Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by jmatt »

Shadowman99 wrote:but I fail to see where Solar would have any meaningful presence now that Divinity's kicking his ball around the field.
I'd like to see Solar take on Divinity:The man who controls matter and energy vs the man who controls time!

Of course, it would have to be written by particle physicists.

Solar: "I'll unleash the force of a sun at you!"

Divinity: "Oh yeah?! Well I'll just warp the time around me ensuring that it never reaches me! Aha! I've reversed time around you and now the energy is flowing directly back at you!"

Solar: "I'll compensate by infusing that stream with super-charged tachyons thus negating your time warp!"

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Chiclo »

jmatt wrote:Solar: "I'll compensate by infusing that stream with super-charged tachyons thus negating your time warp!"
That really is Star Trek level gibberish.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by ShadowTuga »

jmatt wrote:
Shadowman99 wrote:but I fail to see where Solar would have any meaningful presence now that Divinity's kicking his ball around the field.
I'd like to see Solar take on Divinity:The man who controls matter and energy vs the man who controls time!

Of course, it would have to be written by particle physicists.

Solar: "I'll unleash the force of a sun at you!"

Divinity: "Oh yeah?! Well I'll just warp the time around me ensuring that it never reaches me! Aha! I've reversed time around you and now the energy is flowing directly back at you!"

Solar: "I'll compensate by infusing that stream with super-charged tachyons thus negating your time warp!"
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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by jmatt »

Chiclo wrote:
jmatt wrote:Solar: "I'll compensate by infusing that stream with super-charged tachyons thus negating your time warp!"
That really is Star Trek level gibberish.
Of course it is! That's why it's called science fiction and not science.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Shadowman99 »

kinggirlfriend wrote:Yeah I feel like the ship with the Gold Key characters sailed away along time ago. The thing I like about VEI is that they are 100% original Valiant creations. I don't want crossovers with the Gold Key characters just like I hope they don't ever crossover with the Ninja Turtles or anything equally asinine. Just tell me stories with the characters you already got.
+1
Also, VEI have hardly proven inept with creating their own characters. If they want more characters in their stable they should just create their own :thumb:

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

I have noticed that the official Valiant twitter feed has been posting more images from Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Unity over the past couple of days. Not teasers or cryptic clues to forthcoming but it better than rehashing old news about Valiant Beyond.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Shadowman99 »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:I have noticed that the official Valiant twitter feed has been posting more images from Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Unity over the past couple of days. Not teasers or cryptic clues to forthcoming but it better than rehashing old news about Valiant Beyond.
If these images aren't being published with hints or teases toward some kind of upcoming projects to attract new readership to them/the company then these posts are a waste of time.

The only sensible reason I could think of for doing this would be to announce a second printing of the Deluxe books or some other kind of collected edition of these titles, but then if that were the case they'd need to be dropping the hints, which they clearly haven't done. :|
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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by WrathOfArmstrong »

Shadowman99 wrote:
Bl00dsh0t wrote:I have noticed that the official Valiant twitter feed has been posting more images from Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Unity over the past couple of days. Not teasers or cryptic clues to forthcoming but it better than rehashing old news about Valiant Beyond.
If these images aren't being published with hints or teases toward some kind of upcoming projects to attract new readership to them/the company then these posts are a waste of time.

The only sensible reason I could think of for doing this would be to announce a second printing of the Deluxe books or some other kind of collected edition of these titles, but then if that were the case they'd need to be dropping the hints, which they clearly haven't done. :|
You know, while I appreciate the value my deluxe copies have... Valiant isn't doing itself any favors by not making these books available to the people that prefer hardcovers to trades. It's a sad form of gatekeeping trying to gear towards the collector, when what they need is more readers. There's still copies of BS vol 2, but people don't buy them because having just a #2 on your shelf looks odd as *SQUEE*.

HW2, just killed a lot of my excitement. I'm officially bummed.

Still looking forward to the Livewire solo, but XO has petered out to a yawn, and the preview for Faith Dreamside in every book this month has confirmed that despite my enjoyment of Dr. Mirage, I'll trade wait. Good books are ending and I'm not sure there is anything coming in 2019 that is going to make me rush out to keep up with the rest of the titles.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

WrathOfArmstrong wrote:
Shadowman99 wrote:
Bl00dsh0t wrote:I have noticed that the official Valiant twitter feed has been posting more images from Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Unity over the past couple of days. Not teasers or cryptic clues to forthcoming but it better than rehashing old news about Valiant Beyond.
If these images aren't being published with hints or teases toward some kind of upcoming projects to attract new readership to them/the company then these posts are a waste of time.

