Second Life of Valiant Comics? - An Article

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Second Life of Valiant Comics? - An Article

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The Second Life of Valiant Comics? (Part One)
(author) Valerie D'Orazio (date) Apr. 13, 2006
(4.29.15pm)



The Valiant/Acclaim Reunion Panel Discussion, Part One
It was supposed to be just an intimate gathering between die-hard Valiant/Acclaim fans and alums... but the ensuing panel discussion at the Big Apple Comic Convention on April 2 became so much more than that. Tasty speculations as to the possible future of well-remembered characters like Shadowman, Bloodshot and The Eternal Warriors. Candid commentary and anecdotes on such industry names and major figures in Valiant history as Jim Shooter and Bob Layton. And I was sure glad I brought my tape-recorder. Only thing was, not only was I the Press... I was the Panel.

From left to right: Jeff Gomez, Alex Glass, Serge Clermont, Valerie D'Orazio and Rags Morales
Exclusive! Valiant Veterans Speak!

"Better get ready to do a lot of talking," Jeff Gomez advised me with a good-natured grin, as he ascended the several steps to the stage.

Jeff was an editor at Valiant/Acclaim "back in the day," as well as a key player in the translation of some of the company's characters into video games. Anticipating the expansion of the graphic storytelling format into other media almost 15 years before it became the industry standard, Jeff Gomez is now President & CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, Inc.—a multimedia production company which boasts the Walt Disney Company & Mattel among its clientele. Not too bad for a former school teacher from a tough inner-city neighborhood. (Never one to abandon his roots, Jeff also travels the country as a motivational speaker in urban high-schools).

Also on the panel were Alex Glass, currently editor of Fusion Anthology at Dominion Publishing, and Serge Clermont, whose gritty & innovative run on Shadowman brought a new potency to the occult character. Oh, and this artist by the name of Rags Morales. You might remember him for that low-key miniseries Identity Crisis a couple of years ago (though his upcoming run on Detective Comics just might usurp the place of ID Crisis in terms of his signature book).

As for me, I was an assistant editor at Acclaim for 2½ years.

"I was working in the same office as the girlfriend of then-President of Valiant/Acclaim Comics Steve Massarsky," I explained to the audience. "Next thing I knew, I got an interview with new Editor-in-Chief Fabian Nicieza. When I told him of my goal to become a comic book writer, he said 'my condolences,' and proceeded to list all the downsides to the industry in an attempt to both discourage and protect me. But I was determined to stick with the comic biz no matter what—and several months later, I became an Acclaim assistant-editor."

"We are remnants of the Valiant Universe... and it was, to me, one of the most creative times in all of our lives," commented Jeff Gomez, echoing the sentiments of many Valiant alumni. "I came to Valiant as the assistant to the editorial coordinator—the equivalent of the guy who makes the photocopies. I quickly caught on that Valiant was a place that was in transition. Jim Shooter and Barry Windsor-Smith—people who originated the Valiant Universe—had recently departed, and when I arrived, Bob Layton had essentially taken over as Editor-in-Chief, with Kevin VanHook as Executive Editor. When I interviewed with Kevin, Bob Layton asked me if I played an instrument. I said, 'No, but I know karate.' And I guess that was enough to be accepted into the Valiant family."
Kiss Does Turok?!
Jeff went on to describe the crucial turning point in the company's history, one that would lead to the era Valiant fans refer to as VH2.

"The one sense I had going into Valiant was that there was an impending sale of the company to Acclaim Entertainment... and because I had a background in gaming, I positioned myself as a person who had an expertise in games on behalf of the company. So when Acclaim did purchase Valiant, I was able to take the Turok character and adapt him for the Nintendo 64 platform, which was brand new at the time. That really launched my career.

"I was very concerned with continuity, what was going on in terms of the original Valiant books. I followed closely what was going on in all the books, and became a liaison of sorts to the fans. And I got the sense after I arrived and became an editor that the fans were very concerned with some of the issues of continuity and story, and ultimately when the Valiant Universe became what we all called VH2, I was kind of the 'holder of the flag' for preserving the integrity of the original Valiant Universe.

"Once the smoke started to clear in VH2 and the big money went out to the big names, there was a lot of excitement—but then that kind of died down, and people remembered what was good about the concepts of VH2... but also what was not so good. And then Fabian Nicieza came back to the editors and suggested we should go back to the original Valiant Universe and rescue what was the best from there and integrate it into the best of what was being done now.

