Valiant Entertainment 2015
Written by Ales Kot
Illustrated by Adam Gorham
Coloured by Michael Spicer
An alien virus responsible for ravaging planets throughout the galaxy has arrived on Earth-and landed on the black market. Before being stolen by a teenage girl. Yeah. Not good.
The thief’s purpose is unclear but MI-6 operative Neville Alcott has managed to discover she’s using a series of dead drops--a method to pass items via secret locations--across New York City.
It turns out though, Neville hasn’t been himself lately. An alien posing as Neville sent X-O Manowar, Archer and Beta-Max to retrieve the virus. All three failed, ending up infected, decapitated or all wet.
Realizing what’s been going on, the real Neville enlists a veteran police detective as humanity’s last hope…
Welcome tot the game Detective Cejudo. I can’t recall seeing her before and if she’s new she’s delightful and that Ales gives her a dry sense of humor right off the bat is fantastic! Then when she finds our girl and her helper well yeah she quickly proves she’s a force to be reckoned with. Seriously the girl has some moves! Actually I really do like that we see her as this strong confident woman who handles herself incredibly well. You can feel her confidence come right off the page.
Cejudo’s walk through the warehouse after the talk with the kids well i have to say Adam and Michael really outdid themselves. I think the purples and blues were an inspired choice for the infestation and all the goo representing the virus all around her. When she finds Aric he’s in a giant test tube and out of commission. When she finds Archer I had a huge smile on my face. The poor kid lost his pants and is just sitting in that chair tied up and all kinds of awkward and it’s utterly within character.
So I’m not sure if i’m disappointed in the ending or not. It’s neatly tied up and completely well explained but there’s a part of me that wanted to see more. Though I have to give credit to Ales for Cejudo’s final page report where she sums her actions for us perfectly. It also gives us a huge look at Neville and what he was willing to do to both men instead of looking for another way out. Oh and her P.S. yeah that was fantastic.
Plus that that wasn’t the end of the story and whatever happened to Beta-Max well that needs another look. I mean these two kids and Beta-Max might just deserve a limited series of their own now and an explanation as to how a half man half cyborg who's been decapitated can be brought back needs that.
This embodies what fans love about the Valiant Universe. Take a few characters thrust them into a unexpected story and introduce new exciting characters in the process all the while exposing fans to new takes by new writers and artists.