The only sensible reason I could think of for doing this would be to announce a second printing of the Deluxe books or some other kind of collected edition of these titles, but then if that were the case they'd need to be dropping the hints, which they clearly haven't done. :|
You know, while I appreciate the value my deluxe copies have... Valiant isn't doing itself any favors by not making these books available to the people that prefer hardcovers to trades. It's a sad form of gatekeeping trying to gear towards the collector, when what they need is more readers. There's still copies of BS vol 2, but people don't buy them because having just a #2 on your shelf looks odd as *SQUEE*.

HW2, just killed a lot of my excitement. I'm officially bummed.

Still looking forward to the Livewire solo, but XO has petered out to a yawn, and the preview for Faith Dreamside in every book this month has confirmed that despite my enjoyment of Dr. Mirage, I'll trade wait. Good books are ending and I'm not sure there is anything coming in 2019 that is going to make me rush out to keep up with the rest of the titles.
I think HW2 has killed any real excitement for future books. I get that not all mini's/story arcs are going to hit it right out the park, a book that doesn't gel with me, I can handle. What is disappointing about HW2 is the poor portrayal of the characters, casting them in a light unrecognizable from what we're been reading since 2012, and the fact that this mini will have ramifications for all modern/current/future-tense story-lines. It has ruined what Valiant had built.

Personally I'll only be reading books (if I continue reading Valiant at all that is) which are set in the past (Bloodshot Rising Spirit, Britannia for example) given how much this un-interested editorial unit has stuffed up the universe.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by SuperMage »

Bl00dsh0t wrote: I think HW2 has killed any real excitement for future books. I get that not all mini's/story arcs are going to hit it right out the park, a book that doesn't gel with me, I can handle. What is disappointing about HW2 is the poor portrayal of the characters, casting them in a light unrecognizable from what we're been reading since 2012, and the fact that this mini will have ramifications for all modern/current/future-tense story-lines. It has ruined what Valiant had built.

Personally I'll only be reading books (if I continue reading Valiant at all that is) which are set in the past (Bloodshot Rising Spirit, Britannia for example) given how much this un-interested editorial unit has stuffed up the universe.
To play Devil's Advocate, while Harbinger Wars II is easily the worst thing ever published by Valiant, I doubt it'll have any impact on the company's future publishing slate. Literally nothing happened in that event, other a series of nonsensical events whose only impact is in what the readers have been told but not actually shown. When you reread the event you notice something. Every that happens is implied, but never actually shown. Causalities of Livewire's attack? For all we know the "hundred of innocents" where just Omen agents. We don't actually see the impact of anything, and are never given specific answers on anything. That kind of opens the door for future writers to choose to ignore any plot threads they didn't like.

Joe already confirmed that post-Harbinger Wars II will be a clean slate. Meaning the events of the mini-series will likely be forgotten given that nothing actually happened. The first arc of Livewire's solo series will probably end up handwaving away any of the implied questionable things she did during Harbinger Wars II so that they didn't happen they way we think they did. First Rule of Comics: If something isn't explicitly shown to happen on the panels, then the events are open to interpretation. A lot of stuff in Harbinger Wars II is open to interpretation.

At this point, anything can happen. A lot of the issues with Harbinger Wars II stem from the fact that the creative team was basically dropped halfway through development, and the people left clearly lost enthusiasm in the project and were all eyeing the door out of Valiant. If it's true that Matt Kindt is planning on leaving at issue 24 of X-O then that explains a lot. It's too early to know what the post-Valiant Beyond Valiant Universe will look like. 2019 Valiant will be spearheaded by brand new writers who won't be affected by the transition. For all we know it could be 2012 Valiant all over again. A clean slate that still keeps the old continuity. No one is denying that we're currently in a rough patch. Bloodshot Salvation ended abruptly, because Lemire didn't want to work for DMG. Harbinger Wars II was clearly rushed out. Losing half your creative team is a perfect reason to delay the product, but VEII just published it so they could be rid of it.