"That was the big plan, which would have lead into the major 1999 event alluded to in Jim Shooter’s seminal Rai #0, but unfortunately, the company met its demise at the hands of all kinds of poor decision making... as well as the market. I read the writing on the wall and split.

"But the reason why I'm still rather closely connected with both VH1 and VH2 is that my profile in Hollywood is somewhat high enough that someone like Gene Simmons from Kiss will call me and say 'Hey Gomez, where's Turok? I wanna do Turok.'"
"Like, Omigod, We're Closed!" and Other Tales...
Former Valiant/Acclaim assistant-editor Alex Glass was next to speak. I remember Alex as not just a talented, no-nonsense editor, but a very gracious person as well—the type to go out of his way to help out a fellow worker. In the often cut-throat arena of comic book editing it's rare to find somebody who will send out a mass email praising another worker for their efforts, but Mr. Glass did exactly that for me after a grueling stint virtually editing the entire Disney line myself while my boss was away—and I'm still grateful.

"I was actually at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Art and Illustration in 1993 when Stu Suchit, who was one of my teachers, made a contact at Valiant to see if I could get an internship. I worked there doing the typical emptying of garbage cans and working on the archives in the old vaults, and in the course of that I learned everything there is to know about the Valiant Universe.

"Then they offered me a job... I was the office assistant, then put in charge of the interns, then moved into production work and proofreading. Then in 1996 when Fabian came in, he actually pulled me aside and said, 'I'm working on a project with Kevin Maguire...' and I just said, 'Yes... whatever it is, just YES.' And I became the unpaid assistant on Trinity Angels."

Alex would go on to officially assist on books such as Ninjak, Bloodshot and Shadowman, as well as being a contributing writer to Magic: The Gathering & the graphic novel Dakkon Blackblade.
Another name closely connected with Shadowman is writer Serge Clermont.

"My writing career started with the gaming industry magazine Gateways, where I was a feature writer for them and covered subjects ranging from actual gaming systems to an overview of Stephen King's work. I next did a couple of short story anthologies under various pseudonyms, and then Jeff tapped me to take over writing duties on Shadowman from Vol. 2, #16—one of the best times of my life, childhood dream come true." And currently Serge is turning back to that childhood dream after a successful stint in Corporate America, with a couple of intriguing projects under development.

Oh yeah... then there's me. The one recording this whole shindig.
"I was pleased as punch," the woman in the bright orange Paul Frank T-shirt said, unobtrusively sliding her tape-recorder's mike in her direction. "I was such a big 'comic geek,' and to work with these people was the greatest thrill for me in the entire world.

"I started out working with Evan Skolnick on the Disney Books and the books based on the Fox Kids line. Then one day, Fabian called me into his office and said, 'I have some good news and some bad news. You're off the Disney books, but you're going to be working on Shadowman and Magnus.' And secretly I was like, 'YAY!' Because I really wanted to work on the superhero stuff...

"Then, in 1998, we closed. Now, this was my first job out of college, and I was like, (cue Valley Girl accent here) 'Omigod! We're closed!' And I said to myself, 'Comics is too unstable an industry to go into, I'm going to stick to Advertising & Marketing instead.' And I promised myself I would never go back into comics again. And then a couple of years later I um...(long pause)...worked at DC Comics." It's like they say... you can never get the lure of the four-color siren out of your blood.
Rags Morales's Very First "Identity Crisis"

It was Rags's turn. I had worked with him briefly on Hawkman, and then through the entire Identity Crisis miniseries.

"I broke into the industry in 1989 with DC Comics, and after my second title, The Black Condor, was over, I heard that some new company out there was interested in working with me—Valiant. This was at the time of the speculation boom, and everything was on the rise, and I was like, 'Cool, I'll check it out.'

"And I think it was '92 or '93, and I came to the Valiant Christmas Party in a very bad way, very disappointed. I had gone to DC with some pages, enough to get a nice paycheck... and I was very happy to come home (at least I thought) with Christmas money. But that was when they decided to take out my medical insurance, and I came home with a $7 check. And on the way to the Valiant party, I run into Bob Layton, and I said, 'Bob, listen, I've got this double-page spread I've been working on just to get familiar with the Valiant Universe.' And then I tell him my sob story about what had happened, and he looked at my double page spread and said, 'I'll give you $400 cash for that' ...and that's when I became a member of the Valiant family.

