Valiant Entertainment 2016
Written by Matt Kindt
Penciled by Trevor Hairsine
Inked by Ryan Winn & Alisson Rodrigues
Coloured by David Baron & Allen Passalaqua
Lettered by Dave Lanphear
So what was behind the whole Stalinverse? Kazmir of course we knew that the third and final cosmonaut would return to wreck his own kind of vengeance upon those who left him there. How he managed to do it though is something else entirely and I’ve got to say this has been one of the most complete crossover events i’ve ever seen and Matt did it in four freakin issues. He didn’t need seven to stretch this out further, though I will say the one-shots were incredible and made me want to read more of this alternate timeline. The pacing of this story has been incredible and the way we see it end is pretty much perfect for the Valiant Universe and it’s future.
I found it rather interesting who Abram decided to go to and awaken here. While it wouldn’t have been prudent to go to everyone his strategic choices were rather fascinating to me. We all knew that Colin and Harada were aware already so that just left three of the more unique and powerful beings left to awaken. We’d already seen them throughout the story in various stages so they weren’t really surprise but I have to say that the way Abram went about it was incredibly well done.
So Putin had himself the world at his fingertips and his Red Brigade well they were ready to fight for him. Even if Putin weren’t such the figure he is any Russian President would’ve really done as well I suppose but it’s even more fitting that now at this time we see a characterized version of him seeking world dominance. Seeing his personality as one of an unstable oligarch well it was delicious actually. Not only him though but the characterisation here for each and every character was so well done as we see their strengths and convictions.
Trevor and company really did such an amazing job on the interiors here. The use of page layouts through their angles, perspective and even backgrounds or lack thereof really gave the reader the impact of what was happening and how important some moments were. The attention to detail is superb and the utilisation of colour and space really made so much of what we saw pop. Also the fact that so many people worked on this and it looks as cohesive as it does should be applauded.
I like how this was resolved and what it leaves open for the future. There’s no way this is something that can simply be wiped clean and there are going to be consequences to the actions that were taken. However what those will be are anyone’s guess. Plus if by some odd miracle Putin can recall what happened then perhaps something else dastardly could be in play at some point in time.
This is how you do a company event you make it flow naturally and have an ending that both fixes and leaves open for future conflict all the while keeping your audience, see fanbase, entertained as all get out without having to kill off or drastically change all your characters.