Whereas alternative music has since lost all meaning as a description of rock and roll, Valiant Comics is a truly legitimate alternative superhero comic book publisher.
Sure Marvel and DC Comics get all the credit for their Big 2 heroes, but meanwhile you have Valiant Comics churning out consistently high quality books about superpowered adventure, all within their own uniquely crafted universe.
I remember sitting down to read introductions to the Valiant Universe in the summer of 2012. Each character was refreshingly unique and modern, an updated fix on superheroes originating in the 1990s rather than the 1940s or 1960s. As a result, the Valiant Universe is particularly inviting to new comic book readers, and substantially more consumable in its entirety.
Simply put, Valiant Comics offers a great alternative to newer comic book fans, with a relaunched universe dating back to 2012 (rather than 1961). Here’s a complete guide of the entire Valiant Universe to date, including some of my favorite books like Archer & Armstrong, Unity, and Rai!
Index:
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II) Harbinger Wars & New Heroes
III) Valiant’s First Super-team: Unity
IV) 4001 A.D. Rai through Armor Hunters
V) Archer & Armstrong meet Quantum & Woody
VI) A New Wave of Valiant Heroes
VII) Imperium Through Bloodshot Reborn
VIII) Ninjak, Unity, and the Book of Death
IX) The Death-Defying Valiant Universe
Valiant Comics Reading Order
I) The Valiant Universe Begins! Origins and Major Players
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #1 to #5
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #8
Issues: #9 to #14
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #1 to #4
I’ll be honest, when I tried ranking the first volumes of each of the 5 core Valiant titles at launch, I had an extremely difficult time. They are all wonderfully solid.
If I had to pick, I’d say X-O Manowar, Harbinger, and Bloodshot wind up the most thoroughly connected to larger Valiant Universe events, and Archer & Armstrong is probably just my favorite. Shadowman has never hooked me in quite the same way, but I do enjoy the early parts of the Shadowman run as well.
II) Harbinger Wars & New Valiant Universe Heroes!
Issues: #6 to #10
Issues: #5 to #9
Harbinger Wars Deluxe Edition Volume 1
Issues: Harbinger Wars #1-4, Harbinger #11-14, and Bloodshot #10-13
Recommended Order: Harbinger Wars #1, Harbinger #11, Bloodshot #10, Harbinger Wars #2, Harbinger #12, Bloodshot #11, Harbinger Wars #3, Bloodshot #12, Harbinger #13, Harbinger Wars #4, Harbinger #14, Bloodshot #13
Harbinger Wars marks the first crossover Valiant event, and as you can tell from the issues included in this collection, it is far more reasonable than, say, the hundreds included in an event like Marvel’s Secret Wars.
Bloodshot Volume 4: H.A.R.D. Corps
Issues: Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #14 to #17
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #9
Issues: #10 to #13
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #8
Quantum & Woody mark the first “new” book to enter the Valiant Universe, entering the Universe deeper in to the core series runs, just like they did back during Valiant’s first run in the 90’s.
Issues: #5 to #8
Issues: #9 to #13
III) Valiant’s First Super-Team: Unity!
Issues: #15 to #18
Issues: #1 to #4
A couple thoughts here on Unity, which currently ranks the highest of any Valiant title on my Best Comics of All Time list.
The first is that the modern Unity is entirely different from Valiant’s 1990’s Unity, which is one of the more gleefully insane comic book events of a decade that included the Onslaught saga.
The second is that Unity marks Valiant’s first connection to writer Matt Kindt, who is one of my absolute favorite story tellers in all of modern comics. Kindt’s Mind MGMT
Issues: #19 to #22
Although you can read the first volume of Matt Kindt’s Unity without the Manowar issues, if you’re invested in the X-O Manowar series the issues should alternate Unity #1, X-O Manowar #19, Unity #2, X-O Manowar #20, and so on.
Issues: 5 to #8
Issues: #15 to #19
Issues: #20 to #24
Issues: #14 to #17
Archer & Armstrong Volume 5: Mission: Improbable
Recommended Order: Bloodshot #18 to #19, Archer & Armstrong #18, Bloodshot #20, Archer & Armstrong #19, Bloodshot #21 to #23 (also included in Bloodshot volume 5 below)
Issues: #18 to #23
Issues: #5 to #8
IV) Welcome to the Future: Rai through Armor Hunters!
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #8
Rai represents Valiant’s foray into their 4001 A.D. future universe, with Matt Kindt and Clayton Crain at the helm of New Japan’s protector. Crain’s artwork is digitized to a degree that may be offputting for some, but it’s quite perfect for a book taking place in the distant future.
Issues: #13 to #18
Issues: #1 to #3
Issues: Armor Hunters #1-4, Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1, Armor Hunters: Bloodshot #1-3, Armor Hunters: Harbinger #1-3, Unity #8-11 and X-O Manowar #23-29
Armor Hunters is Valiant’s most involved crossover event to date, and certain series like Unity will simply not make any sense if you aren’t reading the event as a whole (trust me, I tried).
