INTERVIEW: Rai, a cyborg ronin, is back in new Valiant series
Image courtesy of Valiant / Provided with permission.
The beloved comic-book character Rai is back in an all-new Valiant series, with the first issue releasing this week. The revitalized story comes courtesy of writer Dan Abnett, who previously worked on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and artist Juan José Ryp.
The new series, simply titled Rai, is set in the 41st century and centers on the title character, a cyborg ronin who is tasked with saving the future. Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Abnett about the Rai relaunch. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
When did you first experience the character of Rai? Are you a fan of the early comic books?
I certainly am. I enthusiastically read the early incarnations of most Valiant characters. Rai has moved on a lot since then, so when I was approached to take the book on, it was a delight catching up with recent stories and seeing how the character and his world had been developed.
Did you feel any obligation to the character’s history, or did you feel like you had the freedom to go in any direction you liked?
Both, really. We’re opening up a whole new ‘future’ for the Valiant Universe through this book, so this massive scope for invention, creation and world-building. At the same time, I wanted it to be firmly based in the previous continuity and follow on from the frankly great place the book had already arrived at under the previous creative team. For existing readers, this advances the ongoing story and isn’t a ‘sudden’ shift of track. For new readers, it’s a great starting point, as I make sure we explain Rai and his world as we go along.
What kind of adventures will Rai have in this new series?
Rai is on the future Earth, a strange and often dangerous place that has been ‘growing wild’ for centuries. Almost anything is possible. Rai is paired with his ‘older brother,’ Raijin, who is an earlier version of the Rai series (and actually, oddly, looks like a young boy, so appears younger than his younger brother). Together, they are on a quest to find and eradicate the last traces of the tyrannical AI known as Father, who built them and enslaved the orbital city of New Japan. But there are many dangers in their path, not least of which are the forces of Father’s indestructible minions.
Does having the action take place so far in the future make things easier or tougher when it comes to world-building and figuring out how everything functions in this future society?
Again, both! There’s huge creative freedom, which means the stories can be wildly inventive, with strange places and characters. But to make those elements work, you’ve got to build convincing rationales. There has to be a rigorous logic, or the world will simply seem odd for oddness sake.
What’s it like working with artist Juan José Ryp?
Juanjo is simply fantastic. I am in awe of his art. He’s delivering everything I wanted and more besides … and he’s totally committed to the ideas and the world building.
When did you first fall in love with comics?
Nine years old. A schoolfriend collected Marvel comics, something I’d not seen before (I’m in the UK, and they were hard to find over here back then). He had quite a collection, too many to fit in the cupboard he kept them in, so he just gave me a pile of odd issues he didn’t want. I took them home, read them, read them again, read them again. … The love affair with comics started right there. I still have that pile of old comics.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Rai #1, written by Dan Abnett, is now available in comic book stores. Click here for more information.
