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Valiant's Alex Rae Talks The Future Of Divinity, Harbinger Wars, And More

Published Thu, 28 Sep 2017 10:00:50 -0500

Last updated Thu, 28 Sep 2017 15:46:18 -0500

Bleeding Cool contributor Ian Melton writes:

Rose City Comic Con played host to Valiant's latest panel highlighting their upcoming titles howsted by Alex Rae, Sales Manager at Valiant. He apologized for Valiant's lack of a booth at RCCC — despite having one there the past two years, but they were unable to make it work this year. However, Rae was there to talk and answer questions.

Starting with X-O Manowar, Rae started by praising Matt Kindt's work on the title and talk about how far ahead he is on the title. Right now, the next upcoming arc will feature artwork from Clayton Crain, who hasn't done interiors for Valiant since 4001 wrapped up.

The next focus was War Mother, set during the 4001 time period, and written by long time Valiant writer Fred Van Lente, who is having a great time writing the world of 4001, War Mother, and her talking gun. Right now with Rai on hiatus, War Mother is the only title set in the 4001 timeline and focuses on the aftermath of Japan's crash into the Earth which happened during the 4001 crossover. Rae really hopes to see a great cosplay of War Mother before the end of the year.

Bloodshot Salvation was up next, with Jeff Lemire "killing it" on the title. All 12 issues' scripts are in and artwork is being done, with the present and the future events in the series being handled by different artists. Lewis Larosa is covering the future, and Mico Suayan is drawing the present. Punk Mambo will appear, the revised villain Rampage will appear, the other Bloodshots will appear, and information about Magic's family will be revealed as Bloodshot and Magic come into conflict with them.

Rae also emphasized that Valiant has not yet, since 2012, shipped a late book, and they work hard to work ahead so that the books are on time:

"Late shipping books hurt everything, and we know readers hate it when books are late. I know as a reader that two months go by and I forget what happened in the last issue I read."

Matt Kindt's run on Ninjak ended with Ninjak #0, which just shipped. Christos Cage comes on board to start Ninja-K, as the series goes to reveal what happened to the ninjas before Ninjak. Praising Kindt's work on the title, Rae commented that Kindt really loves Ninjak, and even owns a '90s Ninjak ring from the original Valiant era, "but we gave him X-O Manowar, so Chris Gage is taking over." Praising Gage's work on G.I. Joe Cobra and the Daredevil TV series, this will be heavy spy thriller with "lots of espionage."

Taking questions during his presentation, Rae was asked what kind of freedom the creators were given with the characters and their stories:

"Everybody is edited, but if you look at the work Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, and others do with the Valiant characters, you can tell it is a real passion. They pitch their own stories and Valiant lets the creators create."

Divinity is going on to become Eternity, "the next evolution of Divinity." Eternity is channeling "Kirby craziness," as Matt Kindt has designed much of what the new aliens and worlds will look like in Eternity:

"Finger trees and other crazy ideas all over the place. The characters were drawn and hand painted by Matt Kindt. You see things like the 'eyeball guy' know that came straight from Matt Kindt's mind. If you like space, mind-bending stuff, Eternity is for you."

Rae also reminded the audience of the idea that is waiting for other comic book companies to steal, the pre-order bundles. Only available with initial Diamond orders, each pre-order bundle issue comes with exclusive pages, sketches, interviews, or comics such as Bloodshot Salvation #1. The pre-order bundles are selling well, and the initial little hiccups that the first batch from X-O Manowar has been dealt with. The goal for the pre-order bundles is to help stores order correctly and keep readers coming back. Pre-order bundles will continue to be done for X-O Manowar, Ninja-K (including the Ninja-G comic), and will be done for the upcoming Quantum and Woody.

The return of Quantum and Woody will be fun, but with Quantum and Woody estranged, only meeting to stay alive every 24 hours. Lots of "fun" covers will be done for the new series, such as doing a "word bubble" cover that stores can edit. The pre-order bundle for Quantum and Woody will cover issues 1-4.

Rae also reminded people that the road to Harbinger Wars 2 is getting close to ending. With Harbinger Wars 2 coming soon and Harbinger Renegades as the book to read the most, readers should look to Secret Weapons for more hints and lead in information for the event. Also, the hardcover for Secret Weapons will only be available at the Local Comic Book Store Day event and will not be reprinted, and will be available before the trade paperback version.

When asked about reprinting hardcovers that are out of print, Rae said it is something Valiant is discussing, but they don't want to diminish the collectability of the hardcovers they do. However, they are trying to figure out a way to do so.

Rae thanked everyone for being at the panel and handed out Secret Weapons buttons to everyone who came.