Valiant rolls out new comic book line “Icons”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Coming on the heels of the most successful independent launch of the year, Valiant Entertainment on Monday, April 17 unveiled the future of its comic book line with the announcement of its new "Icons" line of new series and character relaunches, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The "Icons" wave actually started with last month's X-O Manowar series — the first issue of which was revealed during Monday's live-streamed #ValiantSummit event to be the best-selling independent comic book of 2017 to date, with over 90,000 copies sold. The line continues with the previously announced Britannia: We Who Are About to Die, Rapture and Secret Weapons launches in April, May and June, respectively, before continuing with new launches monthly until the end of the year.

Those new launches — Faith and the Future Force, Bloodshot: Salvation, Eternity, Ninja-K and Quantum and Woody!, with an as-yet "classified" release in August — mix revivals of fan-favorite characters with new projects and extensions of existing successes, all created using the X-O revival by Matt Kindt and Tomas Giorello as a guide.

"X-O Manowar wasn’t just the launch of a new series, it was a statement of purpose," Valiant CEO and chief creative officer Dinesh Shamdasani explained in a statement from the publisher. "Even before the first issue hit stands, the success of that series has emboldened Valiant and its creators to redouble our efforts and create what might just be our most high-profile roster of titles to date. Over the course of the coming year, Valiant has dedicated itself to bringing the same level of creative vision, formidable storytelling and intensive quality to each of its most important new series and most beloved characters."

Creators on the new series include Faith writer Jody Houser — writing the time-travel miniseries Faith and the Future Force, naturally — as well as Marvel's Daredevil writer Christos Gage and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert's Daniel Kibblesmith, writing Ninja-K and Quantum and Woody!, respectively.

The focus on Valiant's core characters comes as the company's multimedia plans continue to evolve. In addition to Harbinger and Bloodshot being developed at Sony, Quantum and Woody! is under development for a TV project with Joe and Anthony Russo attached as executive producers, with the company developing Archer & Armstrong in-house as a movie property with Terry Rossio and Ruben Fleischer as writer and director, respectively.

The next "Icons" launch will be Britannia: We Who Are About to Die, set for later this month.