"Additionally, this was when Jim Shooter was on the way out, and Bob Layton and Steve Massarsky and the second tier of brass came in. Initially, they were talking about giving me X-O, and I was like not so big on X-O. And they said, 'How about Turok?' And I said, ''Orak, I'll do 'Orak,' not knowing the history with Dell comics really well. And it turned out that it was the perfect title for me. This was when Dances With Wolves and Jurassic Park was out, and so it was perfect in terms of the pop culture—and so it was like this was kismet. And because I have Native-American on my mother's side of the family, I could really get into it—to the point where I was wearing ponytails and everything.

"And it was a good time for a while, but unfortunately, as the industry imploded upon itself, it was short-lived. I was one of the last contracts that was exclusive to Valiant in the Fabian Nicieza era, and you could see the writing on the wall... when one group would go, and then the assistants were let go, and the shops closed down.

"And with all due respect to everybody here, the best relationship I did make was with Tony Bedard. Tony Bedard was my editor at Valiant as well as a co-writer on a couple of projects, and he had gone on ahead to work for Crusade. And I was trying to latch on to everything that was going on, looking for work... I went as far as teaching anatomical illustration for a local vocational school, so I was only able to get smatterings, but nothing big. So I decided to give Tony a call... I knew him personally, and I wanted to find out not only what was going on with him, but sniffing around the industry for a gig. And it turned out that he was now an assistant editor with DC Comics and was working with Dan Raspler.
"Back when I was exclusive with Valiant, Dan came up to me during a convention and said he'd like to work with me, but I had to tell him that I couldn't, because I had a contract. But years later, Tony pushed hard at DC to get me work, and that's how I got Hourman—which was how I got back into the industry after a year-and-a-half of unemployment. Ever since then, I went from Hourman to Hawkman, which gave me Identity Crisis and JSA, and now I'm doing a little JSA work with Paul Levitz and a run on Detective Comics coming out soon."

Now that we'd done our introductions, Jeff Gomez opened up the panel to take questions from the audience. Inevitably, the first query involved the aborted post-VH2 project that was supposed to be the antecedent to Acclaim's version of Crisis on Infinite Earths: "The Final Solution". In Part Two of my exclusive coverage of the Valiant/Acclaim Panel Discussion, we'll get into "The Final Solution" that wasn't, as well as tantalizing speculations on what might be... "The Second Life Of Valiant Comics."
Special thanks to Valiant Comic Fans Supreme John Rosas, Brian Wells, and Greg Holland for arranging the reunion and keeping the Dream alive! Please visit Greg's site—and let him know that Kamikaze Girl sent ya!



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The Second Life of Valiant Comics? (Part Two)
(author) Valerie D'Orazio (date) Apr. 19, 2006
(3.57.31pm)



