Well, this one baffles me and I don't really know what to do with it. That's why it gets the deuce instead of the tres. I was expecting a Prince Valiant interpreted for the post-Ming-pocalypse Puply-verse King Dynamite has masterfully established. That's not what I got. What I got is a flashback in what is ostensibly a prequel story. The premise of the story is an older Valiant telling some unknown entity his history. As a plot device you can do a lot worse. We get to learn what we need to learn, the story moves quickly and smoothly, it's competently written. It's written well enough that it's kind of invisible, it's not so good that it stands out but it's not so bad that it detracts from the greater narrative. The art is good as well but I'm left with just a great big bag of 'meh'. Like 10 pounds of meh in an 9 pound sack. There's not so much meh that the sack is overflowing it's just enough meh to be a slightly awkward, moderately overfull sack.

The way the book line is coming together I was expecting a full on Pulpy-verse Avengers. Flash as our Captain America, Dale is our Black Widow, Phantom is our Hawkeye, Jungle Jim is our Hulk, Mandrake is our Dr. Strange and I was hoping Valiant would end up as, maybe, I don't know, our Iron Man. What I got looks like a totally unrelated story line. I don't know where it fits in the grander scheme of things but I'm interested in seeing where it goes. Maybe after this issue or after this story arc it'll be worth checking out but for this issue you can feel safe skipping this one. Unless you like what King Dynamite has been doing in which case add a point to that score and show some support.

Score: 2/5

Writer: Nate Cosby Artist: Ron Salas Colorist: Luigi Anderson Publisher: IDW Price: $3.99 Release Date: 2/25/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital