The UNITY Files

The UNITY Files

This collection of images is perhaps the rarest EVER for Valiant fans... so here is the back story:

Sal Velluto was kind enough in mid 1997 to send me a manila envelope marked "Various Junk". I knew if it came from Sal and it was various junk, then it had to be a goldmine for me! So I opened it up and looked it over. Most interesting to me was an image of the unpublished art for the original cover to Harbinger #1 and some unseen early XO art... they would fit nicely in this online collection. So I put it in the neverending pile of "things to scan when I retire in 2050 ad" and forgot about it.

Well, I picked up the manila envelope tonight and saw what I didn't see before: these images. Below are pencils, skeches and notes for the artists who collaborated on Unity. This is the stuff they would fax each other so everyone drew the characters the same way. These specific pages were from Barry Windsor Smith to Sal Velluto! Pure Gold!!! This art was meant to be faxed to everyone then thrown out which I'm sure the original were. So I can pretty much say no one has ever seen these before, and they're Unity!

The pages were faxed waaaaay back in 1992 on thermal fax paper and there was some loss over time (as we all know, thermal paper generally does not last more than a few years). If water hit the pages, or even sunlight, or any heat source, then say goodbye to these pages forever! Luckily for everyone, the pages are in great shape and very scannable. So here they are.

Solar and Geoff enter the Lost Land. Important art so everyone knows what Unity is supposed to look like. These are the pencils, not inks, a true rarity.

Splash page with all the heroes and Erica in the last panel starting off the whole ball of wax. Once again, these are pencils. Arial splash view of Unity with assorted notes. Pencil art.

Eternal Warrior 4001ad. I guess the giant "G" on the belt was too much like Marvel's Goliath, or maybe it was just against Valiant's philosophy of not "putting a giant letter the stupid name of the character on the costume like everyone else does" A very sketchy prelim page of Gilad: 4001. Perhaps the first thoughts on the future Gilad BWS had on paper.

Details of Rockland Tate... this is probably when Ernie Colon came up with the design, he wanted to make sure it was consistent to the other artists' work. Pencils by Colon. Interesting profile of Geoff McHenry with the essential garments a Geomancer has to wear and notes. Probably used along with Colon sketches to create the Geomancer of 4001.

Erica Pierce study art. Closeup of bust, In action and bottomless in the third pencil image! This is the Erica we never saw in Unity! Very good pencil work, esp. the first image (on left). The finished look for Erica Pierce of 4001.

Finally...Erica Pierce in a way we've NEVER seen her! This is Barry's pin-the-clothes-on-Erica page (see the clothes on top with "foldable tabs"?)... wonderful pencil art by BWS... good dino too, I wonder where he fits in (maybe they originally had the dino as her pet but instead went with Albert instead?).

Joe Petrilak's VALIANT Era Online has been archived in the original format (when possible), by VALIANT Revisited (VALIANTComics.com),
with Joe's permission. The purpose is to keep an archive of Joe's VALIANT work available online for many years to come.

Solar and Geoff enter the Lost Land. Important art so everyone knows what Unity is supposed to look like. These are the pencils, not inks, a true rarity.
Splash page with all the heroes and Erica in the last panel starting off the whole ball of wax. Once again, these are pencils.	Arial splash view of Unity with assorted notes. Pencil art.
Eternal Warrior 4001ad. I guess the giant "G" on the belt was too much like Marvel's Goliath, or maybe it was just against Valiant's philosophy of not "putting a giant letter the stupid name of the character on the costume like everyone else does"	A very sketchy prelim page of Gilad: 4001. Perhaps the first thoughts on the future Gilad BWS had on paper.
Details of Rockland Tate... this is probably when Ernie Colon came up with the design, he wanted to make sure it was consistent to the other artists' work. Pencils by Colon.	Interesting profile of Geoff McHenry with the essential garments a Geomancer has to wear and notes. Probably used along with Colon sketches to create the Geomancer of 4001.
Erica Pierce study art. Closeup of bust, In action and bottomless in the third pencil image! This is the Erica we never saw in Unity! Very good pencil work, esp. the first image (on left).	The finished look for Erica Pierce of 4001.
Finally...Erica Pierce in a way we've NEVER seen her! This is Barry's pin-the-clothes-on-Erica page (see the clothes on top with "foldable tabs"?)... wonderful pencil art by BWS... good dino too, I wonder where he fits in (maybe they originally had the dino as her pet but instead went with Albert instead?).