Some Thoughts on The Forgotten Queen #1

In This Issue, a Warrior meets her Queen and we see a bloodier version of the start to Titanic

The Forgotten Queen #1

Written by Tini Howard

Illustrated by Amilcar Pinna

Colored by Ulises Arreola

Lettered by Jeff Powell

My interest in and reading of Valiant has been a rollercoaster over the past year as the buyout from DMG and various editorial shakeups took place. Currently I am cautiously optimistic about their product. The relaunch of Valiant was to me the successor of the old Wild Storm U, which informs one of my constant criticisms of the publisher that they are very straight-white-guy centric. That seems to be getting a bit better with their recent and upcoming books. You have Vita Ayala with artists Raul Allen and Patricia Martin on Livewire. Kevin Grevioux is writing Bloodshot: Rising Spirit. Jody Houser recently wrapped another, delightful, Faith mini. And you have this book, The Forgotten Queen, written by Tini Howard with art by Amilcar Pinna and Ulises Arreola, and letters by Jeff Powell. The four issue Queen miniseries focuses on Vexana aka the War-Monger, a foe of the Eternal Warrior seen in Matt Kindt’s run on Unity. Queen shirks pretty much all the usuals of a Valiant book: a series about a woman of color, written by a bisexual woman, with an artist of color, and, the thing that caught my eye, it’s queer! I can count the number of major LGBTQ+ character in the Valiant U on pretty much one hand – most of them are women, one of them is dead - but, hey progress.

As previously mentioned the War-Monger was a villain from Matt Kindt’s run on Unity, appearing in issues #19-22 (volume 6 “The War-Monger”.) You don’t really need to read that to start this, just know the Unity squad eventually gave her some cement shoes and tossed her in the ocean to finally stop her. That not so final resting place is where Queen begins in the present as an archaeology team with a mysterious baker are hunting for Vexana’s armor. The scenario echoes the start of Titanic, which the creative team give a bit of an ironic twist to.

To tell the story of Vexana, Howard employs a bit of a nesting doll like structure of split narratives and flashbacks as we see War-Monger work her way up till Late Antiquity and a meeting with Genghis Khan. The use of narration make sense within the issue but also gives moments a bit of a tell more than show appearance at times. These moments are more flashes than extended sequences, that when mixed with Pinna and Arreola’s art make for a solid montage. Pinna and Arreola make one page with a sort of graphic black-figure style (Greek pottery) to track Vexana’s passage through time and the monotony.

One of the things Howard, Pinna, and Arreola, are doing is quintessential superhero comics and an upside to the story universe model of narrative. They are using something created by Matt Kindt and a bevy of artist, that was pretty much forgotten. They are picking up these pieces and adding to them. By changing the characters position in the narrative structure from antagonist to protagonist, we get a whole new perspective on the character. Cecil Castellucci and Adriana Melo are doing something similar with Granny Goodness and the Furies in Female Furies.

Amilcar Pinna and Ulises Arreola make for some striking art, it isn’t super stylized but Pinna shows strong framing and perspective while Arreola gives it solid palette. There’s a realism to things but it’s just turned up a few notches. It comes at you on the credits page, the first page you see after the cover, with a not quite pinup of Vexana making a mocking face at the reader. I’m struck by the fierce look in her eye in contrast to the mocking tongue extension. The art team emphasize Vexana’s gaze throughout the issue as she makes those around her passions boil over. As she is being led out of Genghis Khan’s camp for the first time Pinna and Arreola give her this sort of playful look as she riles them up, she knows she is better than everyone for a hundred miles and is toying with them. The creative team showing Vexana enjoys the chaos she sows isn’t revelatory but there is greater sense of ownership and reason behind it, due to her position as the protagonist of this story. It adds a bit of texture to the character, and makes the moment she looks upon the woman falls for land even better. You see that transformation in her eyes.

If this issue has a minor annoyance, it is the use of swearing/the unimaginative censorship of swearing. Her swearing fits the character and the sword and sorcery vibe of the issue, but the gibberish character do nothing to enhance the dialog or moment. When she drops an expletive on the final page, it lands but more often it didn’t in this issue.