The Visitor #4 (of 6): Change Millennia Ahead

You are going to hear the word patience a lot when people talk about this newest iteration of Visitor from Valiant, and it’s mostly true. Levitz and company are weaving an intricate and incredibly secretive story in this series, and The Visitor #4 shows that there is a grand overarching plan at work.

But is it enough?

For those seeking an action-packed explosive story akin to what Seeley and Booth are doing over at Bloodshot, this simply isn’t what you are looking for. The Visitor is a series that is playing the long game, piecing together a dangerous international mystery with an elusive figure at the forefront that we really don’t know all that much about. Even then, the buildup is intense. It’s a game of chess where the audience isn’t in on big reveal, so we’re forced to go along with the detective work and discover clues right alongside Talia and Ogawa-san who are becoming more frustrated with their lack of progress in each new issue.

What is The Visitor doing here and who exactly are they? What is this secretive AI project at the core of their mission? There aren’t many hints even in the fourth issue of a six-issue miniseries, but that’s okay. The revelations might go under the radar, but those following the Valiant Universe should start to understand the implications of this series after The Visitor #4. Talia’s mechanical leg is an indicator of the dangers to come. If I understand correctly, this is tying into a much larger ongoing situation regarding the future of the Valiant Universe. While we won’t know for sure until future issues hit, we are reaching the threshold where The Visitor’s secrets are bound to spill out.

This is a mystery through and through, and I’ll be sticking around just to see what light this series sheds on the larger Valiant Universe alone. It’s rather difficult to get behind any character outside of Talia, but she is someone who I want to see a lot more of. MJ Kim and Davide Tinto with incredibly impressive colors from Ulises Arreola continue to make this one of the most visually stunning books on the shelves for Valiant. And Bowland’s letters once more show simplistic ingenuity from the color coded balloons to the digital letters inside The Visitor’s silhouette. It’s all around high-quality work.

Hopefully Levitz can really pull the series together for an impactful finale that puts the rest of the series into context for rereading. As of now, it’s a great mystery but we need more information on where it is taking us as an audience. The Visitor #4 may not have all the answers you were wanting, but it teases all the right implications to make this series a worthy addition to anyone’s Valiant collection. This is one you will want to keep an eye on especially as we reach the penultimate issue and eventually the finale. Things are only going to get more delicate from here.