June 2016 PREVIEWS Pre-Order Picks: VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Continuing a new feature, as we peruse the monthly PREVIEWS catalog and highlight some books we feel are worthy of your attention.

Your local comic shop depends on your pre-orders to make sure they have the books you want when you want them. Since business reality makes it impossible for a local comic shop to order some of everything, they depend on the comics readers to tell them what they want to see.  It’s a dice roll for them every month.  Won’t you help with the odds by at least telling them what you want to buy from them in two months?  Please give it a try.  We’ll do our best here to help you with those selections, from a BC Refugees point of view.  Not objective, but absolutely subjective.

 VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT page 440+   http://www.valiantuniverse.com  

GENERATION ZERO #1:  Last seen in the HARBINGER WARS series, we welcome the return of the Generation Zero team and can’t wait to see what the inventive Fred Van Lente does with it.  We’re in for the run!  Written by Fred Van Lente. Art by Francis Portela.

From the catalog: “If you have a problem . . . if your parents won’t help . . . And if your cause is worthy . . . Log onto network #ZERO . . . because Generation Zero is listening."

“Years ago the children of the experimental strike team know as Generation Zero were taken from their families by Project Rising Spirit, a private weapons contractor, and raised to be psychic soldiers.  After years of taking orders they have fought for and won their freedom.  Now, the world’s most wanted teenagers have pledged to protect each other tooth and claw, while using their extraordinary abilities to right wrongs for a generation without a future . . . to fight for kids, just like them.

One of those kids is Keisha Sherman, whose boyfriend just turned up dead after a suspicious car crash in Rook, Michigan - -  a newly booming tech town that sprang from rags to super-riches seemingly overnight.  When Keisha makes a desperate plea into her welcome, the local high school suddenly finds itself with several unusual new students . . . But as word of Generation Zero’s presence spreads rapidly through the halls, this volatile band of teenage upstarts is about to discover that they’re far from the most extraordinary thing lurking behind Rook’s stainless-steel facade."

4001 A.D. #4: This has been our favorite ‘event’ of 2016, and much easier to follow than the big two piles of plenty. Crain’s art is amazing!  The conclusion of the fall of the 41st century.  Written by Matt Kindt.  Art by Clayton Clain.

From the catalog:  “The ultimate battle is here as Rai and Father clash among the stars for the final fate of the future . . . and Earth along with it!  As New Japan’s despotic ruler and its former protector enter their final showdown, will the orbiting satellite nation finally fall back to Earth?  As the war for 4001 A.D. claims lives on both sides, who will live to greet the brave new world that lies ahead?  And what will become of Rai, of Father, and civilization itself?  The Valiant Universe of 4001 A.D. is forever changed right here as forces new and old prepare to rise from the ashes of New Japan."

4001 A.D. WARMOTHER #1:  A brand new hero from the mind of Van Lente rises from the 4001 A.D. event. Don’t miss it.  Written by Fred Van Lente. Art by Tomas Fiorello.

From the catalog: “In the 41st century, much of the planet has been reduced to a barren wasteland. New Japan orbits the Earth as a floating oasis that towers over the ashes of the old world.  The survivors of this desolate new age, robbed of the planet’s once-lush natural resources, must endure great hardships to survive.  Amidst thedevstation, one outpost of scientific knowledge has thrived by adhering to a strict code of isolation.  But even the denizens of this walled city must venture out into the wasteland to gather supplies from the remnants of what was.  This task is designated to one and one alone: War Mother.

But all is not peaceful, even in New Japan.  When the space-faring empire begins jettisoning city-sized sectors to Earth during the onset of a civil war.  War Mother is called upon with a new mission: mega-salvage!  Armed with a newly born sentient sniper rifle, War Mother is a one-woman army bent on sacking the crash-landed sector’s technology-laden debris for anything of value to her tribe.  But, as calm turns to chaos, Sector 8146 will reveal a telling secret about Earth’s true order that will collide War Mother against her community, her code, and her calling . . . an bring destruction down upon one of humanity’s last surviving outposts of order."