New Japan Has already ascended into space to revolve around the Earth while Grandmother, the A.I. (I'm guessing because the pages originally appeared as a flipbook in Magnus, Robot Fighter #5-8.) So we're left a little bit lost when this starts. It all has that same feel as Marvel in the 80's when Shooter was Editor in Chief.) Unfortunately, Rai #0 wasn't included which had contained a lot of the setup for future Japan. (It's not actually that surprising given Jim Shooter was the architect of the Valiant universe. Everything in the Valiant universe just fit together, even these comics set 2,000 years in the future. It and Valiant in general had a ton of great world building. Rai was one of my favorite Valiant comics back in the 90's. Pierre ( Spider-Man 2099) and Peter Grau ( Titans)! Presenting, in a deluxe hardcover format for the first time anywhere, revisit the future of the original Valiant Universe with Rai's critically acclaimed, highly sought-after adventures from legendary creators David Michelinie ( Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man), Joe St. As humanist factions war with mechanist loyalist for control of the future, the masterless Tohru is about to become the first Rai that must choose for himself how best to defend his people, his family, and his honor. For forty generations, Grandmother's benevolent dominion has endured, but in the wake of her sudden disappearance, Rai will become all that stands between his nation and all-out chaos. Infused with the energy of his ancestors and dedicated to the way of the samurai, Rai is sworn to the service of Grandmother the personified, artificial intelligence that governs the island nation of Japan.

4001 A.D., Tohru Nakadai is the 42nd Rai, the spirit guardian of Japan.

Valiant Masters by David Michelinie