Unity #1
Publisher: Valiant
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Doug Braithwaite
Cover: J.G. Jones
With more and more crossover events coming from the various publishers, it’s hard to keep track of most of them. Much less be impressed by the overwhelming amount of hype that usually surrounds these events. So when Valiant announced Unity there was a bit of skepticism (at least on my part) to go along with my excitement. Skepticism due to being let down by so many events in the past, and excitement because ever since Valiant’s return to comics they have delivered some of the best books on the shelves!
So does Unity live up to the hype so far? Is it worth your hard earned cash and time it will take to read it? I’m going to go ahead and say “Yes!” Partly because the foundation for this event has been cleverly laid out since the return of key Valiant titles. The other reason is because Kindt and Braithwaite don’t waste any time putting this story in high gear. By the time we see Russai’s military forces’ failed attempt to destroy Aric and the Manowar armor, and realize what their next step will be, things are already pretty intense. This leads to Toyo Harada setting in motion his plan to see that things are taken care of as we are introduced to the Unity team. Though, as fast as things are moving here, Kindt does well with keeping the book safe and pretty comfortable for anyone who may not be too familiar with these characters. He also does a fine job with showing Aric’s struggle as a man out of time still trying to live as he did almost 1,600 years ago in a world that has seen great change since then.
This is also one great looking issue as Braithwaite makes sure to give you plenty of eye candy. Whether it’s Aric just sitting in a field pondering, or one of the best decapitations ever in comics, you will be entertained. There’s also the fact that Brian Reber’s colors on all of the tech equipment and hologram boards just makes those scenes really stand out and look fantastic.
For those of you who may be new to some of the characters from Valiant, you don’t need to worry about picking up Unity #1. There is a very welcomed and efficient recap page explaining several events from X-O Manowar that lead up to the important events here. So just pick this up and enjoy the beginnings of a well laid out event that doesn’t seem forced on the readers.
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
