In the early 1990s, the speculation boom brought new customers into comic shops. Some professionals in the industry thought it might be a good time to create new universes to draw these new readers in, and some used purchased licenses to build those universes around.
Valiant was one of those companies. Structured around purchased Silver Age Gold Key characters Solar, Man of the Atom and Magnus, Robot Fighter, Jim Shooter directed the construction of a universe complete with new characters, brought in creators like Barry Windsor-Smith and Dave Lapham, and engaged readers on a level not seen in years. Valiant seemed like it might survive the eventual bursting of the speculation bubble, but it was not to be.
However, for one bright, shining moment, it looked very spectacular. Unity arrived at just that moment when Valiant tried to ultimate gimmick in getting new readers to try out their crossover. They gave it away for free.
UNITY #0
August 1992 - Valiant Comics
Penciller: Barry Windsor-Smith
SYNOPSIS:
Above Chicago, Illinois, a naked Erica Pierce falls from the sky, unhurt and exhibiting strange powers. Months later, Solar and the Geomancer Geoff are investigating her death. Solar explains that Erica gained similar powers to him in the same nuclear accident. He assumes that she was physically abused by her husband and killed him, then herself. The inanimate objects in the house tell Geoff that Erica was killed by another Erica Pierce, who kidnapped Erica's son. Geoff deduces that Erica Pierce is the fabled demon that will destroy everything.Solar takes Geoff to a lost land with both dinosaurs and future technology. Almost immediately attacked by robots, some disguised as dinosaurs, Solar decides to send Geoff back for his safety. Geoff insists on bringing back help from Gilad, the Eternal Warrior. Using Solar's detached hand, Geoff returns to Earth.
Unable to reach Gilad on a pay phone, Geoff wills Solar's hand to find other people that can help, returning later that night with the Harbinger renegades and Aric, possessor of the alien X-O Manowar armor. The pay phone rings, and it's Gilad. Using Solar's hand, Geoff teleports the Eternal Warrior to his location. Gilad then uses the power in Solar's hand to recruit his brother Aram and his young companion, Archer.
With help recruited, Geoff and the others return to the lost land, where Solar has met up with Magnus, Rai, and a future Gilad. Witnessing this from afar, Erica Pierce and the dead Erica's son Albert send a massive force against the heroes in the first step she must take towards Unity.
REVIEW:
The art is by Barry Windsor-Smith, yet it's colored at the beginning of comic books using computer coloring, so not much modeling is done with his forms. That's for the best because Barry Windsor-Smith's art needs to be the focal point, and adding a ton of variance in a pair of pants takes doesn't add anything to great art. Only a select group of artists get that leeway since most comic book artists usually benefit from a good colorist.