The future is still unwritten. This isn't the first time things have looked bad for Valiant, and chances are it won't be the last time that Valiant pulled through. Let's see where things are in 2019, and then decide what the future of Valiant is. Anything cna change between now and then.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

SuperMage wrote:
Bl00dsh0t wrote: I think HW2 has killed any real excitement for future books. I get that not all mini's/story arcs are going to hit it right out the park, a book that doesn't gel with me, I can handle. What is disappointing about HW2 is the poor portrayal of the characters, casting them in a light unrecognizable from what we're been reading since 2012, and the fact that this mini will have ramifications for all modern/current/future-tense story-lines. It has ruined what Valiant had built.

Personally I'll only be reading books (if I continue reading Valiant at all that is) which are set in the past (Bloodshot Rising Spirit, Britannia for example) given how much this un-interested editorial unit has stuffed up the universe.
To play Devil's Advocate, while Harbinger Wars II is easily the worst thing ever published by Valiant, I doubt it'll have any impact on the company's future publishing slate. Literally nothing happened in that event, other a series of nonsensical events whose only impact is in what the readers have been told but not actually shown. When you reread the event you notice something. Every that happens is implied, but never actually shown. Causalities of Livewire's attack? For all we know the "hundred of innocents" where just Omen agents. We don't actually see the impact of anything, and are never given specific answers on anything. That kind of opens the door for future writers to choose to ignore any plot threads they didn't like.

Joe already confirmed that post-Harbinger Wars II will be a clean slate. Meaning the events of the mini-series will likely be forgotten given that nothing actually happened. The first arc of Livewire's solo series will probably end up handwaving away any of the implied questionable things she did during Harbinger Wars II so that they didn't happen they way we think they did. First Rule of Comics: If something isn't explicitly shown to happen on the panels, then the events are open to interpretation. A lot of stuff in Harbinger Wars II is open to interpretation.

At this point, anything can happen. A lot of the issues with Harbinger Wars II stem from the fact that the creative team was basically dropped halfway through development, and the people left clearly lost enthusiasm in the project and were all eyeing the door out of Valiant. If it's true that Matt Kindt is planning on leaving at issue 24 of X-O then that explains a lot. It's too early to know what the post-Valiant Beyond Valiant Universe will look like. 2019 Valiant will be spearheaded by brand new writers who won't be affected by the transition. For all we know it could be 2012 Valiant all over again. A clean slate that still keeps the old continuity. No one is denying that we're currently in a rough patch. Bloodshot Salvation ended abruptly, because Lemire didn't want to work for DMG. Harbinger Wars II was clearly rushed out. Losing half your creative team is a perfect reason to delay the product, but VEII just published it so they could be rid of it.

The future is still unwritten. This isn't the first time things have looked bad for Valiant, and chances are it won't be the last time that Valiant pulled through. Let's see where things are in 2019, and then decide what the future of Valiant is. Anything cna change between now and then.
I like your optimism, I don't just share it - I do hope to be proved wrong tho...

HW2, you're right, we don't know what the impact moving forward will be, but it has changed the characters:

Without spoiling the following are shells of their former selves - the only thing tying them to the pre-DMG era is the name and look alone, for all intents and purposes they are different characters:
Livewire
Bloodshot
Peter
Charlie Palmer
Ninjak (though he could be salvaged - potentially)

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Shadowman99 »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:Valiant isn't doing itself any favors by not making Deluxe Editions available to the people that prefer hardcovers to trades. It's a sad form of gatekeeping trying to gear towards the collector, when what they need is more readers.
That's actually very true. Since learning that VEI weren't going to reprint Deluxe editions I've felt that they're potentially losing out on expanding their readership by not making these books available to new readers that want to jump into the VU by investing in 25-odd hardbound issues of [insert comic]. I think Valiant would make more money and expand the readership by keeping them in print for the foreseeable future, but it seems that they're happier to cater to the collectors instead.





It's disappointing to read on the thread here that HWII seems to have been a bit of a flop. I've currently got issues 3+4 on their way to me through the post, and whilst I wasn't totally blown away by issues 1+2 I was hoping that things would rev up in the latter two issues. Oh well, hopefully I'll still enjoy the issues, but it's sad to hear the event hasn't been as good as I've been hoping it'd be.





