The Valiant #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Well, I didn't expect that.

The good guys fail here.  But, part of the reason that it's so unexpected is that Lemire actually makes you think that he's got a deus ex machina up his sleeve.  We learn that the box that Alcott and his team recovered contains a weapon sent from a future Eternal Warrior to his present self, one that can defeat the Immortal Enemy.  Of course, only the Warrior can open it, so Lemire builds up the dramatic tension by taking him from the battle to wait for Alcott and the box to arrive.  Meanwhile, Bloodshot and Kay fight off the Enemy at the mall, the romantic tension building between them.  You're already for the Warrior open the box, pull out some futuristic bazooka, and take out the Enemy in the nick of time; I could see the final page of Bloodshot and Kay finally kissing before I even got to it.

But, it doesn't happen that way.  The Enemy successfully kills Kay (though she removes the nanites from Bloodshot's body before she dies).  The future Warrior simply sent back a young Geomancer, saving her from a future Enemy.  It raises all sorts of questions about the future for the Warrior.  The world is supposed to be plunged into a Dark Age given the death of the Geomancer (Kay), but the world also still has a Geomancer (the girl), even if she's a time-displaced one.  It's an ambiguous ending, to say the least.

I picked up this series as my attempt to continue to read stories outside the Big Two, and I'm definitely glad that I did.  Lemire does a really great job here telling a nuanced story that the Big Two would be unlikely to tell, and I'm happily following him to "Bloodshot:  Reborn."  If you were on the fence about getting this mini-series, I'd really recommend it, since it does give you a chance to dip your toe into the Valiant pool to see if you like it.  It was great, from start to finish.

**** (four of five stars)

The Valiant #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

As I've read this mini-series, I've obviously had in the back of my mind whether I would wind up collecting a Valiant series after it ended (since it's essentially its whole point). It would definitely be easier if Valiant had some sort of team book, like the Avengers, where I could commit to one book and see where I wanted to go from there.  But, they don't seem to have that.  As such, it sort of puts you in the market for a favorite character to follow.  After this issue, my guess is that I'm going with Bloodshot.

I had considered jumping on the new "Ninjack" series, because I also liked his character.  But, at the end of the day, I just wasn't feeling it.  He's essentially just a ninja.  It doesn't seem much more complicated.  Meanwhile, Bloodshot is a walking enigma, and Lemire does an amazing job of using Kay as a surrogate for the reader as we try to learn more about him.  To be honest, I'm surprised that I find his story compelling, since I hate Wolverine and he's clearly his analogue.  But, Bloodshot seems more human than Logan.  As Lemire says in his notes, you could see him as a uncaring robot with an analytical approach to the world or as a tragic figure with a black sense of humor.  He clearly wants us to believe the former, but Lemire uses Kay to show that it's the latter.  The fact that she manages to pull out the nanites from him also seems to open up a lot of issues.  Is Bloodshot going to have to chose to stay a "robot" now that he seemingly has the option of not being one, making him all the more tragic?

In terms of the issue itself, it's a pretty standard (if beautifully drawn) battle.  The assembled heroes of the Valiantverse attack the Immortal Enemy, but they can't overcome his psychological warfare, as he confronts each hero with their worst failures and fears.  Meanwhile, the spy folks seem ready to open (literally) Pandora's box.  It's a little difficult to believe that we're going to wrap up this story next issue, but I guess we'll see.

*** (three of five stars)

The Valiant #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

As evidence of the solid job that Lemire and Kindt are doing here, I saw the new "Ninjak" series advertised before I read this issue and, after reading it, am likely to get it.  That's totally a win, from the perspective of Valiant's hopes for this series.

At this point, the biggest question that we still have on the table is why the Immortal Enemy strikes when he does.  It seems like he hasn't necessarily come after every Geomancer, otherwise Gilad's face would likely have more scars.  But, he does make a comment about reacting every time a Geomancer rises, so it's still not entirely clear how this dance works.

For the time being, the important part is that the dance has started.  Rivera does a spectacular job showing the fear that the Enemy inspires, from Kay's frantic flight from him to Ninjak's unexpected paralyzation.  One challenge that the author of any team book faces is that you have to make sure that the threats are believable, given that you're dealing with a number of incredibly powerful people.  Rivera really conveys that here.  I'm even freaking scared of the Enemy.  After all, Lemire and Kindt are telling us that fiction can become real, as the Enemy takes the shape of a creepy villain from one of Kay's childhood books.  (Who the hell would read that story to his kid?)  So long as Carnage doesn't appear in my bedroom tonight, we should be good.

In showing how fearsome the Enemy is, the creative team also makes it clear why his arrival inspires the team to come together.  (I'm not sure how Gilad and Ninjak got from the Arctic to Colorado so quickly, but I probably need to stop asking those questions about comics at this point.)  We may not yet know why they're the heroes, but we know now that they are.

Again, all in all, the creative team is definitely delivering on the goal of introducing us to the Valiant universe while, at the same time, giving us an enjoyable story.  Can't ask for much more than that without getting called greedy.

*** (three of five stars)

The Valiant #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've never read a Valiant comic.  I remember all the cool kids at the comic-book shop in the '90s were reading "X-O Manowar," but, alas, I wasn't a cool kid, so I wasn't.  As such, this series is meant exactly for me, the collector who feels intimidated jumping into an entirely new universe.  The good news is that Lemire and Kindt do a great job making it an easy introduction.

By the end of the issue, we know the back stories of a few characters that I recognize just from being a denizen of comic-book shops, such as Bloodshot, Armstrong (of Archer and Armstrong), and X-O Manowar.  We're also introduced to Gilad the Eternal Warrior (Armstrong's brother) and the Geomancer, and Lemire does it in a way that similarly gives you a good sense of who they are and what their goals are.  We've even identified the Big Bad, the Immortal Enemy.  It's still not clear why the Immortal Enemy is charged with killing Geomancers or why Gilad is charged with saving them, but I assume that we'll get there.  We've also got some spy stuff happening on the margins, with Bloodshot collecting some sort of mysterious pacakage for MI-6, that I assume will be important later.

In other words, if you were tempted to get this issue, follow that hunch and get it.  It's not only a great introduction to Valiant, but it's actually, most importantly, an interesting story, and God knows we need as many as those as we can get in comics.

*** (three of five stars)