Script: AJ Ampadu Art: Emiliano Correa, Marina Leon Main Cover: Luca Erbetta Variant Covers: Toby Willsmer (B), Luca Erbetta VIRGIN (C), Toby Willsmer VIRGIN (D) On Sale Date: 6/26/24 Rated T+ 32-page, full color comic $4.99 U.S.
The line between ally and foe blurs as these two extraordinary warriors clash in a battle that will redefine the very essence of danger. Ninjak’s latest mission catapults him into a face-off with the lethal and enigmatic Roku. In a pulse-pounding race against time, Ninjak finds himself at odds with this formidable adversary, both vying for the same coveted prize.
Alien Books has announced Resurgence of the Valiant Universe, a special event kicking off in September. The eventis set to dramatically alter the Valiant Universe beginning with the can’t-miss crossover comic book Resurgence of the Valiant Universe #1!Written by the team of co-writers Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad with art by Guillermo Fajardo, Lautaro Ftuli, Ezequiel Inverni, and Marina Leon, the 4-issue mini-series will follow iconic Valiant heroes including X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Ninjak, Ivar, Rai, Livewire, Faith and more through a world they no longer recognize as the villainous Dr. Silk rewrites the rules of heroism, governance, and death itself.
Alien Books and Valiant Entertainment’s publishing partnership began in 2023 and saw a return of many iconic comic series to comic shops and digital platforms. The ‘Road to Resurgence’ banner has adorned titles including X-O Manowar Invictus and The Valiants as the groundwork for this game-changing crossover event was carefully planned and plotted by the villainous Dr. Silk. All of the planning and machinations come to a head in September as Silk’s vision for the future of humanity takes hold and unleashes a threat that will forever change the lives and destinies of the Valiant Universe’s heroes.
Dr. Silk, once an infamous villain, is now a beacon of hope! But his promise of utopia and to make humans immortal has divided the entire planet and set everyone at odds. How will our heroes react to this new world order and who will be left standing at the end?
Resurgence of the Valiant Universe #1 releases September 18 in comic shops nationwide, and will boast an assortment of covers by Guillermo Fajardo, Agustin Alessio, Juan José Ryp, and Mico Suayan.
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: Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior.
Just under a year and a half aog, Valiant Entertainment released a deluxe hardcover edition collecting the entire 14 issue run of Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior along with Eternal Warrior: Awakening #1. Fifteen comics presented in an over-sized hardcover along with 20 odd pages of bonus extras that add a lot for those interested in the process of the creation of the series, all for $49.99. And yes, I did buy this myself (and happily so) despite having access to the review copies and single issues I had picked up when released.
This series remains one of my all time favourites, so getting a chance to read it all in one spot was something I couldn’t pass up.
But despite this being one of my all time greats, it wasn’t until about the midway point that I fell for the series. Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior didn’t start out as a series that wowed me. The first four issues seemed to struggle with pacing and the art style, especially given the series billing as a follow-up to the explosively exciting Book Of Death miniseries that (spoiler) ended in the Eternal Warrior’s death. It’s that death, and those that follow, that form the crux of the series, but without the first four issues you don’t realize the toll taken on the Eternal Warrior with each death and resurrection cycle. The comics that I felt struggled with pacing quickly became some of the most important ground-setting in modern comics – a lesson that I took to heart, and quickly so.
Comics, like all stories, need time to breath.
It would also be fair to say that the art team of Raul Allen and Patricia Martin were not immediately to my taste. In furtherance to that, it would also be fair to say that my taste quickly changed as the series progressed and the elegance and artistic genius of the husband and wife team gave me a new appreciation of the majesty of sequential art. There are other artists who contribute to the series, all with a fantastic level of talent; it’s these contributions that give the series the honour of being one of the most visually stunning and diverse pieces of sequential art published by Valiant.
Robert Venditti has written some incredible comics in his time, but one of the finest examples of his work comes in the fourteen issue run of Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior. Taking you on a journey through history, across continents and beyond death, Venditti weaves an incredibly deep tale that reveals a different layer upon each subsequent reading.
