Valiant 101: DIVINITY

I'll be completely frank with you here. The only reason I read Divinity was because it sorta rhymed with Unity, and I thought this had something to do with that book.

Well! Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I must also mention that I am so glad I chose to read this because it is so good.

The book is written by Matt Kindt who, by now, I feel like is Valiant Comics' Jim Shooter 2.0 in the sense he has shaped much of their universe with important arcs and stories for quite some time now. He has built a legacy, is what I am trying to say, I guess. The story follows Abram Adams, an orphan, who is moulded by Mother Russia during the Cold War to be one of its finest... to be sent on a suicide mission to the very edge of the galaxy. Because, you know, Russia.

Although one of the reasons Abram is chosen for the mission is because he has no one to come back to -- what a sad thing to say, and in what cruel way have I written that! -- it turns out he does have someone. It is this desire of his to go back home that saves him when he is blessed by the Unknown.

Arriving back to Earth, where years have passed since his absence, Abrams uses his new powers to give people what they need, rather than what they want and starts his own cult religion. Not his intention, though. Humans are drawn to fellow charismatic humans. The MI-6 soon learns of Abram's presence and decides, in its infinite wisdom, that it would be best to confront Abram head on, who is pretty much Space Jesus.

Obviously, that does not go well for Unity, or Divinity.

Kindt not only crafts an excellent comic, but he explores a lot of themes that although rooted in the world of men and women in tights go beyond just that. At its core, Divinity is an emotional story about love, isolation and longing. At the same time, it is also a case study, an experiment or much more precisely, an investigation, if you will, of what's the weakness of an overpowered character. That is more of a writer challenge. What would bend a, what is essentially, a superman. And needless to say, I'm pretty confident Matt Kindt would write a great Superman story. Not because he could find some weakness for him (there are plenty), but because he would involve Superman in stories of emotions like Divinity.

The art on the book is by Trevor Hairsine, whose work I remembered from the action-filled Armor Hunters: Bloodshot. He is accompanied by Ryan Winn on inks and David Baron on colours. Like every Valiant book, Divinity is gorgeous. Hairsine's art is perfect for action-filled story, so seeing him take on sombre character moments was interesting. He offers incredible range here. There is a scene in the book -- and I apologise for spoiling this a bit -- where Abram slows down time for Unity members as they begin their attack on him and makes them prisoner of their own mind. That was incredibly well done. Kudos to everyone involved.

I had the digital copies of Divinity and they offer a lot of behind-the-scenes shots of the book. If you are a process monkey like me or are just mildly curious, I would recommend getting them. (I'm not sure if the hard copies also offer the same, or if the tpbs do. Be nice if they do, though.)

As I finished Divinity I learnt that the team is coming up with a follow-up, simply titled Divinity II, which needless to say, I'll be looking forward to.