I had doubts in my mind leading up to the
newest Rai series due to the current
direction of Valiant Comics. Based on issue
one they were justified and are 100
percent correct.
When I learned Valiant Comics was releasing
a new five part sequel to Rai and
4001 AD I couldn't have been more excited.
Dan Abnett writing the series
furthered my belief that this would be a worthy
sequel. When I saw this cover
from Jonboy Meyers, I was even more eager
for the series. But there was always a
bit of doubt in my mind. Valiant Comics went
from my favorite publisher 12
months ago, to just another SJW comic line
so fast I'm still trying to wrap my head
around it. Still I believed this would be
the one series they didn't screw to hell.
After reading issue one, I was dead wrong.
Valiant's 2014 Rai series is my personal favorite
comic story of all-times. The
creative pairing of writer Matt Kindt and
artist Clayton Crain is the best I've ever
seen. It tells the story of the 10th Rai,
the protectors of New Japan that orbits
above a depleted Earth. I describe it as The
Matrix meets George Orwell's 1984. If
you're a sci-fi fan and haven't read it yet
I couldn't recommend it higher. It's the
most beautifully illustrated book I've ever
read and cemented Crain's place as my
favorite comic book artist. If you have Comixology
Unlimited the first 3 volumes of
Rai covering issues 1-12 and 4001 AD issues
1-4 complete the story of Rai and his
rebellion against Father that caused New Japan
to fall to Earth.
Clayton Crain set the bar in the stratosphere
for whoever followed him and Adam
Polina, expectedly, falls short.
The opening page gives an excellent recap
of Rai and 4001 AD. Polina has a much
different style than Crain and it suits the
book...sometimes. In fact, Polina uses
multiple art styles that make the book feel
a bit schizophrenic at times. I honestly
wish he stuck with this visual style throughout.
This is the only time we see Rai in
his original design. A big difference is the
emotion on Rai's face. I don't think it
really fits the character. Rai is half human
half positronic and hides the emotions
he does feel pretty well. Even when he was
battling Father, with his life on the
line, he never looked this angry. This won't
be the last time the creative team
show their misunderstanding of the character.
But this is cool and if Polina stuck
with this style his art would have been much
better overall.
This opening action scene shows Bloodshot
saving New Japan survivor's from
synthetic Dinosaur's from the orbiting colony.
This is the low point of the book
artistically. Bloodshot looks absolutely ridiculous
holding the machine gun in the
top panel. His heroic pose in the middle panel
looks severely rushed and it looks
like the female positronic in pink was added
in post-production.
This sequence of Rai kissing Momo, his love
interest from the previous book, is
really nice. Here you can see the character
redesign very well. He now grows hair
and his trademark rising sun logo on his chest
is gone. While I think this design is
cool it doesn't make sense and Rai was already
one of the coolest looking heroes
in all of comics. I've seen worse redesigns
but Rai absolutely didn't need one.
Overall the art is pretty good but uneven.
Making Rai appear more human is a
mistake in my opinion. I rate the artwork
in Fallen World #1 3 out of 5.
While I have some issues with the art the
real failure of Fallen World is the
characterization or mischaracterization by
writer Dan Abnett.
Before I get into the writing I want to point
out the top panel has an odd
perspective of Rai's back. And it looks like
people are talking to a throw pillow.
Moving on!
When we meet Rai he's become the default leader
of the surviving humans and
their former positronic slaves. Positronics
see him as a liberator, humans blame
him for destroying their lives on New Japan.
This is a great foundation for an
excellent story. But making Rai a lame passive
bureaucrat is a terrible choice. On
New Japan Rai never interacts with anyone
until just before the fall. Most people
don't even believe he exists because they
never see him. He's never been a leader
in his existence. Why would he be one now?
The story would make much more
sense and be more impactful if he were a reluctant
hero in the vain of Mad Max.