SuperMage wrote:Joe already confirmed that post-Harbinger Wars II will be a clean slate. Meaning the events of the mini-series will likely be forgotten given that nothing actually happened.
Not sure how I feel about this news :| One of the things that I enjoy about Valiant is the idea that events that occur impact future events, but in honesty I'm not convinced we've really actually seen anything like that since 2012, with the exception of new characters introduced into the U and the occasional mention of a previous event by a character. But "clean slate"... I hope that doesn't mean 'hard/soft reboot'.
SuperMage wrote:It's too early to know what the post-Valiant Beyond Valiant Universe will look like. 2019 Valiant will be spearheaded by brand new writers who won't be affected by the transition. For all we know it could be 2012 Valiant all over again. A clean slate that still keeps the old continuity.
I like this optimism. Maybe we are set for another 2012 in 2019 as far as any of us know. I guess it's possible and we'll find out soon enough, so let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Bl00dsh0t wrote: HW2, you're right, we don't know what the impact moving forward will be, but it has changed the characters:

Without spoiling the following are shells of their former selves - the only thing tying them to the pre-DMG era is the name and look alone, for all intents and purposes they are different characters:
Livewire
Bloodshot
Peter
Charlie Palmer
Ninjak (though he could be salvaged - potentially)
To some degree I feel that changes in characters' personalities and/or motives has been an organic result of story progression since 2012, such as livewire and ninjak (personally I don't see anything 'wrong' with Ninjak as a character/title, besides giving him *SQUEE* magic powers on top of his ninja/spy/engineering skills for reasons I've stated in the past), so arguing that they're "different characters" now is a little like arguing that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning. But whether you feel that the changes are for the better or worse is a matter of personal opinion I suppose. I think most of the changes in most characters seem sensible and logical enough and I'm not that phased by them, but Bloodshot on the other hand... I really enjoyed his early arcs back in 2012-13 when he couldn't figure out who/what he was, or what was reality and what was false memory, and his drive to figure these things out, but I feel that the character has moved away from that premise now and although I'm enjoying the current storylines well enough, I preferred things when he wasn't tied down by Magic or his daughter, and things weren't quite so clearly explained as they are now. I suppose reaching this point was inevitable, but I am a little disappointed it's taken only six real life years to reach this point.
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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by WrathOfArmstrong »

SuperMage wrote:2019 Valiant will be spearheaded by brand new writers who won't be affected by the transition. For all we know it could be 2012 Valiant all over again.
I hear this optimism, and I'm crossing my fingers.

If VALIANT tried to be the Moneyball of comics, it's time to reload like Billy Beane would do when Free Agency would claim his best players. The A's being able to contend (this year included) is because they generally have a team of people that haven't received the big pay day yet and want to earn it--even though they won't be in the green and gold when that day comes. I'm not saying other teams don't, just that when they've had that underdog-got something to prove, they'd produced their best teams, 2002, 2006, 2012-13, 2018

Lemire's star is shining as bright as ever. He doesn't have to scrape if he doesn't like this ownership. Same can probably be said for Kindt (if he's indeed on his way out (which prior to HW2, I was thinking would be devastating, but now I'm looking forward to it). This new batch of writers (Houser excluded, because she does some fine work elsewhere as well) has everything to prove. Just like on the outs Dysart, and nothing since the movie-deal Venditte did in 2012.

Is Valiant comic's Oakland A's? I mean 2012 was the last time they surprised and now 2018, they were supposed to be bottom of the barrel...Coincidence?? I smell a comeback folks... it's either that or all the drinking I did to forget HW2 damaged my sense of smell...

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by kinggirlfriend »

So I have to eat a little crow here.

I finally went out and got the trades for Shadowman: Fear of the Dark, Bloodshot Salvation Volume 2: The Book of the Dead, and Quantum and Woody! Volume 1: Kiss Kiss, Klang Klang.

I really really enjoyed Shadowman! I guess all of this has been said already but it brought together all the various threads we've seen and made sense out of them. The art was solid and the writing was actually building on what came before while giving the characters a bit more drive. I thought Baron Samedi was great and I look forward to the next arc with Shadowman learning about his past. I'm so excited to be excited about Shadowman again!

