Original Valiant Covers Columns 

Unifying Valiant, Part 17: ‘Unity’ Chapter #10-13

By | October 24th, 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 things start to get stranger as we’ve reached the back half of the ‘Unity’ crossover. What new disturbing secrets can we learn from Erica Pierce, and how twisted will the VALIANT Universe timeline be once this is all done?

It’s Place within VALIANT:

As the second month of “Unity’ starts we begin to see the signs of a significant shift within VALIANT. The company’s 2-year foundation and ever-increasing momentum have made it a market darling, and that notoriety has really started to bring in more readers. Maintaining the formula that has gotten them here, these issues are chock full of cameos, violence and a strong interwoven connectivity.

The major departure for the second month of the crossover are the covers. The first month featured covers by industry giant Frank Miller. While his unique style did not always translate with that of the characters that populate the VALIANT Universe, all the covers were unapologetically drawn in the early 90’s Miller style. The results are very stylistic, moody pieces that flesh out the darker undertones of the VALIANT characters. For the second month, the covers were provided by Walt Simonson. Simonson would end up drawing eight separate covers for the entirety of the second month. With the exception being the cover to “Unity” #1. Simonson’s eight covers could be brought together to form a single piece, maintaining VALIANT’s flair for marketing gimmicks.

The Simonson covers would all unite to form a single mosaic art piece.

The September issues of ‘Unity’ continue to show increased print runs. Working off the base level established during the first month, all the issues saw either the same distribution levels or slight increases. “Eternal Warrior,” and “Archer & Amstrong” remained stable at 140,000 to 150,000 units. While “Magnus” and “X-O Manowar” saw increases of about 20,000 units each to reach the same 145,000 unit mark.

Storyline Summary:

‘Unity’ Chapter #10-13
Publication dates: September 1992

Written by Jim Shooter (Eternal Warrior #2, Archer & Armstrong #2 & Magnus #16), Barry Windsor-Smith (Archer & Armstrong #2), Roger Stern (Magnus #16) and Bob Layton (X-O Manowar #8)

Penciled by John Dixon (Eternal Warrior #2), Barry Windsor-Smith (Archer & Armstrong #2), Ernie Colón (Magnus #16) and Mike Leeke (X-O Manowar #8)
Inked by Kevin VanHook (Eternal Warrior #2), Bob Layton (Archer & Armstrong #2), Ernie Colón (Magnus #16) and Tom Ryder (X-O Manowar #8)
Colored by Mark Csaszar (Eternal Warrior #2), Maurice Fontenot (Archer & Armstrong #2), Ernie Colón (Magnus #16) and Jorge González (X-O Manowar #8)
Lettered by Jade Moede (Eternal Warrior #2), Joe Albelo (Archer & Armstrong #2), George Roberts (Magnus #16) and Ken Lopez (X-O Manowar #8)

With the initial resistance force defeated after Solar was taken out by Erica Pierce, some of the individuals in the various groups have fractured off and gone their own separate way. As time goes on the main group continues to pester Erica, but it is clear that her goal is to keep them at bay while she finishes her Unity machine. Spurred by the group’s ineffectiveness, Geoff the Geomancer, decides to take things into his own hands. Coming across a record he had taken from the dead Erica’s house on the night the original Erica killed her. The record, having been a childhood possession of Erica, tells Geoff of all the traumatic and apparent molestation Erica suffered at the hands of her father. Determined to reach her emotionally, Geoff breaks into the Citadel and into Erica’s chambers. While the presence of the record and Geoff’s pleading that she is not to blame for her past move Erica, his mentioning of her own apparent molestation of her son Albert triggers her rage. Realizing Geoff is missing, both Eternal Warriors follow him into the citadel reaching him just as Erica appears to instantly evaporate Geoff. Unable to stop her, both Warriors attack Erica, but to no avail.

Continued below

There's an ever-present intrinsic beauty to Barry Windsor-Smith's work.

