Full disclaimer: I have known Van Allen Plexico for close to 30 years. Now, most of that has been over the Internet but I have met him in person a time or two and I consider him a friend. I’ve read a lot of his fiction over the years so I was pretty certain that I would enjoy UNION. I picked it up mainly because of the cover, which is an homage to Barry Windsor-Smith’s cover for Unity # 0, the issue that kicked off Valiant Comics’ classic crossover event. I’m a huge fan of that event and particularly of that cover, having commissioned an homage to it myself for one of my own books. As a longtime Valiant lover, I was intrigued by what Van was up to with this one.

Turns out, he was up to creating my favorite book that I’ve read in a long, long time. This is no mere pastiche — while the Centurion, Dr. Torrens, Jack Gael, and John Smith are definitely analogues of X-O Manowar, Solar, Magnus, and the Eternal Warrior, they are different enough to stand on their own. The idea of one person having to relive history over and over in an attempt to make meaningful change is a great one and I found myself really, really liking all the various heroes. There are some exciting action scenes but it was the characterization that I will remember the most — though the “after-credits scene” certainly left me pondering the possibilities.

Van says that he thinks this book is a “one-off” and I can see that. It does wrap up most of the storylines in a pleasing manner. Having said that, I’d love to see these characters appear again.

Highly recommended!