It’s also violent as all hell in places, which should satisfy the need we have for a bit of blood and conflict in our comics, but there’s also a deep emotional story here that cannot – and should not – go ignored. The Eternal Warrior is an ancient being, and his life has not always been sunshine and roses – but he still picks himself up and dusts himself off.
Isn’t there a saying that’s roughly it isn’t how many times we fall, but how many times we pick ourselves up?
Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior is a fantastic series, and I envy those of you who get to read the entire thing in one sitting; the deluxe hardcover is worth picking up for that series alone, which is why I haven’t mentioned Eternal Warrior: Awakening at any point in this week’s column because that’s the cherry on top of the fantastic main course. Mixed metaphors aside, Awakening is another really good comic, and serves as another nice bonus for those who buy the collection.
I’ll make no secret of my abject love for this series, indeed the fact I own both the individual issues and the deluxe hardcover when I also have access to the review copies should hopefully speak volumes to that love. It’s a love that I genuinely believe you’ll share when you give the series a chance – it’s an underrated gem.
Join us next week when we look at something else that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.
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: Eternal Warrior: Sword of the Wild
It should be no secret to you that I am a huge fan of Valiant comics. I’ve also made no secret of my love for the Eternal Warrior. But a lot of that love stems from Book Of Death and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, and not his first solo series offered since Valiant’s 2012 relaunch, the eponymously titled Eternal Warrior. I first read that series shortly after Book Of Death and didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, and although I’ve heard mixed opinions on it since, I wanted to give the first four issues in the series another chance (you can find them collected as Sword Of The Wild, hence the full title of this week’s column, and what I’ll be referring to them as going forward).
The back of the trade dressing (apparently) reads;
Soldier. Guardian. Warrior. Legend. Across ten millennia and a thousand battlefields, Gilad Anni-Padda has traversed the darkest, most mysterious corners of history. But the horror and bloodshed of constant warfare has finally taken its toll on the man myth calls the Eternal Warrior…and he has abdicated his duties as the Fist and the Steel of Earth for a quiet life of seclusion. But when a blood vendetta from the distant past suddenly reappears in the modern day, he must decide if he will return to the ways of war…for the child who betrayed him thousands of years ago…
Before rereading Sword of the Wild I realised that I had to look at the book as its own entity, removed from the larger continuity of the Valiant universe as a whole. This realisation came because for me Sword of the Wild doesn’t tie in to the portrayal of the Eternal Warrior we were given in Unity, and subsequently Book Of Death and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior (although the latter two came after Sword of the Wild) nor the general continuity Valiant had built at the time. Once I had taken that mentality with the book, I sat down, opened the front cover and got started… and was immediately transported to what felt like a reimagination of the 90’s era Eternal Warrior.
I say this because although the book doesn’t lot in as well with the Valiant continuity as other books and series have done, it’s still a really enjoyable read. More so than I initially expected. When you look at this book as a standlone story about an immortal warrior finally having enough of the world’s shit and just wants to live the rest of his long days in peace (or at least a portion of them), and remove any preconcieved notions of how it could or should fit into the other stories featuring Gilad Anni-Padda, then you’ll find that there’s a really compelling four issue arc here.
Just on that maybe lines up better with the pre-relaunch Valiant comics than the Valiant Entertainment era.
I really enjoyed this book – far more than I expected to. So why is it today’s subject? Because I hear very few people talk about this volume with the enthusiasm the character deserves because it doesn’t fit the larger Valiant continuity as well as it could. But as a standalone story? It’s pretty good – that’s why the book is Underrated.
Join us next week when we look at something else that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.
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: Crecy.
I’ve always been interested by the middle ages, and the English use of the longbow. In part because it’s the origin of one of my favourite hand gestures to use (especially in North America when so few actually know what I’m doing in pictures). Needless to say, when I saw that gesture over a bloody St. George’s cross, I grabbed the book off the shelf. And then noticed that it was a Warren Ellis book.
I am by no means an authority on the Battle of Crecy. I only really know of a few accounts through Wikipedia articles and their sources and the Bernard Cornwall novels surrounding an English Archer named Thomas of Hookton, with the book Harlequin telling the tale of the battle from his perspective. So I won’t claim to know that this book is 100% historically accurate, but it is as faithful a telling as you’re likely to find from the eyes of an archer – whether in a textbook or not.
