Valiant 101: "Unity"

Before we begin, I feel like I should mention that I actually read Unity after I had read the next big story in the new Valiant canon after Harbinger Wars. After I was done with Harbinger Wars, I naturally moved on to the next event; but since Armor Hunters regularly brought about how the Valiant superheroes came together after a geopolitical snafu, I realised I had missed something big. I dug around and found that I had jumped over the first volume of Unity and its tie-ins with X-O Manowar.

Although Unity shares its name with VALIANT's biggest and most popular event, it is neither a remake nor a throwback to that story. I suppose the reason it's called Unity is perhaps because the creators wanted to do some sort of homage or tribute to that book. And also maybe because Unity is such a good name for a superhero team.

With Unity, Valiant attempts to build its own version of the Justice League or the Avengers. The story follow ups from what Robert Venditti had been building over his run at X-O Manowar. Rather than simply following the adventures of Aric of Dacia after he gets the extra terrestrial armor, Vendetti's run had been cleverly exploring slavery, revolt, and the price of freedom. After rescuing his people from the Vine and arriving back on Earth, Aric decides to restore and re-establish the Visigoths in the present day location of Romania, a decision that Aric soon learns does not go well with the governments of the world. Due to time dilatation, the Visigoths, who lived during the 5th century have been thrown into the 21st century, and this, as you can imagine, causes all kinds of cultural and political differences. Russia retaliates to Aric's "invasion" of Romania in typical Russian fashion: with an all out assault. That does not go well for Russia simply because Aric of Dacia, with the Shanhara, is the most powerful being on the planet. Humiliated, Russia decides to go through with the next option: nuclear. Which is where Toyo Harada comes in. Toyo Harada, even though is an asshole, has issues with nuclear weapons.

After an initial failed attempt to stop Aric, he enlists Ninjak, Livewire, and the Eternal Warrior. Livewire, as it turns out, is obviously a badass. Although I have to say Ninjak is certainly the coolest. Which I suppose is because Matt Kindt enjoys writing him so much.

Like I mentioned, the story is told over the first volume of Unity and its tie-ins with X-O Manowar. Matt Kindt explores how Harada brings together this team of unique individuals in Unity, while Robert Venditti continues to concentrate on the Aric side of the story in X-O Manowar. And although you could simply read Unity vol. 1 and be done with this story, I would highly recommend reading the X-O Manowar tie-ins as well. While Unity brings out how Harada is justified in thinking Aric, with the Shanhara, is a threat to the world, X-O Manowar explores how burdened Aric is with the responsibilities as the leader of the Visigoths. Moreover, and what I thoroughly enjoyed, is how it subtly takes a critical look at the geopolitical issues of the world.

The stand character for me in this story was Colonel Jaime Capshaw, the Commanding Officer of M.E.R.O. (Think of, but not limit to, M.E.R.O. as Valiant Comics version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) She's an absolute badass. If Kindt enjoys writing Ninjak, Vendetti clearly enjoys writing Capshaw.

Some artists are meant for big superhero action book.  Doug Braithwaite is one of those artists. His artwork is incredible and I can see why the executives went with him to take the lead on their next big story, Armor Hunters. He's really good. Cary Nord draws the X-O Manowar part of the story. When I looked over the first issue of that book here, I was really impressed because the pages were so different. Sadly though, they went back to generic superhero comic book colouring in the next issue. Goes to show how important the colors are to not just the art but to the story itself.