If the positronics worshipped him as their
liberator and needed him to lead them
to a Utopia. Where they can finally be free
of their human oppressors. Rai
assuming leadership is out of character. Why
would humans ever follow him? He
just destroyed their very cushy lives on New
Japan even if they were being lied to
and abused by Father. I get Abnett is trying
to portray Rai as the bridge between
humans and positronics, in the vain of a character
he recently wrote. Trying to
make Rai Aquaman is downright stupid and a
fundamental misunderstanding of
the character
Another major issue I have with Rai is he
put down his sword. When he was
vanquished from New Japan by Father he discovers
a tree the healed his right
arm. The tree grows where a great warrior
was fallen by Father in battle. That
warrior was Ninja-K, slain by a positronic
version of Livewire that became the
tyrannical Father. These events occurred in
the Book of Death event. This is 100%
my favorite piece of connective tissue in
all of the Valiant Universe. The blade of
Ninja-K, slain by Father, eventually healed
Rai after his fall to Earth. Rai took the
sword to New Japan and used it to destroy
Father once and for all. Rai laying
down this sword and everything its meant to
the history of the Valiant Universe
infuriates me. It shows a lack of regard for
the amazing work that went into
creating it. That's all I got to say about
that.
Later in the book Lula, the human who helped
Rai see the light and lead the
revolution on New Japan, approaches him. She
takes him to the Life Labs to show
him her work. She's constructed all kind of
smart machines based on technology
of New Japan. Lula was a teen who just graduated
high school during the fall of
New Japan. How in the hell is she capable
of any of this? Did she get her
engineering degree while the colony was falling
to Earth? Did Rai open a new
engineering academy during all the chaos afterwards?
This is absolute BS. Lula is
plenty resourceful but has no training or
experience to indicate she's capable of
any of this. I forgot girls love the science.
My last issue with characterization is a bit
smaller but still frustrating. Rai and
Gilad, the Eternal Warrior, are moving to
investigate a piece of New Japan. Gilad
referrers to a positronic as a "pozzie kid"
to which Rai replies, "He's just a kid. No
Need for the qualifying slur." This is so
out of place here. It sticks out like a sore
thumb and makes no sense. Gilad was stuck
on Earth while Father held the
Geomancer on New Japan. He was on the colony,
exposed to positronics for all of
a few hours. While he saved the Geomancer
and Rai destroyed Father and New
Japan. Why would he be using a slur against
beings he probably didn't even know
existed until recently? Plus Gilad's sole
purpose is to protect the Geomancer, why
would he even care enough about positronics
to use a slur against them? This is
so forced it's painful. Dan Abnett is a great
writer but he fails miserably
understanding Rai and most of its characters.
I rate his characterization 1 out of 5.
Fortunately the writing isn't a complete wash.
The plot is much better if still
lackluster in my opinion.
The story starts with Bloodshot hearing the
cries for help from all the survivors of
the fall of New Japan. Then we move to the
now pacifist, ineffective leader Rai.
He's the leader of Sontaku Sector, a portion
of New Japan that survived reentry.
Rai is having trouble maintaining peace between
humans and recently liberated
positronics at home. He's also trying to maintain
peace with other clans through
diplomatic means. Pacifist Rai just doesn't
suit the character but I've already
covered that, moving on!
Gilad and the Geomancer are travelling Earth
and she's having a difficult time. The
Geomancer is connected to the Earth so she
feels it's pain. I would like to point
out just how absolutely stupid her glasses
are. I really dislike a lot of the designs
Adam Polina incorporated into this book. Gilad
launches a message drone after
they discover a major sector of New Japan
appears to be under attack.
Later we meet the Acolytes of the Church Fallen.
They find an artifact they believe
opens the gates to heaven on Earth and will
reunite them with Father. They've
discovered the Raijin made by Father on Earth
before New Japan ascended above
the Earth. The leader Circadian states the
Raijin is key to the kingdom of heaven.
Rai arrives to assist Gilad and the Geomancer.
They meet a positronic engineer
from the lost sector. He and the rest of the
surviving crew were working here
after the fall. He cries as he recounts the
horrors of an unnamed assailant who
arrived and tore through everyone. Killing
every survivor in the sector, human and
positronic alike. I kind of get the feeling
Fallen World isn't really meant to be a Rai
story, just an introduction to something new
wrapped in the name of Rai. Time
will tell. Either way the plot is better but
still uninspiring, I rate it 2.5 out of 5
I had doubts in my mind leading up to the
newest Rai series due to the current
direction of Valiant Comics. Based on issue
one they were justified and are 100
percent correct. New readers of the character
won't have the issues I do and
might even think it's really good. I beg to
differ, I score Fallen World #1 a 2 out of
5 overall. I don't recommend this to anyone.
If you want to meet the character or
already love him, its best to just go back
and read the Matt Kindt and Clayton
Crain Rai series. It's much higher quality
and Fallen Kingdom has no hope of
sniffing its impact long term. I couldn't
be more disappointed with this series and
writer Dan Abnett.