Bloodshot Salvation volume 2 wasn't bad there just wasn't much to bite into. The all black issue definitely reads better in trade form but still comes off as a bit too long and a bit too pointless. (And a bit silly when you realize Bloodhound is leading him off a cliff and into a lake, etc.) I feel the real misstep was the Bloodhound origin issue. Even though it's a strong issue it's placement in the arc is kind of questionable. This would have been better if we'd seen this right after Bloodhound was first introduced. It feels like an afterthought here and the extra issue could have been spent fleshing out the current arc. The art was fantastic. Having read reviews of the next three issues it's a shame this ends with a thud since I did enjoy these first two arcs just fine.

I'm not the biggest Q&W fan but they've won me over time and again. This first arc by Kibblesmith and art by Kano continues them winning me over. It's a nice change of pace from all the grim comics I usually read. The art by Kano is fantastic! I really enjoyed the goat/dad issue. I was gonna skip the rest of the series but since it's gotten good reviews here and they're all being packaged into one last trade I figure I'm in for all of it.

So while X-O, HW2 and Bloodshot have all kind of whimpered to an end there's still good work coming out of Valiant. Shadowman and Ninja-K have given me hope that Valiant will eventually find their way again. I still can't wait to read the latest Britannia arc and am super thrilled for The Life and Times of Toyo Harada. And I'm now a little more optimistic for Incursion. I know Diggle said he has 2 years mapped out, but I really hope Shadowman and Ninja-K go beyond that. No pun intended.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by SwiftMann »

Preface: I read every Valiant book every month. I've never been a Dinesh cheerleader. I don't follow creators on Twitter or elsewhere. I'm a lurker for the better part of the four years since I've joined and a decade before that. I've never been a fan of Dysart or Kindt's influence on the VEI universe. All ways of saying, I'm not your standard ValiantFans.com member.

While I'm sure we are starting to see the fallout of the DMG acquisition and ousting of Dinesh and Warren and everyone else, the luster faded from VEI long before January 29, 2018.

The quality has been falling for the better part of two years. The decision to move to a series of mini-series for every title just to get the bump in sales for new #1s (I do not get how that's still a thing) completely killed VEI for me. "Event" mini-series with one-shots on the side has never clicked or brought in new readers. And the events have been duds for years. Book of Death was the last one that had any meat on its bones and that was three years ago. Basically, all the events boil down to "nothing really changes and we're going to only ever make boringly superficial references to an aspect in the future." Even the variants have gotten more boringly superficial in their lack of creativity compared to the first 2-3 years. And the audience has responded with their wallets. Sales have tanked the last year and a half, more often than not moving less than an estimated 60,000 issues a month total. And January 2018 (so pre-DMG announcement) was the lowest multi-title month ever at 47,144 copies across 6 titles (vs 2012's X-O #1 at 42,708).

So, using late-2015 as my personal breakpoint for VEI becoming a boring pit of repetitiveness, let's look at what's come out since, cause I love a list.


2016

4001 AD - Complete flop for me. Captain Monologue and Lt. CGI reported for duty as a creative team and bored the hell out of me and apparently everyone else at VEI cause almost no one wants to touch 4001 in the two years since.

A&A - This was just awful. An unbearable version of the characters by Rafer after such an amazing run by Van Lente.

Bloodshot Reborn - This was a gem of a book. Lemire and a group of top shelf artists did amazing work telling a singular story over a year.

Bloodshot USA - All of New York is infested by Bloodshot nanites with absolutely no impact on anything ever. Come on!

Britannia - I liked the first mini well enough, but what's the connection? Is there one? Why is this at Valiant if there isn't?

Death Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives - I like Van Meter. I sometimes like de la Torre. This was a tedious, boring chore to get through. Another mini-series where nothing really matters after it's over. Just going through the motions.

Divinity II - This was pretty darn good. Hairsine gets a bit sketchy for me artwise and Kindt will always be too monologue heavy, but there was some interesting stuff with this one.

Faith - Yeah. I was pretty happy the ongoing didn't. I found all the stories so by-the-numbers super-heroic and/or Big Bang Theory level geek chic wannabe, that I just couldn't.

Generation Zero - I really liked this series. It was Van Lente, so that's no surprise. But it came with zero marketing and (I think) an expectation that it's kewl name and logos would bring readers in and just died on the vine.

Savage - This was so much fun. And dark. And sad. And I want so much more of this!


2017

Bloodshot Salvation - Like the bad side of the Reborn coin. Lemire stumbles around for a year with too many artists and multiple one-off stories that don't really have anything to do with the main one being told completely messing up the flow of the book. And that stupid "blind" issue...

