Imperium: Prelude coming in February!
Valiant has announced that most of their lineup will include a special, exclusive-to-print preview of one of their upcoming titles. Part of Valiant’s VALIANT NEXT slate is Imperium, from Joshua Dysart and Doug Braithwaite. Due out February 4th, the book follows from Harbinger Omegas, centering on Toyo Harada’s reign over the nation he carved out for himself out of Somalia. The idea of giving the “bad guys” their own book is nothing new – Paul Cornell had a memorable run on Action Comics focused squarely on Lex Luthor, for one – but Harada is well worth a book. The character’s immense power and deep conviction that he’s strong for doing the right thing, even when the “right thing” is monstrous, make him a fascinating character study. There are certainly parallels to Magneto – right down to a morality forged in the fires of World War II – but Harada’s incredible assets, both monetary and superhuman, add a sense of indestructibility to the man, even as he appears more and more worn down.
Still, Harada is not alone. Imperium’s press has repeatedly read, “A psychic dictator, an inhuman robot, a mad scientist, a murderous alien, and a super-powered terrorist are about to try and take over the world…and you’re going to be rooting for them every step of the way,” so it sounds like a host of new characters are coming to the party.
Imperium: Prelude is included below, but if you want a physical copy, there’s a detachable one with a card stock cover in each of these books:
• X-O MANOWAR #33 – on sale February 4th
• RAI #7 – on sale February 11th
• Q2: THE RETURN OF QUANTUM AND WOODY #5 (of 5) – on sale February 11th
• UNITY #15 – on sale February 18th
• IVAR, TIMEWALKER #2 – on sale February 18th
• QUANTUM AND WOODY MUST DIE #2 – on sale February 25th
It will NOT be appearing The Valiant #3, Divinity #1, or Imperium #1, that last one probably because it would make the book pretty confusing to read.
I, for one, dig the throwbacks Valiant’s been doing. The Chromium covers for the Armor Hunters miniseries were a little cheesy, but in a fun, beautifully retro-Valiant way. A preview book nestled into your monthly reading is a throwback along the same lines. (The original Armorines debuted the same way)
If you hate reading books or are allergic to paper, you can also check it out here:
