Review: Imperium Vol. 1: Collecting Monsters

Imperium Vol. 1: Collecting Monsters by Joshua Dysart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For a book about Toyo Harada, he really isn't in it that much. Instead, it focuses on the group of characters that he is bringing together to help achieve his dream of creating a post-scarcity world. That isn't a bad thing at all because these characters are really interesting. This arc kind of reminds me of the second arc of Dysart's Harbinger run. They both center around the individual characters that make up their respective groups. This feels like it adds a lot of depth to the story. Dysart is very capable of giving these characters their spotlight without losing sight of the rest of the story.

There are moments that highlight what Harada is trying to achieve starting with the very first pages of the series and others that showcase the conflict between Harada's group and the rest of the world. As someone who has read a lot of the other Valiant books that preceded this series, I felt right at home with this book. I think someone that is new to these characters could pick up with no problem. It just won't have the same impact as it will for someone that is already invested in the world.

Doug Braithwaite might just be one of my favorite artists thanks to Valiant. His artwork is always fantastic. Pairing with a good colorist helps a lot. I compared some of Braithwaite's uncolored drawings that were included in the back of this trade to the finished pages. The color adds a noticeable layer to the art, but his drawings are still great even without the color. Needless to say, there are some really cool visual moments in this book.

I was hesitant to read this book in part because I had heard a lot of good things about it and I didn't want to be disappointed with it. That was not a problem at all. I am excited to dig into the next volume to see what Harada is going to do now that he has his team of monsters.

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