Britannia: We Who Are About to Die - Nope, can't get over the fact this still isn't related to VEI in anyway and now the story is meh.

Divinity III: I LOVE What If. That title is a big reason I got into comics. This should have been a blast and it wasn't. It had moments in the main mini. And it also had complete duds with the one-shots.

Eternity - a) Why is this called Eternity and not Divinity IV? b) It was kind of cool and crazy and psychedelic, but like so many of these titles, there is zero follow-through or ramifications.

Faith and the Future Force - Ooh. A crazy time travel story with Groundhog Day aspects. In the end it didn't quite pull it off, but it was a fun ride.

Harbinger: Renegade - This seemed like it was supposed to be something and go somewhere and just never did. And following up the Massacre issue with that weird medieval times origin story killed all momentum. Although, seems the series was already written off at that point.

Ninjak - I couldn't tell one issue of this apart from another. Seemed like the same story every month.

Rapture - Ninjak somehow brought his blandness to the Deadside and killed this mini for me.

Secret Weapons - Pretty much everything VEI (Harbinger in particular) should have been for me. I loved this mini and the 0s. Loved them.

Shadowman/Rae Sremmurd - Shhhhh... Let's never speak of this again.

War Mother - Huh. Van Lente isn't perfect... This was a big ball of okay. A forced upon us all 4001 spin-off that never really finds its feet or connects with the reader.

Wrath of the Eternal Warrior - I loved the beginning and ending arcs. That middle one served a purpose, but was a bit long.

X-O - Wrapping up Vendetti's run with a big to-do made sense. Ending the only ongoing title left did not.


2018

Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome - Hey, this is actually a good story and mystery. And since there doesn't seem to be much of a connection between any books anymore, I kind of don't care that they've never connected this.

Harbinger Wars 2 - Seriously, I don't hate this. I guess I should since it's the "worst thing ever" (nope, still Dead Drop). Yes, it has completely out-of-character moments (I still don't understand what's going on with Bloodshot) but with so many variations on characters this year (see Ninjak vs and Valiant High), I think everyone gave up on continuity.

Ninja-K - I was hoping to like this more than Kindt's Ninjak as I'm often a fan of Gage, but this isn't any different. Seems like the same story month-in, month-out. I don't care about the navel-gazing history of the Ninja program. And I've always hated the retcon that it's Ninja-K and Unit-Y. While we're here, Weapon 10 can go to hell too.

Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe - I get why this exists. It just shouldn't. It's not as bad as the serial, but it's definitely not good.

Quantum & Woody - Finally! VEI gets Q&W right!!! I've been loving this run. I pretty much hated every attempt before it, but this run is so much fun.

Shadowman - I was pretty indifferent about the first couple issues. I appreciated that Diggle tried to tie up the many loose ends everyone left over the years, but it felt more like housekeeping mid-run than a new series. I've been digging the travel through time though.

Valiant High - I don't get why this exists. It's cute and all, but it should have stayed on the web.

X-O - The execution here is often top notch. I personally just DO NOT CARE about Aric in this setting. I read X-O for the barbarian in futuristic armor and there was no armor for the better part of a year. And having to suffer through these flashback issues just as he should get back to Earth is HW2's biggest offense.


Valiant Beyond

Faith: Dreamside - I'm slightly optimistic about the story, but super pessimistic about the creative team (*shudder*Faith's Winter Wonderland Special*shudder*)

Bloodshot Rising Spirit - If we are going to be spending a ton of time doing more character historical navel-gazing, I'm less then interested. But I am intrigued by the creative team.

Livewire - Raul Allen and Patricia Martin are the only part of this title that I remotely care about.

Incursion - All the standard "event" hype language in the solict, so I expect nothing of consequence, but I hope I'm surprised.


So, that's a LOT of IP put out there in three years. I think it boils down to a bunch of ideas thrown at the wall and in the last couple years none of them stuck. Not that VEI had a great record coming into it. Everything always felt a little too detached (or, not quite tightly knit enough) and they had their fair share of duds in the first couple years, but we were more forgiving because they were fewer and the luster of Valiant being back was still there and more characters were getting thrown at us for the first time in years. But there's been a drop in the quality of stories and, frankly, universe-building is dead. While there is a lot of IP in that list, there's also a saturation occuring in recent and upcoming months around four properties - Bloodshot, Harbinger, Ninjak, and X-O. And Valiant only thrives when all the characters are connected to each other with great frequency.
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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

And the downward spiral continues thanks to the woeful December solicitations...

