Tag: Valiant Beyond

Exclusive | Valiant Beyond continues in January with ‘X-O Manowar: The God Hunt’

Steve Orlando returns with new artists Diego Giribaldi and Tomas Aira to chronicle more of Aric of Dacia’s adventures next year.

Valiant Beyond is taking Aric of Dacia on his most personal mission yet with X-O Manowar: The God Hunt in January. Writer Steve Orlando returns with new artists Diego Giribaldi and Tomas Aira for this four-issue arc.

The new miniseries will follow Valiant Beyond’s The X-O Manowar miniseries, which debuted in September and finishes up in December.

“The next X-O Manowar blockbuster kicks off with The God Hunt!” Orlando exclaimed. “Aric of Dacia walks the wastelands of tomorrow in search of honor–but he doesn’t walk alone. His ally, his queen, his armor…Shanhara is with him. They’re one! So if the God Marshal comes to take Shanhara’s head for a prize, he’ll have to go through the Man of War!”

And it sounds like that’s exactly what the God Marshal has planned.

“From the depths of the cosmos comes The God Marshal, the most feared of the Starwatch, tasked with bringing in all fugitive deities–dead or alive,” Orlando said. “But if the Marshal wants Shanhara, he’ll have to rip her from Aric of Dacia’s cold, dead, heart!”

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Alien Books, Mauro Mantella criticized for anti-trans passage in ‘Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot’ #1

The publisher posted an apology on social media, saying “We will do better,” as the author’s anti-trans social media history became evident.

Alien Books, the publisher of the Valiant comics line, and writer Mauro Mantella have received widespread criticism for a passage that appeared in Valiant Beyond: Bloodshot #1 that featured “thinly veiled transphobic metaphors,” as one comics creator put it.

The comic’s creative team includes Mantella and artists Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Juan Pablo Massa. It’s part of a line-wide reboot of the Valiant line, called Valiant Beyond, that was set to kick off earlier this year but was delayed due to the bankruptcy of Diamond. Valiant’s comics are now distributed by Penguin Random House via IDW Publishing.

What should have been a big launch for the publisher, as Bloodshot was the first Valiant Beyond title to hit comic shelves, was marred by panels whose words mirrored a false but common refrain by anti-trans bigots. For context, the comic features Bloodshot in a Japan plagued by vampires. “There are kids who want to be bitten to become vampires because their favorite influencer says they are one,” Bloodshot’s interior monologue reads. “And parents who force their children into that irreversible change just to feel modern … and believing that they’ll be thankful for it when they grow up.”

Here’s the page:

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The battle lines are drawn in this preview of next week’s ‘Resurgence of the Valiant Universe: Finale’

Fred Van Lente, Diego Giribaldi and Tomas Aira bring the event to a close next Wednesday — and set up what’s to come.

It all comes down to this, as they say. The war between Dr. Silk’s forces and Ivar the Timewalker’s allies comes to a head in next week’s finale of Resurgence of the Valiant Universe.

Writer Fred Van Lente and artists Diego Giribaldi and Tomas Aira have brought both sides of the conflict into the Faraway, the mystical realm with ties to all the immortal beings running around the Valiant Universe. And it’s time to fight! Meanwhile, Shadowman, Punk Mambo and an unexpected ally look to stop Silk’s ally, Master Darque.

This final bombastic issue sets up two future events coming from Alien Books: the Valiant reboot, Valiant Beyond, which kicks off in March; and Valiant Zombies: Resurrection, coming on Free Comic Book Day.

You can check out the preview below, along with the issue’s covers by Guillermo Fajardo, Nico Di Mattia and Richard Ortiz.

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Valiant Beyond: Alien Books will relaunch the Valiant universe in the wake of ‘Resurgence of the Valiant Universe’

New versions of Bloodshot, Shadowman and more will begin appearing in March.

For Alien Books, the “resurgence” of the Valiant properties is only the beginning.

The current Resurgence of the Valiant Universe event series, which ends in January, will pave the way for a rebooted Valiant universe, which they are calling “Valiant Beyond.” Alien Books plans for the new line to be
“new-reader friendly and ultra-accessible,” while featuring new versions of Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Shadowman and more.

“As we enter into the second year of our partnership with Valiant Comics and come out of the Resurgence crossover event, we wanted to take a big swing and try something new,” said Alien Books Director Matias Timarchi. “The success of the Absolute, Ultimate and Energon universes has shown that there is an appetite from both retailers and readers for accessible and high-quality storytelling. Our goal is to take inspiration from those lines while doing something that is distinctly our own.”

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