The Valiant/Acclaim Reunion Panel Discussion, Part Two
As Part Two of my exclusive coverage of the Valiant/Acclaim panel discussion at the Big Apple Con begins, former Valiant editor (and current CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment) Jeff Gomez fields questions about the "Crisis" in the Valiant/Acclaim universe that never was—"The Final Solution."
An intriguing idea, the editorial goal of "The Final Solution" was to take the best of the comic book company's past and present—the "VH1" universe of the Shooter/Layton years and the "VH2" world of Fabian Nicieza's relaunch—and reconcile them, much like another company's current massive crossover has done. Because of his deep familiarity with the continuities of both universes, Gomez was asked to take the point on developing the concept. With artists such as Leonardo Manco tapped to illustrate, "The Final Solution" could have been the breakthrough miniseries that the troubled company needed to regain their momentum on the stands.
Unfortunately, as Alex Glass, another Valiant/Acclaim alumnus, explained:
"It didn't get past a detailed treatise."
The Final Problem With The Final Solution
"The entire storyline did get crammed into the final issue of Troublemakers," Jeff lamented. "But I don't think anybody was really happy with it, including Fabian. We were seeding all the books toward ['The Final Solution']—Bloodshot, Shadowman, and the Master Darque special that we did. We were really laying groundwork in those books.
"'The Final Solution' was an in-house appellation—my original concept was to call it 'Tribulation 99,' which was an indication of the direction we were going. We were also interested in acknowledging the [Rai #0] 1999 issue, even though it was around 1997/1998 at the time. But it got turned into "The Final Solution," which I warned Fabian was a fairly daring title—but Fabian was like 'Oh what the hell, go, do it!'
"Ultimately, although all our documentation says 'Final Solution,' which exists to this day, Acclaim Entertainment became extremely agitated about that. The head of Acclaim Entertainment was Greg Fischbach, who was a nice Jewish gentleman, and here we had 'The Final Solution,' an allusion to Hitler’s plans for the Jews—it was not going to fly past the development stage.
"So the working title I came up with just after that was going to be 'The Final Problem,' an allusion to Sherlock Holmes's final battle with Moriarty, and we left it at that—but it still remains 'The Final Solution' on documents."
Jeff went on to explain, for the first time, the controversial storyline of the massive crossover: "There was a feeling that a pattern had emerged independently in several of the books that replicated the same character over and over again. So in Art Holcomb's Eternal Warriors book, there were like 406,000 immortals walking around on Earth. And, of course, there were Shadowmen and Turoks going back in time through the ages. The storyline would have seen Toyo Harada’s emergence in VH2 as a corporate magnate extremely horrified by the appearance of all these super-powered beings. He intended to unleash a virus that would have decimated Gilad and Ivar’s immortal race, among other nasty plans. There was also a super-being, a real nefarious powerhouse, who intended to toss himself into the mix.
"Also, at the launch of VH2, we had a lot of big-name creators with interesting concepts that came on board and did a lot of work for us very rapidly and then just vacated, leaving a sense of the direction getting a little bit lost. Ultimately, ‘The Final Solution’ was designed to start down the road toward what I think we all really wanted—it was a really roundabout way to get back to VH1.
"What was going to happen ultimately was that the storyline would stretch into a 1999 arc, which was indeed going to see the fate of the Jack Boniface Shadowman and so forth. It was all going to come to this cataclysmic situation ushered in by both Master Darques—one from each universe. The Darques would essentially collide, and so would a number of Valiant/Acclaim counterpart characters. So we would have had a “Ninjak of Two Worlds” story, and the Bloodshots would have tangled. Solar would have knocked heads with Man of the Atom, and you know what happens when these universe-birthing gods start slugging it out!
"What we were going to end up with was, in the humble opinion of the core staff, the best of VH1 restored, combined with some of the better conceptual elements of VH2. And that's how we would have moved forward after 1999."
Shooter Returns to the Valiant Universe... to Take Revenge?
Jeff then addressed a question from the audience about Jim Shooter’s return to the Valiant Universe during the company’s twilight, after the editorial offices moved to Acclaim Entertainment’s Glen Cove, Long Island headquarters. The results were, to say the least, odd...
"I'm not sure in terms of the release dates, but it was Shooter who did Unity 2000—he came back and did that. And remember that we only had one staff member left in all of Valiant, James Perham. He was the guy who started out managing the office—and now he was editing all the Valiant books! And he was great, but he had a hard time dealing with Jim Shooter—that's all I'm saying. Both [Jim] and [series artist] Jim Starlin were very, very difficult for James to deal with.
"Okay, I'm going to reveal this for the first time: look, I read Shooter's content before it was published, and I called Acclaim, and I said: 'please don't do this. You are destroying your intellectual property... this is vindictiveness, and this is a person who is acting out of anger toward the past.' With his treatment of the VH2 Master Darque and Sandria Darque, Jim was undoing everything that Fabian and I had been trying to do to bring things back around. The universe was becoming a farce, unrecognizable.
