DBS's Divinity Set

During the second half of 2014, Valiant Entertainment (VEI) Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons spoke with fan-favorite artist Lewis LaRosa and presented him with the task of creating a new and original character. Simons provided the rough concept for the character who would be called Divinity (aka Abram Adams) and sent LaRosa the plot outline to work with. The plan for Divinity was that of a Communist Russian character of African ethnicity, who excelled physically; as well as academically in both science and arithmetic which would later secure his selection for a classified Soviet Space Program that existed in the 1950s and 1960s. To create an authentic and/or believable look, LaRosa patterned Divinity's costume and appearance using reference material and/or photo's of vintage cosmonauts from the same time-period. LaRosa's original character designs for Divinity are presently owned by "Sonic" Dan Moler and can be viewed HERE.

(NOTE: LaRosa also designed Divinity's space ship, which was never used in the final published story. However, it is interesting to see the creative-process that ultimately resulted in the books readers and/or fans of the series were able to collect and/or enjoy. The un-published original artwork for that design can be seen HERE.)

Both Simons and LaRosa should be credited as "co-creators" for Divinity for the character's unique concept and/or early visual design. LaRosa's variant cover for Divinity #1 (Design Variant Cover) features his original character design sketch which can also be see HERE (as well as embedded throughout my “Set Listing” which you are currently reading).

The concept, development, and publishing of Divinity was somewhat of an experiment. As long as comic books have been published, creators have consistently tried to create the next big thing, with most attempts failing. The history of comic books is full of "new" characters that fell into obscurity, as is to be expected. Divinity was to be part of (at the time) a new "Valiant Next" initiative which would lead fans and/or readers into 2015 with the release of five new titles; Ivar, Timewalker, Divinity, Imperium, Ninjak, and Bloodshot: Reborn. Ivar, Timewalker, Ninjak, and Bloodshot: Reborn were familiar territory; however, Divinity and Imperium were new titles that (at the time) fans and/or readers were unfamiliar with. LaRosa (who I consider a friend) contacted me and offered to sell his original cover art for Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant), Divinity #2 (LaRosa 1:30 Variant), Bloodshot: Reborn #1 (LaRosa 1:100 Sketch Variant), Ninjak #1 (LaRosa Regular), Unity #17 (LaRosa Regular), and Imperium #2 (LaRosa 1:25). While LaRosa offered a compelling and/or fair price, I was unable to financially justify buying all of his covers (at that time) and made the decision to NOT purchase the original cover art for Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant) and Divinity #2 (LaRosa 1:30 Variant).

“Based on the demand for the 1st print, I’m not surprised to see the 1:40 hit the $140+ range. The print run on the 1:40 is just 350 copies. One of our lowest runs ever (possibly our lowest). We’ve got big plans for Divinity going forward (his quick app in Book of Death #1 was beautifully rendered by Doug this week) and will be announcing several new printings for the current mini soon.”

The market price (for Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant)) continued to increase, and eventually my friend Chris Kading submitted his copy for grading which received an incredible "Highest-Grade in Census" 9.9 (which can be seen in his Competitive Registry Set "Intrepidxc Divinity)". The CGC 9.8 Signature Series Divinity #1 (LaRosa 1:40 Variant) in my Competitive Registry Set is the "Highest-Grade (and ONLY) Signature Series" copy in the census.

Prior to the addition of competitive Divinity sets in the Registry, I had already set my sights on building the World's Best Divinity Completive Set in the Registry. To accomplish this goal, I understood that due to the "High-Quality" cover stock used in production for this series by Valiant Entertainment (which is called "Prestige Format "), an above average number of submissions to CGC would grade 9.8 or higher, which basically meant that my set would require a significant number of of CGC 9.8 Signature Series if it was to be remotely competitive. Presently 40% of the books in my Competitive Registry Set are "Signature Series", which will (in due time) become 100% "Signature Series" as the series creators become available at Comic Conventions in the near future.

