenry dying at the end of The Valiant. Now you have a new child Geomancer, in terms of how nature is acting out the specific force that Gilad and Tama are fighting adjacent are all heavy themes that are playing into it. These are all themes that are much larger in how it plays a role in the event with some of the tie-in stories we are going to see. We’re going to see a lot of what the future of the Valiant Universe holds and births of characters. There’s going to be a lot of new concept and old concepts. There is also going to be a ton of content in every single issue, this is the most content heavy story that I have ever written.
How does the concept of death work in this shared Universe that Valiant has established?
In terms of the Valiant Universe as far as the DNA that the company was built on, you know there’s a maxim that goes back to the old the original 90’s incarnation of the Valiant Universe that dead means dead. That means when a character dies in the Valiant Universe, that means a character is dead. In that regard, Valiant is sort of a pioneer in that storytelling approach.
“That means when a character dies in the Valiant Universe, that means a character is dead.”
With all the characters featured on the teaser with Robert Gill, is it safe to assume that there is going to be a very large roster of characters in this event?
Oh man, I cannot even…I honestly don’t even know the amount of characters that are going to be in this event. You’re going to have all the characters that readers want to see, you’re going to have X-O and Eternal Warrior, and all these characters that readers are already familiar with. Their will be a ton of ‘new’ characters ‘new’ ideas, as well as a lot of mystery surrounding these ‘new’ things. We’re hoping to whet the appetite of the readers and give them that perfect balance of everything that they know and are familiar with. We want to give them a lot of new things to really peak their interest — and want to read Valiant books for a long time to come. Soon, they can see how those concepts and characters play out in future stories.
Hopefully this is another question that isn’t too spoilery, but along with some of those new concepts can we expect to be returning from the previous Universe that we haven’t seen yet.
Yes, (laughs.)
Yes, that’s all I want to know on that topic.
I also was wondering if you could elaborate on the inception of the event and how it came to be. For instance, did the creative team plan this story immediately following The Valiant?
It’s something that has been in the works for a very long time. Eternal Warrior is a character that has always been very interesting to me back in the original pitch phase, when Valiant first approached me about writing for the company with the two characters. I had to decide if I was going to put all my energy in writing a pitch for between Eternal Warrior and X-O. I chose X-O just because I felt that he was so unique, that blend of sci-fi, history, Visigoths, aliens and all this kind of stuff. I have always had an affinity for Gilad, and always wanted to write him. I got a chance to do him for a couple of issues in X-O, which are some of favorite issues that I have written. He’s a character that I have talked about for a really long time and always wanted to do a story with him. A lot of this has been in the works for a while. Now in terms of how it dovetailed in the end of The Valiant, that certainly informed the story and made it feel like the right time to turn this story in place. So it isn’t like Jeff and Matt were working for anything that I did, they totally came up with The Valiant on their own, but it seemed like a nice springboard to tell this story with Eternal Warrior in the lead.
I was also smitten with the idea of you sort of kicking off the Valiant Universe with X-O Manowar #1, and wondered if there was any correlation with Book of Death: The Fall of X-O Manowar #1 being the last tie-in issue to launch in October.
It’s not coincidence necessarily — I’m the current writer of X-O — it was my title to do in the same way that Jeff Lemire is writing Bloodshot, (Joshua) Dysart will be writing Harbinger, and (Matt) Kindt will be writing Ninjak. They are the writers of those titles. Those (Book of Death) tie-in issues are additional titles, so there will be a regular issue of X-O Manowar that will also launch that month in addition to ‘The Fall of’ issues for each of the characters. They are not replacing the issues that are regularly shipping in that month, they are additional content on top of that, but I think it’s more of a matter of the current writers on those characters handling these issues as opposed to: I wrote the very first issue of the Valiant Universe, and I’m going to murder the Valiant Universe (laughs.) I don’t think I’m the alpha and omega or anything along those lines.
