David: Your friendly neighborhood (if you live in Alaska) Valiant (Re)visions team is back with a little something special for all of you readers out there. We have our first edition of Valiant (Re)visions Power Rankings, in which Brandon Burpee and myself rank the five Valiant books from fifth to first, in order of least to most favorite (but with Valiant, it’s just a sliding scale of awesome, isn’t it?).
We’ll be doing this every month, but for those that aren’t familiar with Power Rankings, it’s a little something sportswriters/fans do obsessively (as seen on ESPN for the NBA). The gist of it is, it’s ranking the best any specific field has to offer, with greater weight set to “what have you done for me lately.”
To put that in comic context, if you were ranking the X-Men comics, sure X-Factor has historically been awesome, but lately it’s been in a slump so it might be falling down the rankings. On the other hand, Uncanny X-Men is the new hotness, so it likely would finish higher.
Got it? Good. Let’s get to the rankings, with a note: spoilers will be discussed here.
Brandon, what’s your number five book for this month?
Brandon: X-Factor is in a slump? I don’t think we’re talking about the same book.
Anyway, to the matter at hand my number five book of the month is also X-O Manowar. To be honest it isn’t just this issue but overall this book tends to be my least favorite Valiant offering. It isn’t a horrible book by any means but it is the least captivating to me. This months issue was pretty bad though in my opinion with some glaring questions regarding how someone else was able to wear the suit and master it so quickly as well as the art not really shining in the slightest. I did enjoy Ninjak and all that but I am hoping to see the book step it up a bit with Planet Death.
Alright, so now on to the #4 spot on the charts!
With that I pass it over to you Mr. Harper. What be your #4?
David: The #4 spot in my ranks falls to Bloodshot. It came down between this and Shadowman, and this issue of Bloodshot I thought was a weaker one after a streak of really solid issues. Great action, but the seventh issue actually had some weight and gravitas to it, and this issue felt a little weaker because of that. Solid writing by Swierczy, though, with good art from Manuel Garcia that occasionally had some uggo moments. Bloodshot is a good book, but it was a bit of a weaker month for it in my book.
My #3 falls to Shadowman then, as this book is, in my opinion, at least the prettiest book Valiant is making. While I love the art team on Archer & Armstrong in particular, I love Patrick Zircher’s art. He creates some really clean, beautiful looking work, and he teams with Justin Jordan to revitalize and relaunch this character incredibly well in this first arc. I’m digging Shadowman, and I just hope they keep this team together going forward. Plus, bonus points for the super rad Master Darque pages early on. Zircher is soooo good.
Continued belowNext is your #3 spot Brandon. What’s in the hole in your batting lineup?
Brandon: My #3 goes to Archer and Armstrong. I do want to point out that these final three could do the flippy flop and be anywhere in this top three in any given month. Though this month I gotta put Archer and Armstrong here because while I really did enjoy the book this month tremendously it didn’t provide me the same excitement as the other two still remaining. It hit every point of a great book, story, writing, art, character work but the lack of the shared universe feel separates it from both Bloodshot and Harbinger. Having said that this issue was probably one of my favorite issues of the series thus far. It also was the only book this month that made me literally chuckle out loud more than once. It really is a great book.
Now on to what I would consider the bread and butter of Valiant for me. #2 goes to Bloodshot. While last month that book would have been my #1 this month it was solid but not as outright awesome as one other book in particular. I would agree with you David that the art had some spotty moments but overall I think the art fit the book incredibly well. I love the Bloodshot character as well as his memory implant child that guides his way. I also love that this book is a big action movie style comic but yet maintains a degree of heart that allows the reader to be invested. It’s overall just plain and simply badass. Also, the momentum going into Harbinger Wars is picking up and I am getting swept up in it and I’m not even going to lie about it. Bring that shit on now!
Alright David, so what do you have at the top tier of your list good sir?
David: Typically, this month’s #2 would be my #1, but overall my #1 book had a better month so it takes the spot. Confusing? Whatever.
#2 is Archer & Armstrong, as the seventh issue was a hilarious good time with fantastic art from Emanuela Lupacchino. Fred Van Lente is such a crazy good fit for this book, it’s not even funny (except when the comic itself is funny). I like how they continued to push the overarching plot while getting us integrated with new potential cast members and villains, and I loved all of the insane and fun moments (“Roman, please” and the car jump from building to building were the best). It’s hard not to love this book, but sorry team Archer & Armstrong, you get #2 this month.
So, Brandon, your #1 is my #1. Why did you put Harbinger as your top book this month?
Brandon: Indeed my #1 is also Harbinger. The book was just super duper solid. Zephyr really shined in this issue and on top of that the action in the book was also well done. Dysart and Perez really murdered the competition with this issue. Traditionally Bloodshot and Harbinger battle for the top Valiant book in my mind but this month it wasn’t even close. On top of all that the hype for me on this book is running at an all time high because we are getting closer and closer to Harbinger Wars which I have a sneaking suspicion is going to take this book into a whole other stratosphere as far as my excitement for it. Shit is good now but very soon shit is going to be AWESOMELY BETTER!
David: Well that’s it for this week’s first edition of the Valiant (Re)visions Power Rankings. Come back next week as we take a look at Justin Jordan and Patrick Zircher’s Shadowman #5! It should be a doozy.
