Green Valley

Green Valley #1-9

by Max Landis, Giuseppe Camuncoli (Artist), Cliff Rathburn (Artist)

The knights of Kelodia are the finest in the land, but they’ve never faced a POWER like the one that resides in the Green Valley. Now they're about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime—to stop a wizard and slay his dragons—but there's no such thing as magic or dragons…is there? Eisner-nominated writer MAX LANDIS (Chronicle, Superman: American Alien), artist GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI (Amazing Spider-Man) and Eisner-nominated colorist JEAN FRANCOIS BEAULIEU welcome you to the world of GREEN VALLEY…where nothing is ever what it seems.Collects GREEN VALLEY #1-9

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Sequential Art, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

215 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2017

About the author

Max Landis is a Hollywood screenwriter and Eisner Award nominee. Featured as one of Forbes 30 under 30 two consecutive years, Max Landis is an outspoken rising star in the screenwriting world. Having sold over fifteen projects in the last five years, Landis' first produced feature, Chronicle, did well at the box office and led to more sales.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 77% | Good
Notes: A fairly conventional action-adventure, it’s a one-trick pony, popcorn, picture show: a gilded, medieval movie-script.

[Sean Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re in the mood for a Dark Ages-set bromantical romp replete with anachronisms galore (ranging from weapons and armor to slang, and that’s before all the time travel stuff gets going and starts throwing guns and dinosaurs into the mix) and absolutely gorgeous art featuring unbelievable color work, Green Valley is the book for you.

It’s more fun to look at than to read (not unlike yours truly), but there are enough entertaining moments that it goes down easily enough. We’ll call it somewhere in the vicinity of 3.5 stars.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

An elite group of knights are hired by villagers being terrorised by a wizard and his dragons. Unoriginal, generic, clichéd? Sounds like a Max Landis comic to me!

I’m willing to bet Landis wasn’t able to flog Green Valley as another shitty movie so it went to Image to be made into this comic instead. It reads like a movie storyboard with its broad strokes - think King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table/The Three Musketeers/The Seven Samurai with some uninspired time-travel chucked in – straight from Mark Millar’s school of hackneyed comics writing and reminded me of Millar’s abysmal Chrononauts book from a few years ago.

The story is unsurprising and largely obvious, leaning heavily upon genre stereotypes. The annoying Dudebro characters lurch from one dull, played-out set-piece to the next, making for an onerous, plodding read. It doesn’t help that the unimpressive story is vastly overlong at 9 issues.

Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art is the only good aspect of this comic. The pages are full of epic vision and dramatic scenes beautifully realised by this remarkably talented artist. He’s backed up by the expert skills of The Walking Dead’s inker Cliff Rathburn and I Hate Fairyland’s colourist Jean-Francois Beaulieu who make Green Valley look visually sumptuous.

Still, the art doesn’t make Green Valley worth reading and I can’t recommend this tedious, bland mashup of tired fantasy and sci-fi tropes.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four legendary knights go to Green Valley to save them from an evil "magician" and his dragons. Our knights are quite aware that magic and dragons don't really exist. However when they get to Green Valley they meet the "sorcerer", a time traveler from the future. Now they have to defeat this jackass from the future before he kills all of them.

This story is OK. What really shines is the art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. He's an extremely talented artist and it's nice to see his art in something other than a Marvel comic.

Received an advance copy from Image and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out really fun...got somewhat generic for a while and then got fun again.

There is an interesting revelation that occurs just a little under halfway through the book that changes things up quite a bit. If not for this story twist I don't think I would have liked this book as much as I did.

The art and color are what really sold it all for me. If not for the pretty pictures that popped I think I would have dropped this down a star.

Still - altogether, all said and done, I enjoyed it well enough.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful Camuncoli art and some good camaraderie with the Knights of Kelodia but as a guy who has studied history the depiction of 5th century Britain just had me grinding my teeth too much to enjoy, plus the secondary characters essentially being scenery (even the villain, though entertaining, was pretty thinly characterized).

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing romp through fantasy, time and a green valley under attack from an alleged wizard and supposed dragons. There are dragons in legend — but do they really exist? Our heroes, a witty band of knights, don't take themselves too seriously, love to tease each other, but, as might be expected, will rise to the occasion.

There is a time travel element in this fanciful narrative, and such a plot device usually blares a warning to this reader. However in this graphic novel, time travel is handled in such a manner that it almost made sense, in a way. It's certainly enjoyable watching the characters try to explain it to each other — not taking itself too seriously always elevates a fanciful plot.

Rounded up to four stars because it was a romp, an amusing adventure, with even a twist or two along the way.

