Bloodshot

When I talked to writers Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire about their new Valiant Comics miniseries The Valiant at San Diego Comic-Con this year, they said that the kernel of the story, the real heart of it, was something small and personal. It's not that I don't believe them -- the new, nine-page preview of the series released by Valiant this week includes one page in which Geomancer has a conversation with an unseen person in a library, and it's fairly quiet -- but the eight other pages are full of historical battles, prehistoric battles, future battles, and mythical battles. There are a lot of battles, with Eternal Warrior in the center of some, and Bloodshot in a few others. Artist Paolo Rivera makes it all seem gigantic.

Following the successful launch of a Valiant Comics roleplaying game on DriveThruRPG.com, the publisher announced this week that it will partner with the RPG site's sister site, DriveThruComics.com, to offer its entire comics library -- the old and the new -- DRM-free, as PDFs. New comics will be available day-and-date. Not only that, but for the next 30 days, Valiant will offer eight of its number-one issues for free through the DriveThruComics website; Archer and Armstrong, Unity, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Harbinger, Quantum and Woody, Shadowman and X-O Manowar.

Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire, the co-writers of the upcoming miniseries The Valiant -- a prestige-format miniseries featuring Bloodshot, Geomancer and Eternal Warrior -- have each done superhero work in the past, but they've really made their names with creator-owned work that they wrote and drew. Kindt's Mind MGMT has taken off, and Lemire struck a chord with series including Sweet Tooth and Trillium. Those credentials are part of why Valiant invited the two creators to work on the new miniseries -- one that's being touted as an entry point for new readers, but also as a turning point for the whole Valiant Universe. They've been given some wiggle room to develop a character-based story and put their creative voices to work. The result is something both writers seem really proud of, not to mention a story that's bound to look good, with artwork by Paolo Rivera. We sat down with Lemire and Kindt at San Diego Comic-Con International to ask them about their collaboration, how their backgrounds in cartooning inform their superhero work, and how Valiant's universe differs from others.

Never let it be said that Valiant Comics doesn't try new things with its characters. The publisher's latest experiment is something you don't see a lot of in comics any more: An "entirely self-contained" prestige-format miniseries titled The Valiant. It's certainly a project loaded with talent. It's co-written by Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) and Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth), and features art by Paolo Rivera (Daredevil).

Two classic Valiant Comics characters, Rai and Doctor Mirage, are set to make a splash in the new Valiant universe later this year, with the publisher introducing a slew of new titles in its Valiant First initiative all the while. There's a new team-up, a major crossover event, and a few spinoffs in the mix. Valiant is planning to release seven new #1 issues between May and September. Creators inc

As previously announced by Valiant, running in the back of each of their titles in July will be a six page short story titled Who Will Lead the H.A.R.D. Corps. Written by Jim Zub with art by Edwin Huang -- the acclaimed team behind Skullkickers -- and featuring color by Dave McCaig, the short promotes the upcoming Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #14 with an inside look at the interview process other Valiant characters went through with Project Rising Spirit, in the hopes of being hired to lead the Corps. Valiant has provided ComicsAlliance with the complete six page story -- featuring a desperate Quantum, a drunk Armstrong and dejected Master Darque -- which you can check out in full after the cut.

2012 may have seen the rebuilding of the Valiant Universe as the revived comic publisher relaunched books like X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong and Shadowman, but 2013 could be the year it all falls apart with the first crossover of the new era hits: Are you ready for Harbinger Wars? T...

This week has seen the relaunch of the Valiant universe with the release of the first issue of X-O Manowar by writer Robert Venditti (The Surrogates) and artist Cary Nord (Conan the Barbarian). Coming in the months ahead are new incarnations of other Valiant properties Bloodshot, Harbinger and Archer & Armstrong from a roster of talent that includes writers Fred Van Lente, Joshua Dysart, Duan

Gaming: The free Facebook RPG, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, is now live. Movies: Sony is apparently adapting Valiant's Bloodshot into a live action film. No, seriously. Awards: The 2012 Eagle Award nominees have been announced, which include CA for "Favourite Comics-Related Website...