Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, valiant

Who Is Valiant's Eternal Warrior Anyway?

Valiant has making much hay of the recent success around their Book of Death event with strong sales, reviews, and sell-outs on both eponymous limited series and a strong of one-shot tie-ins — something they'll no doubt be courting store owners about at the impending Diamond Retailer Summit later this week in Baltimore.

In fact, the publisher is so pleased with Book of Death that they're leveraging the series' main character, the immortal protector of the Earth called the Eternal Warrior, out of Book of Death and into a new ongoing series, Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, by Book of Death's own Robert Venditti and newly Valiant exclusive artist Raul Allen.

But does Valiant have something up their sleeve for this new series?

Publicly, they're touting the series as a jumping on point for new readers could that mean a status quo change for the character, taking him away from Earth and "stranding him in a hostile alien landscape" unlike anything on planet Earth. And behind closed doors, we've heard whispers that the series will elevate the Eternal Warrior to the same level as Valiant's biggest heavy hitters — X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Ninjak, and the like.

So, given the cataclysmic air of Book of Death and its promises of big continuity-driven shake-ups, might the star of Wrath of the Eternal Warrior in fact be a whole new character all together? This is where the conspiracy theories begin…

The current Eternal Warrior, Gilad Anni-Padda, has been living a life of solitude for over five thousand years in service to the spirit of the Earth. Per Valiant's recent preview art for Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #1, however, he's having a much better time, looking well-fed and rested in the company of a large family — presumably his, either now or in the near future.

However, whenever the character appears in costume — brandishing his trademark ax and all — his face is obscured, including on the cover to issue #1. Which leads us to think…might the Eternal Warrior be laying his burden down and passing his sacred duty to someone else in the Valiant Universe? Could it be that we're about to get a new Eternal Warrior at the end of Book of Death just in time for "his" new ongoing series?

And, if so, who could it be under the hood?

Hey, it worked for Thor after all, didn't it?

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!