Book of Death: The Bloody Opera That's Going to Attract New Valiant Readers

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If The Valiant's focus was kick-starting the next chapter in Bloodshot's life (with Bloodshot Reborn) , then the same can be said about Book of Death and Eternal Warrior. Now that it's been confirmed that Wrath of the Eternal Warrior debuts this November, it'll be interesting to see just how much the latter issues of Book of Death are going to shake up Gilad's life.

Gilad is currently protecting the newest and youngest incarnation of the Geomancers, a young girl named Tama (who debuted just earlier this year towards the end of The Valiant). In the Valiant universe, the Geomancer is a mysterious mystic who watches over humanity and protects the Earth. When one Geomancer dies, another is immediately summoned. The Eternal Warrior has made it his life mission to protect the Geomancer at all costs. What makes Tama different from previous incarnations is that she comes from the distant future, and arrived on present day Earth with The Book of the Geomancer, which documents the entirety of Earth history, including the deaths of all things. The arrival of Tama coincided with a series of recurring natural and freak disasters across the globe, killing thousands. Tama is suspected to be responsible – whether directly or indirectly – for the tragedies, sending Unity to Gilad's doorstep. Burning bridges with his allies, the Eternal Warrior defends the Geomancer, and strikes back at X-O Manowar, Ninjak and Livewire.

The first section of Book of Death #2 is action heavy, and already packs more excitement than the entirety of the slow-going debut issue (which has been summarized in the previous paragraph). It's a one sided fight, with Gilad having the home advantage. With the assistance of Tama, he sets traps specific to each of his allies' weaknesses, and takes down his friends one after another. What's shocking is just how brutal the combat is, with neither side letting emotional attachment get the better of them. Ninjak's flesh is penetrated by several poles, and Manowar is stabbed all the way through the shoulder with a sword. We've seen the heroes of Valiant fight each other before, but it's rarely been this violent, and it was mostly early in one character's narrative, when they debuted as antagonist (for example, Ninjak being the antagonist to X-O Manowar is his early story arc, “Enter Ninjak” #5-8). In The Valiant, we saw all of the heroes on Earth uniting to take on a common foe, The Immortal Enemy. In Book of Death, we're seeing a divide between heroes, and alliances broken, though neither side feels like a bad guy here. Because Book of Death shows another narrative, the one of the other Geomancer being manipulated by Master Darque to cause the natural disasters, the reader knows that Tama is innocent and Gilad is right to defend her.

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Book of Death is a mostly stand-alone event, not crossing over into any of the other Valiant comics throughout July-October. Its only issues outside of the core story are four “The Fall of...” one-shots, which are pages taken directly out of The Book of the Geomancer. These one-shots tell the stories of the last days of Bloodshot, Ninjak, Harbinger and X-O Manowar. They're not prophecies. They're stories told from the future, presented as fact. Book of Death #2's middle section actually gives us another “The Fall of” one-shot, this one about the Eternal Warrior. As Gilad and Tama drive away from the abandoned cabin, having just defeated Unity, Gilad asks her to read from the book, and she reads to him the story of his last days, only because of his curse of immortality, his story has no ending. He never dies. These wide paneled pages pack a punch, and stack up against the most poignant moments in the all-too-brief Eternal Warrior (2013-2014). Doug Braithwaite's artwork in these future scenes depicts a hell on Earth. A heavy cloud of smoke and ash obscure the background; building rubble sitting at the feet of the combatants. Battles that have endured for centuries, destroying everything worth fighting for. Lines are thick and smeared, character poses are operatic. Every panel depicting a significant source of movement, the Eternal Warrior and Master Darque are the performers of a ballet under the pencil work of Braithwaite. Colours have been washed away, along with most traces of life on the planet. Outside of dull greys and browns, red is dominant colour; the red of Master Darque's costume and and mystical powers, the red of a blood soaked Earth.

The present day scenes are a fitting contrast to Braithwaite's future. Robert Gill's lines are thinner and more precise, and while he has more panels per page to work with, he too maximizes on movement. Aside from the dialogue-heavy opening pages of characters standing and debating, there are big instances of motion and mid-action poses in every page. The main scenes being set in the desert, far away from civilization, mean that once again backgrounds are bare, often just the blue of the sky and the yellow of the sand. This is a book of foreground details; of bodies in motion against the black curtain of a stage. The action spectacles in Book of Death #2 are expertly choreographed classical dances. To read through this book and not look at the text, focusing solely on the images, is to witness an astonishingly smooth succession of events. The chain reaction from panel to panel is disciplined and logical. And the co-director of this action is Robert Venditti. As the writer of X-O Manowar for roughly 40 issues and counting, Venditti has one of the firmest grasps on action in comics today. He understands how to squeeze the most emotion out of characters in combat; the repercussions of violence on the world and on people; and also, the aesthetic beauty of two extraordinary looking specimens squaring off.

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The colours in the present day sequences are more “typical” of a Valiant universe book than the future scenes, and have an appropriately appealing quality. Opposed the mugginess of the battle torn future, the present is bright and clean and optimistic; at the moment. When we cut to the pitch black backgrounds of the Master Darque present-day scenes, we catch a glimpse of the reality that is to come, the darkness that will soon be infecting the world itself. The colouring work throughout this book by David Baron, Allen Passalaqua, and Brian Reber is smart, diverse, and always beautiful.

Valiant keeps it simple. It says a lot that just about every new #1 they launch is an accessible jumping on point for any non-Valiant readers. Book of Death juggles a lot of characters, but it doesn't over-complicate its narrative or dwell on back story; it looks to the future. This is a comic that's looking at the Valiant-to-be. And if you haven't yet dipped your toes into this pool, Book of Death is the perfect opportunity.