David: First off, Valiant fans, Matt. Matt, Valiant fans. He’ll be joining me in the future as the co-host of Valiant (Re)visions, and we’re going to start things off with the first salvo in the grand Valiant Next experiment.
And what an experiment it is, as Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt and Paolo Rivera team up for The Valiant #1, the company’s first prestige release, which is set to drop December 10th. Please note, no spoilers are discussed, folks! Anyways, Matt. What are your thoughts on this book? I’m very curious.
Matthew: Hi everyone! I am here now!
My first and immediate thoughts on the book were that I honestly thought it was great. It was a very entertaining read, and for someone like me — who is generally speaking a Valiant neophyte, barely familiar with the original universe and only familiar with select titles in the new — this did everything Valiant and the team promised it would: offered up a strong entrance point to their universe.
I’m sure we’ll get more in-depth as we go, but before I bore everyone with my over-written answers — as the expert of this team, what did you think, David?
David: It was great! There are several things I really loved about it, but the first thing I’d mention is that – like you discovered – it doesn’t require any previous knowledge. Introducing both The Immortal Enemy (which sounds incredibly like a wrestler name) and Gilad in the way it does over the open is such a brilliant way to bring in the main story beats but also unveil important members of the cast, as well as show off the nature of Geomancers. Making books new reader friendly is a tough thing to do, but this one does it really well.
Beyond that, this book just feels big, but not in an inaccessible or over the top sort of way. When I think of prestige format books, I think of Kingdom Come – in my opinion one of the finest DC stories ever told – and this very much feels like it’s operating on a similar scale for the Valiant universe. This is a momentous story, and it conveys that really well. Oddly enough, I think it does it so well because Lemire and Kindt spend so much time in introducing the characters in simple ways, so it makes those big story beats – the Gilad/Immortal Enemy showdowns, all of the Bloodshot section – feel even bigger. It’s a very assured, very well crafted book.
And Paolo Rivera. My god. How great looking is this book? His characters feel so real, his delivery of the story is spectacular and efficient, and the Immortal Enemy…man, they nailed it on this villain. He just looks creepy as all hell.
I’m all in on this Matt. Help me out though. What do you think made this so easy for you to jump in on, and were there any bits that made it more difficult for you as a newcomer to the Valiant U?
Matthew: Well, I think one of the key strengths of this book is a very strong adherence to the “show, don’t tell” philosophy. That’s something that really can’t be understated because a lot of books don’t seem to grasp this otherwise very simple philosophy. Gilad is probably the character I am least familiar with of this group, but given the amount of time we spend with him and that we see of him, I feel like I have more than enough information available to me to understand him.
So, OK, we know that the three main players are Bloodshot, the Geomancer and the Eternal Warrior. The way that we know this is because of how the book introduces us to them: we meet a young Gilad in one of his earliest confrontations with the Immortal Enemy and this tells us everything we need to know about him and that greater conflict (with some details to assumedly be revealed later). We see the Geomancers through time so we understand Kay’s importance even without her little soliloquy, but that we see her in action and spend some time with us familiarizes us with her and her personality. We come to Bloodshot in media res and can piece together everything we need to know about him from that scene, and I think it’s pretty darn clear what kind of a character he is.
Continued belowThere’s no overbearing text explaining who they are, there’s no sequences where someone describes the events of twenty comics I may not have read — everything is presented in front of us as is, and we can make reasonable assumptions and put everything else together from there. The team trusts the reader. That to me speaks volumes about the type of overall endeavor that this is, as I think my biggest problem with events is that, for a lot of them, you really “have to” read Books X, Y and Z as prelude, otherwise you miss out on details A, B or C — and that’s clearly not the case here.
And while, sure, I feel like maybe I’ve missed a few nice informing character beats here — there’s some undefined characters like Bloodshot’s partner and X-O Manowar is kind of thrown in there — it’s a book that’s pretty welcoming for a self-described neophyte such as myself. So, no, I don’t think anything made it difficult for me to join in.