Issues: Harbinger: Omegas #1 to #3, Harbinger: Bleeding Monk #0
Issues: #12 to #14, read Harbinger: Faith #0 after Unity #12
Issues: #15 to #18
V) Archer & Armstrong? Meet Quantum & Woody!
Issues: #9 to #12, Quantum & Woody: The Goat #0
Issues: Quantum & Woody Must Die! #1 to #4, Quantum & Woody Valiant Size #1
Issues: #20 to #25
Issues: #1 to #4
This is a delightful, highly recommended Archer & Armstrong + Quantum & Woody team-up book!
Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel
Issues: #1 to #3
VI) A New Wave of Valiant Heroes!
The Death Defying Dr. Mirage Volume 1
Issues: #1 to #5
Valiant has remained committed to steadily building their roster, and finding new entry-points for new characters. Dr. Mirage kicks off a new wave that includes Ivar Timewalker and Divinity.
Issues: #30 to #32
Issues: #9 to #12
Issues: #1 to #4
In 2014, Valiant moved away from the mega crossover and towards the 4 issue limited series “event.” It’s a fascinating take on audience preferences, and allows for a simpler, and more accessible “big” book. The Valiant features the skills of Jeff Lemire (Essex County
While The Valiant is positioned as a jumping on point, I do think it’s far better if you have familiarity with the Valiant Universe as a whole.
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #8
Issues: #1 to #4
As far as I’m aware, Divinity is the first net-new character series in the modern Valiant Universe, with a four issue launch from Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine. It’s a great opening salvo, and you will benefit from familiarity with Kindt’s work on Unity during this read.
Issues: #9 to #12
VII) Return of the King: Imperium & Bloodshot Reborn
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: #5 to #8
Issues: #9 to #13
Issues: #1 to #5
Issues: #6 to #11
VIII) Ninjak, Unity, and The Book of Death!
Issues: #1 to #5
Issues: #6 to #9
Issues: #19 to #22
Issues: #23 to #25
Issues: #33 to #37
Issues: #38 to #42
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: Book Of Death #1–4, Book Of Death: The Fall Of Bloodshot #1, Book Of Death: The Fall Of Ninjak #1, Book Of Death: The Fall Of Harbinger #1, And Book Of Death: The Fall Of X-O Manowar #1.
Issues: #9 to #12
IX) The Death-Defying Valiant Universe & Faith Solo!
The Death Defying Dr. Mirage Volume 2
Issues: Second Lives #1 to #5
Issues: #1 to #4
Faith, aka Zephyr, gets her much-deserved first ongoing solo series. Note that Faith #0 is actually found within an earlier volume of Unity (I believe number four) during her brief stint with the team.
Issues: #10 to #13
Issues: #13 to #16
Issues: #1 to #4
Issues: X-O Manowar #43–46, X-O Manowar: Commander Trill #0, And X-O Manowar 25 – The Anniversary Special #1
A & A: The Adventures of Archer and Armstrong Volume 1
Issues: #1 to #4
X) 4001 A.D. and Other Tales
Issues: 
Checklist Reading Order:
4001 A.D. #1
4001 A.D.: X-O Manowar #1
Rai #13
4001 A.D. #2
4001 A.D.: Bloodshot #1
Rai #14
4001 A.D. #3
4001 A.D.: Shadowman #1
Rai #15
4001 A.D.: War Mother #1
Rai #16
4001 A.D. #4
Faith Volume 2: California Scheming
Issues: #1 to #4 (relaunched miniseries)
Bloodshot Reborn Volume 4: Bloodshot Island
Issues: #14 to #18, Bloodshot Reborn Annual #1
Ninjak Volume 4: The Siege of King’s Castle
Ninjak Volume 5: The Fist & The Steel
Issues: #14 to #21
X-O Manowar Volume 12: Long Live the King
Issues: #47 to #50
Generation Zero Volume 1: We Are The Future
Issues: Generation Zero #1 to #4
Issues: Bloodshot U.S.A. #1 to #4
Issues: Divinity II #1 to #4
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior Volume 2: Labyrinth
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior Volume 3: A Deal with a Devil
Issues: #5 to #14
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong Volume 2: Romance and Road Trips
Issues: #5 to #8
Issues: Britannia #1 to #4
Harbinger volume 5 should say 20-25
You can find an accurate reading order for armor hunters here; https://comicvine.gamespot.com/armor-hunters/4045-58023/
Shadowman Volume 4 is issues 13-16 not 13-18
Great list Dave, thanks a lot. Could use an update though, books like XO Manowar 13 / 2017 run, Divinity III, secret weapon, and war mother aren’t listed yet.
Please could you update the list, some are mising and other under IX) are quite dissorderd!
Thank you very much for the list!
