The solicits are out for Valiant’s July books, and of course, I’m gonna dissect them for every little bit we can gleam from these!

These solicits are from the Valiant Universe website.

BLOODSHOT #1

Bloodshot 1 Cover by Arturo Lozzi

Written by Duane Swierczynski

Art by Manuel Garcia and Arturo Lozzi

Covers by Arturo Lozzi, Mico Suayan, David Aja, and Esad Ribic

The Summer of Valiant continues!

It’s the start of a new mission for one of comics’ all-time best-selling superheroes in Bloodshot #1 – the first issue of new ongoing series from acclaimed novelist Duane Swierczynski (Immortal Iron Fist, Birds of Prey) and the lethal artistic tag team of Manuel Garcia (Checkmate) and Arturo Lozzi (Immortal Weapons)!

Your name is Angelo Mortalli. Your brother is trapped behind enemy lines and on the verge of — no. That’s not right. Your name is Raymond Garrison. You’ve retired from the dangers of the field, but a desperate plea from your oldest friend plunges you into a vicious firefight that — no. That’s not right, either. You are Bloodshot. You are the shade of gray that freedom requires. The perfect confluence of military necessity and cutting-edge technology. A walking WikiLeaks that is a reservoir of dirty secrets that could set the world on fire. And you’ve just been captured.

32pgs, Full Color, $3.99

On sale July 11

Variant covers:

Pullbox by Mico Suayan

Variant by David Aja

Variant by Esad Ribic

Thoughts on the Bloodshot solicitation

This book seems very much to be shrouded in mystery. We haven’t seen very much from this book in terms of previews or information. in fact, a lot of the questions about the book seem to be answered with “if we answered that, it would spoil the book”. This makes me curious, and I’m getting more and more curious the closer we get to this book’s release.

We do know that we will be surprised at how important Bloodshot is to the Valiant Universe, and we know from C2E2 that something is going to happen in the first two pages that will have bigger ramifications for the Valiant Universe.

The hints seem to indicate that Bloodshot is going to be much more important to this Valiant Universe than he was to the classic Valiant stories. The thing is, he was pretty important, since he was the basis for the Rai legacy, and his blood was the Blood of heroes that was so important to the future.

We also know from C2E2 that The Vine are going to be involved in this somehow. I have no idea how, but this hints at the kind of interconnected world that made Valiant so great in the past.

The biggest question, and mystery, seems to be about the two artists on the book. It seems clear that the different artists are depicting separate things, though it’s unclear if this means they are drawing different times, different memories, different aspects of Bloodshot’s identities… or what if it is different characters altogether? Bloodshot and Rai were connected in the classic Valiant, will they be connected again in this book? Will one of the artists be depicting Rai? Just a thought.

Bloodshot is one of my favorite characters from the classic Valiant, I’m very anxious to find out more about this new Bloodshot.

HARBINGER #2

Harbinger 2 Cover by Arturo Lozzi

Written by Joshua Dysart

Art by Khari Evans

Cover by Arturo Lozzi

Variant cover by Doug Braithwaite

Outside the law. Inside your head. Welcome to the Harbinger Foundation.

The hunt for Peter Stanchek intensifies after an epic battle with Pittsburgh S.W.A.T forces him to use his powers out in the open. Now he faces the most difficult decision of his life. Continue to put his friends in harm’s way… or abandon them for the safety of Toyo Harada’s Harbinger Foundation?

32pgs

Full Color

$3.99

On sale July 11

Thoughts on the Harbinger Solicitation

Harbinger 2 Variant by Doug Braithwaite

I’m calling it now: Darpon, the character who’s name translates to the mirror, is a talking dog, and he’s on the cover of Harbinger #2. Josh Dysart and Dino Shamdasani hinted about this character at Wondercon, and we may be seeing him in the cover image above.

Have I mentioned that I really enjoy these covers with word balloons on them? We don’t see that too often these days, and it is a cool decision. I know opinions vary on this, but my opinion is that it is really cool.

That said, epic battle with S.W.A.T.?

Joining the Harbinger Foundation?

This sounds pretty fantastic. Who are Pete’s friends? Are they going to be the Harbinger kids that we all know, Kris, Flamingo, Zephyr, and Torque?

The variant cover to this issue seems to indicate that Pete joins the Harbinger Foundation, but is reluctant to do so.

Harbinger is an OTV favorite, so I know we’re all looking forward to this one.

X-O MANOWAR #3

X-O Manowar 3 by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic

Written by Robert Venditti

Art by Cary Nord

Cover by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic

Variant Cover by Mico Suayan

The smash hit series of the summer continues!

With the X-O Manowar armor now in his possession, all that stands between Aric and freedom is a legion of alien soldiers. When he at last comes face to face with Commander Trill — the man responsible for his capture — the enormous power of the Manowar armor reveals its potential in a new and electrifying way. Can Aric lead his band of fellow prisoners off the Vine colony ship and back to Earth, or will their revolt be put down? Who will live, and who will die?

32pgs

Full Color

$3.99

On sale July 18

Thoughts on the X-O Manowar solicitation

Three words.

Freaking. Lightning. Sword.

X-O Manowar 3 Variant by Mico Suayan

At this time, I see no reason to try to interpret “the Manowar armor reveals its potential in a new and electrifying way” differently.

What else could it be, really?

From the solicitation, this sounds like it will be a balls to the wall action issue, and I’ll be plenty happy to see Aric fighting his way through hordes of The Vine in his new found X-O Armor.

In Venditti and Nord we trust, so I expect we’ll get so much more than “just” a slugfest out of this.

It is also cool to note that the regular cover is an homage to issue 5 of the original X-O Manowar run, which had an awesome Barry Windsor-Smith cover.

Talking about covers, there is another variant cover to this issue. I don’t know yet if this is a 1:10 or 1:20 variant, though I would expect it to be 1:20, following in the same pattern as the 1:20 variant of issue 2.

The coloring reminds me quite a bit of the painted color look of comic covers from the late 80s and early 90s. It’s not really doing it for me though, this cover doesn’t excite me as much as some of the other covers I’ve seen.

Overall, these books look great, I can’t wait to have these in my hands and read, read, read.