Unity #14

By Matt Kindt, Cafu and Brian Reber

Faith might be in way over her head here. For someone that seems to be the only good person on the team (at least in comparison to the rest of the team, who might not have done very great things in their lives), seeing what it’s all about and exactly what the rest of Unity is willing to do to protect the world might be a little jarring. It’s something that maybe she’s just not ready for and, maybe, won’t ever be ready for.

Writer extraordinaire Matt Kindt has been extremely consistent in his work for Valiant, which might be part of the reason he’s going to be, and has been, a big part of the next phase of Valiant. His work on Unity is, of course, no different. This issue wraps up the outing, so to speak, of the Unity team and GIN-GR to the world in a nice, neat bow. Kindt uses the television news route to narrate and explain the, frankly, ton of information that he’s giving us. GIN-GR is known to the world and even though she might have done some bad things in the past, Kindt makes it clear extremely quickly that she’s going to big a huge asset to the Unity team. The more we get of GIN-GR, frankly, the better.

Worth noting, he even has a few advertisements in there, like the X-O Manowar Green Tea Blast (a real thing) and one for SILK Industries, that for no other reason than humor and tying the world together really stand out and it’s great to see that tired, old news panel narrative can still be viable and interesting.

Cafu and colorist Brian Reber, as you’re probably starting to suspect, do another stellar job on art. Cafu’s character work has consistently gotten better, and it shows in the news panels at the bottom of the pages. The expressions and overall likeness is just spot-on and the action sequences between Unity, or the part of the team on the ground, and The United, though chopped up with the news panels and other story elements, really look great. Gilad’s brutality mixed with his cold and calculating stare is just brilliantly executed and the looks on Faith’s face, watching it all unfold, is heartbreaking. It’s like a kid finding out there’s no Santa for the first time.

Naturally, Brian Reber excels on his part of the book. From simply, seemingly easy, fire effects to the look and feel of GIN-GR, Reber nails it. Everything about this book, visually, is stunning and surely a lot of that has to do with the choices of color and skill of Reber and it’s always a treat to see his name on a Valiant book.

Unity is changing and growing as the VU changes and grows. There’s going to be pains here and there, and there’s going to be internal issues and external problems with and for the team. So far, they seem to be handling it well. Kindt has a great cast of characters to play with here and he’s using them all equally and more effectively than a lot, a lot, of other team superhero books out there. Unity is one of those books you really can’t miss, even if you’re new to the VU because it’ll give you a taste of a handful of characters that you can then go and explore in their own, or other, series. Don’t miss out on more great Valiant, more great Kindt and, of course, more great art.