I really take a lot of pride in the fact that by the time that October issue comes out, I will probably be on X-O Manowar #42 or #43 at that point. When I took this book, I didn’t know how long I would be on it. I hoped it would be a year, I really hoped it would be for two years. Now I’m going on four, and that’s a really long run for something that is my first monthly series. It could very easily be someone else writing the X-O Manowar tie-in issue.
*It was brought to our attention during the interview that Robert Venditti has written more issues of X-O Manowar more than any other writer in the history of Valiant.*
That’s incredible and with the shape of the market the way it is, it’s great for you to be able to really sink your teeth into a character like that.
It’s always a push and pull, you always want to make sure that you have long term plans with your character, but that you have more short term planning — because you don’t know if you are going to be around for the long term plans. This is the first monthly series I ever took on, so it’s almost like beginners luck or I got spoiled. This being my first experience, I feel very fortunate about it.
Can you compare the differences and similarities with working with both Doug Braithwaite and Robert Gill on the series?
This is my first time working with Robert Gill. In terms of similarities, they are both great professionals, they are both great collaborators. They are the kind of people that have a lot of great ideas, and are both excellent storytellers. I trust both of them implicitly. I trust them to deviate from my scripts where they see fit. I rely on them and know whatever they come up with will be an improvement upon how the page is layed out or any of those things. In terms of differences, I don’t know. Robert just has such a great grounded grittier down-in-the-mud style that is great for this horror type story than what we are doing. It’s much different than Armor Hunters, which had a cosmic-type background, and space settings, and giant robots and aliens — it was much more science fiction fantastical if you will. Gill is really able to dig all around that, with things like the emotions of characters. Doug is amazing at design. A lot of stuff that he is doing is similar to what he drew in Armor Hunters, but in Book of Death he’s working with some of the designs for the new concepts that we were talking about. He’s also an amazing storyteller, and he’s great with emotions. He turned in a double-page spread with Eternal Warrior upfront and with the expression on the Eternal Warrior’s face, you can feel the 10,000 years Gilad has fought through. I really feel super fortunate to work with the people from Valiant.
You hinted at a new status quota shift for Unity before, but could you tease anything else about the new developments for the team?
That’s really one of the central concepts of the story, it’s Gilad against the Valiant Universe. He’s one of the founding members against the team. If you go back to X-O Manowar in the ‘Homecoming’ arc, he’s actually the one that tried to talk to Aric in order to speak reason. The result of that conversation is what actually led to Unity in some ways. In some aspects, he even predates the Unity team. He’s been there for a very long time. It’s not a casual decision to break from that team and go off on his own direction. As much as he has friends and has fought alongside of the other Unity members — they still have a job to do. They still have other things that they have to consider beyond their friendship. It is a status quota change — and it’s nothing that anybody looks forward to with the possible exception of Ninjak. It’s a different mindset for all of them.
Would it be safe to assume that the relationship between Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior might have a special bond within the pages of Unity?
They certainly have spent a lot of time together in the Unity series. They have what Ninjak would classify with as a friendship — which is more like: we’re on the same side until we’re not anymore. That is how I sort of look at their relationship. Matt Kindt is really developing that a lot more than I have.
With Eternal Warrior going ‘rogue’ per see, could that effectively compromise their close relationship?
Oh, absolutely, we are going to see that for sure.
Thanks to Robert Venditti and Valiant for letting me to interrogate their team for 30+ minutes. For more on Valiant and the Book of Death stay tuned to The Beat!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/21/2015
Valiant Comics Entertainment has been teasing a big media announcement for ages and WHOOP there it is: A five picture deal with Sony for films involving Bloodshot and Harbinger and a crossover called Harbinger Wars. And it’s being overseen by the guys behind The Fast and the Furious franchise. Zowie!
With Marvel and DC locked up at Disney and WB, other studios are looking to get in on the lucrative comic book movie train…and Valiant has got a diesel express straight to the screen.
