After a couple of weeks of catch up articles, we are into a normal run for Thursday’s Valiant Effort. This week we have a couple of issues to review and some news to cover about upcoming events in the Valiant Universe that you should be excited about. If you need to catch up, check out my December summary or the first half of January summary and read up on what you missed. Please leave some comments about what you like and what you don’t.
This cold weather that we have been having should give you more time to snuggle up and read some great comics.
Eternal Warrior #5 – Gilad, the Eternal Warrior, has lived a long time. In this new issue, Valiant throws a curve by hurtling us into the future to the year 4001 A.D. – where Gilad is now looking old and is living in a village on the plains. The sudden appearance of some sort of mechanical bison monster shakes up the status quo. This means that there is someone out there reviving the old machines. The Eternal Emperor, as he is now called, has been keeping this community safe for years, but times they are a-changing. A terrible crisis struck the people of the village that motivates Gilad and his granddaughter to leave the village and head toward the “city” and find out exactly what is happening. This is advertised as a new arc for Eternal Warrior and it delivers on that promise. At the end of this issue, there is a great prequel to the upcoming Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corp #0 coming February 26, 2014.
X-O Manowar #21 – “Unity” continues here. At first we get some history of Aric’s childhood, with his father talking to him about freedom after a crushing defeat at the hands of the Romans. Then things jump back to the present where Aric and his Visigoths are in Camp Sigma Detention Center. The thing to remember is that Aric is without the X-O Manowar armor, since it was taken from him by Livewire of Harada’s Unity team. Because of this, his armor is lost to him even though he can still feel it out there. Aric is taken in for questioning and things get interesting. The government knows about the armor, but what they don’t know is what is happening to Aric on a seemingly genetic level, almost like his body is replicating some sort of armor. This is a cool twist to the story and leads to next issue where Aric is presented with the opportunity to join the government and save his people.
Other big news in the Valiant Universe: The Armor Hunters storyline will be starting with the first issue on Free Comic Book Day. Also, April brings some big things to Harbinger starting with issue #22 and the death of one of the Renegades. “It’s not hyperbole to say that EVERYTHING will change after this,” stated Joshua Dysart, writer of Harbinger in an interview with USA Today. “People say that, but in the past we’ve proven that we mean it. And this time I think people will be very surprised as to what’s going to happen in this book.”
Valiant has a great many things planned for this year and, when you look at their line-up, they really have a book for almost any fan. I will keep reporting on the weekly releases and big news events as long as you keep coming back and reading.
Even just a little tidbit of information can be enough to build up my interest in a book sometimes, articles like this give me a a big wishlist full of rainy day comics to pursue!