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Valiant Comics gave us an exclusive preview of Rai #2. This new Rai series brings readers back to the 41st century with new worlds, new characters, and new adventures. Valiant’s critically celebrated cyborg ronin, named Rai as the title suggests, embarks on a thrilling quest to save the future. And now in issue two, readers can find out if the cyborg samurai Rai and his robot boy sidekick will escape a sentient madhouse. Rai #2 is written by Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy), with art by Juan José Ryp (X-O MANOWAR), colors by Andrew Dalhouse, and letters by Dave Sharpe. The issue also features multiple covers from Kael Ngu, Dave Johnson, Adam Pollina, and a pre-order edition cover from Javier Pulido.

According to Abnett, “After the mayhem of Rai’s first issue, the second issue presents an essentially self-contained story, another episode of Rai and Raijin’s travels. In contrast to issue one, this shows the sheer and crazy range of weird locales and encounters possible on Rai’s future Earth.”

And while Rai #2 might seem like a more low-key episode than issue one, the issue is really “all about mood and menace, about the strange and the eerie.” Abnett continues by saying, “Eerie, creepy, uncanny… a bit of a ghost story, yes. But there’s a human touch here, an emotional heart, a real melancholy. We engage with machines who yearn to me humans, and machines who have forgotten they were ever machines at all. We sneak the meta-story in here too. It’s a self-contained episode, but it’s part of Rai’s quest, and it has implications for the future. The greater threat, the looming menace of the series, rears its head. Rai has a bleak confrontation with both the curse and the blessing of his world’s extreme high technology. It will make him think a lot more about what he actually is.”

Rai #2 is on sale in comic book stores and online through ComiXology using our affiliate link on December 11. The issue retails for $3.99.