A bunch of top level filmmakers are involved:
• BLOODSHOT, who you can see immediately tp the left of this post, comes out in 2017 and will be directed by David Leitch & Chad Stahelski who made the much admired John Wick, with a script from Jeff Wadlow (Kick Ass 2) and Eric Heisserer (Story of Your Life). Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe from Original Film (The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Dinesh Shamdasani from Valiant Entertainment will produce the film. Matthew Vaughn and Jason Kothari will serve as executive producers.
Bloodshot was created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton in 1992. He’s an unstoppable killing machine who gained his powers after being brought back from the dead.
• HARBINGER follows with a script by Eric Heisserer (Story of Your Life). No word on a director, but Moritz, Jaffe and Shamdasani will once again produce.
Harbinger is a telekinetic teenage runaway who was created in 1992 by Jim Shooter and David Lapham.
• BLOODSHOT 2 (movie gods willing)
• HARBINGER 2
• HARBINGER WARS based on the 2013 crossover by Joshua Dysart and Duane Swierczynski with art by Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain, and Pere Perez.
Sony’s Andrea Giannetti is exec producing the five picture slate.
“Valiant is one of the most successful publishers in the history of comics, and Neal is one of the best action producers in the business today. This is a formidable partnership that will bring two incredibly commercial franchises with global appeal together on the big screen,” said Sony Entertainment Motion Picture Group President Doug Belgrad. “The long-term plan that begins with BLOODSHOT will be a considerable priority for Sony in the months and years to come.”
“Bloodshot and Harbinger are two of the great untapped franchises anywhere in comics,” said producer and founder of Original Film, Neal H. Moritz. “In partnership with Sony and Valiant, we look forward to building the next great generation of superhero films.”
“Sony Pictures and Neal Moritz are the ideal partners to bring the world of Bloodshot and Harbinger to life,” said Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. “They understand exactly what makes these characters tick and the exciting potential that they hold. These films are just the first step in partnership with Sony to bring Valiant’s biggest heroes to new audiences worldwide.”
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/20/2015
In the wake of the premiere event series The Valiant came this week’s Bloodshot Reborn #1. The storyline published by Valiant comics gave Bloodshot an entirely new status quota that see’s the character questioning his own humanity. The series with art from Mico Suayan and writing from Jeff Lemire chronicled the complicated new mindset on Bloodshot. Within the issue, the anti-hero finds himself in the sparse new environment of Colorado trying to find some peace after being manipulated by Project Rising Spirit.
We reviewed the first issue, and thought that “Valiant seems closer than ever to reimagining the concept for one of their greatest and most beloved superheroes towards sheer delight with the power of Jeff Lemire, Mico Suayan, and some clever ideas.”
Comics Beat sat down with Valiant Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons to get some added perspective on the series that debuted this past Wednesday.
Comics Beat: From other interviews, author Jeff Lemire cited that he had something massive in mind for Bloodshot after The Valiant ends. Could you tease anything about that revelation without spoilers?
Simons: We’re going to take Bloodshot in a direction he’s never gone before. I think many people will be surprised by that, but I also think if you look at the world outside your window, it’s a natural evolution of the character, especially taking into account what he’s experienced. The close of The Valiant #4 plays an important role in that, but isn’t a precursor to reading or enjoying Bloodshot: Reborn.
CB: What new threats do the mysterious doppelgängers add to Bloodshot’s world?
Simons: The threat is not always directly toward Bloodshot, which in some ways is more of a challenge for the character.
CB: Can you key us in on Bloodshot’s new mental state when the first issue begins?
Simons: He’s definitely seen better days. When he was a soldier controlled by the paramilitary group Project Rising Spirit, he was forced to do atrocious things against his will, and he’s haunted by that past. Jeff Lemire and Mico Suayan have taken the book in a new, unexpected direction, but there are a few of the great core components in there that Kevin Vanhook and Don Perlin tapped into with the original incarnation.
CB: How does Jeff Lemire blend his art style with the captivating work of Mico Suayan?