"I know I should have minded my own business, and I had nothing personal to gain by doing this, but I was upset. Of course, Acclaim’s corporate division had much more important things on their mind, like how to salvage a company that was drifting into bankruptcy, so the comics just faded away shortly after that."
It's Deja-Valiant All Over Again...
Valiantcomics.com web-wizard Greg Holland threw an intriguing question to the panel:
"Given that it's now 2006—and the last thing Valiant printed was the thing you said don't do—it's obvious then that a new 'Final Solution' is not going to wrap it up and make everything better. If you had to start the books over again, what would you do?"
Serge Clermont, who left his own unique mark on Shadowman before the closing of Acclaim Comics, spoke first.
"I did want to return to Shadowman. I was only hearing secondhand what was happening in the offices when everything was closing down, and it was apparently a very emotional time for everybody. So I distanced myself from that, and I felt like I lost touch with the work I had done. But with the interval of time and the great excitement the fans are building up over this, over the possibility of reviving the characters, I'm just overtaken with the potential possibilities right now.
"To answer your question specifically—I was lucky, Shadowman got more closure than most of the other characters did. I think that I would want to pick up where I left off, given that the aim would be to integrate the characters on a universal level.
"I just want to make something clear—we had so much detailed information about what the 'Final Solution' was supposed to do—this was like a 30-40 page bible. It was a lot of great tight coordination of characters, and I think I would like that structure to be in place when we started off again. I think that model would work."
Now the question was handed over to me (formerly of Acclaim editorial "back in da day" and currently shopping around my new novel, The Last Vampire Story). Geez, I'd never thought seriously about the possibility of The Second Life of Valiant/Acclaim Comics. But I had to say something. Oh well, I decided to bring up that little "fan-fic" thing I was working on...
"Well, years ago I worked on just this little writing exercise for myself, and the basic premise was doing the Acclaim characters as the 'Watchmen.' And I kind of based each 'take' of the core superheroes on the actual people who were working in the offices with me at the time." I went on to briefly list off some of the characters and their real-life counterparts, feeling in a way like when Dorothy wakes up at the end of The Wizard Of Oz and says, "You were there... and you were there..." and Bert Lahr hands her a Scotch.
Jeff raised his eyebrows and advised that perhaps that wasn't the golden pitch that was going to land me a multi-book deal with any imagined new Valiant. But you never know... thirty-something/forty-something heroes in spandex, a robotic goat; it could work (paging Bryan Singer, come in, Mr. Singer...).
Alex Glass, former editor of several Valiant titles, added: "I always liked that there were only certain sources where you get these powers of the universe at the time. There were the Harbingers, necromantic energy, and alien tech (with X-O). I thought about bringing it all back to the Harbingers, and tying it all together that way. Although part of that is because I'm a big fan of the Wildcard series, where there is a virus that is the source of all powers—a unified power theory. Valiant was such a connected universe, it always has been, and it was born that way, unlike many of the other comic universes."
Serge: "About 15 years ago, DC came out with The History of the DC Universe by George Perez. I was thinking just out of the blue that it would be great to start the relaunch as 'This is the Valiant Universe, this is your bible,' and then start off each issue from that foundation."
Rags on the Valiant "House Style"
Then Jeff asked Rags Morales (Identity Crisis and future Detective Comics superstar) what he would do, with an emphasis on the visual, given the chance to relaunch Valiant.
"Well...I'd ask everybody to draw just like me (laughs). But seriously, Valiant's art style was a very set structure, and it was born out of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby days, with Jim Shooter bringing it along... and I think there's really nothing wrong with that, to be honest.
"I think it's a good idea to exercise your brain... I think it's a good idea to consider yourself a complete artist. The problem with jumping panel borders and splash pages is that you get to the point where you lose the story. People start paying attention to where you're not supposed to be looking. And, it's supposed to be movies on paper, no? If you're going to get to the point where you're not paying attention from panel to panel, continuity and getting into the flow of things, you're really shooting yourself in the foot.
"Hey, I'm a Libra, you know, everything is cut right down the middle—I don't go one way or the other, but just try to get a nice blend going. The best thing about doing that sort of work, in terms of the exceptional stuff, is that you have to capture the action at the right moment, or else you lose the impact.
"I believe Valerie brought up Watchmen... the thing about Watchmen was that the images were usually laid out very traditionally and tended to be static, and it sort of lulls you into the story, but when they turned the page & blew it up, it had that much more impact.
