Juan José Ryp and Dan Abnett accompany Rai on a fantastic journey to correct the mistakes of its creator and save humanity in a volume published by Moztros
Lovers of Valiant universe They are lucky. Moztros This year they started working on publishing several current series in this complex continuity and they seem to have good sense in their choice of titles. The last one to reach us is Raia new iteration of the popular Ronin’s cyborg of the 41st century.
Valiant Universe, only for the brave
In its infancy the publishing house Valiant It emerged in the 1990s as an alternative to the two big American comics publishers, and for a time it worked more or less as intended, but it ended up falling without ever truly becoming among the big boys. Image comics Yes Dark Horse They have managed to consolidate themselves over time in a market where every now and then we see new players emerge and then quickly disappear.
However, in what we could call its second era, after a few turbulent years with many changes, Valiant reemerges to bring a small number of quality series among which we should highlight XO Manowar, Hanbinger, Bloodshot, Archer and Armstrong or Rai itself. They were glorious years in which this time it seemed that the publishing house had achieved the success that its creators had achieved a couple of decades ago. But all this didn’t last long…
A few years after this great launch there were movements in the board of directors that ended up damaging the artistic part of the publishing house, returning to dark times that now seem to be over if we look at the quality of some series currently published. And it is in this context that this new phase of Rai emerges, now in the hands of Moztros, after a long history of moderate successes in our country, having previously passed into the hands of Aleta Editions, Panini Comics Yes Medusa comics…
Far from New Japan
In his conception, Rai was a character linked to the nation known as New Japan in the year 4001, but the rules are meant to be broken. In this new phase we will see our cybernetic protagonist wandering around half the world accompanied by Raijina sort of youthful version of him that he makes the reader have with his presence Lone wolf and his cub in my head all the time. The purpose of travel is, ultimately, prevention Fatherthe artificial intelligence that controlled their home country returns to plunge humanity into a dark age. But there will also be time for more personal missions, such as research MomoRai’s old love.
These elements end up forming a kind of version Madmaxian of a typical samurai story that develops on the basis of well-defined episodes, giving it a procedural character, in which action with a touch of humor is the center of everything.
Rai and Ryp
In the scripts we have a veteran as he is Dan Abneta guy who worked on fronts like the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe or that series of novels known as Warhammer 40,000. His taste for militaristic settings isn’t seen here as much as in his other works, but his style is still evident and this story suits him very well without being an obvious choice.
But the real ace in the hole of this series is the artist. Juan Jose Ryp. This artist’s overloaded, extremely detailed style makes every page of action a visual treat, and his few qualms when it comes to filling panels with gory scenes are much appreciated.
In short, this volume is a great choice for both fans of this universe and those who want to enjoy a great story that mixes a multitude of genres and is visually overwhelming. On the negative side, it is worth highlighting the fact that as a first approach to the character the fact of missing some references can be detrimental, but nothing too serious. It should also be said that it doesn’t function as a single volume, as the second arc contained here ends on an interesting note cliffhanger.
As for the magnificent edition, this volume published by Moztros in the hard cover contains 224 pages in color with a size of 17 x 26 cm. and includes the translation of the American edition of RAI numbers from n.1 to n.10. Additionally, this edition includes a gallery of alternate covers. The recommended retail price of this volume is €23.9 and was put up for sale in October 2024.
Rai
WELCOME TO THE 41ST CENTURY: A FUTURE FULL OF NEW WORLDS, NEW CHARACTERS AND NEW ADVENTURES!
The cyborg ronin known as Rai embarks on a thrilling quest to save the future of humanity. Together with his prototype and predecessor, the robot boy named Raijin, the guardian spirit of the fallen nation of New Japan, will travel into the wildest and most post-apocalyptic areas of our planet to right the wrongs of his creator in an odyssey in which he will find himself with a dizzying array of bizarre people and places in the elegant technological utopia of the world he had called home.
Superstar screenwriter DAN ABNETT (Guardians of the Galaxy) joins forces with the imposing Spanish artist JUAN JOSÉ RYP (Wolverine) to delight us with a new series from the Valiant sci-fi universe, essential for the next 2000 years.
Authors: Juan José Ryp, Andrew Dalhouse and Dan Abnett