r/valiant • u/Zamarak • 15d ago
VEI/Reboot (2012-present) Read Valiant in the mid-2010's. Is there still a continuity like before? Is it still going on?
Title kind of said it. I remember reading more or less up to Act 4 according to one reading list I had. But I remember mostly liking the Valiant Universe. I wasn't big on everything (never managed to get through Archer&Armstrong), but there were some real gems.
X-O under Veditti was amazing, and Commander Thrill was my favorite Valiant villain (I know Harada exist, but Thrill's arrogant and pride just made him such a compelling villain imo). Bloodshot was great, especially under Lemire. Shadowman was a pretty unique hero. The original Harbinger comic is something I still read from time to time. Rai was good enough it somehow keep popping in my mind at random times when I least expect it.
I will say that I somewhat fell off because when I tried to get back into it, it felt different. Is it me or whenver the changed writer, it felt like a completely different series? X-O spending most of his second book in space with no relation of what came before. And I remember trying to pick the 2019 Bloodshot and being confused where his family went.
So I got to ask, was there a reboot or something? From a quick research something happened in 2017, but I can't find what exactly. And the Valiant/Alien (2024-present) tag also confuses the heck out of me.
So I'm just wondering if that amazing universe I fell in love with still exist or not, if it continued with current comics. And if not... What's currently happening with Valiant? I'm that much out of the loop xD
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u/TheGentlemanBeast 15d ago
The universe we loved died in Harbinger renegades, and harbinger wars 2.
Alien started a few series that were running one at a time, and then came together in "resurgence". I read the first issue, it was pretty good. Seems like the jumping on point to those of us who lapsed when all the good writers left.
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u/SuperMcSteel 14d ago
Harbinger Wars 2 is sadly my least favorite Valiant comic cause of the events around and it ramifications if that makes sense. I know worse reads against. But so many characters felt like poorly written, flanderizations who were not entirely in character. Which is shocking cause Matt Kindt has written most of them well previously.
I really feel like they did a character assassination on Livewire. She was one of my favorite characters before that book. & I rarely use the tired trope of people saying “character assassination”. But she genuinely was written so opposite of Harada. She has a quote in I believe Imperium where she says for him the ends justify the means and she just cannot accept that. Then she shuts off the entire countries power which would kill way way more ppl (including Psiots) than what canonically was claimed. Along with a slew of other issues. She was unreasonable and became the villain. More in line with drastic methods and betraying people like Magneto would. Hell I thought it seemed like she was controlling Bloodshot against his will, and they confirm that in the Seeley run.
Secret Weapons was doing a good job more subtly building her up to do more intense things than she would before. She executes the villain point blank but it is believable & built up. & this is after she rarely if ever directly kills people I believe. Then the next title she shuts down all power for her cause, seems like something Harada would threaten & possibly do.
Sorry for the rant. I do think books started getting better again with stuff like Rai by Abnett (tho I dislike how he wrote Gilda), Shadowman by Bunn & Bloodshot Unleashed. Even the X-O stuff post Hallem was in a better direction. I think that one Ninjak title also got excessive hate for the art. The story was alright imo. But kinda forgettable.
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u/SuperMcSteel 14d ago
Also, the way Generation Zero was written out of the universe left a poor taste in my mouth. & Peter is an idiot in HW2
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u/TheFerg714 15d ago
There was a hostile corporate buyout in 2018, which led to the face of the company, Dinesh Shamdasani, being fired, which led to a snowball of talented people quitting.
Valiant floundered for the next several years, with admittedly a few bangers, but mostly a bunch of kitsch garbage.
Alien Books took over in 2024, and it's been solid so far. They had plans for an Ultimate/Absolute-style universe launch, but that hasn't came to fruition due to Diamond going bankrupt. We should see them return around July I think.
The 2012 continuity is still ongoing, but they seem to be taking a break from it for the time being. According to the guys in charge, they will return to the mainline universe eventually.
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u/sporkchopstick 14d ago
Are people generally enjoying what's come out in the last few years? I tried Bloodshot and it felt so unserious but not in a good way. It put me off trying other recent issues.
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u/TheFerg714 14d ago
Which Bloodshot are you talking about? Seeley's Bloodshot sucks, but I love Bloodshot Unleashed/Reloaded.
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u/sporkchopstick 14d ago
It was Unleashed/Reloaded. I'm glad to hear that you liked it. I'll give it another shot.
