Unity #3 Review - Mobile Edition

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Unity #3 Review
By Andy Frisk
January 12, 2014 - 21:40

Valiant Entertainment
Writer(s): Matt Kindt
Penciller(s): Doug Braithwaite
Colourist(s): Brian Reber
Letterer(s): Dave Sharpe
Cover Artist(s): Doug Braithwaite

Livewire has gained complete control over the X-O Manowar armor and saves the day by stopping a Russian nuclear missile from igniting World War III. When Harada demands the X-O Manowar armor though, will she deem her master worthy of taking possession of it? More importantly, will the rest of the Unity team allow Harada to have sole possession of such a powerful weapon?

Moving at breakneck speed from one plot to the next, Matt Kindt keeps the fastest moving Valiant comic book one of the rising company's sharpest and best. This is the Valiant Universe, and anything is possible here. While I seriously doubt that Aric has seen the last of his beloved Shanhara. Kindt's beautifully nuanced character development (something he has become renown for across the industry) of Livewire is wonderful. He takes a rather run of the mill character with a rather simple and uninteresting power (Livewire can talk to technology) and makes her one of the most interesting characters in the Valiant U 2.0. He also sheds some interesting (and somewhat overdue) insight into the workings of the X-O Manowar armor.

Kindt's development of Harada throughout the first few issues of Unity is complex and intelligent. Just when the readers begin to think that perhaps Harada isn't all bad, new insight (however vague) into his character through what Livewire discovers about him with her X-O Manowar enhanced powers throws all of our assumptions into question. Kindt in particular, and Valiant in general, is the place for great character development the likes of which we haven't seen since the early days of the Marvel Universe.

Artist Doug Braithwaite continues to bring this complex world of characterizations, technology, superpowered happenings, and global politics to brilliant visual life. While I still sometimes think that his artwork is a bit on the unfinished looking side of the sequential art spectrum (some of his panels look like colored sketches rather than finished art), his ability to convey some powerful emotional import through facial characteristics and body language is sublime.

A team book unlike any other, Unity is one of Valiant's most interesting and complex books yet. It really is a must read for fans of realistic and smart superhero comics.

Rating: 9/10

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