Valiant have once again been causing a stir for all the wrong reasons. In 2025, Valiant and Alien Books had negative backlash due to transphobia in the relaunch of Bloodshot. This year, there is a new Valiant controversy, this time with use of AI.
Valiant use AI in marketing
Valiant have posted twice on their social media this week to promote what looks to be a new app. At the present time, there is no real information about what the app is as the links lead to a page emblazoned with ‘coming soon’. Whether it is a game, or something else entirely, all we know is that is not a comic book.
While the app probably will not be of interest to a lot of fans, this was not what caused the uproar. The controversy is around the use of AI to market the app, with the telltale signs visible in the images in this article.
It is worth mentioning that this marketing push is likely controlled by DMG Entertainment who bought Valiant in 2018. It is not a decision by Alien Books, who publish the Valiant characters. What it does highlight is DMG do not understand their audience, or frankly the resources at their fingertips.
“This AI BS is worse than I thought. If you continue down this road, I’ll not only stop buying and reading, I’ll sell everything Valiant I have.” – an angry fan
AI has no place in comics… or at least it shouldn’t
AI does not belong in the world of comics, but unfortunately it is here. There have been high profile cases of AI use in comic book artwork, notably Andrea Sorrentino in Batman. These will no doubt continue as people use AI to speed the process up or to avoid it entirely. As AI gets better, at least in the sense of making fewer mistakes, these will get harder to spot.
More disturbingly perhaps is that the anthology Stardust the Superwizard has been nominated for an Eisner award despite having AI art in it. It is not yet certain whether this was an oversight or an acceptance of where the industry might be heading.
AI should not be anywhere near comics. DMG Entertainment clearly saw a quick cost-saving by using AI to promote the app, but is the bad press worth it? There are thousands of talented artists who could have been called upon for the project. Valiant use many of them!
A move to more AI will see comic books shifting towards a safe, marketable, bland middle-ground. It is artists and writers who entertain and challenge us, not AI.
Key Comics Vault has reached out to DMG Entertainment and Valiant for comment.
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