Simons: As the editor of the title, I’m very happy to have incredible talents like Jeff, Mico, and David Baron here. The book is beautiful.
CB: Does the relationship between Kay McHenry and Bloodshot continue to evolve from The Valiant?
Simons: Yes, but not in a way that you’ll probably see coming. That’s the most I can say without spoiling anything.
CB: Can you tell us how the theme of identity plays a role in this comic?
Simons: I think it’s part of the core of who Bloodshot is, tracking back to the 90s. Once upon a time he was not a very nice guy, and he’s no longer that person, but his past actions still haunt him.
CB: How does Bloodshot as a 90’s legacy character continue peak your interest? What does he offer towards newer readers?
Simons: As with many of the Valiant characters, there’s an origin or high concept that’s very compelling, which is why these characters are beloved to this day. Those key elements are still there, and they drive the character to this day.
CB: How is Jeff and the rest of team Bloodshot Reborn building off of the previous run of the title?
Simons: Duane Swierczynski, Christos Gage, Joshua Dysart, and the entire Bloodshot team did a fantastic job of establishing the character in the Valiant Universe. As we’ve seen in events like Harbinger Wars and Armor Hunters, he is a very integral part of this world. Bloodshot Reborn is about the next evolution of the character.
CB: Do you have a long term goal in mind for the series? I understand that Jeff was crafting the book before The Valiant began?
Simons: Jeff’s been constructing his vision for Bloodshot Reborn for some time. In fact he’s already turned in over 12 issues of scripts as his story continues to develop. We’re very exciting about the things to come.
CB: Thanks for your time.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/17/2015
Valiant has just debuted a brand new round of previews from some of their biggest and best books. First up is Ninjak #1, which contained a solid debut with incredibly smart writing and art from Matt Kindt, Clay Mann, and Butch Guice. The story revealed Colin King hunting down a group of individuals on assignment from MI-6, wasting no time dazzling fans with the exploits of Valiant’s premiere ninja. This is going to be another 40-page issue complete with two stories for the agreeable price of $4.99.
NINJAK #2
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by CLAY MANN with BUTCH GUICE
HUNTED BY THE SHADOW SEVEN!
International financier Colin King hasn’t just come to Tokyo to take the Rippongi club scene by storm. As the covert MI-6 operative codenamed Ninjak, he’s also tracking down the men who trained him to be a lethal weapon…the very same men whose movements have now aligned with the latest terror plot by the cybernetic crime cartel called WEBNET! But how do you detect killers who specialize in the undetectable? And how does he know that the SHADOW SEVEN haven’t caught up with him first? It’s all-out ninja-versus-ninja warfare as the deadliest men and women of five continents converge on the Tokyo underworld for a blood-spattered blowout!
$3.99 | 40 pgs. | T+ | On sale APRIL 22
The first two issues of Divinity have been extraordinarily good, proving that Matt Kindt really has a good hold on the world of the Valiant. However, the most extraordinary part of the title for me is how the publisher found just the right job for Trevor Hairsine. The artist doesn’t have a typically clean Marvel style, but instead features more jagged lines and a specific style of pencilling. His artwork can almost be compared to that of Frank Quitely, an excellent storyteller whose art depicts a very specific style of tone.
DIVINITY #3 (of 4)
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by TREVOR HAIRSINE
The sci-fi saga of 2015 continues – from New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (RAI) and blockbuster artist Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis)!
A being with the power of a god roams free in the Australian Outback, bringing life to the barren wasteland and making him a hero to natives who live there and the visitors that have sought him out. But can the global superpowers of Earth rely on this long lost cosmonaut not to abuse his seemingly limitless power? The entity called DIVINITY will put that trust to the test when he discovers what became of the life he left behind…and the family he once knew…
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | VALIANT PRESTIGE | On sale APRIL 22
Ivar, Timewalker can be sort of compared to a dark Doctor Who, as the titular hero is hiding some big secrets throughout space and time. Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry continue to craft the story of Ivar, that begins to grow darker as more time continues to pass. Henry’s art has been so clean and specific to the title, which is perfect as Ivar could possibly expanded with the female demographic that has been so keen on Doctor Who in the past couple of years. Henry’s clean linework and expressive characters make this title a joy to experience as the debut arc of Ivar comes to an end with the fourth installment of the series.
