Valor #4

Valor #4 (February 1993) 

title: "Low Blow!"
writer: Robert Loren Fleming
penciller: MD (Mark) Bright
inkers: Trevor Scott (pp 1-12, 18-22) and Brad Vancata (pp 13-17)
letterer: Pin Bobaha
colorist: Eric Kachelhofer
associate editor: Eddie Berganza
editor: KC Carlson
cover: MD Bright & Trevor Scott? (unsigned)

reviewers: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage and Jason "Anachronistic Kid" Knol

Guest-Star(s):
Lobo, L.E.G.I.O.N.

Opponent(s):
Lobo, L.E.G.I.O.N.

Summary:
Valor battles Lobo right outside and on top of the L.E.G.I.O.N.'s new space station.


Vril Dox is watching Valor fight Lobo just as Phase arrives to inspect the new space station. Dox shows her what we saw last issue, namely Lar Gand arriving in his ship while being pursued by the White Spider Gang, then going outside of his ship and destroying three of theirs. Phase sees the pilots needing assistance, so goes out into space to rescue them. Dox ignores them and her. 

Lobo has three different fantasies where he murders Valor. He then comes to his senses and decides to smash Valor's ship, instead. 

Babbage, the ship's computer system, flies the ship away while Valor and Lobo fight again. They start fighting and keep fighting. Eventually, Lar maneuvers the fighting to the space station, where Dox orders them to stop fighting, and they do. 

Valor meets up with his former LEGION friends, and he asks Dox for permission to stay at the space station long enough to repair his space ship. Instead, Dox tells him his mechanics will fix it for him. 

Several days later, Valor accepts his good-as-new space ship and leaves the space station. 

Unbeknownst to Valor, Dox has pre-assigned the destination, sending Valor to a prison facility located in a red sun system where he will lose his powers. And Lobo has the last laugh, having vandalized Valor's space-ship after all. 

Russell's comments: 

Wow, this issue is so bad it is almost hard for me to know how to start my review. 

Now, full disclosure: I hate Lobo and do not understand his appeal whatsoever. So maybe there is that. But I have read plenty of Hulk vs Thing battles, and although I am not a fan of those types of stories or of the Hulk, I am able to follow those without any problem. I don't think the fact that I was hoping Valor would seriously whoop some ass played any part in not liking this issue. 

So let's start with the art, which has always been satisfactory, if not necessarily exciting. With this story of 22 pages, I would say that violence or action of some sort appear on atleast 16 of them. However, the vast majority of the skirmishes are choreographed badly so that the action is static, the poses are unnatural, the layouts make the flow hard to follow, and the "camera" is often either too close or too far away! Check out that second page reprinted above, where Lobo takes off after the ship and Valor takes off after Lobo. Tell me if you don't think the action there could have been illustrated in a better way? Why are the planets and the ship's flames the most prominent parts of those panels?! 

As for the story itself, it isn't any better than the art. Who is LEGION, and what are they doing out in the middle of nowhere? As someone who never read the series (but who is following it through our weekly reviews here) I am confused as to why Vril Dox hates Valor, but Valor doesn't seem to realize it? (Not a good sign when the book's protagonist is portrayed as an idiot!) Also their organization has a new space station.....which is nothing more than a plot device, I guess? Later Valor supposedly hangs out with his former team-mates, but there is NO affection or emotions on display at all when they meet....and Bright again chooses to move the camera waaaay out to represent.....white open space?!? 

Speaking of Vril Dox and LEGION, I am not sure why he orders Lobo to stop fighting and Lobo listens to him?! It reads like Lobo is Dox's lap-dog, which I never thought when reading reviews of LEGION. 

One last thing about LEGION.....there is a panel that says "several days later..." but we get NO scenes of Valor with his old friends. None past their initial reunion, and a sly introduction of Valor and the ancestor of Shadow Lass. That's it. At this point I would have liked a short adventure with them, but no; we get nothing. 

To sum up: not a huge fan of books where the lead is an idiot, things happen TO him instead of him doing things to/with others, and without any explanation as to who characters are who are supposedly important. Next! 

Jason's comments:

This issue was utterly pointless, but mildly enjoyable because of Lobo! I've never read a Lobo solo series, but I always appreciate him sprinkled in books. He's an over-the-top absurd mockery of the super-violent, super-muscular '90s comics that I always hated. His fantasies of killing Valor were by far my favorite part of this issue.

Let's be honest, this book hasn't earned reader respect or interest, so to see the lead character mocked was fantastic. Back to, ya know, the whole rest of the book... well, Russell already articulated the plentiful reasons why it isn't any good. I've also never read LEGION so nothing about the interaction with those characters made much sense to me, but even the relationships that seemed to be positive felt utterly empty.

I read the digital issue of this version, and it did nothing to help the art. The lack of detail and bland swaths of color were the perfect reflection of this boring issue. And I'm not one for hyperbole but I'd be remiss if I failed to mention Babbage is the most nondescript, uninteresting space-sidekick in the history of fiction.

This crossover with LEGION did nothing to help the progress of this story or endear the reader to the main character. Maybe it worked at the time? Maybe not. Let's see where issue five takes us!

Daxamite Space Ranger Report:  

• According to an Editor's Note, this story takes place before L.E.G.I.O.N. '93 #48. 
• The Letterer this issue is listed as Pin Bobaha, although for the past few issues he was listed as  Bob Pinaha. I assume this is some type of in-joke.  

Status: 
This series has yet to be reprinted.