David That’s awesome to hear. One of the things that I think is the most interesting about Valiant is how it delivers the “superhero” experience of a shared universe (I put superhero in quotes because it’s hard to call these characters heroes at all, really, besides Gilad) without all of the baggage. I think this issue is a pitch perfect example of just that. You get a hell of an introduction that – as you said – trusts the reader, but delivers some excellent characters beats and stunning moments.
What are your thoughts on Rivera? I mean, when are they going to replace that guy, am I right?
Matthew: Rivera. Pfft.
I think, honestly, Rivera is the best man for the job. I think that for two reasons — the first obviously being that he’s a fantastic artist. My fondest memories of Rivera are related to Daredevil and Spider-Man so as far as traditional superheroics goes he’s certainly well practiced. Here, however, he gets to really explore different levels of his talent; there’s some pretty baller action with Bloodshot that’s big and bombastic and fun, but then there’s more controlled and precise movements focused on the motion of Gilad through the ages that I think he handles really well, each period being identified not just by setting but by motion and how the characters interact with one another. It’s a very clever angle.
The second thing, and maybe you can even speak more to this than I can, is that Rivera is new to Valiant just as I am, just as Lemire is. Kindt is the only Valiant regular on the book overall, you know? And because of that I think it allows Rivera to approach the characters in a way that helps really bring out their personalities, what we should like about them — Kay is the most obvious example of this, surely, and I’ve actually read her introduction from “Archer & Armstrong,” but this still feels different — fresh faced, more optimism, the same Kay but somehow still new. And then we get someone like Armstrong, who Rivera clearly just has a lot of fun with, and if this book represents a tour of the Valiant Universe then I can’t wait to see what little ways Rivera will bring out the best in other characters who stop by to hang out.
David: Yeah it’s his first work in the Valiant universe (besides maybe a cover I can’t recall). I thought his work with Kay, besides maybe his work with the Immortal Enemy, was his best work in the issue. The character acting in the scene where she’s talking to Armstrong before it’s revealed that is who she is talking to is just superb. The range of emotions he takes her through tells you everything you need to know about her, without even needing words. Not to get all lofty and over praise-y, but Rivera’s gifts as someone who can reveal real emotional truth to a character through his art is unparalleled. The guy is brilliant.
This is an extreme advance so don’t get too specific, as the book isn’t out for a month, but what was your favorite moment of this issue? I’m going to go two fold: the two page splash and the Grendel/Beowulf bit. That latter part when I was reading it, I just thought in my head, “you guys are damn geniuses” about Lemire, Kindt and Rivera.
Continued belowMatthew: My favorite moment would probably be [moment redacted due to Matt ignoring the spoiler-y nature of the discussion]. That was pretty great.
Honestly, I think most of the set-up between the Eternal Warrior and the Immortal Enemy was pretty great. I like the idea that a big event can be set-up from these disparate but linked moments, and I liked that Lemire, Kindt and Rivera found ways to show moments of the past that are otherwise the same thing over and over in different and still surprising ways. We sometimes talk about the repetitive nature of superhero comics, but the team literally put together the same scenario over and over, the same scenario that is the basis for this event, and somehow still made it exciting and new each time it reoccured. That’s really impressive.
David: I completely agree with you there. The storytelling in this comic is absolutely first rate. So does that I mean I can trust you’re in on this adventure into Valiant with me?
Matthew: Absolutely. I’m all in.
David: All in like [character who dies in the first issue of this but does he really I’m not sure but you should totally buy this comic and find out because it’s great]!
So let’s give it a grade. I’ll give it an 8.5. It’s a bit beyond my typical pick of the week style. I’d say this is amongst the best Valiant has produced in their first couple years. First rate comic booking by everyone involved, and hell, it generated a “Kingdom Come” comparison from me. It’s getting a good grade. What would you give it?
Matthew: I’m going a little bit lower, just an 8.0, because fractions confuse me. It’s definitely a great book, very solid in terms of construction and craft, and I would imagine this may end up being Valiant’s biggest book. I hope it is.