Bloodshot Rising Spirit will already have a new creative team with the original writers no longer attached to the project, this before #1 even comes out.

Ninja-K ends at #14. I get that Gage has other commitments but Valiant couldn't find another writer to keep the title going? to this point its the only 'in-continuity' title linked in a meaningful way to the current day events of HWII...very disappointing. Ends a month after Q&W ends.

Then, we have a month delay in getting the #4 of the Faith Dreamside mini...

I was a little excited for Livewire after reading Ninja-K #11, thinking that that title could have some crossover storytelling which obviously wont happen now so I'm back to not caring about that book.

I just don't understand the direction of Valiant.

Come January I'll be down to 2 Valiant books in my pull-list - that being Shadowman #11 and Bloodshot Rising Spirt #3- which I suspect will drop to 1 book the following month with Shadowman ending at #11 to coincide with the pre-order bundle.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by WrathOfArmstrong »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:And the downward spiral continues thanks to the woeful December solicitations...

Bloodshot Rising Spirit will already have a new creative team with the original writers no longer attached to the project, this before #1 even comes out.

Ninja-K ends at #14. I get that Gage has other commitments but Valiant couldn't find another writer to keep the title going? to this point its the only 'in-continuity' title linked in a meaningful way to the current day events of HWII...very disappointing. Ends a month after Q&W ends.

Then, we have a month delay in getting the #4 of the Faith Dreamside mini...

I was a little excited for Livewire after reading Ninja-K #11, thinking that that title could have some crossover storytelling which obviously wont happen now so I'm back to not caring about that book.

I just don't understand the direction of Valiant.

Come January I'll be down to 2 Valiant books in my pull-list - that being Shadowman #11 and Bloodshot Rising Spirt #3- which I suspect will drop to 1 book the following month with Shadowman ending at #11 to coincide with the pre-order bundle.
Yeah. I seriously reconsidered the livewire pre-order bundle by the end of these solicitations. I think a regular pull is better... for me and my LCS. I'm hoping that I regret that decision. But I'm likely only to pull Shadowman and XO with it... so if Shadowman ends... and then XO...

Although could the Shadowman pre-order just be a build up to INCURSION... and then resume after? Though, I did see Diggle was taking the reigns on HARDCORE a pilot season book by Finch/Kirkman for image...

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Zhuge1 »

Bl00dsh0t wrote: Come January I'll be down to 2 Valiant books in my pull-list - that being Shadowman #11 and Bloodshot Rising Spirt #3- which I suspect will drop to 1 book the following month with Shadowman ending at #11 to coincide with the pre-order bundle.
Is that speculation, or is it a given that Shadowman is ending after 11? I hadn't heard that which is why I ask -- I thought it was planned through at least 24 issues?

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by TheeBaldMoose »

Zhuge1 wrote:
Bl00dsh0t wrote: Come January I'll be down to 2 Valiant books in my pull-list - that being Shadowman #11 and Bloodshot Rising Spirt #3- which I suspect will drop to 1 book the following month with Shadowman ending at #11 to coincide with the pre-order bundle.
Is that speculation, or is it a given that Shadowman is ending after 11? I hadn't heard that which is why I ask -- I thought it was planned through at least 24 issues?
Diggle was quoted as having 2 years worth of material, so we speculated 24 issues. Who knows with Valiant, who knows
Moose

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

Zhuge1 wrote:
Bl00dsh0t wrote: Come January I'll be down to 2 Valiant books in my pull-list - that being Shadowman #11 and Bloodshot Rising Spirt #3- which I suspect will drop to 1 book the following month with Shadowman ending at #11 to coincide with the pre-order bundle.
Is that speculation, or is it a given that Shadowman is ending after 11? I hadn't heard that which is why I ask -- I thought it was planned through at least 24 issues?
Speculation. Make sense with the timing of Incursion and the end of the pre-order bundle... we'll see soon enough...

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

So, does any one feel any more excited about Valiant yet?

The Executive Editor continues to tweet about other indie books, DC, and Marvel comics while pretty much ignoring Valiant... The creators are pretty quiet unless they are tweeting about politics,

Valiant official twitter is at least mixing it up a little, though I get this is difficult given there is a limited number of new books on the horizon - 5 for December...