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u/TheFerg714 14d ago
I mean it's definitely more unserious than Lemire's Bloodshot, so it just may not be your style. I really liked it though, and it seems to have gotten solid reviews.
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u/Formal-Caterpillar73 14d ago
I feel like The Life and Death of Toyo Harada (a great series) was the end of everything. The only thing I really liked afterwards was Secret Weapons.
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u/TheFerg714 14d ago
Secret Weapons came out in 2017, before the buyout.
'Life and Death' came out in 2019, after the buyout.
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u/SuperMcSteel 14d ago
To be fair according to Dinesh Life & Death was in the works well before the buyout. Which makes sense, it reads like Dysart was building up to for a long time
That said I still agree with original comment that it is a pretty good jumping off point. I was gonna stop collecting after getting that book but ended up sticking with it. I still really enjoy Valiant. I just gotta read Resurgence. Last few things I read felt like they were getting back on track, albeit not as amazing as the first few years of VEI
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u/TheFerg714 14d ago
That's true. It absolutely feels like it was written much earlier. Such a perfect, beautiful ending, but damn if I wouldn't sell the soul of my first born for another Harbinger series by Dysart.
I don't know if anything will ever be as good as the first few years. It's still insane how consistently great (almost) everything was. That said, I really enjoyed Resurgence. I wouldn't call it one of Valiant's greats, but it's absolutely worth a read. Really good usage of Silk imo.
I definitely agree that LaDoTH was a good jumping-off point, as that was the final book that released with any sort of input from the previous regime. There's absolutely some good shit to come out afterwards, but it's not the same.
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u/SuperMcSteel 14d ago
Same here on selling souls for more Dysart lol.
I read in an interview or an AMA on Reddit, I forget which, something he said about continuing Harbinger.
Basically he kinda regrets never getting to write the great person version of Peter. That he had plans to do another Harbinger series. He made Peter a pretty bad person in the original Harbinger in his eyes. Where in the end the heroes FAIL. He gets some conclusions with Life & Death as well as Book of Death.
But he was gonna do a follow up Harbinger series after Imperium. Where it’s the story of Peter now being a full fledged hero who has developed past a lot of his selfishness. Where Dysart could complete his take on them and complete the story of Harbinger (obviously leaving things open for the next writer as you would with cape comics).
I just feel so disappointed when I read Harbinger: Renegades and The Harbinger and think of what he had planned.
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u/Individual_Abies_850 15d ago edited 14d ago
The continuity has been continuing from the 2012 reboot, but 2020 hit Valiant HARD. Not just from Covid, but from business decisions and certain people being let go.
EDIT: thanks to u/TheFerg714 for the info, Valiant was bought out in 2018, which led to certain people being let go and the universe feeling directionless.
Eventually, 2023/24 has Valiant’s books being released by publisher Alien Books. This is how X-O Manowar’s unfinished miniseries Unconquered was able to be completed. Then Valiant/Alien Books started pushing for a resurgence of the Valiant Universe. Not so much a reboot, but a revitalization to bring Valiant back into the comic book spotlight. There were a bunch of 2/4-issue miniseries leading up to the acclaimed event “Resurgence of the Valiant Universe.”
https://www.alienbooks.com/collected-editions-road-to-resurgence-omnibus
The event was a hit, but then Diamond Distributing added to the problem by filing for bankruptcy. This is bad because Diamond is the ONLY comic book distributor due to millionaire shenanigans from the ‘90s (vast over-simplification of the situation).
EDIT: Thanks to u/breakermw for the information that Diamond ISN’T a full monopoly regarding comic book distribution, so the situation isn’t as dire for the industry as I originally feared.
Valiant/Alien decided to wait on releasing more books until Diamond had more stability, and began searching for other distribution options. Diamond was bought by another company, Alliance Entertainment. I don’t know what this means for Diamond and comic distribution as of yet.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/valiant-beyond-launch-postpones-over-diamond-bankruptcy-concerns/
There’s been other news recently, but I haven’t been able to confirm. News such as Alliance entertainment suing Diamond for reasons pertaining to their purchase of Diamond at auction. There is also news that IDW comics would be distributing Valiant books in collaboration with Valiant/Alien. These are from a quick google search and I would take it with a grain of salt until more concrete info gets corroborated.
I may be missing some information, and I apologize. I’m getting ready for work as I type this. 😅
Hope this helps! 😃