The Valiant Publishing Team Opens up About Valiant Next

With The Valiant #1 launching on December 10, 2014, this entirely self-contained comics event spotlighting Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Geomancer, and a cast of heroes and villains from across the Valiant Universe will set up a new line of comics with Valiant Next. The Valiant is a visionary new adventure from three of the greatest creative talents in comics today.

Following The Valiant are five new blockbuster series that consists of new ongoing titles and prestige format projects that include IVAR, TIMEWALKER #1 by Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry in January, DIVINITY #1 (of 4) by Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine in February, IMPERIUM #1 by Joshua Dysart and Doug Braithwaite in February, NINJAK #1 by Matt Kindt and Clay Mann in March, and BLOODSHOT REBORN #1 by Jeff Lemire and Mico Suayan in April. In the below interview, the Valiant publishing team of CEO & Chief Creative Officer, Dinesh Shamdasani, Publisher, Fred Pierce, and Editor-in-Chief, Warren Simons discuss what you can expect from Valiant's 2015 comic lineup with Valiant Next!

PREVIEWSworld: The lines in the Valiant Next initiative include a fairly wide range of different stories and genres—some that stretch across time and space! How will each title relate to one another and function in the Valiant Next as a whole? In what ways does The Valiant limited series serve as a launch pad for the following titles in the initiative?

Fred Pierce: The Valiant is the perfect launch pad for any new Valiant reader. And, by extension, each series in the Valiant Next rollout has been designed with accessibility in mind. What makes The Valiant the perfect place to begin Valiant Next lies within the scope of the story and the title. We’re spanning 10,000 years in the past to present day, defining the core concepts behind the universe, and incorporating all of our key characters. X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Eternal Warrior, Shadowman, and even Quantum and Woody – virtually every major and hero villain will stepping up to combat the colossal threat of the Immortal Enemy during the course of the series.

Warren Simons: From day one, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, and Paolo Rivera set out to welcome new readers with The Valiant.  But the story that Jeff, Matt, and Paolo originally set out to make together has grown well beyond its original design. The story is huge and will be a catalyst for events later on down the line, but they have retained the intimacy and focus on character that makes this book so special. As for how it impacts specific titles, readers will be able to move from The Valiant directly into Matt’s other Valiant titles like Ninjak and Unity, and especially Jeff’s upcoming Bloodshot Reborn, which picks up in the direct aftermath of The Valiant.

PREVIEWSworld: Will fans have to read titles in a specific order or partake in the entirety of the initiative in order to fully enjoy each?

Dinesh Shamdasani: Not at all. It has never been our intention to create an environment where readers are bogged down with a specific order they absolutely have to follow. Valiant Next is about giving readers the best stories possible, regardless of where they start, month after month.

FP: Each title here can be read independently of the other, and each series taps into a different facet of what Valiant has to offer.  You’ve got a history-spanning epic in The Valiant and big, bombastic sci-fi adventure in Ivar, Timewalker. Two of our biggest, most demanded heroes are getting major ongoings with Ninjak and Bloodshot Reborn. And we have some mind-bending, brand new concepts – something the fans have been demanding for years – in Divinity and Imperium. It’s a formidable line-up of titles.

DS: These are all stories Valiant has never attempted before. Hence, one of the primary reasons it’s called Valiant Next.

PREVIEWSworld: Will Valiant Next provide an entry point for readers looking to jump into the Valiant comic universe for the first time? And will this be a good opportunity for fans who want to learn more about a specific title or character with whom they may not be overly familiar?

WS: One of top priorities is always accessibility. While we’ve been successful beyond our expectations, we’ve only just scratched the potential readership for our titles. Our focus hasn’t shifted – it’s all about the story. We have a roster of immensely talented writers and artists who are focused on telling their story the best way possible. Whether you’re reading Valiant for the first time or jumping into a new character you’re just discovering now, each Valiant Next title is a chance to start fresh.

DS: So many fans that speak to us tell us that they want to read something new, something they haven’t seen before. Many are new and many are longtime fans. We’ve done our best to make sure both groups can come to these books and find something rewarding.

PREVIEWSworld: Can you tell us a bit about the new characters and properties being introduced with Valiant Next? How will they fit into the overall Valiant comic universe? How did you decide on which characters or series to introduce with Valiant Next initiative (as opposed to launching them as a separate comic line)?

WS: Since we returned to 2012, we’ve always intended to introduce new characters, but first we wanted to make sure we had a solid foundation with the major pillars of the universe like X-O Manowar, Harbinger, and Bloodshot. And each title we’ve launched so far has been rife with new concepts – just look at characters like Generation Zero, Punk Mambo, and the One Percent, which really took on a life of their own. 

A project like Divinity, however, all begins with the creators, and Matt Kindt approached us with a brilliant and touching idea to add an all-new, never-before-seen force to the Valiant Universe. This is Valiant going cosmic, and Divinity plays up the sense of wonder of superheroes perhaps more so than any other project we’ve attempted to date. It’s the story of a Soviet cosmonaut that went farther into space than any man before him back in the 1960s, and, when he suddenly reappears in the modern day, the fact that there is now a god-like communist transmuting matter in the Australian Outback will quickly put him on the radar of Earth’s other heroes. Suffice it to say, he is character that will leave this series and play an important role going forward.

