Don’t hate me, but I’m falling out of love with the artwork on this series. I wasn’t a fan of it to begin with, but now I feel it’s really detracting from the story at least for me anyway. I’m bringing it up because it’s the last time I’m going to talk about the art on this series while Clayton Crain is onboard. I understand that Valiant is letting the book take a break in-between storylines in order to keep him onboard and while that is sure to please most fans it will leave me begging for art that actually compliments this amazing story rather than complimenting the setting of the story. In the last issue Rai went boom, but of course he didn’t really go boom. This issue picks up with the Raddies talking about him and how he’s not human and apart of Japan and apart of Father. We also get a story from one of the Raddies about Rai going into Old Los Angeles and going on a killing spree. That part of the story should jump out to you because it’s not something we’ve heard about from the legendary Rai. Eventually he returns to the Raddies and asks them where the other two bombs are, but the ones that do know aren’t talking.

Also in the last issue Spylocke and Lula ran into each other as Lula was entrusted with the information that Rai discovered. I don’t want to spoil their “conversation”, but let’s just say that Rai is not what he seems and neither is the death of the woman that started the series. Which of course is a duh, but it’s a good reveal.

The story is wonderful. It’s not all original as it borrows from other stories that have come before it, but the execution and the characters make it very entertaining. The fact that it’s taking place in the future of the Valiant Universe is what makes it interesting. The addition of Silk to the story has added so many layers and with Matt Kindt handling his origin in Unity, his appearance and characterization here is seamless and at times smile inducing.

I’m looking forward to the next issue. I want to see what’s going to happen because it’s going to make or break the series, but I doubt it’ll break. All of the characters are rushing to one location and the intensity of the writing has me on the edge of my seat. At this point I’m basically just looking at the captions and dialogue because the artwork washes out so much of the emotion for me, but if you’re digging it then you’ll probably love this issue even more.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Matt Kindt Artist: Clayton Crain Publisher: Valiant Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 7/9/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital