Underrated: Secret Weapons
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Valiant’s Secret Weapons.
This week I wanted to take a look at a series that, while it isn’t quite over yet, is a fantastic representation of the comic book medium. Valiant’s Secret Weapons is written by Eric Heisserer, the Oscar nominated screen writer of Arrival (which is by all accounts a brilliant movie, but I’ve yet to see it so I can’t comment on its quality), with art by Raul Allen with Patricia Martin and focuses on a group of psiots rejected from the Harbinger Foundation for having useless powers.
For those unfamiliar with Valiant, the Harbinger Foundation and psiots, allow me to liken a psiot to a mutant in the Marvel universe. Except a psiot’s power usually won’t emerge on their own (indeed there are only a handful of self-activated psiots in the Valiant universe), and instead in order for their powers to emerge they have to go through an incredibly painful and often fatal activation process in order to discover what their powers will be. The Harbinger Foundation is the primary source of this activation, and will often invest large amounts of capital and time in locating, activating and training psiots in the hopes that they’ll find the next one person army. Activated powers shown thus far have included flight, the ability to talk to and control technology, super strength, pyrokinesis… and various incredible abilities that will have some level of familiarity to Marvel fans.
But while those are the power levels that the Harbinger Foundation will hope a psiot receives upon activation, what if they end up with something a little less than useful? What if they can make objects appear out of thin air but have no control over what appears? What if the psiot can turn his skin into a statue but can’t move once transformed (what if Colossus couldn’t move in his metal form, basically)?x
That’s where the rejected group of psiots this series focuses on comes in.
Heisserer’s story does reference the past, but one doesn’t need to be any more familiar with the history of the Harbinger Foundation than the above recap – if you even need that as each issue comes with a pretty indepth explanation to get you up to speed anyway.
Although Secret Weapons was originally solicited as a four issue miniseries it has since been expanded with the announcement of a zero issue that will serve as a prequel of sorts, as of this writing only three issues in the series have been released. So why am I writing an entire Underrated on a series that hasn’t ended yet? Isn’t there a risk that despite the quality of the first three issues the creative team will take a sudden dump over the fourth and leave me with egg on my face? Although it’s unlikely, the possibility certainly exists that could happen, but if it did we’d still be left with three comics that are utterly fantastic. 
The primary reason I sat down to write this today is the third issue, and whether the fourth is awful or not it won’t change the fact that this comic is one of the best single issues I have read all year.
Without delving too deeply into spoiler territory, the comic focuses on a Sikh psiot who is attending college in the US. Heisserer uses the story to explore prejudices that we as a society have, and how those we discriminate against are treated. The psiot in question is Avichal Malakar, a young man who wants nothing more than to attend school and to be left alone; we follow him as he is faced with hostile glares from those in his school which he attributes to the fact he wears a turban, and not because he’s actually a psiot. Indeed it becomes apparent throughout the issue that those who hate and fear him don’t care that he bears a slight resemblance to a Muslim at all – only that he’s a super powered freak. The beauty of this comic is that you can honestly read it almost as a standalone issue just for this sequence, but then you’d be missing out on some fantastic character moments with a group of young misfits learning about their abilities in a world that hates and fears them… yeah. This series is ideal for those who want to read an updated homage to the Lee/Kirby era of the X-Men, and it holds up incredibly well against those comics.
You may have noticed already that the art is very distinctive. That’s because Raul Allen and Patricia Martin have a wonderfully unique style that is more than capable of telling a story without any of the words on the page. They use the traditional grid quite a lot in the run of an issue and by doing so they’re able to really show a character’s reactions to the events unfolding on the pages. I’m going to leave a few more randomly selected pages here from various issues in the series, deliberately out of order, so you can get an idea of the comic without really revealing too much about the story. Because I can describe the art all day, but you know what they say about a picture’s worth, right?
If you’re reading this and have made it this far an you’re thinking to yourself that this sounds awesome then you’re not wrong. If your local shop has the issues then I highly recommend you picking them up – even though I have review copies I’m still buying the series – but if they don’t then hold out for the trade. Valiant are usually pretty quick to turn a miniseries into a trade, especially one that’s generating as much love as this one is.
Why is it Underrated? Because it’s better than anything I’ve read from Marvel or DC in months and the sales don’t reflect that.
Unless the comics industry ceases to exist this week, Underrated will return next week.
“Class is in session, and Amanda McKee – the machine-wielding hero codenamed Livewire – is here to show her unconventional class of recruits what it really takes to master power. And lesson number-one is…teamwork! But as these once-abandoned psiot castaways put their pain behind them to become a fully functioning unit, an even deadlier set of challenges will soon rise to meet them…”
This issue sees Avichal Malakar, the statue powered psiot, trying to live his life way from the others only to face hostility from the public – not because as a Sikh he wears a turban, but because he’s a psiot. Without giving too much regarding the content of the comic away, things turn from bad to worse for Avi in a reflection of some of the recent real world issues without ever slapping you in the face with the comparison. Heisserer is a newcomer to comics, but you wouldn’t think it reading this issue – it is quite simply one of the best issues I’ve read all year, and incredibly relevant.
“Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer, writer of the international sensation Arrival, joins forces with Harvey Award-nominated artist Raúl Allén (WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR) for the next electrifying chapter in Valiant’s latest prestige format epic!”
The government has dispatched Amanda McKee – the technopath codenamed Livewire – to investigate the ruins of a secret facility formerly run by Toyo Harada, the most powerful telepath on Earth and her former mentor. In his quest for world betterment at any cost, Harada sought out and activated many potential psiots like himself. Those who survived, but whose powers he deemed to have no value to his cause, were hidden away at this installation. But Livewire, having studied Harada’s greatest strengths and learned his deepest weaknesses, senses opportunity where he once saw failure. A young girl who can talk to birds… A boy who can make inanimate objects gently glow… To others, these are expensive disappointments. But, to Livewire, they are secret weapons…in need of a leader. Now, as a mechanized killer called Rex-O seeks to draw them out, Livewire and her new team of cadets will be forced to put their powers into action…in ways they never could have imagined…