In September/October of 2015, several months after Divinity concluded, I was (as I often do) conducting art research on Comic Art Fans when I noticed that Shamdasani had purchased and displayed one of artist Trevor Hairsine's original art pages from Divinity #3 which featured the "1st Appearance" of two additional cosmonauts; one male and one female (named Myshka). This page can be seen HERE. Simons had posted a "Sneak Peak" of Divinity II on his Twitter Page (seen HERE; expanded image seen HERE) which stated:

“Here’s a sneak peak of the first page from Divinity II! Scripted by @mattkindt with lovely pencils by @despotting.” (Note that "@mattkindt" is the Twitter handle for writer Matt Kindt and "@despotting" is the Twitter handle for artist Trevor Hairsine).

As both Shamdasani AND Simons's pages clearly depicted (what I speculated to be) the same female cosmonaut (Myshka), I wrote the article Investing in Divinity: Devine Speculation which was read by more than 4,000 collectors. Overnight, the market value for Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) increased significantly, and it subsequently became the second most desired book of the Divinity series.

On a hunch, I reached out to "Sonic" Dan to see if perhaps LaRosa's original cover art for Divinity #3 was still available. Of all the artwork for the series, this cover was the only one that I (and many others) had not seen the original un-colored art for. "Sonic" Dan confirmed that color artist Brian Reber (who colored the published cover) owned the original cover art, so I contacted Reber directly to inquire. As it turned out, Reber still had the cover in his home (about an hour away from LaRosa's home). What had happened (as confirmed by a discussion I had with LaRosa) was that LaRosa's scanner was broken, with (of course) the publishing deadline for Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) quickly approaching. Reber still had to color the cover digitally before sending to Valiant Entertainment. Reber drove accross town (in the rain) and picked-up the cover from LaRosa's home. Due to the rain, LaRosa placed the cover art into a large garbage bag (so that it would not get wet), and Reber returned home where he scaned and colored it (that same night) to make the publishing deadline. LaRosa did not return to pick up the original cover art (it remained in a garbage bag on Reber's drafting table for nearly 8 months) until I asked about it in December of 2015. LaRosa and Reber spoke, and a deal was offered to me for the cover for an "undisclosed" amount. Along with the original cover art, LaRosa also provided a hand-written letter outlining the creative-process for his Divinity #3 (LaRosa 1:20 Variant) cover (complete with preliminary sketches for the four covers that proposed to Valiant Entertainment). That letter can be viewed HERE and LaRosa's original cover art can be viewed HERE.

There are two significant parts to what makes Divinity special. First, the character Divinity is highly unique in an industry that only recently has pushed to create character diversity in its heroes (examples can be seen by numerous publishers and/or film production studios who have changed gender, race, sexual orientation, etc of traditional characters to create a more diverse and/or unique character line-up in their books). Divinity is not only as diverse as it gets, but he was created that way from the very start by a publisher that has one of the most diverse casts of characters in comics today; a creative risk that historically has not been taken by most publishers. Second, is the concept of the character Divinity himself who is basically a God who is able to do whatever he desires. However, at no point has Divinity engaged physically; rather he has chosen to alter time, reality, and space during those encounters to create distance in time, reality, and space from potential adversaries. He has given those who oppose him EXACTLY what their heart desires, which creates plot element potential that is unique to Divinity. While NOT part of the Divinity series, the battle between Toyo Harada and Divinity (which occurs in Imperium #7 and #8) is possibly the greatest example of Divinity in action to-date; as well as one of the best written story arcs of 2015.

I have greatly enjoyed building this Divinity set, as much as I have enjoyed reading it and sharing it with others in discussion. While my Competitive Registry Set states that it is 100%, it will continue to grow and/or evolve as new artwork, signatures, and (potentially) higher graded copies become available.

It should be noted that this set was both started and completed by myself while serving on a two year military assignment in the Middle East, which complicated the the process quite a bit. A significant amount of networking was required to obtain these books at all, in addition to reaching out to creator for their schedules to gather signatures and sketches for this set. There are at-least a dozen collectors who were involved to support this effort, and there can be no doubt that it otherwise would not have been possible without their assistance. There was also much communication with Crystal at CGC to ship to a military base on the other side of the world. CGC went out of their way to make it happen, and for this I am most grateful.

As for this set, well, the best is yet to come.