Reviewed by Brady Steele. If ever there was a mega-crossover with all the big superhero universes colliding, who do you think would win? The Valiant #3 shows readers how the combined might of the Valiant Universe heroes fare against the greatest threat their world has seen and it doesn’t go well. Good for readers, really bad for our heroes.
WRITTEN BY: Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt
ART BY: Paolo Rivera and Joe Rivera
PUBLISHER: Valiant Entertainment
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: 18 February 2015
When a world’s champions come together to face a great threat, it lends to some epic action and storytelling. When writers Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt do something very different here and mix something as big as the world’s life in the balance with two people on the run hiding from the same event. It’s a unique perspective to something that readers have seen countless times before.
On one page, you see everyone with powers, abilities, goats with laser eyes and guns coming at The Immortal Enemy / Mister Flay. On the next page, you see Bloodshot taking Geomancer Kay McHenry into hiding if the combined heroes should fail. You almost never see this much real people interaction in a miniseries like this. The moments between these two are so beautifully portrayed by Paolo Rivera that you can almost forget it’s possibly the end of the world. Rivera can also draw nightmares horrifyingly well here too. You’ll see…and then you’ll never be able to un-see them. Very creepy and fowl images abound here.
The bonus pages after the story in this series are also a nice treat. Readers get instant behind-the-scenes moments as to what the creators were going for and how they achieved it. This chapter felt like a nice shift before the finale kicks in. I’ve been very satisfied so far with the execution of this miniseries and expect a spectacular finish next month. Don’t miss out.
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Mr. Steele enjoys all things comics and imagination-based. Using his lifetime of comic-fu-dom for good, he imparts his knowledge for the universe to enjoy and for you, dear readers, to pass it on.
Twitter: @mrbradysteele