IVAR, TIMEWALKER #4
Written by FRED VAN LENTE
Art by CLAYTON HENRY
Time is almost up!
Ivar has been keeping a secret from his partner-in-time, Neela, this whole time, and once she learns the truth their relationship will be history! Literally! Join New York Times best-selling creators Fred Van Lente & Clayton Henry for the epoch shattering conclusion of our first (time)arc!
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | On sale APRIL 22
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/9/2015
Valiant has just announced the first plot details to the upcoming crossover known as Book of Death. Earlier this week, the publisher ran some teasers from the event, but Valiant finally has the big reveals. Of course, with the nature of comic books being as they currently are, we can’t really talk about this crossover without spoiling the one previous.
THE VALIANT SPOILERS COMING 3….2…1…..
The (last) Geomancer was The Valiant, and she has the book of the future of the Valiant Universe. While the Eternal Warrior sought to protect her, the Book of Death is going to be hard to shelter for very long. There are a lot of teases for this crossover included in the short press email delivered from Valiant. Ninjak dead? A new person within the X-O Armor? The redemption of Toyo Harada? A fate beyond death for Bloodshot? These are the questions that are asked in the one-shot issues riffing on the ending for the upcoming series in the Summer months.
Whew! This is set to be a big four issue crossover written by Robert Venditti containing art from Robert Gill and Doug Braithwaite. The first issue ships in July. Take a look at the tie-in series for the event that are all one-shots teasing upcoming events.
BOOK OF DEATH #1 (of 4)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by ROBERT GILL & DOUG BRAITHWAITE
Cover A by ROBERT GILL
Cover B by CARY NORD
Cover C by CLAYTON CRAIN
Cover D by JELENA KEVIC-DJURDJEVIC
Character Design Variant by PAOLO RIVERA
Valiant Icons Variant by PERE PEREZ
Artist Variant by PAOLO RIVERA
Blank Cover also available
$3.99 | 40 pgs. | T+ | COMING IN JULY!
BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF BLOODSHOT #1 (ONE-SHOT)
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
Cover A by RAFA SANDOVAL
Cover B by JEFTE PALO
Variant Cover by DAVID YARDIN
Variant Cover by TOM FOWLER
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | COMING IN JULY!
BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF NINJAK #1 (ONE-SHOT)
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by TREVOR HAIRSINE
Cover by KANO
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | COMING IN AUGUST!
BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF HARBINGER #1 (ONE-SHOT)
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art by KANO
Cover by RAUL ALLEN
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | COMING IN SEPTEMBER!
BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF X-O MANOWAR #1 (ONE-SHOT)
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by CLAYTON HENRY
Cover by CARY NORD
$3.99 | 32 pgs. | T+ | COMING IN OCTOBER!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/31/2015
Ladies and Gentlemen we are officially in convention season! After celebrating Emerald City Comicon last weekend, it’s already time for WonderCon! Luckily Valiant is headed to the Anaheim Convention Center to take part in the festivities alongside comics fandom. The publisher is bringing along a few giveaways and prizes to the upcoming event. A tease at Bloodshot: Reborn #1 is going to be distributed in Valiant’s booth numbered #405.
Also shared is the following teaser image drawn by Tom Fowler celebrating the Valiant 25th Anniversary Convention Tour. The art features a group of heroes owned by the superhero company with Archer & Armstrong, X-O Manowar, Eternal Warrior, Bloodshot, Dr. Mirage, Faith, Livewire, Quantum and Woody, and Vincent Van Goat.
