VALIANT COMICS: UNITY

The whole point of the first year of Valiant was to lead up to the Unity crossover. Unity was told over 18 chapters, two chapters in each of the 8 regular series and two bookend, Unity 0 and Unity 1.

Shooter masterminded the entire Unity storyline and thus propelled little-known Valiant into being the number 3 publisher behind Marvel and DC. The Unity crossover garnered Shooter and Valiant industry awards, the trade spotlight and a generous surge of money.

What appeared to be a benchmark to which the future of Valiant would be measured, turned sour in a matter of months. The success of Unity prompted Shooter's partners to solicit a buyout and make the quick profit. Shooter wanted to continue with his vision but was ultimately forced out.

The following are the Unity issues:
Chapter 1: Unity #0
Chapter 2: Eternal Warrior #1
Chapter 3: Archer & Armstrong #1
Chapter 4: Magnus #15
Chapter 5: X-O Manowar #7
Chapter 6: Shadowman #4
Chapter 7: Rai #6
Chapter 8: Harbinger #8
Chapter 9: Solar #12
Chapter 10: Eternal Warrior #2
Chapter 11: Archer & Armstrong #2
Chapter 12: Magnus #16
Chapter 13: X-O Manowar #8
Chapter 14: Shadowman #5
Chapter 15: Rai #7
Chapter 16: Harbinger #9
Chapter 17: Solar #13
Chapter 18: Unity #1

Unity was reprinted twice in trade paperback form. The first time was in late 1992. It was reprinted in 2 books, each covering 9 chapters. Then in the middle of 1994, it was reprinted again under the title Unity Saga. This reprint spanned 4 books with each book covering 4 or 5 chapters. There was also a Unity: The Lost Chapter published in early 1995 that was written by Kevin VanHook.

The Unity crossover is not to be confused with Unity 2000. After Acclaim got involved and destroyed any semblance of reality, they offered Shooter a chance to fix their mistakes.

A six-issue mini-series was planned. Titled Unity 2000, Shooter was somehow going to bring the continuity of VH1 and VH2 together. A preview issue and the first three issues were published before Acclaim abandoned all hope and ceased publication. A pdf of the six-issue Unity 2000 plot is available for download.