Rai #3
Published by Valiant Entertainment
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by Clayton Crain
The Plot
We begin where we left off with the Raddies believing that they killed Rai. However, one of them goes into some of the history of Rai, which explains why his death isn’t very likely. Rai emerges and quickly deals with them. Afterwards, he then asks for Father’s permission to prevent the energy crisis that would completely disrupt Japan. Rai is then attacked by another group of Raddies and the battle goes in his favour. He tries to locate the other bomb and then decides to pay a visit to Old Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Spylocke is explaining his recent actions to Lula and providing her with some important information about Rai while she’s subdued in a trunk. However, he finds out that she has already escaped at some point. Lula is now looking to visit Old Los Angeles as well. Over in the 19th Century Revival Sector, a Positron is concerned about her new status now that her master is deceased. She is searching for a purpose and then possibly finds one in Rai (who is in the news). As Rai enters Old Los Angeles, he goes to meet the Doctor and is quite surprised by his identity. The Doctor then reveals Rai’s background to him. Spylocke is ready to act and Lula also arrives on the scene as history looks to repeat itself.
Another good issue. I like the revelation about the murder and how it’s thrusting Rai’s story forward. It is obvious that something is amiss and I’m glad that they just come right out with some of it. I’m interested to see what roles some of the characters are going to play in the future. Everything looks so bleak and we get to see some of the history that lead up to this point. I enjoyed the part with the Positron because while her existence is in jeopardy, it still alleviates some aspects of her life. Some of the information provided about Rai in this issue made me look forward to learning more about his character. He’s also been provided with information that is supposed to send him flying off the rails and I want to see how he handles everything. The part with the Doctor was interesting and it makes even more sense considering his ties to the modern day Valiant U. Lula will play an important role in the next issue and I liked how Spylocke was patient at the end in how everything was playing out. The art was pretty subpar in this issue. At least Crain was able to bring his B game to this issue though. Yeah right, the art was so damn good in this issue. The action sequences were really well done again in this issue and I really like his visual take on the dystopian future. With the way he can tell a story, he does such a good job at providing the atmosphere of the story. Very dynamic work and he does not take a single panel off. This was another solid issue.
BUT…
There wasn’t really anything that stood out as needing to be changed. Not all of the characters are sticking in my head yet and I had to flip back to past issues to job my memory. This isn’t uncommon for the first issues of a book either though so it wasn’t enough to deter my enjoyment of this comic at all.
Buy It. Valiant did a great job in getting this creative team together for this title. Kindt is doing a good job of balancing the action and mystery of this story. With Crain’s work, it is evident when an artist is truly invested in a story and is not just doing it to collect a paycheck. It is obvious that he’s put so much into this series thus far. In the past year I’ve had some series that I was following come to an end and this title is filling some of that void. I’m starting to anticipate this title more and more. Valiant is a company that truly cares about what they put out each month.