I hope once Faith Dreamside, Bloodshot Rising Spirit and Livewire hit the stands the twitter talk and comic book website interaction heats up some. Kinda feels like we're in this intermediate phase of ending the pre DMG era titles and transitioning into the post DMG with the aforementioned titles.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by syzhang28 »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:So, does any one feel any more excited about Valiant yet?

The Executive Editor continues to tweet about other indie books, DC, and Marvel comics while pretty much ignoring Valiant... The creators are pretty quiet unless they are tweeting about politics,

Valiant official twitter is at least mixing it up a little, though I get this is difficult given there is a limited number of new books on the horizon - 5 for December...

I hope once Faith Dreamside, Bloodshot Rising Spirit and Livewire hit the stands the twitter talk and comic book website interaction heats up some. Kinda feels like we're in this intermediate phase of ending the pre DMG era titles and transitioning into the post DMG with the aforementioned titles.
I'm less excited. The newest solicitations are the worst I've ever seen from Valiant. And to change writers on a new book after 1 issue and put a mini series on hiatus for a month (basically ship late)...it's signs of a rotting interior.

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Bl00dsh0t »

Diggle has been announcing a couple of new projects via his twitter handle lately @andydiggle which makes me think Incursion will be the last we see of him writing for Valiant. I hope I'm wrong, I know Matt Kindt had multiple projects on the go at the same time as he was writing titles for Valiant...

I posed the question on twitter re: Shadowman going past #11 to both Valiant and Andy Diggle and didn't get a response. True, you can't read much into that, but some assurance along the lines of 'we have plans' or 'series is mapped out for 2 years' or something like that would've put my mind at ease...

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by WrathOfArmstrong »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:Diggle has been announcing a couple of new projects via his twitter handle lately @andydiggle which makes me think Incursion will be the last we see of him writing for Valiant. I hope I'm wrong, I know Matt Kindt had multiple projects on the go at the same time as he was writing titles for Valiant...

I posed the question on twitter re: Shadowman going past #11 to both Valiant and Andy Diggle and didn't get a response. True, you can't read much into that, but some assurance along the lines of 'we have plans' or 'series is mapped out for 2 years' or something like that would've put my mind at ease...
I'd bet that he's out... with the new regime wanting a different 'creative team'. He was brought in prior to the transition and his 2 year plan probably doesn't fit with the new regime's plans anymore... but then again I'm wondering whose does....

Zac Thompson responded on reddit about BS Rising Spirit... maybe I read into it too much but...
We're not involved past issue #1.

EDIT: Sorry, I thought my name badge from r/comicbooks would come over here. This is Zac Thompson. We had to leave Bloodshot RS. #1 script is not by myself and Lonnie just based on the story we originally set out to tell.
https://www.reddit.com/r/valiant/commen ... citations/

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Re: Valiant Comics - Why Don't I Feel More Excited?

Post by Shadowman99 »

Bl00dsh0t wrote:Then, we have a month delay in getting the #4 of the Faith Dreamside mini...
No, no, and no. Month-long (or more) gaps between issues of any series from any publisher is pretty much always a sign of bad internal organisation. Okay, so Rai had its gaps, but Valiant were clear that that was simply to give Clayton Crain the time he needed to illustrate the comics and to me that's a reasonable one-off, valid reason. So what's the reason for the delay in Faith: Dreamside #4? This is a bad sign to me.

Reading the rest of the comments below the quoted one does not fill me with hope for Valiant's future.

Having said that, despite a lot of the complaints listed in this and other threads, I enjoyed July and August's comics (the latest stack I recieved in the mail) as much as any other month's, so to me the current output doesn't seem any worse than anything else we've had in the past. I know most of you have caught up on HWII by now, and I'm only the Epilogue issue away from finishing it, but whilst it was somewhat underwhelming in terms of universe-altering events, it at least held together as a cohesive story. I don't understand folks' complaints about XO. So we've had a few issues to get a flashback sequence over which has slowed progress on current events - but these issues were entertaining and interesting, so I enjoyed them. Will be good to see Aric catching back up with the rest of the VU soon though :thumb: Shadowman's been good and Bloodshot has been moving forward well, so I don't get what's causing everyone to get their knickers in a twist. It's the post-Incursion product that I'm concerned about.
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