Ellis utilizes a lead character who frequently addresses the audience when telling the battle’s story and events, showing knowledge of modern times without ever indicating that he knows he’s in a fictional story. It’s an effective story device, and one that I really enjoy for this type of story (but I hope we don’t see it over used, either). The black and white are hides some of the violence, but serves to highlight the mayhem and carnage of the day.
Crecy is a great book – worth every penny of the cover price, and far more Underrated than it should be.
Join us next week when we look at something else that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.
Written by Peter Milligan Art by Alvaro Papagiani Cover by Agustin Alessio Variant Cover by Nico Di Mattia 64 pages In Shops: Mar 6, 2024 SRP: $12.99
Return to Ancient Rome with the great detector Antonius Axia. While Rome is aflame, Nero fiddles, and Axia is set to find out who started the great fire, what’s up with all the strangers in town, and what they have to do with any of it.
BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED: RELOADED (Book one of two)
Written by Deniz Camp & Mauro Mantella Art by Al Barrionuevo Cover by Agustin Alessio Variant Cover by Al Barrionuevo 48 pages In Shops: Mar 13, 2024 SRP: $9.99
Bloodshot is back and bloodier than ever. Hit the street with Bloodshot as he tries to hang onto his sanity and humanity while monsters from his past hunt him down.
Get ready for chaos and the return of Bloodsquirt!
LIVEWIRE & THE SECRET WEAPONS (One shot)
Written by Steven Grant Art by Various Artists Cover by Agustin Alessio Variant Cover by Miguel Sepulveda 56 pages In Shops: Mar 13, 2024 SRP: $12.99
Livewire and her friends live under the grid in Costa Rica. While the Secret Weapons hone their skills, Amanda tries to come to terms with life off the World Wide Web. But when an attack comes from within, can she fight off technology when it attacks by surprise? When she can’t even see the enemy?
NINJAK: SUPERKILLERS (Hardcover)
Written by Jeff Parker Art by Javier Pulido & Mike Norton Cover by Dave Johnson 200 pages In Shops: Mar 27, 2024 SRP: $29.99
Colin King is NINJAK, an ex-MI6 superspy who is second to none. There is no target that Colin cannot strike, no mission that he cannot complete. But what happens to the world’s greatest secret agent when all of his secrets are exposed? The entire criminal underworld has Ninjak in their sights…
How will the undercover operative survive when there’s nowhere left to hide?
Written by Kantetsu Art and cover by Haruna Nakazato 266 pages In Shops: Mar 13, 2024 SRP: $13.99
After Yuuka’s suicide, her brother Asaharu is desperate for answers… and his guardian angel wants to help. This divine intervention may be closer to a deal with the Devil, though… “You have to kill Yuuka’s killer,” she says. “If you do that, I’ll bring her back to life.” Is he willing to bet his own life for a chance to save his sister? He may not like the answer that awaits him at the end of this twisted game!
For fans of Boy’s Abyss, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams and Takopi’s Original Sin.
FAKE REBELLION (Book 1 of 2)
Written by Yuchang Sasaki Art and cover by Yuchang Sasaki 204 pages In Shops: Mar 20, 2024 SRP: $12.99
In a nightmarish future, humans fell under the control of the Machine Empire and were ranked according to arbitrary ranks. The princess of the former Einheit empire, Hanamiya Kikuhoin, along with a devoted group of low-rank war orphans, dreams of revolution. Humanity’s last hope, the “Mortal Genesis Impulse”, will open up the path to the future!
For fans of Succubus and Hitman, 86–Eighty-Six and Undead Unlock!
It’s one of two new comic book days! What are you all excited for? What do you plan on getting? Sound off in the comments! While you think about that, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web to start the day.
We’re going back to early 2018 to revisit an old column this week, because if you listen to Those Two Geeks, then you’ll understand why this comic was so loved.
