Now defunct, the video game developer and publisher, Acclaim, acquired the parent company of Valiant Comics for an absolutely jaw-dropping $65 million back in 1994. Though Valiant has relaunched several times over the years and still persists as a comic book publisher to this day, they still feel like an unknown company when it comes to mainstream recognition of most of their comics and characters.

Acclaim themselves relaunched the Valiant Universe when they began publishing comics under their own banner, and one of the few original titles they brought to market was Troublemakers.

The story of four genetically engineered super teens, being mostly raised and trained under corporate supervision, it’s a title that seems mostly forgotten today, but it’s one that definitely deserves to be rediscovered.

The first issue was a genuinely pleasant surprise for me; knowing nothing about the series, I picked it up as part of my regular trawl through cheap back issue boxes whenever I get the chance to visit a comic shop. It was brilliantly written, with appealing art, and featured a story that managed to set up the unusual status quo and deliver a gut punch of a sad story all in one issue.

Issue 2 still has some exposition to get through, but it tells a cleverly timey wimey story which has the teens displaced in different points in time, trying to take down a mysterious villain and also deal with a traumatic event from the past.

It raises and deals with some interesting questions; if we were able to go back and change something that had a huge impact on us, if it would alter the course of our life and help us heal, should we? It’s very good, and it makes me sad that Troublemakers itself isn’t a well remembered series.

You’ll know from my other looks at comics from the mid to late 90s that they were going through a bit of a difficult time, with the collector’s boom turning to bust, and most comics struggling to balance style over substance. Troublemakers has no such difficulty, and it’s a series that, just two issues in to its sole, 19-issue run, feels like an underrated classic that more people should check out.

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