Joshua Dysart: Very Little In Valiant Won’t Be Touched By Unity

Joshua Dysart, whose major crossover Harbinger Wars just wrapped and is having ripple effects through the Valiant Universe, will soon be taking over co-writing duties on Bloodshot and the H.A.R.D. Corps in addition to his ongoing gig as the (sole) writer of Harbinger, one of the publisher’s flagship titles and one of the best-reviewed books in comics.Dysart joined ComicBook.com to talk about his two series for Valiant, as well as what we might expect in the run-up to the company’s big winter event series Unity and the unique pressures of taking over a title that’s only ever been written by one other writer.ComicBook.com: When you guys launched, it was to good reviews but that doesn’t necessarily mean much for sales. Is it nice working with a company that’s a bit smaller, where maybe expectations aren’t as high and you can focus on story rather than your time at DC when you were often dogged by sales issues?Joshua Dysart: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s all kinds of benefits to being at a smaller but ambitious company. That’s one of them is that we can justify and sustain our existence at smaller numbers for now–but also it means that they invest a lot more in each book, for lack of a better term, emotionally. They stick with a book, so that’s all part of it.There’s a whole list of reasons why being at a small company that’s growing fast is great. I know all the employees, I’m close with marketing, we all work together, we move on a dime, we have big meetings in which everyone’s involved so there’s a feeling that you’re part of a community and that’s exciting for me. I’ve never been one of those writers that has a character he has to work on. I have other human beings I want to work with.