Imperium: Prelude Coming From Joshua Dysart, Doug Braithwaite and Valiant in February

Tucked away inside of Valiant's February comics will be Imperium: Prelude, a fully-removable short comic story by Joshua Dysart and Doug Braithwaite that serves as a lead-in to Imperium, which launches February 4 as part of the publisher's Valiant Next initiative.

Picking up following the events of Harbinger, Toyo Harada is the most dangerous human being on the planet. Imbued with incredible powers of the mind, he has spent his life guiding humanity from the shadows. But today he is a wanted man. His powers are public knowledge, his allies have turned to enemies, and he is hunted by every government on the planet. Instead of surrendering, Harada has one last unthinkable gambit to play: to achieve more, faster, and with less, he will build a coalition of the powerful, the unscrupulous and the insane. No longer content to demand a better future, he will recruit a violent legion from the darkest corners of the Earth to fight for it.

To that end, he creates a kind of anti-Unity, something that has been compared to the Injustice League but is probably more compatible with Marvel's Brotherhood of Mutants: Harada really believes, after all, that he's the good guy.

"Imperium is unlike every other book Valiant has ever published before, and this exclusive prelude story is a great chance to find out why," said Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. "Joshua and Doug are doing phenomenal work, and, together, they are about to unleash a politically charged series with global stakes and what are sure to be some of the most compelling characters anywhere in comics today."

You can check out the solicitation information for Imperium #1 below, and some preview images for Imperium: Prelude both above and below.

IMPERIUM #1 [VALIANT NEXT]
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
Cover A (Harada) by RAUL ALLEN (DEC141700)
Cover B (Lord Vine-99) by RAUL ALLEN (DEC141701)
Cover C (Mech Major) by RAUL ALLEN (DEC141702)
Valiant Next Variant by TREVOR HAIRSINE & TOM MULLER (DEC141704)
Character Design Variant by DOUG BRAITHWAITE (DEC141705)
Artist Variant by DOUG BRAITHWAITE (DEC141706)
Blank Cover also available (DEC141703)
$3.99 US | T+ | 32 pgs. | On sale FEBRUARY 4 (FOC – 1/12/15)