Original Valiant Covers Columns 

Unifying Valiant, Part 5: “Magnus, Robot Fighter” #5-8 & “Rai” Prequel #1-4 – ‘Invasion’

By | July 18th, 2017
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Welcome to Unifying VALIANT, our celebration of the 25-year anniversary of VALIANT’s companywide crossover ‘Unity.’ A precursor to the now omnipresent annual comic event, ‘Unity’ and VALIANT changed the face of the comic industry in the early ‘90’s. In each entry we’ll be focusing on one of the company’s storylines until culminating at ‘Unity.’ Follow along as we dig deep and rediscover what made VALIANT the innovative and revolutionary company it was.

This week we’re reviewing “Magnus, Robot Fighter” #5-8 & “Rai” Prequel #1-4 – ‘Invasion.’

It’s Place within VALIANT:

The second “Magnus: Robot Fighter” storyline can be seen as a turning point for the company. Emerging from the Gold Key characters of the past and flowing into an era of innovative characters VALIANT could call their own, the ‘Invasion’ arc bridges together almost all the characters available at the time. Within this 4-issue run we not only see Magnus and Solar, we see the Spider-Aliens and the introduction of Rai. Rai will emerge as one of the most beloved creations from VALIANT’s Pre-Unity period, and while his own series would not be published until March 1992 (after the Harbinger team makes their debut in their own team book, making them the first official non-Gold Key comic) this preview series proved VALIANT could successfully reach beyond their licensed characters.

Maintaining their theme of exclusive premiums these four issues contain the cutaway coupons for “Magnus” #0 plus their accompanying trading cards. Additionally, the issues feature the first flip-book treatment. This meant that the book would be split in two with each portion printed 180° from each other, thus allowing the reader to flip it over (ala “Marvel Comics Presents”). The issues would contain a 13-16 page “Magnus” story with an equally sized accompanying “Rai” story on the other side. While each portion would change the focus towards their titular character the storyline would flow through and thread everything together.

The techno organic aesthetic comes across beautifully in Rai.

These four issues also mark the first significant intermingling of creators within a specific title. While the “Solar” story arc released during the same period would show some deviations from the original creative group, these four issues saw a barrage of credit changes. Clearly the demands of the “Rai” features lent themselves to using multiple creators. The most interesting of these is Paul Creddick’s work on “Magnus” #5. A pseudonym Jim Shooter used when working as a penciller, Paul Creddick is in fact Jim Shooter’s brother-in-law. Shooter has been noted to say that he would use the pseudonym because he “didn’t want to let anybody know we couldn’t afford to hire a real artist.” This would also feature the first work by David Lapham, who would go on to find success with his self-published “Stray Bullets.” Other notable changes would include work by Ernie Colón (an original Gold Key artist), the menagerie of new talent collectively known as Knob Row, scripting help from “Super Mario Brothers” writer Laura Hitchcock, as well as the transition from Bob Layton and Janet Jackson to newer creators (Layton would transition to X-O Manowar while Jackson would spend more time editing.)

VALIANT, standing on firmer ground now that their universe had received a positive reception, would show the first signs of increasing print runs. “Magnus” would shift from a print run of 60,000 units for issues #2-4 to 70,000 for issue #5, 75,000 for issue #6-7 and 80,000 for issue #8. Much of this increase is attributable to the popularity of the flip-book design though, as subsequent issues would recede to their prior print levels.

Storyline Summary:

“Magnus, Robot Fighter” #5-8 & “Rai” Prequel #1-4
Publication dates: October 1991 – January 1992

Written by Jim Shooter & Laura Hitchcock

Penciled by Paul Creddick, David Lapham & Mark Moretti
Inked by Bob Layton, Kathryn Bolinger, Jon Holdredge, Ernie Colón, Tom Ryder & Maria Beccari
Colored by Janet Jackson, Knob Row & Jade Moede
Lettered by Jade Moede, B.K. Joyce, Ken Lopez & Joseph Daniello

In Japan, the 41st Rai, Rentaro Nakadai, is charged with protecting Grandmother, the sentient freewill brain of Japan. Over the millennia as Japan became more industrialized the country’s central processes had been consolidated into one mainframe that achieved freewill. From that moment forward she looked after Japan much like an elder would guide and protect their offspring. Injury and age has prompted Rentaro to call for his son. The time has come for Tohru Nakadai to take on the mantle of Rai. His wife, Kazuyo, refuses to accept. As it would mean that their son, Takashi, would be given to Grandmother to train as the next Rai. Grandmother’s opposition though, has brought Magnus to their side, forcing Tuhru’s hand in accepting his mantle and delivering his son.

Continued below

Magnus, having been offered diplomatic immunity by Grandmother’s opposition, the Ambassador to Japan, Shigeru Tsuda, has been brought to deal with her freewill status. Before joining though he is visited by Solar. Solar warns Magnus of an upcoming invasion by the Spider-Aliens. Only Grandmother, with her advanced fortress defenses, can stand in their way. The Spider-Aliens though have infiltrated the Anti-Grannie movement and tricked them into unleashing a virus in Grandmother’s brain.

Rai’s inadvertent severing of Grandmother’s arm has vast ramifications for the coming battle.

Attacked and infested with the virus, Grandmother loses control. Finally composing herself she creates a construct out of her neural fibers to avoid the effects of the virus. Her right arm though is severed by Rai inadvertently during a battle. As she pleas for him then to save himself and his son Takashi, Rai locates the viral cancer and cuts it off. The resulting explosion knocks out power to the entire country, leaving Rai unconscious and Grandmother presumed dead.

