Valiant Entertainment, which successfully used QR technology to create "talking covers" when it relaunched its comic book line in 2012 (see "Valiant's QR Voice Variant"), has come up with a new technological advance for the launch of its new series (and first team-up book) Unity in November (see "'Unity' #1, November 13").  The Unity tech variant cover also uses QR technology, but this time it unlocks a two-and-one-half minute 8-bit animated video game-like short film that explains the situation leading up to the events covered in the first Unity comic book.
 
The animated cover for Unity #1 was created by the crew at CineFix’s 8-Bit Cinema.  It features a traditional cover painting of the characters from the series, who are rendered in a somewhat childish 8-bit video game style, and appear to be watching television.  But with any device like a smartphone equipped with a QR, a reader can unlock the video (with its obnoxious 1990s video game soundtrack) that compactly narrates the events leading up to the formation of the Unity team in under three minutes.