"And that's the design of it... you know, too much of anything is a bad thing, you don't want to be too static to the point of boring yourself to tears. At the same time, you don't want to go too far the other way either. So like I said, just cut it right down the middle and give them a nice balance of the best of what the comic book industry can do."
Dragging Valiant into the 21st Century
Jeff Gomez: "Obviously I've entertained the notion of what it would be like to return to Valiant and bring it back. My company, Starlight Runner, has gone on to work with Hasbro, Mattel, Disney, and some of their biggest intellectual properties. And in order to engender the trust of these huge entertainment corporations, we had to learn to get down to what in business terms is called the brand essence of the intellectual property.
"We had to find the core messages, values and style of each of these major brands in order to work with them in such a way that they can be grown into something that's still recognizable to the fans, and yet extendable to all media: comic books, video games, novels, toys, animated and live-action movies. Because you know, modern times require a multimedia approach.
"So what I'd do is revisit Valiant and try to figure out why it was so special to you, the fans—what messages Valiant was trying to communicate, and how it made the connections that it did. How it created the interest on the part of maybe not millions and millions of people, but tens if not hundreds of thousands—some of whom have gone so far as to set up this reunion. What was that message? And then take the primary iconic characters of the universe and do the same thing for each one of them. That's your starting point for rebooting this thing."
Jeff continues, "As far as picking up exactly where we left off... I'm not so sure, because where we left off was unfortunately miniscule. As much as I love the core fans—we would need to be able to speak to a tremendous number of people with a relaunch of the Valiant universe. What is owed to the fans is to recreate these characters as powerful icons that have the same messages that made a powerful connection for you when you first read them. The new universe will fall in naturally around them after this happens.
"I think a Valiant universe revival could be really something exciting and with huge potential. With the advent of downloadable and advanced media content, there is going to be a hunger for a property with superhero elements, but isn't Superman carrying a battleship somewhere. That was the very attractive thing about Valiant—it wasn't of such a scale that you needed a hundred million dollars to turn it into a movie. I'm pleased about that—and from the little I know about the new owners of the Valiant intellectual property, I believe they may be thinking exactly along those lines. I find it very encouraging."
[More on who the new owners of the Valiant Universe are and what they might be intending in my next column!]
Serge adds, "From a writer's standpoint, I agree with the reinvention of the icon. I was trying to think of what drew the fans... when I was reading the archive material of VH1 in preparation for my work on the VH2 series. It didn't feel like the lines were driven by merchandising and profit—I mean, that’s part of the business, but it was never at the forefront. I had gotten to a point as a reader of comics where you could open up Superman or Batman and say, 'Oh, they're setting up the new movie or the new action figure,' and I never got that impression from Valiant... except for the very end."
"That fricking goat!" Jeff blurts out with a wicked smile.
A World Without Solar?
A major consideration in any discussion of a possible Valiant relaunch is the fact that legally, the original Valiant Universe is a house divided—the rights to three popular characters, Solar, Magnus, and Turok, being held by a separate company.
Alex: "I think what you're dealing with there are the realities of the legal system. I think you'd either have to re-approach them, or they would just have to live with the fact that those contracts have expired. It's tough, because Solar was originally designed to be the progenitor of the entire universe—he was literally the mother of the entire universe."
Jeff: "If you don't have the rights, you have to just think on your feet and come up with something else."
Rags: "It's kind of like imaging the DCU without Batman or Superman—there are certain characters that are just there to leave their stamp. This is a fact of life, and I don't know if it warrants going after those characters to reintegrate them into something that no longer exists. If Superman or Wonder Woman were gone, they might have to be reinvented to fill that niche in the universe. It's a real tough one."
The last topic, already briefly touched on here and in-depth in the final installment of this article is... Jim Shooter.
It is impossible to have a discussion about Valiant past, present, or future in which the man who started it all was not mentioned in some fashion. One of the more colorful and memorable figures in comics history, Jim Shooter has apparently left his mark in the minds of not only those who have worked for him, but in the form of "comics lore."
The specific question?
"Would Jim Shooter be a positive or negative influence on the new Valiant?"
You'll find the answers (at least according to the esteemed panel), as well as some hints about the actual future of the Valiant universe, in the last part of "The Second Life of Valiant Comics?"—plus, some of my own thoughts about those crazy, wonderful, creative and all-too-brief years I spent at Acclaim Comics.

