Just discovering Valiant...

[Mark Fuller]

Hi there,

I just wanted to introduce myself in advance of posting on here from time to time.

My story is that I was getting seriously into comics in the early 90s around the time Valiant was first making it big in the early 90s. While I was aware of Valiant I never picked any comics up – it was Marvel and then Image all the way for me. Ahh, the follies of youth!

Anyway, skip forward a couple of decades and I’m still a big comic fan but a little less conservative in my tastes – I pick up a few Marvel and DCs but also an increasing amount of creator-owned work. On a curious whim I picked up the first issues of the new Valiant titles and have been hugely impressed. Good solid storytelling and great art. Who would have thought that would work?

One of the things I’ve most been attracted by is the possibility to get in on something from the ground up - the collector in me likes the idea of starting something there is every chance I’ll be able to keep up with. At least that was the idea before I discovered this site! Reading through the articles and commentary on here has given me an appetite to go back and look into the original books. So, the collector challenge I’ve set myself for the next year is to keep pace with all the printings and variants of the current run of Valiant titles, while building up a nice run of pre-unity books. Hopefully the guys at VEI will make this easy on me by not expanding too quickly!

I'd be interested to hear a realistic view froim those in the know on how much of a shot the new Valiant line has of succeeding. Do you get the impression that the company is well run and resourced enough to carefully build for the long term? And what does success realistically look like - how much market share are VEI aiming for?

That aside, I look forward to getting to know the board!

Mark

[caxiotis]

Welcome Mark

[Daniel Jackson]

Welcome.

[BugsySig]

Hi there,

I just wanted to introduce myself in advance of posting on here from time to time.

My story is that I was getting seriously into comics in the early 90s around the time Valiant was first making it big in the early 90s. While I was aware of Valiant I never picked any comics up – it was Marvel and then Image all the way for me. Ahh, the follies of youth!

Anyway, skip forward a couple of decades and I’m still a big comic fan but a little less conservative in my tastes – I pick up a few Marvel and DCs but also an increasing amount of creator-owned work. On a curious whim I picked up the first issues of the new Valiant titles and have been hugely impressed. Good solid storytelling and great art. Who would have thought that would work?

One of the things I’ve most been attracted by is the possibility to get in on something from the ground up - the collector in me likes the idea of starting something there is every chance I’ll be able to keep up with. At least that was the idea before I discovered this site! Reading through the articles and commentary on here has given me an appetite to go back and look into the original books. So, the collector challenge I’ve set myself for the next year is to keep pace with all the printings and variants of the current run of Valiant titles, while building up a nice run of pre-unity books. Hopefully the guys at VEI will make this easy on me by not expanding too quickly!

I'd be interested to hear a realistic view froim those in the know on how much of a shot the new Valiant line has of succeeding. Do you get the impression that the company is well run and resourced enough to carefully build for the long term? And what does success realistically look like - how much market share are VEI aiming for?

That aside, I look forward to getting to know the board!

Mark

Welcome.

Pre-Unity books are totally worth it, as are a few post Unity runs.

As far as VEI, they are very well run, having been purchased by two huge Valiant fans who hold the characters and company in the highest regard. They have surrounded themselves with talented editors like Warren Simons, former Wizard and Valiant publisher Fred Pierce, and a group of investors led by Peter Cuneo (formal Marvel exec). We all have high hopes that they can and will last long term.

As far as market shares/sales, there are several threads discussing that topic if you poke around enough. By the end of the year I think VALIANT is hoping to be above 1% of the market share (in units, not dollars since they will not start producing trades regularly yet). In July with 3 books on the shelf they were at .85% of units sold. Their eventual goal of 12-16 titles in 3 years, if successful, should land them in the top 5 publishers if sales hold in the 10k+ range on average.

[iwantvaliant]

Welcome!

[dhudson1]

Welcome

[caniac]

Welcome

[jmatt]

I'd be interested to hear a realistic view froim those in the know on how much of a shot the new Valiant line has of succeeding.

Mmm, I'd say that those "in the know" would be the least objective people to answer this question since they have an inherent bias.

Given adequate financing and good management (which they have), I'd say the best measure of potential success comes from people like you: new readers. Do you like the stories and art? If so, I'd say you've answered your own question.

If you're just interested in reading the Pre-Unity stuff, the cheapest solution would be to buy some of the TPBs. But if you're intent on collecting the originals, you have a fun hunt before you.

Welcome to the board!

[betterthanezra]

Welcome and nice story

-Brian

[grendeljd]

Welcome!

[Elveen]

As for the OG Valiant, There are some VERY good books in there and I HIGHLY recommend hunting them down.

As for the success of Valiant now. The one thing I can say is that they have hired well. IMO, they have started better than I could have thought. I always thought success would come at around the 2 year mark.

[drmirage]

Welcome

[comicsyte95]

Welcome!

[MoonChild]

Welcome aboard!

[missjay]

Welcome!

I just started reading Valiant this year too... starting with the old X-O (my husband's been collecting Valiant since the 90's) and since being together- was constantly searching for them at various comic book stores... unbeknownst to me at the time!

Hunting them down is very fun!

[Mark Fuller]

Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone! My Valiant habit seems to be growing - i'm doing a decent job of keeping up with all the new issues and Variants (with a few exceptions I may flag up on the trading board)

Now facing the dificult task of culling my overall pull list to make room in the budget.