The Blot honestly cannot believe this is happening. After years of speculation and legal fights over ownership of the Valiant name and its large cast of characters, the Valiant universe is officially re-launching this summer after a twelve year hiatus. The Blot was a HUGE Valiant fan back in the 90s, with some of my all time favorite comic books being Magnus Robot Fighter, Rai and Archer & Armstrong. I can even still remember purchasing the last Valiant comic every produced (until today), Unity 2000 #3, at Austin Books while in college. So you can probably imagine how excited I am for today’s release of X-O Manowar #1.
If you haven’t heard, this summer Valiant Entertainment is restarting the Valiant universe with the debut of four new titles (1 a month over the next 4 months): X-O Manowar, Harbinger, Bloodshot and Archer & Armstrong. Each book brings back fond memories of the comic book industry’s heyday, and I can only hope Valiant is able to find an audience. It sounds like X-O’s already selling like gangbusters, but who knows how fans will react. To be honest it is probably the 1 book I am looking forward to the least as it’s the only series I did not really read during its original run.
So far we really do not know much about the re-launch, but here are a few tidbits I’ve learned that I know will excite long term Valiant fans. First, Zephyr will be appearing in Harbinger! Second, once again the Valiant universe will be populated by three eternal brothers: Armstrong (of Archer & Armstrong), the Eternal Warrior (of the hit popular comic of the same name) and Ivar (aka the Timewalker). And last but not least, as you can see in the promo image above, a Rai series should be just around the corner! It’ll be interesting to see how they that series into Bloodshot. Sadly, Valiant Entertainment did not acquire the rights to the old Gold Key characters (Magnus, Solar and Turok), meaning they will not be a part of this new universe.
X-O Manowar issue #1, the first new book from Valiant Entertainment, drops today, May 2nd, at comic book specialty shops everywhere! Be sure to pick up your copy today
