Rai Zero

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Rai Zero (#0) was a comic book published by Valiant Comics in November of 1992. Published after the events of Rai #8, the special served as a bridge for the reformatting of "Rai" as "Rai and the Future Force" with issue #9 by way of introducing the new Rai.

The special also featured the first appearance of Valiant hero Bloodshot as well as setting up a basic outline for the history of the Valiant universe from 1992 until the post-Unity crossover 41st century. It also was used by Valiant as the springboard for the controversial "Deathmate" crossover between Valiant and Image Comics, which caused the special to become sought after by collectors, staying on Wizard (magazine)'s Top 10 hot list for several months.

Contents

[edit] Story

The special ("The Blood of Heroes") begins in the then-present day as the super-hero Bloodshot is freed from a top secret lab by the Geomacer, who has been told that Bloodshot will play a vital role for the future of the Valiant universe. As Bloodshot escapes, the story flashes forward through time, telling the ultimate fates of the various heroes of then-present day Valiant universe including Shadowman, X-O Manowar and Obadiah Archer of Archer & Armstrong as they struggle against the villainous Toyo Harada, who in his quest for immmortality, will discover the skill to over-write the minds of others, allowing him to transfer his mind into younger bodies. It is also shown that Magnus the Robot Fighter's 20th Century biological mother (who was forced to give up her newborn son during the "Unity" crossover so that he could become Magnus) writing a note explaining the story of his birth, who his parents were, and why he was abandoned as an infant in the future.

As the story continues, we see that Harada will ultimately be defeated and Bloodshot would die, but not before the blood (laced with nanites that give him his powers) would be drained from his body. This would allow for his children and their children to claim Bloodshot's blood and continue as heroes under the name "Rai". As the 41st Century Geomacer explains this to the last known living biological descendant to reclaim the blood and become the new Rai.

[edit] Behind the scenes

Rai Zero was written by Valiant's top talent: Jim Shooter, David Lapham and Bob Layton. Marketing director Jon Hartz also contributed to the story's overall plot.

Besides introducing the new Rai and Bloodshot, the special was designed to serve as a guidepost for all future Valiant Universe for the next decade, as well as giving fans a glimpse towards how the heroes of the "present day" Valiant books would affect the futuristic 41st Century Valiant titles.

One storyline development though, the death of Solar's longtime girlfriend and his split into two separate entities, would ultimately be incorporated as catalyst for the Valiant/Image crossover "Deathmate". This caused the issue to become sought after by collectors, even though the scene in question was redrawn for the "Deathmate Prologue" special for fans who had not read the issue.

The story was also reprinted in the first and only trade paperback collection for the Rai series, which collected Rai #1-4.

[edit] Innovation

Rai #0, along with X-O Manowar, was one of the very first "Zero Issues" comics to be produced and sold through normal direct market channels. While other Valiant comics had received "Zero Issues", they were only available via mail-order with fans having to send in coupons included in the main comics for the issue.

The notion of "Zero Issues" would later be embraced by other comic publshers, most notably DC Comics, who in September 1994, had every one of their main comics publish a "#0 issue" rather than their normal regular issue.

[edit] External links