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Schmakt
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Post by Schmakt »

that was sweet! Thank you!!

Where did that come from?
And where's the next article? :)

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manningfan
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Post by manningfan »

Awesome read, a possible glimpse at the future. I like it.

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Post by Vault-Keeper »

:thumb: :thumb:

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Post by dellamorte »

I had to leave the show just before this panel so it's nice to finally get to read what went on.

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Post by aj583 »

very cool! :clap:

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Post by betterthanezra »

dellamorte wrote:I had to leave the show just before this panel so it's nice to finally get to read what went on.
yeah I grilled them with the first question about "The Final Solution".

I found a transcript of a conversation with Jeff Gomez and I had in an AOL chat room back in early 1998 about Final solution.

I'll have to get that on here for you all that want to read it.......

It's a nice little conversation about FS.

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Post by dellamorte »

yeah I grilled them with the first question about "The Final Solution".

I found a transcript of a conversation with Jeff Gomez and I had in an AOL chat room back in early 1998 about Final solution.

I'll have to get that on here for you all that want to read it.......

It's a nice little conversation about FS.
I'd love to read it. :thumb:

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Post by betterthanezra »

dellamorte wrote:
yeah I grilled them with the first question about "The Final Solution".

I found a transcript of a conversation with Jeff Gomez and I had in an AOL chat room back in early 1998 about Final solution.

I'll have to get that on here for you all that want to read it.......

It's a nice little conversation about FS.
I'd love to read it. :thumb:
I'll dig it up this weekend and start a thread on it Dell...

It was fun looking at it... :thumb:

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Post by sonicdan »

Meanwhile...
here's the solicitations for the month FS was gonna start.
These have been posted before, but I don't suppose everyone has
read 'em.
DAN

The Acclaim that never was!
Acclaim's July '98 Solicitations that never seen light of day

Concrete Jungle: The Legend of the Black Lion
(W) Christopher Priest (P) James Fry (I) Andre Pepoy
Me, My, and Mine (Borough Hall)
What if Terry Smalls is not the true heir to the legend of the Black Lion?
And what if he refuses to give up his new powers? In an attempt to make
amends for his selfishness, Terry decides to bring down the corrupt
political machine of the Concrete Jungle, only to find he's made matters
much, much worse.
FC, 32 pages

Final Solution
(W) Troy Hickman (P/I) Lonardo Manco
Book One: Eternity's End
There is a blight on the planet Earth. They're called... Superheroes.
One man has decided to rid the world of this menace and no one can escape
The Final Solution! For centuries, they've protected humanity's
future - now, who will protect them? A tragedy of staggering proportions,
this self-contained 48-page epic's repercussions will affect the entire
Acclaim Universe. Will those who've been here the longest be the first
to fall before the misguided dreams of one man? And if the mightiest do
fall, what chance do those remaining have of stopping this mad crusade?
FC, 48 pages

Shadowman #21
(W) Serge Clermont (P) Klayton Krain (I) Charles Yoakum
Needing help in the search for his kidnapped love Claudine, Shadowman --
against his better judgment -- goes to the man who deals almost exclusively
in favors -- Master Darque! Let's hope Shadowman remembers that Darques'
helping hand never comes without a price...
FC, 32 pages

Solar: Visions of God Event Special
(Creators) Various
Written and drawn by the industry's top creators and most exciting new
talent, this issue is a special 48-page one-shot comprised of ten short
stories. Each tale is told from the point-of-view of an ordinary person,
relating how their lives have been affected by the coming of Solar to Earth.
Discover how an elderly Hassidic man, wild club-kid, a stoned-out janitor,
an out-of-work actor, a stick-to-the facts scientist, a hopeful father,
and others react to the arrival of "God on Earth."

Magnus #19
(W) Tom Peyer
As the scandal surrounding Magnus deepens and enemy troops mass along the
border, Professor Gax conducts an experiment.... A forbidden experiment...
one with lethal results for all Albania's machinery!
FC, 32 pages

Quantum & Woody #18
(W) Christopher Priest (I) Greg Adams
"David Warrant is not Dead"
Having amassed powerful resources and an operations base, Warrant ponders
what to DO with it all. Being a scientist and not an altruist, Warrant's
impulse is not to save humanity so much as to find the logical extension
of his being - be that good, evil, or something unclassified, ultimately
forcing a confrontation with Quantum, who's never trusted Warrant in the
first place.
FC, 32pages

Troublemakers #20
(W) Fabian Nicieza and Dan Slott (P) Kevin West (I) Dan Davis
The return of Crunchtime! Or is he? The Troublemakers' least favorite insane
time-traveling nutjob is back, or is this the real Crunchtime, while the
first Crunchtime we met was a fake one? This issue will test the boundaries
of time travel and your sanity! Lots of guest appearances from your favorite
Acclaim characters, but are they here now, here later, or here before?
FC, 32 pages

Turok #5
(W) Fabian Nicieza (P) Rafael Kayanan (I) Dan Hillsman
The mystery has been building since issue #1. A woman from Joshua's past has
been trying to contact him. Who is she? What does she want? And how will her
arrival change Turok's life forever? Joshua must deal with one of the most
difficult choices a man - or a superhero - has to make (and it's the first
time a main character in a superhero comic has had to make this decision!)
What will Joshua do?
FC, 32 pages

X-O Manowar #22
(W) Dwayne McDuffie (P) Scot Eaton (I) Don Hudson
A prequel to The Final Solution
X-O discovers a horrifying connection between Inquest and the internment of
hundreds of Harbingers and other "threats to national security." Is this the
beginning of the end for Donovan's friendly relationship with his Inquest
bosses? Meanwhile, the Hardcorps attempt to break their boss Citadel out of
an intergalactic prison, just in time for him to become a part of Toyo
Harada's fearsome "Final Solution!"
FC, 32 pages
Sonicdan's Comics and Original Art: http://www.sonicdan.com
My eBay Store (Comics, Art, Collectibles) https://www.ebay.com/str/sonicdanscomicsart

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Post by dellamorte »

It's been a long time since I've read those. Thanks Dan. :thumb:

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Re: Second Life of VALIANT Comics? - An Article

Post by magnusr »

Another absolutely wonderful thread. Thanks for sharing!