[Ondřej Halíř · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pribeh sleduje ctyri rytire Kelodie kteri vyhravaji souboje s presilou citajici 400 vojaku apod. Jsou skvela parta a kazdy z tech charakteru je necim zajimavy. Dny klidu ale narousi prepadovka barbaru kteri vyvrazdi a vypali cely jejich hrad a hlavnim hrdinum zmasakruji jejich nejblizsi.

O rok pozdeji jsou hlavni hrdinove na pokraji zhrouceni, dokud pro ne neprijde mlady pastevec ovci, s tim ze jejich vesnici Green Valley obsadil zly carodej ktery ma udajne u sebe draky. Hlavni hrdinove si mysli ze jde o blbost protoze v jejich svete magie neni. Brzy ale zjisti ze ten dotycny nerad neni carodej ale jen chlapek z budoucnosti.

Nasledne zacina strasne mily pribeh ve kterem jsou skvele napsane postavy, prijemny humor a cele to skvele utika. Navic neni zadna verze navstevniku a cestovani casem tady je zvladnuto jemne a nepusobi to prehnane ci na silu. K tomu vsemu jeste pridava dost par zvratu a nejistota kdo z hrdinu prezije, spolu s tim si ale komiks dokaze udrzet i pohadkovou tvar.

Byl to skvely mix ktere mu pomahala i uzasna kresba a coloring. Bylo to proste strasne prijemne a doporucuji vsem kteri chteji dinosaury a pribeh ktery je napsany chytre, napinave a pritom i strasne mile.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun tale about a small group of knights facing adversity. There are enough twists and turns to the story I don't want to say much more about it for spoilers.

The book is very well put together with faux green leather in an oversized format. The art work was solid and stays the same through the nine issue book.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stepping into the creator-owned zone that is Image, Max Landis’s nine-issue series Green Valley tells the adventures of the Knights of Kelodia who are the finest in the land, until one mistake destroys their home and reputation as legends. One year has passed, and the knights are approached by a young man whose village is being terrorized by a wizard who slays his dragons. Despite the initial reluctance of their leader Bertwald, the knights agree to embark on one last adventure as they head to the village of Green Valley, where magic supposedly exists… or may be something else.

Please click here for my full review.

[Fritz Villanueva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty great book, well polished and the art is so beautiful.

The concept seems original (as far as I know) but even then, if it was only a plain D&D style book it would've still been quite great.

My only qualm about this is that it was too short. Maybe if this gets adapted they can expound on the story a bit more.

Great, short read! Give it a go if you can

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful self-contained story about love, friendship, loss and grief.

Green Valley is a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. In just 9 issues it delivers; comedy, action and more than a few surprises. You can read this in an hour or so, so do it now!

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I think max landis knocked it out of the park with American Alien, I still really dug his follow up work green valley.

This is the story of knights who fight with honor. However, one day they lose almost everything. Then, a boy comes seeking them for help against the evil black magic wizard. So they March on but instead of finding a wizard they find something they could have never imagined.

Good: the art and humor is spot on. A wide range of different characters make for a entertaining trip. The art is well balanced, looking cartoony but never too kiddie. I also enjoyed the ending, it worked.

Bad: the twist was easy to see coming. Especially around issue 2. I also thought the villain was just okayish.

Overall, super fun! I really hope one day max landis comes back to writing comics. It's where he really shows his skills. A 4 out of 5.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun ride! Loved it. Might even be one of my favorite reads of the year.

[Des Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Green Valley goes down smooth, with a tactfully written script, and some brilliant art from Giuseppe Camuncoli. It's a time travel story, lacking the dramatic twist I was hoping for. We do settle on a solid ending, with comfortable resolutions, even if the characters don't quite resonate strongly enough to levy the impact Landis was going for. This was really pretty solid, with lots of enjoyable golden moments, even if it wasn't the barnburner I was hoping for after ingesting Superman: American Alien.

[Noah King · Rating 2 out of 5]

shallow and pedantic

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knights fighting dinosaurs with time machines. Now I've seen it all. You gotta read this one. It has over-the-top action, relatable characters, the fight between good and evil, love, betrayal, oppression, even funny dialogue. They need to make this into a movie.

The Knights of Kelodia were four undefeated warriors, but they still couldn't prevent their kingdom's fall. They fell into a depression after the defeat, but have now received a new lease on life from a young man who asks for help in defeating a wizard. Bertwald's three companions - the loyal Ralphus, the braggadocios big man Gullliver and the womanizing archer Indrid - welcome the chance to be relevant again.

The magic used by the evil wizard Cyril the Black is, in reality, technology from a thousand years in the future. His time travelling vessel crashed and requires a great deal of metal for repairs. He is a con man who has already stolen priceless artefacts from multiple moments in time.

Cyril kills Indrid as a display of power and returns to fixing his ship. The Knights mourn their fallen comrade, then ready for battle, more determined than before. They soon discover what Cyril's dragons are - dinosaurs he controls with collars around their necks. Bertwald is killed by a portal, while the others get chased by a T-Rex. Demoralized, the two remaining knights agree to Cyril's demands to supply him with metal.