Having been unable to stop Tsuda, Magnus makes his way inside Grandmother. Once inside her neural core he begins working on restarting Grandmother’s mind. After 1-A appears they agree that the only way to restart Grandmother is by using 1-A’s freewill independent power source to bring her back online, which results in Grandmother merging with 1-A’s consciousness.

Meanwhile, Rai is unable to locate his son as he’s housed within the damaged portion of Grandmother. Unable to go into full battle mode due to the damage, Grandmother instructs Magnus to disable that portion of her structure. Regrettably, that would mean sentencing Rai’s son to death. When Rai learns of Magnus’ intentions he battles to stop him. Throughout the battle though, Magnus implores Rai to realize that unless Grandmother is able to go into full battle mode the Spider-Alien invasion will roll over them unchecked, killing billions. Ultimately, Rai himself severs the crippled portion, knowing full well that the blood of his son’s life is on his hands. Unbeknownst to Rai his wife, Kazuyo, is able to penetrate through the rubble. Reaching her son Takashi and saving him.

This Lapham/Layton cover leaves no doubt about the issue’s contents.

With Grandmother no longer restricted by her severed limb she converts into her full battle mode. Transforming her techno organic skin the whole of Japan rises up from the sea and converts into a mechanical lizard dragon. Reaching into space Grandmother engages the Spider-Alien armada causing huge casualties with her thermonuclear plasma-fire.

With the battle raging in space above Earth the Spider-Aliens send an infiltration team to take out Grandmother’s neural core. As both Magnus and Rai protect her from the invading X-O armored horde, the battle outside is starting to take its toll on Grandmother. By concentrating their attack the Spider-Aliens are able to disable the thermonuclear plasma-fire. Sensing the state Grandmother is in, Solar once again joins the fray, utilizing his abilities to supercharge Grandmother’s plasma-fire, and in one instant wipes out the majority of the fleet. Grandmother and her occupants though, can no longer return to Earth, as the damage from the battle has been too intensive. As such she gives the people of Japan a new era, one where they can live in orbit within her or return to Earth to a robot free Japan.

Review:

While the flip-book design was highly successful, the true star of the issues is the writing. The resulting storyline that emerged was expertly written, creating an exhilarating read. Shooter does a masterful job of threading the focus of the story between Magnus and Rai, creating a scenario in which their interaction wouldn’t come off as contrived. Even Solar’s appearance seems to fit in seamlessly. Given the character’s power base the fact that he’d still be alive 2,000 years after his appearance in his own series feels perfectly plausible.

The art throughout the storyline is also a strongpoint. Remaining remarkably consistent given the three separate artist contributions. This is especially true since we have Shooter himself providing the pencils for “Magnus” #5. While his art credits have been limited throughout his career he did a wonderful job maintaining the style that had been established in the prior ‘Steel Nation’ storyline. David Lapham’s art, in particular the Rai issues, are very beautiful. Blending together the techno-organic feel of Grandmother and Japan, he brought a dynamic sense to what can come across as mundane robotics.

Continued below

The coloring on the Grandmother battle scenes stand out as some of the best produced by Knob Row.

Additionally, his Rai is a vibrant character showing a great dearth of movement, reminiscent to some of the great “Daredevil” pieces from the 1980’s. That being said, some of the most interesting panels within the issues come from Mark Moretti. In particular the scenes of a battle ready Grandmother looking like a giant lizard (dragon) hovering over Earth. The visuals found on pages 1 & 2 of issue #8 are downright breathtaking with the artwork highlighted by Knob Row’s best coloring to date.

The only real knock to the ‘Invasion’ storyline would be “Magnus” #5. While the transitionary nature of the issue was a necessary component to get Magnus to Japan, the Slagger subplot comes across as a fill-in attempt. Furthermore, given that the entire scenario plays out in Goph levels, we are privy to that incessant Goph dialect. Luckily Shooter downplayed much of the lingo this time around, making it significantly more palatable than in the ‘Steel Nation’ storyline.

The lives of billions outweigh the life of his son.

Given that the storyline is briskly paced, there are portions that could have benefited from additional panels. During Magnus’ and Rai’s battle over the concerns of severing Grandmother’s damaged limb, the consequences of leaving Takashi could have been more fully explored. Given the immense ramifications from doing something as abandoning your child makes for excellent story fodder. Thus, the storyline could have been drawn out a bit more. While ultimately Takashi is rescued by his mother, and Rai did battle Magnus for a significant number of panels, the internal battle within Rai could have been further explored.

Regardless of the out of place nature of issue #5 the storyline remains a brilliant one. The clear and distinct vision provided by a singular writer has thus far provided a streamlined story that has incorporated its various characters in a remarkably unified fashion. These first glimpses of the VALIANT universe’s interconnectivity bode well as we inch closer to their companywide ‘Unity’ event.

Market Presence:

Even though each issue produced by VALIANT so far had been well received by readers, the amount of market penetration the company had been able to achieve was limited thus far. Between October 1991 and November 1991 the Voyager line (which included VALIANT and the VALIANT produced WWF and Nintendo comics) registered a 1.13% and 1.42% share respectively. While trending in the right direction, when you take into account that Marvel and DC had 53% and 28% of the market it is clear that there was still room for a lot of growth.

When Solar takes over Grandmother’s firing system the Spider-Aliens don’t stand a chance.

Coming up Next:

After that monster of a storyline it is time to shift gears as we meet up with the kids of the Harbinger Foundation. Pick up and read “Harbinger” #1-4 – ‘Children of the Eighth Day’ as we meet the younger superheroes of the VALIANT universe while on our way to ‘Unity.’


//TAGS | Unifying Valiant

Rodney Ortiz

When not writing about comics you can find Rodney blogging about home improvement and cars at SmartEnoughtoDIY. He's also read every Star Wars Legends novel which is not as impressive as it once was.

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