Creators at the show include James Asmus, David Baron, Joshua Dysart, Ryann Winn, and Fred Van Lente. The first Valiant panel is for beginners labeled Valiant 101: The Story Starts Here. This gives new readers a chance to jump in on the fun in the Valiant Universe, and takes place on Friday April 3rd at 3:30pm at Room 208. The next panel is the Valiant 25th Anniversary Celebration where fans will hopefully learn more about the mysterious Book of Death down at the show. The panel takes place on April 4th at 12pm at room 211.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/30/2015
• Valiant announced VALIANT ORIGINS a web series spotlighting the origins of Valiant’s biggest heroes. 10 episodes will be released bi-weekly Valiant’s official YouTube channel. Heroes in the spotlight include Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Livewire, Quantum and Woody, Divinity and more.
• In July Valiant is releasing the BOOK OF DEATH. Teaser art by Robert Gill.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman is now exclusive with IDW with many new projects to be announced. “Kevin is one of my oldest friends in comics and it makes me extremely happy that he’s going to be part of the IDW team, said IDW CEO and Publisher, Ted Adams. “Kevin’s contribution to pop culture can’t be overstated and everyone at IDW is looking forward to helping him bring his new ideas into the world.”
• Archaia is release an Art of Mouse Guard book in July:
THE ART OF MOUSE GUARD 2005-2015
Author: David Petersen
Artists: David Petersen, Mike Mignola, Stan Sakai, Bill Willingham, Various
Cover: David Petersen
Format: 12″ x 12″, 368 pages, color and B&W, hardcover
On sale: July 2015
Celebrate the first 10 years of a comics classic from the very first sketch. For the first time since the series debut, David Petersen’s process for creating the world of Mouse Guard and bringing it to life in stunning illustration is documented in exquisite detail. With never-before-seen sketches; 100 pages of full-color, oversized artwork; and commentary from colleagues, collaborators, and Petersen himself, readers and fans get an unprecedented look behind the pages at how their favorite characters and adventures were born.
• Boom is releasing Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake: Card Wars, a miniseries by Jen Wang (In Real Life) and Britt Wilson, also in July.
Cake is a Card Wars champ who can’t be beat, and Fionna…is really tired of getting beaten! They set off in search of a challenger who can really test Cake’s mettle. When they stumble across some gamer slugs, they think they’ve hit the jackpot, but these guys have never heard of Cake and refuse to even play with her!
• And Dark Horse is releasing TEN new series!
Barb Wire #1
Chris Warner (W)
Patrick Olliffe (A)
On Sale in July
Nail-hard tough and drop-dead gorgeous, Barb Wire is the baddest bounty hunter on the mean streets of Steel Harbor, where gangsters can lift bulldozers and leap rusting factories in a single bound. The hunting is stupid good and the bounties are hella big—if Barb lives long enough to collect!
King Tiger #1
Randy Stradley (W)
Doug Wheatley (A)
On Sale in August
Blood, death, and fire—the darkest kind of magic. A monstrous secret from King Tiger’s past has found the mystic warrior, but can Tiger’s skills and sorcery triumph against an unthinkable supernatural obscenity linked to his own destiny? If the Tiger falls, the Dragon will rise!
Negative Space #1
Ryan K Lindsay (W)
Owen Gieni (A)
On Sale in July
When one man’s writer’s block gets in the way of his suicide note, he goes for a walk to clear his head and soon uncovers a century-old conspiracy dedicated to creating and mining the worst lows of human desperation. A corporation has manipulated his life purely so they can farm his suicide note as a sadness artifact that will be packed and shipped to ancient underwater creatures who feed off our strongest and most base emotions. Our hero partners with a cult intent on exposing the corporation, and only a suicide mission can solve the whole mess.
The Tomorrows #1
Curt Pires (W)
Jason Copland (A)
On Sale in July
A bold new speculative-fiction comic from the mind of writer Curt Pires, each issue illustrated by a different brilliant artist!
The future: art is illegal. Everything everyone ever posted online has been weaponized against them. The reign of the Corporation is quickly becoming as absolute as it is brutal—unless the Tomorrows can stop it.