Bertwald is not dead, but transported to Cyril's time. He meets the people who are trying to stop him from ripping up the fabric of time. Since he has done the whole treasure hunting thing before, the timeline is too fragile for them to travel after Cyril. Bertwald is their only chance.

After overpowering the overly-confident Cyril, Bertwald intends to use his time travel device to save his fiancee Amalia who was killed when Kelodia was invaded. Ralphus tries to stop him and gives Cyril the chance to disrupt the time machine. Ralphus ends up when the assault was just started, but fails to stop it. Bertwald and Cyril are pulled out of time. Bertwald kills Cyril and the time machine crashes and is destroyed. Bartwald and Ralphus are pulled back to their time where Gulliver has already killed the T-Rex single-handedly.

The Knights are together agin, but this is not it by far. Ralphus's mere presence in the past changed history. The kingdom of Kelodia was saved by the Knights in this new timeline. Bertwald rushes to the castle, hoping beyond hope to see his beloved Amalia again. He drops to his knees as she welcomes him home. That is the best ending ever.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just nine issues, this small story is packed with medieval fantasy action and story, but it's also uneven. Some of the chapters are amazingly plotted. Right from the start, the first issue signaled this would be an incredible work, and then the next chapter takes a step backward. Another excellent issue is followed by a sagging middle, some brilliance towards the end, and then a conclusion that is simultaneously satisfying and disappointing. Overall I'd say this is a success: highly entertaining, sometimes poignant, and often exciting.

One reviewer points out that Max Landis at times over-hypes his own work. This is especially true with the dragons, which he boasts at the end of one issue will be something nobody has ever thought of before, and then their revelation is a disappointment. Character development is also lacking, for the most part. Two of the Knights of Kelodia, Bertwald and Ralphus, have great chemistry, and the romance developed in the first issue is also well done. The villain, too, is an entertaining character. The other two knights and a newcomer are less interesting and perhaps unnecessary.

On top of the exciting action and Landis' humor-filled dialogue, the artwork also elevates this work. Landis is lucky to have as an artist Giuseppe Camuncoli, who has a terrific attention to detail and is able to bring characters to life. His drawings add to the excitement and the humor of Landis' writing. Jean-Francois Beaulieu's coloring is icing on the cake. It's not every comic that you praise the job of the colorist, but Beaulieu is clearly one of the best in the business. His colors enhance Camuncoli's already gorgeous drawings and make each page and panel a pleasure to view.

So yes, the story is less than perfect and fails to meet either Landis' own hype or the promise of his first chapter, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to read. It's a hell of a lot of fun.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is amazing, the colors are even better, the story is like a chocolate milkshake on a hot summer day. Green Valley is very easy to like. If you're looking for a comic book that will make you think hard, look elsewhere - this is popcorn entertainment at its finest.

The Knights of Kelodia, a quartet of immensely competent, overly jokey heroes, find themselves floundering a bit after a big surprising event occurs in the first twenty pages. I was pleasantly thrown by that setup which I won't reveal because it's worth the surprise! In any case, a boy comes along, claiming an evil wizard has opened up shop in his valley and will the good knights please come save the day?

Turns out, day-saving involves fighting dinosaurs and spacecraft and time traveling jerks. The story is a hoot, but if you step back for a second and think hard about knights fighting dinosaurs, you might find yourself wondering if this kind of literature is actually good for you. Don't worry, it's healthy to laugh and smile, which you will do many times during Green Valley. You just won't score higher on your SATs because of this one.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, this was not without its flaws, and I would probably lower the rating a little if I was giving an objective, in-depth analysis. As a reader though, this was fun--like, actually-laugh-while-reading fun. I enjoyed the story from start to finish--along with the bright and engaging artwork--and fun wins bonus points in my book.

The book opens with the Knights of Kelodia facing off against a barbarian horde, complete with snappy dialogue and amusing character interactions. In the interest of a spoiler-free description (the book is better if you don't know what's coming), I'll just say that what follows is highly amusing and surprisingly dark in equal turns, creating a genre-mashing adventure that uses familiar concepts to great effect.

The characters and plot are highly entertaining, and there are excellent visual moments throughout this entire mini-series. It's wacky, it's enjoyable, and it's committed to being exactly what it wants to be. And for whatever reasons this concept had to not work--the sum total succeeds in many ways.

