'Rapture' by Matt Kindt with art by Cafu is an odd fantasy graphic novel from the Valiant universe. This volume collects Rapture single issues #1-4.

Tama wanders the weird world of Deadside. She is a geomancer and has a powerful book to aid her. She finds reason to stop a tower from being built in Deadside and collects a team from Earth, including Ninjak, Punk Mambo, and Shadowman (aka Magpie). They are joined by a warrior named Rex and they are trying to stop someone named Babel who has found power in spoken words and wants to use them for bad things.

I really liked this trippy story. I'm really only familiar with Ninjak, but the other characters are all pretty equally interesting. I liked the blend of unique powers and gifts and how they are used. I really liked the lush art to tell the story. This was a really nice one to get to read.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Valiant Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This was interesting enough. I will be looking to read the next in the series at some point. The graphics were fine, but I tend to enjoy more esoteric and weird graphic novels with a fun twist.

The artwork in Rapture is brilliant! The people, creatures and landscapes really come alive. Not realising there are a swath of comics related to the characters in the Valiant world, I came into this one completely unprepared, basing my interest solely on the cover image.

I was thankful for the page that gave a bit of a heads up on who’s who in the zoo but knowing nothing else about the characters or the world I felt I missed out on a lot. The story was interesting, there’s plenty of action and the illustrations were incredible, but I didn’t connect to any of the characters so I wouldn’t recommend coming into this world via this graphic novel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Valiant Entertainment and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Tama's kind of awesome. I love how she treats the demon in the first issue. The rest of the book is your standard fantasy adventure, for some reason set in the Deadside, which in the past had been more just a land of the dead type place. The story itself is nothing special, a variation of the Tower of Babel story from the bible. I can't say I'm a big fan of this version of Shadowman, he's really generic. The Shadowman from the 90's was one of my favorite Valiant comics back in the day.

Rapture is a fantastic graphic novel that blurs the lines between the good guys and the bad guys whilst displaying their plethora of bad-ass abilities.

I still find it a struggle to engage with the Valiant universe whatsoever, seeing as it consists of characters I have never heard of in combinations that mean nothing to me, and taking their place in ongoing stories I have no way of following. But you know what? When a comic looks as good as this one, you just have to enjoy it. Plus, irregardless of the heroes, it is sort of based on a well-known myth. So here the instigator of the Tower of Babel wants to reach heaven for a second time, and that must be stopped for the sake of the whole earth. It's nothing new, but it's done well, and, to repeat, it has great art.

I was surprised to see how much I did actually like it, since I really requested it based solely off the cover. An interesting story, gorgeous artwork, and I really liked the characters.

Wow - this cover is sick!

Huh. That doesn't sound like something I'd say. But I did really like this cover.

Interesting characters! But I bet I would have liked the story a lot more if I had known anything about them.

An interesting world, too! Again, it would have been good if I had known a little about it. But wait - this is in the Valiant universe! I have a few comics from there. I enjoyed reading the Faith series. I’m going to have to check it out some more.

It was a decent story. I like the tying in of the events of Biblical proportions.

And I really like the interaction with Amy.

If you know anything about these characters and these worlds, you might like this story. If you don’t, you still might like it.

Rapture is a Valiant omnibus collection of issues 1-4 to collect the entire story arc written by Matt Kindt and drawn by Cafu. I loved the artwork for the most part, and the story began well enough, but events quickly began to feel too rushed and too slightly developed, making for an overall disappointing read, though it’s possible those more familiar with this world and these characters might have a more positive response.

The story opens with a young girl, Tama, working her way in the Deadworld through a series of traps and riddle tests and the like to converse with a demon named Amy (yes, Amy) in order to find out more about an impending end-of-the-world scenario. She learns that a Big Bad named Babel is trying to reuse his tower (yes, that one) to pierce the Liveworld, which would destroy Earth. She gathers a kickass team, made up of Ninjak, Shadowman, and Punk Mambo, each of whom have their own special skills/powers. It turns out the tower is now home to a tough barbarian ruler (a friend of Tama’s), whose army was pretty wiped out by Babel, especially by Babel’s trio of special minions — the Bereavers — who can kill with a word. The team makes its way to the tower and attempts to stop Babel’s plan, though they have to overcome a betrayal in order to do so.

To start with the positive, I absolutely loved the artwork throughout. At times panels were a bit small/crowded, but outside of that minor and infrequent complaint, the artwork was consistently wonderfully vivid, active, colorful, and clear. It’s some of the best work I’ve seen in the (admittedly few) graphics I’ve read the past few months.

The other positive is the opening story involving Tama, who has an engaging, welcoming voice, a nice touch of humor, and a habit of turning the story in unexpected ways. Her story takes its time, we get to see her personality via her narration and her interaction with several other characters. It’s a strong start.

Unfortunately, things go downhill once her original mission—find out just how the apocalypse is coming—is over and she starts collecting the team. The addition of new characters in such a short creative space means there is little development of characters or storylines moving forward. It doesn’t help that big chunks of exposition start flying, often as interruptive flashbacks. The Bereavers never get a chance to live up to their name, the heroes subdue bad guys too quickly, inner conflict happens fast and then is delved a bit more into via an anti-climactic flashback. The ideas here are interesting, but they are just given no space to develop, to engage, to provide richness of plot or character.

If the rest of the story had moved at the same pace as the first part of issue one, I really believe Rapture could have been an excellent story, especially supported as it is by such strong artwork. But as is, it felt rushed, slight, and frustratingly short of its early promise.