DS: Valiant Next is also a chance to elevate some of our most important characters into even bigger roles. Harada in Imperium and Bloodshot in Bloodshot Reborn, for instance, will both focus on pre-existing characters who are getting a major change of direction based on the visions of their respective creative teams. And the same can be said of Ninjak, who has played a huge role in Unity and X-O Manowar, and Timewalker, who first appeared in Archer & Armstrong.

PREVIEWSworld: In addition to launching a number of new titles, the Valiant Next initiative is also notable for the number of top-notch creators lending their talents to make each series. How did you go about forming the creative teams for the Valiant Next line?

DS: We’re very excited about this and our incredibly proud to be growing what we think is already one of the most talented teams of creators anywhere in comics. To have talents like Jeff Lemire, Clay Mann, and Paolo Rivera joining Matt Kindt, Doug Braithwaite, Joshua Dysart, Mico Suayan, Robert Venditti and Fred Van Lente – and the list goes on – is a real thrill.

WS: Forming the actual teams for each title was not to say effortless, but seamless. Matt Kindt, Fred Van Lente, and Joshua Dysart are beginning stories they have been seeding for awhile, and Jeff’s vision for Bloodshot comes from his work on The Valiant. Each creator we have has been passionate about his or her project and they gravitated that way from the beginning.

PREVIEWSworld: While many of the announced creators will be familiar to Valiant fans, are there any team members who are working with the company for the first time? If so, what lead to their involvement with the Valiant Next initiative?

WS: On the Next titles, there are indeed several new or recent additions to the Valiant team, including the ones I just mentioned – Jeff Lemire, Paolo Rivera, and Clay Mann. Jeff and Matt were friends for years before they started kicking around ideas for a project they both would work on. As they discussed it, that idea formed into The Valiant.  I worked with Clay several teams over the years on series like Thor and Dark Reign: Elektra. He’s just incredible, and perfectly suited to Ninjak.

As for Paolo, this is notably his first full-length interior work after his Eisner Award-winning stint on Daredevil, and I’d been speaking to him on-and-off for years, waiting until the right project came along to fully utilize his immense talents as a storyteller. Fortunately, The Valiant was just such a story, and he’s immediately clicked with Jeff and Matt, who are both well-respected artists in their own right.

PREVIEWSworld: How did you decide on a publishing format (i.e. limited series versus on-going series) for each comic in the Valiant Next line? Will these series persist or expand outside of the Valiant Next initiative as a part of the company overall publishing lineup?

FP: Each series’ respective format came out of the story each creative team wanted to tell. The Valiant and Divinity are both prestige format limited series that we wanted to have special importance within the publishing line. They’re going to run entirely ad-free, and have some deluxe elements to their presentations that will make them look and feel special in the stores.  The others are all ongoings, and represent characters and genres that fans have been demanding from us for years at this point.

DS: And, yes, Valiant Next is the way we introduce each of these new titles, but each will continue to exist as part of Valiant’s publishing line-up into the foreseeable future. Jeff has long-term plans for Bloodshot, as does Fred for Ivar, Matt for Ninjak, and Joshua for Imperium.

PREVIEWSworld: Valiant has had some recent success with licensing its characters for various consumer products. Is there anything new on the horizon for 2015?

DS: You will continue to see a lot of cool and exciting products from Valiant in the New Year. We just debuted our first urban vinyl X-O Manowar figure at New York Comic-Con and it sold out in just over an hour.  We’re looking forward to getting those into retail stores in the coming months – they’ve really been a huge success and, more importantly, they’re just fricking cool.

Also, Catalyst Game Labs also just recently released the first Valiant roll-playing game, which has been garnering some stellar reviews online. We’ll be following up on that with very exciting gaming related news in the next few months.

PREVIEWSworld: What’s currently in development for Valiant as trans-media properties? Do you have anything crossing over into Film/TV at this time?

DS: Early word on a couple Valiant movie projects – Bloodshot and Archer & Armstrong – leaked out over the past year, and are in active development, along with several others that have yet to be announced. However, our number one priority is, was, and continues to be publishing. Valiant’s first priority is making great comics and the end of the day what drives our staff and creators isn’t prospective movie deals. It’s telling the best story possible. Everything is an extension of that, and, while we’ll be ready when that day comes, comics are still what we eat, sleep, and breathe at Valiant.

PREVIEWSworld: Finally, the Next initiative isn’t the only exciting development brewing in the Valiant comic universe! Several prominent titles in the Valiant line-up ended after their respective 25th issues. What’s in store for these titles moving forward? Can you reveal any plans for the company’s future publishing slate?

FP: We’re extremely proud of the four founding series that reached their big #25 anniversary issues. Outside of the Big Two, Valiant is really one of the only publishers publishing successful ongoing superhero series. But, in the case of Harbinger or Archer & Armstrong, the creators on those series told the stories that they wanted to tell and were ready to transition to new projects.

In the meantime, however, our other big ongoings like X-O Manowar, Unity, and Rai – all of which have been big hits for us – continue to move full-steam ahead. X-O Manowar, in particular, will always be a centerpiece of the Valiant Universe, and we have a major new shake-up coming down the line that will be big news in a few weeks time. Look for a tease regarding that next week in X-O Manowar #30. Robert Venditti and Diego Bernard are pound for pound one of the most consistently energized creative teams out there right now.