[b · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe just too conventional, too light on the sci-fi intrusion that should be subverting and applying torque to the fantasy narrative, and a lackluster narrative that can be predicted from the blurb and first few panels. Lots of potential to explore things in time, to explore rupture and glitch and future does/does not equal past equations, to look at parallels and to look at what is unique in each era, to give the villain a better motive or character (even the choices for the music he listens to are so neutral and tell us so little about him). Too many missed opportunities. I often get duped by okay art comics that are essentially action movies, and the comic shop operator here recommended me this when I asked for something a bit self-contained, but I can't help but feel this should have been better, could be better under defter storytelling hands, and with more time to explore what it all means. Not worth picking up to read unless you really like c-movie level bad DinoVknights action (and even this is poorly handled).

[Nicolas Ronvel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ce comic book a atterri un peu par hasard dans ma pile, parce que je pensais avoir pris autre chose en fait (dans un thème similaire). Mais bon. Un récit complet, c'est toujours agréable.

On est ici face à un récit médiéval, des chevaliers plutôt badass défendent leur royaume, et vont affronter un danger vraiment étrange.
Le dessin est très propre, dans un style très européen, genre Soleil (le dessinateur est italien). Les visages sont parfois étranges dans leurs expressions, mais le visuel est très agréable.
L'histoire est très convenue. Il n'y a pas énormément de surprises, mais tout se suit agréablement. Reste qu'il y a des gros problèmes dans l'écriture des personnages, entre leur tempérament qui change du tout au tout, certains comportements en désaccord avec le reste. Il y a une impression étrange de bâclage.

Ca se lit vite. Ca s'oubliera sans doute vite.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia que, a pesar de ser buena, no utiliza el lenguaje del cómic a su máximo potencial. Para mi la idea principal es muy interesante y poco utilizada. Hubo algunos problemas con ella, particularmente la manera en la que hablaban los personajes, hubiera preferido la utilización de un inglés más de Shakespeare como se utiliza en OctopathTraveler. Entiendo que en estos días se sentía pesado de leer, pero lo prefiero por el bien de la autenticidad. La historia utiliza tropos de los géneros que mezcla pero por algo son tropos, personalmente, hubiera sentido su ausencia si no se hubiesen utilizado. Al final es una obra que me deja con sentimientos mixtos, Landis, como es un escritor primordialmente de cinematografía, preferiría verlo trabajar con alguien que comprenda el idioma del comic muy bien como Tradd Moore o Chris Samnee.

[Storm Bookwyrm · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Green Valley' feels incredibly like a script for a movie that producers laughed out of the studio, saying "A special-effects extravaganza combined with a historical period piece that'd all cost millions, and it's not even BASED on anything? Get the hell out of here!" ...so instead it was taken to the world of comic books!

...Don't quote me on any of that. I don't know that's how it went down. It just FEELS like it could have been.

Whatever it's origin, I liked this a lot. It's a pulpy, feelgood kinda story, that starts out with a small bit of suspense, delivers some goods, and finishes right.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've got a curiosity towards Max Landis. He's rarely executed his ideas well, but there often interesting--at least in conception.

Green Valley takes place in medieval Europe--in a world fairly similar to are own. Where there are myths of dragons and magic--but even the commoner knows these are fanciful notions. When the Knights of our tale face a fall due to a bit of arrogance, they finally come across some "real" magic.

Max has a likable, earnest and somewhat sincere demeanor, IMO--so I'm willing to give his work a try--but this was just so-so, ho-hum.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuando empecé a leer este cómic, no recordaba dónde había escuchado o leído la recomendación. Menos mal que fue así, porque mi falta de memoria me permitió sorprenderme muy gratamente del vuelco que da la historia al final del primer acto. Max Landis es un escritor magnífico y la historia rezuma originalidad. Los diálogos están muy bien logrados y las ilustraciones están al punto. Al principio parece una historia tradicional de capa y espada, pero el giro que toma es bastante inesperado. Recomendado 100%.

[Paul Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely-produced medieval epic – with a twist.

This colourful and clearly-illustrated comic collection tells us about four knights battling away against various enemies but encountering a strange “wizard”. The characters are all very different and interact well. With fighting, time travel and lots of surprising elements, this collection is a lot of fun and well worth reading. Highly recommended.

I found it enjoyable and one of Image's more interesting creations.

[Abián Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'5. Una historia de épica medieval mezclada con ciencia ficción y DINOSAURIOS. Un planteamiento que al principio me chirriaba un poquillo (y lo sigue haciendo), pero que al terminarlo me ha parecido justificado y bien hilado dentro de lo que cabe. El dibujo es impresionante, y ha cumplido su objetivo: que me sirva como referencia para ropa y edificios medievales. El final me ha gustado bastante, queda todo muy cerrado. Hay algunas páginas con las que empapelaría la pared de mi cuarto

[Paolo Macri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and thought the art and characters were great.

I know a lot of people say its 'generic' or 'typical', which to be fair I can see why as it is just a straight up adventure tale, but i still really enjoyed it and would recommend it to be who like sci-fi, fantasy, or even just knight based stories. 4 stars.