Now that Valiant is back in full form and showing that independent publishers can do superhero comics as good, if not better, than the Big Two, we thought we would use this as a chance to look back at how to read Valiant from beginning to end.  The company started out in the 1990s, creating the independent boom along with Image Comics during the age of 90s comic speculation.  They went under, as so many do, only to re-emerge recently to bring back their signature characters like Bloodshot, Harbinger, and X-O Manowar.

To bring together the complete Valiant reading order, we went after a fantastic one that has been widely shared on places like Reddit, though the name of the infamous author is now unknown.  We kept it more or less in tact since its suggestions are wonderful, the only difference between this and most of our other reading orders is that we kept it in trade form instead of alternating between single issues.  This reading order also does not include the crossovers, which will be done in a different list entirely.

———-ACT ONE———-

X-O Manowar Vol. 1: “By the Sword”

X-O Manowar Vol. 2: “Enter Ninjak”

X-O Manowar Vol. 3: “Planet Death”

Harbinger Vol. 1: “Omega Rising”

Bloodshot Vol. 1: “Setting the World on Fire”

Harbinger Vol. 2: “Renegades”

Bloodshot Vol. 2: “Rise and Fall”

Harbinger Wars Vol. 1

Harbinger Vol. 3: “Harbinger Wars”

Bloodshot Vol. 3: “Harbinger Wars”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 1: “The Michelangelo Code”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 2: “Eternal Warrior”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 3: “Far Faraway”

Eternal Warrior Vol. 1: “Sword of the Wild” (Note: The story in this volume takes place before the story in Archer & Armstrong Vol 2 even though it was published after Vol 3)

Shadowman Vol. 1: “Birth Rites”

Shadowman Vol. 2: “Darque Reckoning”

Shadowman Vol. 3: “Deadside Blues”

———-ACT TWO———-

Quantum and Woody Vol. 1: “The World’s Worst Superhero Team”

Quantum and Woody Vol. 2: “In Security”

X-O Manowar Vol. 4: Homecoming

Unity Vol. 1: “To Kill a King”

X-O Manowar Vol. 5: “At War with Unity”

Unity Vol. 2: “Trapped by Webnet”

Harbinger Vol. 4: “Perfect Day”

Harbinger Vol. 5: “Death of a Renegade”

Bloodshot Vol. 4: “HARD Corps”

Bloodshot Vol. 5: “Get Some”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 4: “Sect Civil War”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 5: “Mission Improbable”

Shadowman Vol. 4: “Fear, Blood, and Shadows”

Shadowman End Times

Eternal Warrior Vol. 2: “Eternal Emperor”

Rai Vol. 1: “Welcome to New Japan”

———-ACT THREE———-

X-O Manowar Vol. 6: “Prelude to Armor Hunters”

X-O Manowar Vol. 7: “Armor Hunters”

Armor Hunters Vol. 1

Unity Vol. 3: “Armor Hunters”

Armor Hunters: Harbinger

Armor Hunters: Bloodshot

Harbinger Vol. 6: “Omegas”

Unity Vol. 4: “The United”

Quantum and Woody Vol. 3: “Crooked Pasts, Present Tense”

Quantum and Woody Vol. 4: “Quantum & Woody Must Die!”

Archer & Armstrong Vol. 6: “American Wasteland”

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG VOL. 7: THE ONE PERCENT AND OTHER TALES

The Delinquents

The Death Defying Dr. Mirage

Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel

Bloodshot Vol. 6: “The Glitch and Other Tales”

X-O Manowar Vol. 8: “Enter Armorines”

Rai Vol. 2: “Battle for New Japan”

QUANTUM AND WOODY BY PRIEST & BRIGHT Vol. 1: KLANG (Not connected to current VEI 2012 reboot stories – this connects to the Acclaim Q&W series from the 90’s)

QUANTUM AND WOODY BY PRIEST AND BRIGHT VOL. 2: SWITCH (Not connected to current VEI 2012 reboot stories – this connects to the Acclaim Q&W series from the 90’s)

QUANTUM AND WOODY BY PRIEST & BRIGHT VOL. 3: AND SO… (Not connected to current VEI 2012 reboot stories – this connects to the Acclaim Q&W series from the 90’s)

———-ACT FOUR———-

THE VALIANT

DIVINITY VOL. 1

BLOODSHOT REBORN VOL. 1: COLORADO

IVAR, TIMEWALKER VOL. 1: MAKING HISTORY

IVAR, TIMEWALKER VOL. 2: BREAKING HISTORY

IMPERIUM VOL. 1: COLLECTING MONSTERS

IMPERIUM VOL. 2: BROKEN ANGELS

NINJAK VOL. 1: WEAPONEER

NINJAK VOL. 2: THE SHADOW WARS

X-O MANOWAR VOL. 9: DEAD HAND

X-O MANOWAR VOL. 10: EXODUS TPB

UNITY VOL. 5: HOMEFRONT

UNITY VOL. 6: THE WAR-MONGER

DEAD DROP

BOOK OF DEATH TPB

BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF THE VALIANT UNIVERSE TPB