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: Ivar, Timewalker
My comic shop recently got the deluxe hardcover edition of Valiant’s Ivar, Timewalker in on a special order for yours truly, which collects the entire twelve issue run in one place for $40. You can also pick up the series in three softcover trade paperbacks, if you’re so inclined, but I’ve become partial to the oversized hardcovers (especially because of the bonus material in the back, but then I love that stuff). I had already read the final four issues of the series long before I started reading the hardcover, which some would think would be foolish, but when you’re reading a book about time travel then it suddenly becomes less foolish.
In order to give you a bit of context, you’ll find the preview text for the series below.
“At this very moment in Geneva, Switzerland, history is being made. A thousand meters underground inside the Large Hadron Collider, researcher Neela Sethi is about to discover time travel – and jeopardize her life in the process. But she doesn’t know that yet. Ten minutes from now, every deadbeat chrononaut, wannabe conqueror, and misguided protector of the timestream will be banging down her door. Good thing that the legendary Ivar, Timewalker, got there first…right? Now it’s down to history’s most jaded, most tempestuous time traveler to stop the worst of everything that is, was, and will be…before time runs out!“
The series was written by Fred Van Lente, who was joined by Pere Perez, Francis Portella and Clayton Henry with Robert Gill, the first issue being released in January 2015, with the final issue coming in December of that year. The twelve issue series is one of the more underrated offerings from Valiant Entertainment, as many people don’t tend to think about Ivar, Timewalker when talking about the great comics to have come from this publisher – myself included.
As a story about time travel, Ivar, Timewalker is a series that rewards multiple readings – indeed, you could reasonably start at the beginning of any of the three arcs within the series, though this is admittedly more difficult to do with the deluxe edition than the single issues or the trades. Van Lente put together a story that will leave you with as many questions as it will provide answers with an intelligent script that effortlessly blends a heartbreaking story of loss, hope and determination with a sly wit that will have you laughing out loud more often than you would expect in a series that, technically, isn’t a comedy.
Time travel, and effects travelers can have on history are touched on, and often provide some interesting flashes to a story that at its heart is a tale of two incredibly different people; Ivar himself, and Neela Sethi – the scientist who will invent time travel. For as fantastical as the scenery is in this series (and thanks to the artists, it truly is phenomenal), the true draw is the relationship between the two leads.
And that relationship is why you need to read this wonderful story at least twice. I didn’t realize how good this book was when I first read it, and I dare say it’ll only get better with time. Pardon the pun.
Time travel has never been so wonderful.
Join us next week where there will doubtless be another movie, series, comic or comic related thing discussed that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.
Prepare for a new dawn in the Valiant Universe! Valiant Entertainment has entered into an agreement with international comics publisher Alien Books to expand Valiant’s publishing capabilities.
Alien Books and it’s Director Matias Timarchi have built a strong and unique comic book publishing company with over 25 years of experience publishing in the United States as well as overseas and international markets. The expansion of the Valiant line of publishing is a major point of emphasis in this partnership, with eyes towards a vibrant and voluminous 2024 publishing schedule!
Along with Alien Books, Valiant will create new stories and expand the publishing initiatives to include webtoons, manga, and more digital storytelling experiences.
Written by BECKY CLOONAN and MICHAEL W. CONRAD Art by LIAM SHARP Letters by TROY PETERI Cover A by LIAM SHARP Cover B by DAVID RUBIN Pre-order Cover by KEVIN VANHOOK WITH ANDREW DALHOUSE On sale May 24th | 32 pages, full color | $3.99 US | T+
New intergalactic threat Novus Romanus holds a weakened Aric of Dacia captive. Will our hero survive combat with one of the fiercest and most brash of the Novus Romanus warriors– Thyra Antius in her very own T-O Armor?
Just under a year and a half aog, Valiant Entertainment released a deluxe hardcover edition collecting the entire 14 issue run of Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior along with Eternal Warrior: Awakening #1. Fifteen comics presented in an over-sized hardcover along with 20 odd pages of bonus extras that add a lot for those interested in the process of the creation of the series, all for $49.99. And yes, I did buy this myself (and happily so) despite having access to the review copies and single issues I had picked up when released.
