My Valiant Story You Say?
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
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Texcap
- 100 posts! (if you round to the nearest 100)
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- Location: Texas
My Valiant Story You Say?
Let me introduce myself, first, by saying "howdy." I've visited the site several times now, but this is the first time I've contributed anything, and I figured the best way to really start was by telling you good folks "my Valiant story."
Truth be told, I can't remember the specifics surrounding my discovery of the Valiant imprint. It may have been a magazine that brought ithe company to my attention in the early 90's, perhaps a friend let me read a copy of one of their titles, but one way or another I managed to obtain early copies of Magnus, Robot Fighter (& Vintage), Solar, Man of the Atom, X-O Manowar and probably not long after, Rai. So while I can't recall exactly how I was introduced to the characters, I certainly recall being fascinated by them and their stories. In my case,"the big three" were: Magnus, Solar and X-O (more on that as I post, I'm sure) but I couldn't get enough of the Valiant universe and dived right into a number of the other titles as well. Consistently, I was just enjoying a lot of great storytelling. Then came Unity -- I was very excited about the event when I first caught wind of it and still remember being awestruck by the fact that the introductory issue was FREE! (that was certianly different). I tore into that special, and thankfully Unity was indeed a lot of fun to follow.
Sadly, it wasn't long after its conclusion that I started to lose interest in the directions that most of the titles began to take. The magic of those early stories was fading, the stories began to lack the same quality as they previously had, and my guess at the time was that quality was taking a backseat to quantity (& foil) and it just wasn't the same place that it used to be as the months passed. The rest of the industry wasn't in the best of shape, either, so I have to admit that my enthusiasm for comics probably wasn't at its highest by any means. I ended up dropping everything at Valiant, and just hung on to those favorite stories prior to and immediately after Unity. Eventually and regrettably I sold a number of those books as well, hanging on to Magnus: Vintage and X-O Manowar collections and not much else. I can't figure out why I would've let go of Solar, as it was easily one of my favorites of the bunch, as I mentioned, but I can only imagine I sold them when they were carrying a high price tag to pay for other non-comic related things.
I've thought about Valiant on numerous occassions over the years, and the great memories I had of those characters and their stories. I've pulled out those issues I still have from time to time, I've long since become a huge fan of the original Russ Manning Magnus material (which I have Valiant to thank for introducing to me) and recently I've mulled over trying to track down those treasured Solar issues again. With the news of the upcoming Harbinger HC some of that genuine excitement has returned, and I plan to pick that up to enjoy that first Harbinger story that I never got to read in full -- and to support more material to come.
Here's hoping that there's definitely more Valiant on the way! There's a lot to live up to, but so long as great care is taken...I'm all for more!
See ya at the boards!
Truth be told, I can't remember the specifics surrounding my discovery of the Valiant imprint. It may have been a magazine that brought ithe company to my attention in the early 90's, perhaps a friend let me read a copy of one of their titles, but one way or another I managed to obtain early copies of Magnus, Robot Fighter (& Vintage), Solar, Man of the Atom, X-O Manowar and probably not long after, Rai. So while I can't recall exactly how I was introduced to the characters, I certainly recall being fascinated by them and their stories. In my case,"the big three" were: Magnus, Solar and X-O (more on that as I post, I'm sure) but I couldn't get enough of the Valiant universe and dived right into a number of the other titles as well. Consistently, I was just enjoying a lot of great storytelling. Then came Unity -- I was very excited about the event when I first caught wind of it and still remember being awestruck by the fact that the introductory issue was FREE! (that was certianly different). I tore into that special, and thankfully Unity was indeed a lot of fun to follow.
Sadly, it wasn't long after its conclusion that I started to lose interest in the directions that most of the titles began to take. The magic of those early stories was fading, the stories began to lack the same quality as they previously had, and my guess at the time was that quality was taking a backseat to quantity (& foil) and it just wasn't the same place that it used to be as the months passed. The rest of the industry wasn't in the best of shape, either, so I have to admit that my enthusiasm for comics probably wasn't at its highest by any means. I ended up dropping everything at Valiant, and just hung on to those favorite stories prior to and immediately after Unity. Eventually and regrettably I sold a number of those books as well, hanging on to Magnus: Vintage and X-O Manowar collections and not much else. I can't figure out why I would've let go of Solar, as it was easily one of my favorites of the bunch, as I mentioned, but I can only imagine I sold them when they were carrying a high price tag to pay for other non-comic related things.
I've thought about Valiant on numerous occassions over the years, and the great memories I had of those characters and their stories. I've pulled out those issues I still have from time to time, I've long since become a huge fan of the original Russ Manning Magnus material (which I have Valiant to thank for introducing to me) and recently I've mulled over trying to track down those treasured Solar issues again. With the news of the upcoming Harbinger HC some of that genuine excitement has returned, and I plan to pick that up to enjoy that first Harbinger story that I never got to read in full -- and to support more material to come.
Here's hoping that there's definitely more Valiant on the way! There's a lot to live up to, but so long as great care is taken...I'm all for more!
See ya at the boards!
Last edited by Texcap on Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:39:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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Texcap
- 100 posts! (if you round to the nearest 100)
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I could certainly use the help (I'm looking for Solar #1-12 right-off-the-bat)!Daniel Jackson wrote:Welcome to the boards. Glad to see your going to support the new VU by getting the new hardcover. If you decide to go after the Solar back issues I'm sure plenty of people around here can hook you up.
Thanks for the welcome.
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greg
- The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
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betterthanezra
- Wanna see an unpublished Shadowman page?
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leonmallett
- My mind is sharp. Like a sharp thing.
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myron
- I do embrace my inner geekdom
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welcome...there are plenty of guys here that could help you with that...just start a thread in the buy/sell forumTexcap wrote:I could certainly use the help (I'm looking for Solar #1-12 right-off-the-bat)!Daniel Jackson wrote:Welcome to the boards. Glad to see your going to support the new VU by getting the new hardcover. If you decide to go after the Solar back issues I'm sure plenty of people around here can hook you up.
Thanks for the welcome.
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Rufusharley
- donkey-shorts!..uhh i mean..danke schön!
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96Valiantfan
- You gotta have Faith!
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X-O HoboJoe
- Bradley is not unsupervised anymore.
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Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
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Re: My Valiant Story You Say?
Yeehaa! Another Cowboys fan in the house!! 
Don't I know you from somewhere?
Don't I know you from somewhere?
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Texcap
- 100 posts! (if you round to the nearest 100)
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Re: My Valiant Story You Say?
Hmmmnnnnnn...now that you mention it...Lightning Strike wrote:Yeehaa! Another Cowboys fan in the house!!
Don't I know you from somewhere?
Glad to see an old friend at the board!
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speedracex
- H.A.R.D.E.R. Corps, with Extra Resistance
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X-O HoboJoe
- Bradley is not unsupervised anymore.
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X-O HoboJoe
- Bradley is not unsupervised anymore.
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- Valiant fan since: 1991
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Chiclo
- I'm Chiclo. My strong Dongs paid off well.
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Yep. We tell Aggie jokes all over the state. They really are a breed apart there; I say that and I attend one of their satellite universities.X-O HoboJoe wrote:A&M? Oh HELL NO!Chiclo wrote:Agro-Americans.X-O HoboJoe wrote:TCU?Texcap wrote:Ha! Let me just say this:X-O HoboJoe wrote:You got it half-way right.Chiclo wrote:Another Texan! Hell yes!
WTTB! You're not a Long-Ho(rn) fan are you?
"Gig 'Em!"