Comic Info
Comic Name: Unity
Publisher: Valiant Comics
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Pere Pérez
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2015
Unity #15
Reprints Unity #15-18 (February 2015-May 2015). Unity is on break after a mission but Livewire, Gilad, and Ninjak are discovering that being members of Unity could be having a changing effect on their lives. With no new threats, the heroes of Unity try to return to civilian life…but danger could be lurking around the corner.
Written by Matt Kindt, Unity Volume 5: Homefront is a Valiant Comics superhero comic book collection. Following Unity Volume 4: The United, the collection features art by Pere Pérez.
The Valiant relaunch was fun. I was struggling with both Marvel and DC at the time and Valiant represented a nice change-up to the decades of history with the two companies. With a manageable number of titles, not only could you get all of Valiant’s comics, you had time to read them. The issues actually tie together and continuity is relatively strong. Like many comic companies, Valiant began to expand, and Unity slipped the wayside for me. Returning to Unity, you can see the comic’s strength, but at the same time some of the weaknesses of a new comic book universe.
Unity #18
The collection isn’t very deep. With only four issues, you get three background (aka solo) issues for the characters and then you get a flashback issue which shows what led up to the solo issues. With both the Ninjak and Gilad issues, I felt that their solo comics did a better job telling their stories, but the Livewire comic was a rather entertaining look at a character who largely feels like a supporting character in earlier issues of the series.
The lead up issue probably the biggest letdown of the collection. It has Unity teaming with H.A.R.D. Corps to bring in Malgam of the Armor Hunters. The issue is essentially a battle and a short one at that. I kind of expected more and more reveals of the event. After taking out the Armor Hunters, the Vine, and other bigger threats, a fight against Malgam seems a little bit below the threat level of Unity (and it comes off like that as well).
I really wish that Valiant would expand the size of their collections. The smaller sets keeps the volumes affordable, but they also leave the collections lacking. With a new world and new characters (even if most have been around since the 1990s), it feels like the company needs to really give readers a hearty dose of the characters to make them rounded and make the readers want more. Unity 5: Homefront is followed by Unity 6: The War-Monger.
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