2.5/5

I've been reading through as many comics from Valiant Entertainment as I can. They have consistently put out good books, so it isn't any surprise that I enjoyed this new miniseries. Like a lot of Valiant's books, it builds on what came before while trying to be friendly to new readers. This is a hard feat to achieve, but I think they did a decent job here.

Here's what I loved about this book. First, Tama. This is the current incarnation of the Geomancer. She came from the future in a box. Her attitude is wonderful. The creative team could have made this book really dark, but Tama keeps it light. Plus, she gets to set up the story and provides some hope. And she owns a book that tells the future and has ever changing contents.

Then there is what this book does for Shadowman (or Magpie, not really sure what he is going by these days). I haven't read all of his individual series, so there are a couple things about him that I only know vaguely from reading other books, but Rapture picks him up, dusts him off, and sets him on the path of being awesome. There is a lot of potential for the character at the end of this book, which makes me want Valiant to give him his own series again.

This story mostly takes place in the Deadside, which is kind of like purgatory. I've enjoyed all the books use this location. The sheer craziness of it makes it a lot of fun to explore. And I love the art. It takes advantage of the setting and mixes in the elements I would expect from other books featuring these characters. Could some new to Valiant enjoy this? Sure. But I think having some knowledge of the setting and characters would make this book more enjoyable.

This comic is a pretty fun time overall but there's nothing necessarily new or outstanding about it. I liked the characters for the most part, although a white 'voodoo priestess' is ...unfortunate, to put it mildly. Looking at the other reviews these are apparently characters that appear in a number of other titles from the same publisher, but I don't think I've ever read anything by them before. I suppose my rating might have been higher with more in-universe background, but I feel like this story does stand well on its own so I don't think it's really necessary. The mix of Christian mythology into the fantasy setting was a nice twist but other than that it was all just pretty standard. Although I really loved Tama and that book she had was very interesting as well, so I could probably be persuaded to continue this universe just to see more of her adventures.

Two armies are at war for control of a mysterious tower. Babel leads one army to enter Heaven. A warrior, seeking redemption, and his army stand in his way, but he needs help. Twelve year old Tama, the last mystic tasked to defend Earth, knows of the battle to come, and who needs to lend their aid. Ninjak, Shadowman and Punk Mambo enter the last line of defense. The story is fast paced and the art is amazing. I need to read more on Punk Mambo and Shadowman, as they were my favourite characters in this book. The trapped ancient that Tama finds is another favourite, but I don't want to give any spoilers. Read this for yourself to find out the mysteries in store....

I found this to be an amazing, and very unique read. There is adventure, it's a bit scary, the art is interesting and this is a really engrossing read.

Rapture by Matt Kindt is comic book publisher Valiant’s latest event featuring a mix of fantasy, horror, and adventure as a group of heroes travels to a dimension known as the ‘Deadside.’ There are several high points and placing the story in another dimension allows Kindt and Cafu, the artist, to bring their imaginations out to play. Guided by the Geomancer, a young girl drawing power from the Earth, Ninjak the super spy, and Shadowman, a tortured soul tethered to a demon, along with others attempt to prevent Babel, the big bad, from entering heaven and bringing ruin to the world. At first glance, the group of heroes resembles a Dungeons and Dragons adventuring party - a druid, a barbarian, a rogue assassin, a wizard, and so on, and other than Shadowman, none undergoes a character arc. One character reasons the story itself is to rehabilitate Shadowman, thereby allowing him to enter the mainstream Valiant universe again. Which is fine, and Rapture is a great crossover event. If anything, I wanted more. Much of the exposition is told through flashback, which worked to a certain extent, even as the book itself is rapidly paced. While the pacing is quick and no panel is wasted, a deeper back story for the antagonist or additional ways to illustrate the high stakes would give a deeper sense of urgency. Overall, fans of fantasy or supernatural horror laced with humor and action, and fans of Valiant’s characters will enjoy Rapture. I look forward to watching Matt Kindt further explore the deadside with these great characters.

Review provided in exchange for copy provided by NetGalley.

A new comic from the Valiant world featuring some of the old favourites. Tama, Ninjak, Shadowman and Punk Mambo team up to defeat and elder god in the Deadside.

If you are a Valiant fan then this will be a treat for you.

I do wish Valiant Comics would publish a definitive reading order for fans because we would get so much more out of the comics. I know there are fans who have produced lists but I can't help think this is something the publishers should do because they can keep up with new publications and overlapping characters and they would be able to tell us where they best fit.

In any case this is another good addition to the Valiant Universe which follows the story of Tama who is the Geomancer, who together with her allies goes to battle and saves the world from darkness and impending doom. I liked the focus on Shadowman and I also enjoyed the way these characters team up.

The artwork is bright and colourful with the usual high standard that readers have come to expect from the Valiant world. The storyline is good, with old favourites, myth, magic and even a nice appearance from Neville. As is usual we have a good ending which just leaves the reader wanting more. Lots of fighting, magic, and weird stuff. All the usual elements of the Valiant world that make it such a fascinating series of comics.

If you like the Geomancer or any of her supporting buddies then this volume is for you.

Copy provided by Diamond Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review

"Rapture" is a unique twist on the tower of Babylon. The artwork is eye candy, bright and colorful and nicely illustrated to draw the eye. The cast of characters are diverse, compelling, and interesting with an original story. The unlikely band of heroes protects earth and may even find redemption. A fast-paced, engaging read that is addicting and over too soon. My review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

This short volume has a lot going on. I enjoyed the depictions of the principle characters, but the narrative and the panels are a bit too cluttered and this just didn't have enough meat to give it stand out appeal.

A fun graphic novel with a cool story line. Loved the riddles too!