The Valiant #3
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The good
Seeing Earth's forces lined up against the Immortal Enemy. Artwork for Immortal Enemy
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The bad
Feels like a complete filler issue. Earth's forces treated in cursory manner. What happened to Bloodshot?
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The ugly
- Total score
The Valiant #3 continues with Bloodshot protecting the Geomancer from the terrifying threat of the Immortal Enemy. It opens up with the Codebreaker having trouble opening the box that Neville found, and he states there’s something not right about the box. Neville doesn’t know what’s in it either but he knows it’s of the utmost importance because of a memo he received when he first started out and was only working in archives. It was 12 years before he even considered working for MI-6 yet it was personally addressed to him and had today’s date on it. Even though he believes that the key to stopping the Immortal Enemy is in this box, that’s not the only thing he has lined up as he’s amassed all the world’s super-powered beings to take him on. The plan is to form a line of defense so the Immortal Enemy can’t attack the Geomancer and Bloodshot. So everyone from X-O Manowar to Doctor Mirage has been assembled. And while they keep the foe busy Neville can find a way to defeat it for good. All they know is that it’s power source is the Earth and it has psychology-based attacks. But even with all of Earth’s forces amassed, if the Immortal Enemy can use everyone’s worst fears against them, can they really defeat such a foe?
The premise of an immortal enemy plaguing the Earth periodically with Gilad unable to stop it was interesting to me. Although I did wonder how this threat would be unique compared to the Armor Hunters invasion or the various enemies throughout. And after last issue I felt a good job was done in making the IMmortal Enemy a serious and unique danger to the Earth, so I was looking forward to what would unfold next. So when this issue started with just a hint about the box that had Neville’s full attention I felt some momentum to make this situation even more intriguing was squandered by not showing more. However, seeing all of Earth’s forces united against the Immortal Enemy was pretty cool, and Paolo Rivera’s artwork was magnificent on some pages. But then this issue took a strange turn and in one of the most bizarre character portrayals in recent memory, Bloodshot became a simple-minded character with bad dialogue. This continued for some time throughout the issue so it truly felt like filler to me because there wasn’t even any character development for the Geomancer to at least make her role feel important to the current events. So this portrayal (and dialogue) left me perplexed and disappointed. I would have even preferred more of the battle with the Immortal Enemy being shown instead of the cursory way it was handled. And at this point in the series I don’t understand why a filler issue would be placed here, and if the amassing of Earth’s forces would be treated so cursory why this series wouldn’t instead just focus on the smaller, meaningful battles featuring the Geomancer and Unity versus the Immortal Enemy. Or rather have it be a story arc in the Unity series. And I state that because right now I don’t feel the global threat impacting the Earth, and instead watched Bloodshot and the Geomancer eat jerky. So hopefully next issue will turn things around.
SUMMARY
The Valiant #3 was a surprisingly disappointing issue because it felt like it was full of filler material and at best did very little to advance the story, develop characters or make the threat of the Immortal Enemy worthy of its own series. It started with Bloodshot’s bizarre portrayal, and the cursory manner in which Earth’s forces were treated didn’t help matters. There were some slightly entertaining moments but overall felt like things were put in just to fill the pages. And considering nothing developed this issue, it would be fine for one to skip it and not worry about missing a thing because it ends almost exactly where issue #2 did. Hopefully things will pick up once the contents of the box is revealed next issue.
Release Date: 2/18/15
Writer: Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt
Artist: Paolo Rivera
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