They told you the counterculture was dead. They were wrong. Welcome to the new reality.
Death Head #1
Zack Keller, Nick Keller (W)
Joanna Estep (A)
On Sale in July
When Niles and Justine Burton go camping to get a break from their stressful lives, they expect to find peace . . . not an abandoned village hiding an ancient evil. In a turn of events ripped straight from a horror movie, a brutal killer wearing a plague doctor’s mask begins hunting Niles, Justine, and their two kids. Who is the Plague Doctor? What does he want? And how will the family survive?
Zodiac Starforce #1
Kevin Panetta (W)
Paulina Ganucheau (A)
On Sale in August
They’re an elite group of teenage girls with magical powers who have sworn to protect our planet against dark creatures . . . as long as they can get out of class! Known as the Zodiac Starforce, these high-school girls aren’t just combating math tests. They’re also battling monsters—not your typical afterschool activity! But when an evil force from another dimension infects team leader Emma, she must work with her team of magically powered friends to save herself—and the world—from the evil Diana and her mean-girl minions!
From Kevin Panetta (Bravest Warriors) and Paulina Ganucheau (TMNT: New Animated Adventures, Bravest Warriors), this super-fun and heartfelt story of growing up and friendship—with plenty of magical-girl fighting action—delivers the most exciting new ensemble cast in comics!
Adam.3 #1
Scott Kolins (W/A)
On Sale in August
Award-winning writer and artist Scott Kolins (Past Aways, The Flash, The Avengers, Solomon Grundy) premieres Adam.3.
On a futuristic island paradise populated by talking animals and monitored by orbiting control satellites, the peaceful lives of Adam and his wife Skye are troubled by growing tension between Adam and his previous son, Beo. The situation goes from bad to worse when an alien invader infects the animals—turning them into aliens themselves. When Beo is captured, Adam must battle his transformed animal friends to save his son—and their island home!
Power Cubed #1
Aaron Lopresti (W/A)
On Sale in September
On his eighteenth birthday, Kenny’s inventor father gives him a phenomenal piece of matter-reinterpreting technology, attracting the attention of a bumbling Nazi scientist and an elite government agent. Aaron Lopresti delivers a comical coming-of-age tale in a fantastic sci-fi universe!
The Steam Man #1
Mark Miller (W)
Joe R. Lansdale (W)
Piotr Kowalski (A)
On Sale in October
The Old West (but not as we know it): Giant robots that run on steam power are created to take down invading Martians and armies of killer albino apes in an all-out brawl. The Steam Man, a giant metal man operated by a team of monster hunters, seems to have the town protected and the West under control, until a crazed and powerful vampire comes to town to bring forth the apocalypse.
Chimichanga: Sorrow of the World’s Worst Face #1
Eric Powell (W)
Stephanie Buscema (A)
On Sale in late 2015
Wrinkle’s Traveling Circus’s most adorable bearded girl and her savory-named beast are back, and there is a new act in store! Come one, come all to the Sorrow of the World’s Worst Face! But beware: those who look behind the curtain are in for an awful treat, and it’s not just his face we’re talkin’ about!
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/28/2015
Valiant has just revealed a brand new event at Emerald City Comic Con following up Armor Hunters entitled Book of Death. The following image drawn by Robert Gill was sent as a press release. With a 25th Anniversary, the publisher is looking to celebrate their line including the old and new versions of the company. The image teases a July 2015 release and popular characters like Quantum and Woody, Archer & Armstrong, X-O Manowar, Vincent Van Goat, Ninjak, Rai, Punk Mambo, Bloodshot, Dr. Mirage, Divinity, The Eternal Warrior, Shadowman, Faith, Peter Stanchek, and more hidden in the background. The heroes lurk below what seems to be a representation of Death in the Valiant Universe.
