Unchain Your Souls! Check Out Valiant’s Escape From Gulag 396 #1, Out This Week

 
If you’ve been following Valiant Comics’ third series of Divinity, which kicked off following the origin and development of a Russian cosmonaut who develops god-like powers through a mysterious encounter in space, you’re aware that right now we are in the middle of Stalinverse, an altered timeline where the Soviets won the Cold War and took over the world, the USA included.
In this timeline, all our Valiant heroes are reborn as servants of the motherland. In this new comic, Escape from Gulag 396, we’ll see what form resistance to this timeline takes. We’ll also see the backup story that gives us the origin of the Pioneer, one of several characters who receive origin stories, and some of which will remain in continuity in the wider Valiant Universe over time.

[Cover A by Adam Gorham]

Written by Eliot Rahal and drawn by Francis Portela, in this comic Archer & Armstrong are enemies of the state and sentences to gulag imprisonment. But as the title suggests, this imprisonment may not be the end of the story. In the tradition of all great escape stories, this struggle is all about spirit and drive. Belief may be the biggest weapon of all in overcoming constraint.
This is the official description for this issue:
In the Soviet-controlled world of the Stalinverse, there is a place where liberty is sentenced to die…and it’s Gulag 396. A maximum-security prison where the only escape is through death, the gulag is the final stop for all enemies and detractors of the world’s oppressive authority. But when public enemy Obadiah Archer is admitted as the latest inmate, could his gospel of goodwill and optimism be the spark that ignites a new faith in the prison’s population…including the immortal undesirable known as Aram Addi-Padda?
And here are our covers for Divinity III: Escape from Gulag 396 #1, by  Khari Evans, Andres Guinaldo, Ryan Lee, and Kano:

And here’s our preview of the interiors on Escape From Gulag 396 #1:

Look out for this issue on Wednesday, March 15th, and catch up on the Stalinverse right here with Valiant.