The Olympics are coming and Hello Kitty is getting in the mood with these Team USA Pop! figures.
You can choose from Basketball Hello Kitty, Swimming Hello Kitty, Surfing Hello Kitty, Gold Metal Hello Kitty, and Tennis Hello Kitty.
They’re available for pre-order now.
Valiant is proud to unveil the Unity #1 Team USA Luge Variant – a special, benefit-edition variant cover for 2013’s most anticipated comic book event, featuring many of the USA Luge team athletes who will represent the United States in competition next February in Sochi, Russia. A portion of the proceeds from each Unity#1 Team USA Luge Variant sold will be donated directly to the USA Luge team and contribute to their ongoing fundraising goals.
As an official sponsor of USA Luge, Valiant designed the look of the USA Luge uniforms, with luge athletes appearing in-competition at events across the world in racing suits patterned after Valiant’s flagship hero, X-O Manowar. Now, for the first time anywhere, this cutting-edge luge suit design – originally envisioned by artists Patrick Zircher and Khari Evans – will make its comic book debut in an all-new UNITY #1 cover image with artwork by rising star Diego Bernard. Featuring X-O Manowar surrounded by the real-life luge athletes he helped to inspire, the Unity#1 Team USA Luge Variantwill be the first time Valiant has produced a specially commissioned variant cover for fundraising purposes.
To kill a king…he has created an army. The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible – fear. Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come, Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known – UNITY. Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world, and the occupation of Eastern Europe… Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon… Kill X-O Manowar!
UNITY #1
Written by MATT KINDT
Art & Cover by DOUG BRAITHWAITE (SEP131344)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by BRYAN HITCH (SEP131346)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by J.G. JONES (SEP131345)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by TRAVEL FOREMAN (SEP131349)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by PAOLO RIVERA (SEP131347)
Pullbox Exclusive Variant by CLAYTON CRAIN (SEP131348)
Valiant 8-Bit Evolution Variant by DONOVAN SANTIAGO (SEP131350)
Team USA Luge Variant by DIEGO BERNARD (SEP131352)
Valiant Signature Series Variant by BART SEARS (SEP131353)
Variant Cover by NEAL ADAMS (SEP131354)
B&W Sketch Variant by NEAL ADAMS (SEP131355)
Blank Variant also available (SEP131351)
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE 11/13/13 (FOC – 10/21/13)
The weekend is almost here and I’ll be spending it at the Small Press Expo which takes place in Rockville, Maryland just outside of Washington DC. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend it.
Around the Tubes
Gizmodo – The Only Thing These Superman Coins Will Rescue Is Canada’s Economy – Want…. eh?
Calgary Herald – New musical explores comic code – Interesting.
CBLDF – Tokyo Olympics Emboldens Censors – Boooo!
The Beat – Z2 Comics relaunches with Pope and Haspiel – Congrats!
Around the Tubes Reviews
Comic Vine – Action Comics #23.2
Kotaku – Cyborg 009
Comic Vine – Deadpool #16
Comic Vine – Earth 2 #15.2
Talking Comics – Ghosted #3
Comic Vine – Green Lantern #23.2
Comic Vine – Indestructible Hulk #13
Comic Vine – Infinity: The Hunt #1
Comic Vine – Justice League #23.2
CBR – Justice League #23.2
Comic Vine – Liberator #3
The Beat – Liberator #3
Comic Vine – The Manhattan Projects #14
Talking Comics – Mighty Avengers #1
ICv2 – Orchid Vol. 3 TP
Comic Vine – Red Sonja #3
Comic Vine – Uncanny X-Force #11
Comic Vine – X-Men #5
Before USA Luge takes to the ice at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, you can help decide which Valiant-designed uniform America’s luge athletes will wear into competition next February!