Hi Dave,
I really appreciate your Valiant reading order and am using it to read all the Valiant books in order from 2012 to 2016. Are you planning to continue the list, so there is better organization of the books after section IX?
Thanks again,
Mike
Perhaps add the “Valiant: Zeroes and Origins” trade at the beginning to cover the missing Harbinger #0 issue (which is included therein) since the Deluxe Edition of Harbinger Wars is used for the reading order. It contains both Harbinger #0 and also the mentioned (and otherwise uncollected) Punk Mambo #0. That said, I have no idea whether it would be sensible to read these and all of the other #0s (Harbinger, Shadowman, Archer & Armstrong, Bloodshot, Quantum and Woody, X-O Manowar, Unity, Punk Mambo…in that order) first before reading anything else since I’ve not read read a single Valiant comic?
Further to LB367’s post, none of “A&A v07 – The One Percent and Other Tales”, “Bloodshot v06 – The Glitch and Other Tales” and “X-O Manowar v13 – Succession and Other Tales” are included in the list?
Punk Manbo #0 is also lost, I didn’t know that it existed until a few days, best regards
By the way, Archer & Armstrong TBP 7 “The one percent and other Tales” is missing too, greetings.
Oh, sorry to comeback, but the Bloodshot volume 6 is also missing, at least i find it before I read Bloodshot Reborn, also Harbinger #0 i think I read that later I finished Harbinger Wars, well, thanks for all your efforts in this great site, see you later.
Dave, will you update this column from time to time with a date at the top telling us when it was last updated (so we can tell which comments by date you have taken into account in your update?).
This column is so close to perfect!
Does anyone know of other places that keep this list updated? I’d prefer to have Dave’s list b/c he doesn’t give TOO much detail–just enough to keep it from being a straight list but not so much that I can’t scan through from beginning to end.
Well-written, Dave! And Thank you for your work in putting this together!
Updated Week of 12.20.16.
Enjoy the comics!
Archer & Armstrong volume 5 is missing!
That left me quite confused when i was reading Bloodshot run, still thanks for all this reading order, it quite help me, to go through all this years of continuity, it would be good an update, and again thank your for this.
Updated!
Thank you!
Really, i can’t thanks enough for this site and the help that it brings me, i’ve had enyojed so many books of this entire universe, so again, thanks for your order, and happy new year.
Thank you so very much for this Valiant Chronological Reading Order list. I’ve been reading comic books for almost 41 years now and I was a huge fan of the original Valiant books and characters of the 90’s. As soon as I learned that the characters were returning in any fashion I immediately started buying a copy of each monthly book that Valiant creates. Well, I’m a disabled veteran who is not able to do near what I would like to do so reading comic books is one of my top two entertainment sources. However, due to part of my handicap(s); I have quite terrible memory issues which interfere with my weekly/monthly comic book reading… it’s hard for me to keep things straight. In addition, I prefer to read several issues of a title in a row instead of waiting patiently for the next issue to come out. Well… to make this long and digressive post short, I got (VERY) behind on my reading of my monthly Valiant comic books and I’m now ready to dig in but I was concerned as to where to start. I wanted to attempt to read all of the various issues of each Valiant title in as close to the correct order as possible and thanks to you good sir I will now have a much easier time in doing just that. Thank you for all of your time and efforts. You are very appreciated!
Can you update this including the latest ones they have released? Ty so much.
Why didnt you include “4001 A.D.” ?
X-O manowar volume 7 should be volume 8. Also anyone interested in the whole universe should avoid the harbinger wars deluxe edition as it omits the harbinger #0 issue. Buy the bloodshot volume 3, harbinger volume 3, harbinger wars paperbacks instead. The reading order is (HW#1,H#11,B#10,HW#2,H#12,B#11,HW#3,B#12,H#13,HW#4,B#13,H#14). Unity volume 3 is collected in the armor hunters deluxe edition.
Unity Volume 3 is missing, methinks.
Actually included as part of the Armor Hunters collection – enjoy the comics!
What an imbecile I appear to have copied almost the entire article into my post. Lets try again.
This has been awesome help but I have encountered a few errors. The Harbinger Wars should go;
Issues: Harbinger Wars #1, Bloodshot #10-12, Harbinger #11-13, Harbinger Wars #4, Harbinger #14, and Bloodshot #13.
And for the Bloodshot, Archer and Armstrong crossover:
Archer & Armstrong #14 to #17, Bloodshot Volume #18 to #19, Archer & Armstrong #18, Bloodshot Volume #20, Archer & Armstrong #19, Bloodshot Volume #21 to #23.
This is as far as I have got. Will keep you posted with anynmore.
Ha no worries, and thanks for the feedback! I will update.
Thank you very much for this post as well as your entire site.
It’s definitely very helpful.
Is there a Marvel Unlimited equivalent?
I would go with Scribd. They have the whole catalog of Valiant stuff, but just like Marvel Unlimited, there’s about a 6 month delay for current issues.