/Magnus

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Re: Second Life of VALIANT Comics? - An Article

Post by Elveen »

magnusr wrote:Another absolutely wonderful thread. Thanks for sharing!

/Magnus
Yes... a fine read at 1:38 am...

part 3 of the pannel?

maybe....

possibly...

:hope:

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Post by ian_house »

Hey, thanks for that it was a refreshing read. Always nice to see opinions of the minds behind the things we love... :clap:
Nanites at work!

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Post by ValiantWonder »

You're welcome guys.

I think I may have gotten this Article (Parts 1 and 2) from "Superherohype.com"

I cant remember anymore. :D

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Post by RobInOttawa »

ValiantWonder wrote:You're welcome guys.

I think I may have gotten this Article (Parts 1 and 2) from "Superherohype.com"

I cant remember anymore. :D
I found part 1 and part 2 at:

http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/news.php?c=7

Hopefully there is a part 3?

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Post by slym2none »

Val D'O wrote:The last topic, already briefly touched on here and in-depth in the final installment of this article is... Jim Shooter.
It is impossible to have a discussion about VALIANT past, present, or future in which the man who started it all was not mentioned in some fashion. One of the more colorful and memorable figures in comics history, Jim Shooter has apparently left his mark in the minds of not only those who have worked for him, but in the form of "comics lore."
The specific question?
"Would Jim Shooter be a positive or negative influence on the new VALIANT?"
Say, who asked that question, anyways???

:twisted:



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Re: Second Life of Valiant Comics? - An Article

Post by ManofTheAtom »

I found this thread while checking out CBR
ValiantWonder wrote:"That fricking goat!" Jeff blurts out with a wicked smile.
:clap: :lol: :clap: :lol: :clap: :lol: :clap: :lol:

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Re: Second Life of Valiant Comics? - An Article

Post by ManofTheAtom »

ValiantWonder wrote:You'll find the answers (at least according to the esteemed panel), as well as some hints about the actual future of the Valiant universe, in the last part of "The Second Life of Valiant Comics?"—plus, some of my own thoughts about those crazy, wonderful, creative and all-too-brief years I spent at Acclaim Comics.
What happened with the last part?

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Post by superman-prime »

Fantastic article :thumb:

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Post by ManofTheAtom »

http://occasionalsuperheroine.blogspot.com/

That's her site, maybe she has part three there

And apparently the forum is on her radar

http://occasionalsuperheroine.blogspot. ... elled.html

Heh, I posted that pic
And what about that damn goat? Is he coming back too?
:lol:

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Post by JustCallMeAric »

Nice article. Very fun to read :thumb:

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Post by Phoenix8008 »

I posted a request for information on the 3rd part (or more) of the article on the author's forums. With luck, she'll see it and respond there or here since I gave a link to this thread as well.

http://ohsuperheroine.proboards106.com/ ... &thread=46
-Phoenix8008 (a.k.a. Charticus!)
Viva la Valiant!
(moderator of r/Valiant subreddit)

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Post by ManofTheAtom »

Phoenix8008 wrote:I posted a request for information on the 3rd part (or more) of the article on the author's forums. With luck, she'll see it and respond there or here since I gave a link to this thread as well.

http://ohsuperheroine.proboards106.com/ ... &thread=46
:thumb: :thumb:

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Post by Geomancer »

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Phoenix8008 wrote:I posted a request for information on the 3rd part (or more) of the article on the author's forums. With luck, she'll see it and respond there or here since I gave a link to this thread as well.

http://ohsuperheroine.proboards106.com/ ... &thread=46
:thumb: :thumb:
Good luck on that.

This is the first time I've had the chance to read this one.

Its going to be very important to see who gets handed the creative reigns. If its one of these people, then this might provide a lot of insight into their approach. Maybe, but thats not a certainty.


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