Valiant is proud to announce that it has partnered with USA Luge, home of the fastest sport on ice, and USA Luge technical partner Dow for a new online contest to choose the final sled, helmet and suit designs to be used in competition at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Now through August 23rd, fans worldwide can visit www.USALuge.com to vote on their favorite combination of Valiant-designed helmets and racing suits – as envisioned by Harvey Award-nominated artist Khari Evans – and Dow-engineered sled! The winning, fan-selected design will join the USA Luge team in competition next February, as they represent the United States at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
The newly selected helmet and suit design will be the second Valiant-inspired uniform employed by USA Luge. A corporate sponsor of the team and its athletes since 2012, Valiant also designed the look of USA Luge’s race gear for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 World Cup and World Championship seasons with a groundbreaking uniform design patterned after the iconic design of X-O Manowar, the armor-clad hero of Valiant’s flagship comic series.
Now, with four all-new new designs to choose from – Flagship, Racer, Silver Wave, and Stargate – fans are encouraged to select their favorite look and make their voice heard before the final ballots are cast on August 23rd.
The Winter Olympics have also recently come under fire with calls for boycotts and/or protests due to the recent crackdowns and violence towards lesbians, gays and transexuals in Russia. This has included luring individuals threw ads and filming torturing and beating them. To even show support for lgbt issues can bring violent action and Russia has threatened athletes with arrest if they do so.
One of the stranger stories if 2012 was Valiant Entertainment‘s announcement they’d be outfitting the USA luge team in X-O Manowar inspired suits. We’ve seen designs, but here’s a look at the outfits in real life.
(via Bleeding Cool)
Valiant Entertainment will design the competition and practice race suits for the USA Luge team through 2014. The USA Luge National and Junior National teams will wear Valiant-designed race suits for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 World Cup and World Championship seasons. This groundbreaking partnership marks the first time ever that an entertainment company has outfitted a national sports organization with uniquely designed uniforms inspired by a comic book character. Valiant and USA Luge will also work together to create the look of the team’s race gear when they compete at Sochi, Russia during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The partnership also includes other marketing and cross-promotional opportunities.
Each suit created by Valiant and its illustrators will be designed to resemble the look of the character X-O Manowar, one of the comic book industry’s most popular characters with over 8 million comic books sold and a best-selling 2012 comic book relaunch. A key character of the Valiant Universe, X-O Manowar is a time-displaced warrior bonded to a suit of extraterrestrial armor, the most technologically advanced weapon in existence, and is also notable for a best-selling, multiplatform video game crossover with Marvel’s Iron Man.
USA Luge spends a considerable amount of time researching the fastest possible fabrics for their race suits. Each summer, tests are conducted at the San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel to determine, among other things, the most aerodynamically efficient race suit for competition use. The suits are fitted and tailored to each athlete, as even the smallest wrinkle can result in lost speed, especially in a sport timed to the 1/1000th of a second.
USA Luge National and Junior National Team athletes will unveil their new X-O Manowar inspired speedsuits at the World Cup at the first races on November 24th and 25th in Innsbruck, Austria.
Since 1985, USA Luge team members have won over 560 World Cup and World Championship medals and 4 Olympic medals. Luge is one of the most competitive and thrilling sports in the Olympics with racers reaching speeds in excess of 90 MPH.
Rain is pouring, wind is blowing, Sandy is here! Hope all our East coast readers are staying safe and dry and waiting out the storm with some good comics to read.
Around the Blogs
She Knows – Obama or Romney: Can comic books help you vote? – Have these affected your opinion of either if you’ve read them?
Bleeding Cool – USA Luge Team To Dress Like X-O Manowar – Um, k.
Around the Tubes Reviews
CBR – Batman Incorporated #4
CBR – The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #13
CBR – Ghost #1
Talking Comics – How I Spent My Summer Invasion #2
Talking Comics – Red Lanterns #13
The Brooklyn Paper – Sailor Twain
Trek Web – Things to Come: Graphic Novel
I was at McDonald‘s tonight and looked at their Olympics tie-in contest “USA Wins Gold.” I was looking at the stand up when one of the prizes caught my eye. Among the board listed between video games and gold is “comic book.” There were no other details on the display.
Well, I dug into the website for the contest and found out more details.
Looks like if you play, you have a chance to win a Sonic the Hedgehog/Olympic/McDonald‘s comic book.
Skip to content