Comic Info
Comic Name: Divinity
Publisher: Valiant Comics
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Trevor Hairsine
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2015
Divinity #3 (Variant)
Reprints Divinity #1-4 (February 2015-May 2015). Abram Adams has been given a special mission for the Soviet Union. He has been sent into space with a team of three cosmonauts to find the secrets of the universe before the United States. Departing Earth in 1960, it is meant to be a thirty year mission…but the mission stretches for over sixty years. Abram returns to Earth as Divinity and rapidly gains a following by providing people with their dreams. Unity cannot have someone with Divinity’s powers on Earth and Unity and Divinity are headed for a showdown.
Written by Matt Kindt and illustrated by Trevor Hairsine, Divinity collects the four issue mini-series by Valiant Comics. The series was labeled under the Valiant event called Valiant Next which introduced a number of new series.
I respect a lot of what Valiant has done in its relaunch. It has taken a number of bland ’90s heroes and transformed them into a new line that is fresh and rather exciting (while both DC and Marvel are in major slumps). Divinity shows a completely new character introduced into the Valiant universe and this is something that is needed to spark the “next wave” of Valiant.
Divinity #4 (Variant)
Valiant for the most part has been rehashing and streamlining the old characters that were stars of the ’90s series. Divinity shows something different by creating a rather layered character that has a lot of room to develop. The Russian cosmonaut storyline is a bit similar to X-O Manowar as in that he is a character out of time. The world he left isn’t the world he’s returned to and this has potential for conflict.
I would love to see more Cold War and the espionage since that is from where the character originated. Divinity had access to Earth records in his space travels due to picking up signals but it would be interesting to see how he views the Soviet Union’s rise and fall…and where Russia stands now. The series also sets up questions in Divinity’s origin with his discovery as a child which I’m sure is part of future series.
The art for the series is also quite good. Trevor Hairsine gets to play around with the idea of a ’50s space ranger type look with the character. I like the retro style to Divinity’s costume and hope that he is taken more in the route of Adam Strange or Flash Gordon instead of “modernizing” him.
I look forward to more Divinity. The four issue series is a quick read and is set up for the next series which is released in December of 2016. I kind of hope that Valiant allows Divinity to lay dormant in his containment field until then. It allows for focused exploration of the character and he might not get that focus if he were to be inserted into Unity or one of Valiant’s other titles. I hope Divinity has a nice run regardless what format they use. Divinity was followed by Divinity II.
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