Could we see some characters from the old Valiant line come back in this story? Is this the Blackest Night of Valiant?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/11/2015
Book 1
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Clay Mann
Inker: Seth Mann
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
The Lost Files
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Butch Guice
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Ninjak #1 by Matt Kindt is the ongoing series that you’ve wanted ever since Valiant first relaunched in 2012. The highly sought after British Ninja’s first solo adventure is just what you’d expect, featuring all the guns, swords, and punching that you were hoping for. The first piece of info is a clue into the inner workings of Ninjak’s tools, which is an image perfectly captured and described by the folks at Valiant. This illustrates another important piece of this comic – this is a comic with a lot of substance and ideas that proves itself as an action story with both brains and brawn.
Clay Mann makes a fierce debut to the world of Ninjak, finally getting that big book that is going to set him apart from the competition in the industry. The first battle within the issue is a fight scene containing some incredibly intricate layouts. Mann proves his flexibility in the way he draws the young Colin King (Ninjak) to be so innocent, and the older version to be so cynical. The artist perfectly illustrates the juxtaposition of the two heroes. The streets of the big city look alive with the wonderfully fierce incarnation of an older Colin King invested towards further exploring this new place in which he calls home. Visual cues of technology prove how versatile this artist can be.
The briefing scenes from MI-6 perfectly utilize Ninjak’s own inner monologues to paint a unique landscape that draws attention to itself for all the right reasons. A computer folder shows a slow burn process of Ninjak learning new things about himself that recalls some of the best moments within Rai (also written by Kindt) which has arguably transformed into one of the best ongoings at Valiant Entertainment. The trio of scenes here are still utilized in an even stronger effect, showing that Kindt does have a great pull towards some of the espionage moments that could make a series like this truly great. This title is light on plot, but heavy on espionage. With a host of plot secrets surfing around this issue, Book 1 is a triumphant first solo outing for the hero that has an immense amount of potential to continue to reveal more about the Valiant lands.
The Lost Files backup storyline is another really intriguing debut for Kindt, revealing the sort of middle ground on how King became Ninjak passed his early youth. If I had any gripe with this storyline – I wish this plot was nestled in between the primary feature and the art was made to look more like flashbacks. Making the tale even more dense, and cramming it with more story and intrigue would have led to a really interesting thought experiment that would enlighten the world of Ninjak. Still, it’s incredible that Kindt can tell a story this strong in under ten pages in the back of the book. Also, the tale is even lighter on plot than the opening issue, which is mildly disappointing,
Butch Guice is exactly the brand of awesomeness that Ninjak needs, it’s a quieter less complicated tale that still has the right amount of heavy shadows and linework to really keep my interest peaked. Guice’s work is just as lovely as Mann’s art, and I hope the two will eventually work together within the frame of one story.
Ninjak #1 is a sharp package that contains 30 pages of sheer delight. So many smart ideas and plotting instances are featured throughout this comic. Based on the success of this first installment, team Ninjak could have a book as good as Rai on his hands.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/9/2015
Valiant Entertainment is partnering up with Chinese-based distribution company DMG Entertainment to bring Valiant characters to the big screen, according to a report from The New York Times. The deal is described as a nine-figure investment geared at creating films for global audiences as well as animation, theme parks, and merchandise.
Valiant already has three movies in development, including Archer & Armstrong and Shadowman with the Sean Daniel Company, and Bloodshot with Sony.
DMG Entertainment began as an advertising agency and added movie production to its services in the last 6 years, contributing to the production and distribution of Iron Man 3 in China. DMG’s involvement in Iron Man also contributed to the casting of Chinese actor Wang Xueqi and extra footage shot in Beijing. The company is said to have strong ties to the Chinese government and China Film Group, China’s largest state-run film enterprise.
Though the exact figure of the deal was not disclosed, the description is akin to the 2005 deal cultivated by Marvel and Merrill Lynch, which gave Marvel access to $525 million over eight years – the results of which were lucrative, to say the least.
Picked up Fall of Ninjak, Ant-Man and Hellboy. Hope they’re good reads!