The Valiant universe has had an organic opening from it start. Really building upon what has happened up to this point - and building out slowly. Really unfolding onto itself - and relishing in its growth - even if some has been a little slow - and other parts tricky. This one flipped the comic over again - changing and allying the two sides. Aric becomes the 'enemy,' and Harada flips to the 'good' side. Nice change here. Really exploring what Harada has - and his opinion and background - even the line about nuclear war was almost a throw away - but it really said something about him as a character. I also loved the way that X-O was treated in the book - he almost seemed to hover around this - and seemed like an exterior force - an enemy - and not really inside the book at all. I understood the criticism that my LCS mentioned - that not enough of the book really fleshed out the back story, For example, I never really learned when reading the issue that Aram was supposed to be the Eternal Warrior. A quick side note could have been helpful. And even a Ninjak aside sooner could have been nice. While it didn't make me gleeful with joy much like the Unity did years ago, perhaps I am just a little too cynical. It certainly was much better than I would have imagined when I read about it initially. Not certain that all of these characters could (or should) survive - but I really enjoyed it. The creation of the characters - specifically to kill them... Brilliant.
And then, silence.
Not a bad way to throw the entire world on its ear. I can remember seeing the advertising for the PITT - through most of the comics of the time, and while I never really considered buying it - I do remember it being a rather big push - and being something that I might have been interested in at least leafing through, if nothing else. I am not sure how well it holds up - versus how good it is - but I found it a decent read. Still not a fan of that visitor person. But the story is excellent. I liked how it combined the Spitfire character - now essentially abandoned in this time frame - and the colonel, though. And also interesting how the colonel acts to cover up what has happened - shooting down the civilian copter - and then realizing that he really couldn't have done anything to cover it up, anyway. I also liked the realism that all of the rivers dumping into the pit - and of course, a great name, reference - and bottom line - execution of Jim Shooter. While I don't think that anything really could have saved the universe - except perhaps re-integrating it into the regular Marvel world - this was a decent idea of an attempt.