When the Loveboat crashes, you know there’s a problem.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Matt Kindt
Art: Juan Jose Ryp
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What they say:
Beyond time, space, and reality, there lies the Unknown…and now it’s coming here! When soldiers from a mysterious foreign realm arrive on Earth, it’s up to the armored Visigoth known as X-O Manowar – newly returned to the planet and now the leader of his own elite G.A.T.E. unit – to deal with the intrusion. But are these otherworldly emissaries truly the threat they appear to be, or does a larger danger loom over the Valiant Universe still?
Worlds collide as Eisner Award-nominated writer Matt Kindt (ETERNITY, Grass Kings) and incendiary artist Juan José Ryp (BRITANNIA) bring a new plane of existence crashing down upon our own in a brand-new jumping-on point for 2017’s best-selling series!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Feeling the hangover from Harbinger Wars 2 and the crash of the Loveboat (not that one) Colonel Jamie Capshaw surveys the carnage created by Livewire. The Loveboat is G.A.T.E.s answer to the helicarrier. A larger roaming base of operations fully stocked with personnel and logistical equipment. As the leader of G.A.T.E., Col. Capshaw is seeing her operations level flounder and her power denigrated.
Capshaw is sent to her superiors, a stunning clone of the dancing six flags man, and is told in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t use her influence of Aric, that she will be personally responsible for the backlash of the gigantic ship’s crash. The old man goes in pretty hard on Col. Capshaw, threatening a knockdown from Colonel to toilet scrubber, we know how clean Marines like the latrines.
Capshaw’s life is falling to pieces. After the tongue lashing, her girlfriend leaves, and she has a brief cry in the shower before getting back on the job. A strong tendency of leaders in the military, in my experience anyway, is to work through the heartache. You have a job to do, and it’s got to be done regardless. Capshaw, and as we see from this encounter Aric’s, lives are on a similar parallel. They must keep themselves busy, or face the harsh realities of their lives.
Once the destination is reached, Capshaw explains to XO that there is a ship of unknown origins hovering somewhere in the Austrailian outback, and he must investigate. Once inside a dusky gentleman with a turban informs Aric that they are searching for a lost princess. When the man asks if Aric knows Divinity, things get dicey. The man attacks Aric with an energy that his armor doesn’t recognize and it comes to pieces. When two more energy wielding, turban-wearing attackers appear Aric is forced to flee outside the hovering sphere, alerting Capshaw to his predicament and setting her into motion.
In Summary:
Harbinger Wars 2 is having some tremendous effects on the Valiant universe. Once again Aric of Dacia is right at the forefront of an alien attack that gives us very few clues about its purpose. Matt Kindt seems to be setting the stage for a showdown that will force XO and Capshaw to work together to find the mysterious ‘lost princess.’ Ryp’s art is defining the Valiant universe these days. He has a couple of books hitting the stands each month, so he is creating his fair share of the mythology.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Valiant
Release Date: September 26, 2018
MSRP: $3.99