Valiant Announces "Valiant First" Initiative, Launches New Series Throughout 2014

Valiant Entertainment today announced a new initiative that will see the release of a number of new ongoing and miniseries, including some featuring characters not yet seen since the Valiant relaunch. The publisher call the program the "next phase" of their publishing strategy and describes the Valiant First program as "a brand new publishing initiative primed to unleash a major #1 new series debut monthly throughout 2014, beginning this May with Rai #1" and carrying through at least until September. Titles announced this morning include Rai, Armor Hunters, Armor Hunters: Bloodshot, Armor Hunters: Harbinger and a Quantum & Woody/Archer & Armstrong team-up book titled The Delinquents. Armor Hunters, of course, is the big, X-O Manowar-centric event story that the publisher has been teasing for the last couple of months. Its first issue launches in June, with the Bloodshot and Harbinger one-shots hitting in July and then The Delinquents in August. "The defining goal of Valiant First is to give readers clear and accessible jumping-on points into Valiant's award-winning publishing line," said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons. "Over the past two years, Valiant's approach to the craft and business of comics has been widely imitated throughout the industry. We're incredibly flattered by that fact, but we also see it as a challenge. Our response is to raise the bar even higher. We've been building momentum with a slew of awards and the best reviewed line of books on the market – but 2014 is where you'll see us double our game without doubling the size of our publishing line." In the coming weeks, Valiant will also be announcing a number of sales incentives and promotional offerings – the largest in Valiant's history – for comic shops worldwide to coincide with the launch of each Valiant First title. "Over the next year, we'll be working one-on-one with retailers to put our books in customer hands, and to generate new fans with each release. Already, we're planning to introduce an expansive array of sales incentives, returnability offerings, and promotional materials. Look for details to follow as Valiant First hits the ground running," said Hunter Gorinson, Valiant's Director of Marketing, Communications & Digital Media. For sneak peeks inside eachValiant First release, follow Valiant First on Tumblr for exclusive looks at costume designs, in-process artwork, and more top secret snippets from Valiant HQ. You can check out the solicitation text and covers below.

RAI #1 (May)Written by Matt Kindt (Unity, Mind MGMT); Art by Clayton Crain (X-Force, Carnage) A VALIANT FIRST ongoing series! Matt Kindt and Clayton Crain are about to prove that there is nothing else in comics like RAI! In the far future of 4001 A.D., Japan is a single endless city-state, governed by a benevolent artificial intelligence and policed by an army of just one – the mysterious Rai, spirit guardian of the rising sun. But, soon, a single bullet will shatter the peace it has taken 2,000 years to secure… Written by MATT KINDT Art & Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN COMING IN MAY! ARMOR HUNTERS #1 (June) Written by Robert Venditti (X-O Manowar, Green Lantern); Art by Doug Braithwaite (Unity, Justice) A Valiant Universe crossover event! This summer, Earth will be the greatest hunt of all when VALIANT FIRST unleashes the first issue of 2014's must-read mini-series event! A relentless and surgical strike team from the farthest reaches of space – sworn to exterminate the X-O Manowar armor and all like it – have found finally their last target. They will hunt. They will trap. They will kill. And they will rid the universe of the X-O Manowar's incalculable destructive power…even if it means taking the Earth with it. In the tradition of the universe-changing HARBINGER WARS, Valiant's biggest heroes launch into the summer's blockbuster 18-issue crossover event right here in ARMOR HUNTERS #1 – and then take the fight to the world's first full-scale cosmic threat with new arcs of UNITY and X-O MANOWAR beginning in June, and ARMOR HUNTERS: BLOODSHOT and ARMOR HUNTERS: HARBINGER beginning in July! Written by ROBERT VENDITTI Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE Cover by JORGE MOLINA COMING IN JUNE!

ARMOR HUNTERS: BLOODSHOT #1 (July) Written by Joe Harris (The X-Files: Season 10); Art by Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis) The most dangerous weapon in the Valiant Universe has come in from the cold. With Earth under siege by the Armor Hunters, Bloodshot is the only thing standing between the destruction of the extraterrestrial intelligence agency known as MERO and the liberation of one of the Armor Hunters' own. Written by JOE HARRIS Art by TREVOR HAIRSINE Cover by PHILIP TAN COMING IN JULY!

ARMOR HUNTERS: HARBINGER #1 (July)Written by Joshua Dysart (Harbinger Wars); Art by Robert Gill (Batgirl) Because you demanded it! Out of the ashes of Harbinger Wars, the volatile psiot strike force known as Generation Zero step into their very first adventure – and right into the crosshairs of the Armor Hunters! Written by JOSHUA DYSART Art by ROBERT GILL Cover by LEWIS LAROSA COMING IN JULY!

THE DELINQUENTS #1 (August)Written by Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies) & James Asmus (Thief of Thieves); Art by Kano(Gotham Central) It's the world's worst team-up when Archer & Armstrong meet Quantum and Woody! We apologize in advance for what can only be described as a swashbuckling, conspiracy-smashing, partner-trading, goat-fueled race across the USA! Written by FRED VAN LENTE & JAMES ASMUS Art by KANO Cover by PAOLO RIVERA COMING IN AUGUST!

Written by Jen Van Meter (Hopeless Savages); Art by Roberto de la Torre (Daredevil) World-renowned parapsychologist Dr. Mirage and her husband Hwen were madly, deeply, stuff-of-legends in love – until the day a tragic accident stole Hwen away. Now, Dr, Mirage will have to use every ounce of her training and talents in the mystic arts to do the one thing Hwen taught her never to do – journey across the realms of Deadside and bring her love back to the land of the living. Written by JEN VAN METER Art by ROBERTO DE LA TORRE Cover by TRAVEL FOREMAN COMING IN SEPTEMBER!