Imperium #1 (Comics) Review

Valiant’s newest monthly pits its greatest villains against a word that has seen Toyo Harada for the bad guy that he is in Imperium.

Imperium #1 (on stands and digital download storefronts now) opens with a very unexpected vibe. It’s the future, not the far-future, but far enough so that the world has seen considerable change. We see these events through the eyes of an elderly psiot named Darpan. Now, if you’ve not been reading Valiant’s revival of Harbinger, you might be asking what that is right about now. Well, in the Valiant U, there are those born with tremendous gifts (which probably sounds familiar if you’re a comic fan in general).

These men and women can do all sorts of incredible things with their minds like stop bullets, empower themselves with super-strength, and even fly. The most powerful and dangerous of all of them is Harada. Basically, he wants one thing, world peace and a united society. The problem, as with most great villains, are his methods on getting there. The former head of something called the Harbinger Foundation, a group that cultivated psiots and bent them to Harada’s will, he’s finally been outed on the world stage thanks to the super-team of Unity. And he’s not all that happy about that. Still though, he won’t just fade away, he’s changed his methods and now intends to overtly force his ‘world change’ on society by any means necessary. That’s where Imperium picks up. Interested yet?

I won’t spoil too many of the story points here, as there are some awesome elements at work and writer Joshua Dysart has done an excellent job of filling in the reader as to who we’re dealing with. Once you get sucked into the opening and think things are headed in one very unexpected direction, he pulls the string and things come crashing down to reality. Well, Harada’s reality anyway.

The characters in play here in the early going of Imperium are very, very cool too. Harada and his team of psiots aside, all of which are well written, Mech Major is a standout. He’s the sole other ‘super-villain’ present and he makes a massive impact on things. Basically a sentient medical robot that Harada converted into a war machine, Mech Major really comes across well and is actually the most human and relatable of all the heavies here. Think about that for a second. It’s brilliant writing in that Imperium casts the most inhuman character as it’s conscience.

Imperium also thrown the team up against a squad of terrorists who’ve managed to get ahold of some advanced technology. In that way, the first issue plays it a bit safe (I say a bit because there are some events that were indeed surprising), but it should be interesting to see what and who they take on as other issues arrive. Especially if they go head-to-head against some of Valiant’s heroes, which I assume is only a matter of time.

There also aren’t a ton of baddies here. There’s Harada and Mech Major (who humorously keeps asking everyone to call him Sunlight on Snow), as well as the psiot team (which includes the child Darpan- don’t worry, it makes sense) and that’s about it. Valiant has promised that there will be more bad guys though, and that should shake things up nicely as well, since some of who’s promised don’t exactly have any positive characteristics whatsoever.

Picking up the art chores is Doug Braithwaite, who does a top notch job. Braithwaite’s style is a very realistic one, and it plays out well, in both the utopian future that we’re shown first and the gritty present where things are anything but peaceful. His work on Mech Major is particularly cool, as he’s so radically different than any other character in the book, and the battle scenes are awesome, move lightning quick, and are loaded with great visuals- particularly of MM, though I won’t spoil what’s easily one of the best moments in the story.

Honorable mention- the glow effects that are a constant with the psiots are always awesome and still a running theme here.

Final Thoughts

Another stellar effort from Valiant Comics that should be on your pull list every month. Well written and illustrated, Imperium starts off with a bang and looks to be a comic that should have along-lasting impact on what we can expect from the publisher down the line. Don’t miss it.