Needing to escape, the Eternal Warriors fight their way out of the citadel, with the 4001 Gilad taking a significant hit. Retreating to the Harbinger hideout, they are greeted by the kids, Magnus, Rai, Archer and Armstrong. Realizing Geoff has been left behind, the group renews their attack. Luckily, they are able to find Geoff unharmed, but in the battle Magnus takes an extreme beating at the hands of Erica. Kris, who is on the verge of giving birth, asks about Magnus as the group begins to trickle back. Finding out he’s been left behind she forces Sting to save him. He obliges and conducts a one-man evacuation of Magnus and Geoff. As the group settles in, Kris finally gives birth to a baby boy. A baby boy who, according to Geoff, will grow up to become Magnus.

Meanwhile, Aric and the X-O armor have diverged from the main resistance force and has setup his own burgeoning civilization. Surrounded by savages, Aric has parlayed his Visigothian roots into a leadership position amongst a number of the native groups. Erica, realizing that the power Aric possess is significant, decides to distract him in order to remove the armor. Knowing Aric’s penchant for women, she sets up a peace meeting offering him a small harem. As Aric partakes of his gift, Erica is able to convince the armor to leave his side, leaving him open to attack. The resulting battle completely destroys Aric’s forces and leaves him in the jaws of a Tyrannosaurus. Only the armor, which comes back to save Aric, is able to keep him alive. While Aric is able to endure and live to fight another day, he is faced with a new challenge. Only the armor is keeping him alive after the brutal mauling, and he’ll have to stay in it for the next ten years to fully heal.

Two Eternal Warriors are always better than one?

Review:

Continuing with the avant-garde creative decisions from the first month of ‘Unity,’ the second month continues to carry the baton. There are a lot of things to love about this crossover, but by far the most interesting is the unabashed violence. While the emergence of the independent market has brought with it a large influx of violent books to the comic’s medium, in the early 90’s it was still a very fresh and non-industry like move. These four issues continue to show off the attraction of such violence and how it can help spur the narrative along. Additionally, we have the ever-present molestation and strange incestual relationships surrounding Erica Pierce, which act as both her motive and sympathetic trait.

By far the most enjoyable issue from this set was “X-O Manowar.” It just continues to be a fun ride. With the writing duties transitioning from Jim Shooter to Bob Layton, one could almost expect a slight shift in the tone. Remarkably, both creators have a very similar voice in regards to Aric. Maintaining the violent yet noble charm that is iconic to the character. The X-O issue also has probably the best use of dinosaurs within the series. Not only are they more at home with Aric’s ragtag group of savages, Mike Leeke does a beautiful job of drawing them to a relatively consistent scale.

Ernie Colón's painted work was made for Magnus

The rest of the work within these issues is on par with what can be expected from VALIANT. I consistently fall in love with Ernie Colón’s work in Magnus, at the painted style does so much for that storyline. Gone for the second month of ‘Unity’ are the Frank Miller covers, replaced with covers by Walter Simonson. These covers, while not as moody as those from Miller, are beautiful in their own right and come together to form a stunning mosaic art piece.

Only a real Visigoth can survive being mauled by a T-Rex.

The primary downfall of these chapters is one that began to rear its head during the previous set. It is that of consistency within the story’s continuity. There is a significant amount of repetition layered across the different issues given that the story is told from the point of view of various characters. The downfall to this becomes exacerbated when reading it the ‘Unity’ storyline in one shot, as any inconsistencies flare up light a flame. Within these chapters, it has to do with the realization that there are two Eternal Warriors. While the characters look exactly alike with the exception of their clothing, many of the surrounding characters fail to notice this until the story has significantly progressed. Additionally, sometimes the group from 4001 arrive before the big battle and sometimes they arrive during the big battle. The difference being the people they are exposed to. The net result are occasions during the back half of the story where people are acting as if they are meeting the Eternal Warrior or Magnus for the first time. It very well could be that the casual reader would not be bothered by this, but I myself find it just a bit distracting. Then you have the issue with Geoff, who apparently is incinerated in the issue of the “Eternal Warrior,” but then is found in a separate area of the citadel within the pages of “Magnus.” The whole sequence detracts from the quality of the storyline unnecessarily.

Continued below

Coming up Next:

Finally, the home stretch! As we close out ‘Unity’ and our review of these early VALIANT years make sure to read “Shadowman” #5, “Rai” #7, “Harbinger” #19, “Solar” #13 and “Unity” #1. There’ll be some significant ramifications to the VALIANT Universe, so make sure you keep up.


//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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