Free Comic Book Day was the perfect opportunity for Valiant Entertainment to promote their product. Their offering for this day included previews of Bloodshot, Armorclads, Archer & Armstrong and Ninjak, as well as an interview with Cullen Bunn about the Book Of Shadows series. This interview explains a little bit about this team of heroes including Shadowman, Persephone, Punk Mambo, Doctor Mirage and the Eternal Warrior. The most exciting news about this series is the introduction of a new villain to the Valiant universe in Exarch Fane. The headshots of the members of this team kind of gives the future reader an insight into how good Riccardo Latina's artwork is going to be.
The other writers who were featured in this special issue through previews included Deniz Camp, JJ O'Connor, Brian Buccellato, Steve Foxe and Jeff Parker. Kudos to Dexter Soy and Veronica Gandini for conceptualizing a cover that draws the reader into the Valiant universe. I have read and featured Bloodshot before. This issue features two reconstructed soldiers at odds, with Bloodshot being the voice of reason. After a soldier has experienced battle, I don't know too many soldiers that would be happy with the conditions that our two main characters are facing.
The Armorclads follows a group of forced patriots of Alpharon sent on mining expeditions , hoping one day to earn their freedom. While they are surrounded by guards, their chatter among each other gets to be quite humorous. Archer & Armstrong is a very different type of tale as Armstrong's immortality needs to be restored. The preview gave me just enough but not enough, if you know what I mean. It ends right at a WTF moment!
I am not quite sure about Ninjak. All I got from this one is that Agent Myna and Colin King (now known as Ninjak) are on the run in Northern Africa. Hitmen are after King because of a bounty that was put on his head. Ninjak Superkillers is not expected to hit comic book stores until early 2023. There was a period in my earlier comic book days when I was a big fan of Image Comics. After seeing the possibilities contained within the pages of this book, I may have to start turning some of my attention towards Valiant Entertainment.
