Valiant reveals a much different future for the publisher
A recent press release from Valiant hyping the upcoming Bloodshot Unleashed wasn’t exciting for what it said, it raised eyebrows for what it didn’t and what it hinted at.
The publisher is currently going through some rocky times though specifics seem scarce and it looks like those issues are impacting the publisher’s release schedule. In recent months releases have been scarce, far less than the usual release schedule pre-pandemic and during some of it. The publisher will now move putting out one release per month according to CBR. Reading in between the lines of Valiant’s press release, this lines up with much of what’s danced around.
Writer Steve Foxe announced on Twitter that Archer & Armstrong Forever #4 would be the last issue of the series. Not the original plan, the series was solicited through #6. According to Foxe, “plans changed” leading to the unfinished series.
With that series no longer being released, Valiant’s next release will be Blooshot Unleahsed, an adults-only series from writer Deniz Camp and artist Jon Davis-Hunt. It’ll come to shops on September 21st with issues coming out monthly. It’s planned for four issues.
That means the recently released Book of Shadows will be pushed back. The first issue from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Vicente Cifuentes was released in July. The next issue won’t see print until January 2023, a six month gap. X-O Manowar Unconquered by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Liam Sharp will then launch in March 2023. That comic was originally scheduled for December 2022.
Also awaiting release is Eternal Warrior: Scorched Earth, an original graphic novel Kickstarted in December and expected to be released in November 2022. That project raised a little over $55,000 from 531 individuals and the latest update said the graphic novel was on schedule. This was before the recent issues which has caused individuals to go to the comments of the project voicing their concerns.
The publisher seems to be having a rough time of late finding its footing. Staff has left and the company itself has dipped its toes into the digital world with NFTs and other “get rich quick” pivots. Licensing has increased with shoes and an upcoming toy line but from the outside it looks to be a company attempting to find its way throwing darts and seeing what lands.
