2012 - The year I made contact

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MrDomino
If you gave Aric hugs and kisses, would it be XOXO X-O?
If you gave Aric hugs and kisses, would it be XOXO X-O?
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2012 - The year I made contact

Post by MrDomino »

So I grew up in a comic shop. I have pretty much the coolest dad in the world, and have been steeped in comic books and geek culture since I could open my eyes, and for that I am eternally grateful. Sadly, I was a little young for Valiant the first time around. When I was first learning to read (pre-primary schooling, via comics, natch), I thought that Ninjak was about the coolest-looking (besides Batman) character on the shelves, and when "0" came out, I took it home. Unfortunately, my young self was way turned off by all the child abuse and foul language in the first few pages, and I filed it away, never picking up another Valiant book for a very long time.

This was mostly due to the fact that as I began to come of age, I was doing more and more work around my dad's store, including managing all of the overstock - much of which came from a certain specific period that I think we're all familiar with here - Spider-man 30th anniversary issues, Venom: Lethal Protector, Reign of the Supermen, Youngblood, Deathmate, and a whole lot of leftover Valiants. So, never having read any of them, and dealing as I grew up with all the leftovers from this fly-by-night little 90s comic company that only ran for a few years, Valiant books became synonymous with "crap" in my mind. And that's how it stayed for a very long time.

Cue "also sprach zarathustra". The place: that same comic shop. The year: 2012. I was a huge supporter of (and online crusader for) DC's "New 52" initiative the year before (and I'm still one of the people who says it was a shot in the arm for an ailing industry, and firmly believe that V2012 couldn't have happened without it). Marvel's copycat "Now" initiative had already been announced, and along comes another company performing their own version of the New 52 - yawn. Big deal, move along.

Wait a second, hold on here, he didn't really think that, did he? Well, yeah, actually, he did. I even tried to talk my dad into not ordering very much of X-O # 1. Luckily, in his near-infinite wisdom, he illuminated me a bit on the whole Valiant situation, and advised me to check some of them out (to the cheap boxes with you, boy!) The rest, as they say...well, you know. Being a comic reader of exceptional taste, I took to Valiant like Faith to a Star Trek con (or me to a Star Trek con, for that matter), and have been steadily building up my VH1 back issues, while picking up every new Valiant product I can get my hands on, and preaching the word of Valiant to any of my customers who'll listen.

I don't often make use of forums, and probably won't have that much time for this one (thus why it took me a year to even get this far), but I do make fairly frequent use of Facebook, and can be found gibbering like an excited little fanboy more often than not in the Valiant Comics Fan Group on there.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

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MarkRoseHFX
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by MarkRoseHFX »

Welcome to the board! :thumb:
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http://about.me/markrosehfx

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FormerReader
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by FormerReader »

Haha welcome! You thought you could escape the grasp of Valiant. I was never a message board person either, but I've really enjoyed being a member here it is a really fun atmosphere and is obviously filled with a lot of enthusiasm for Valiant.

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lorddunlow
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by lorddunlow »

Welcome, it's fun here. Even though you've already been accosted by one of our various Canadian board members.
*SQUEE* your science, I have a machine gun.

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MarkRoseHFX
smother you to death with a big pile of poutine
smother you to death with a big pile of poutine
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Favorite artist: Cary Nord
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by MarkRoseHFX »

lorddunlow wrote:Welcome, it's fun here. Even though you've already been accosted by one of our various Canadian board members.
:poke:
Hell Yeah Valiant Comics! Tumblr - http://bit.ly/16xoK8x" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://about.me/markrosehfx

PSN- gorakthebunny

Dynamite can suck my balls

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mkb28
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by mkb28 »

What a great story and welcome to the Board! :)

MKB28

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greg
The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by greg »

Welcome! :clap:

I can't help but think that you MIGHT have some of the best original Valiant reading still ahead of you.
If you went to the bargain bins to pick up books for your 1990s Valiant collection, you probably didn't find
the first 8 issues of Magnus or the first 10 issues of Solar.

It's possible you haven't read the first issues of Archer & Armstrong either... :hm:

If those books aren't already in your collection... you've got a nice surprise waiting for you when you read them. :thumb:

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MrDomino
If you gave Aric hugs and kisses, would it be XOXO X-O?
If you gave Aric hugs and kisses, would it be XOXO X-O?
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by MrDomino »

Actually, I have managed to find copies of Magnus 2 and 8, and I have the first four A&A's. The rest is a work in progress. Overall, I love the original Valiant run, but not as much as I'm loving the current stuff.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

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Daniel Jackson
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Welcome.

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Burrito Boy
Just jumpin' through time arcs, that's all.
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Burrito Boy »

Welcome to the board.

Here, have a taco. :D

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comicsyte95
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by comicsyte95 »

Welcome! :thumb:
If I just can't be me ,and the Arrow isn't enough.. then maybe I should be Ra's al Ghul

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caniac
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by caniac »

Welcome to the board :thumb:
Image

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Chiclo
I'm Chiclo. My strong Dongs paid off well.
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Chiclo »

2010 and Wagner references. This one is cool. 8-)

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lorddunlow
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by lorddunlow »

Chiclo wrote:2010 and Wagner references. This one is cool. 8-)
Agreed, but I must have missed the Wagner reference.
*SQUEE* your science, I have a machine gun.

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Chiclo
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Chiclo »

lorddunlow wrote:
Chiclo wrote:2010 and Wagner references. This one is cool. 8-)
Agreed, but I must have missed the Wagner reference.
He cited "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Despite being featured prominently in 2001, it is worth counting as a separate reference.

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lorddunlow
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by lorddunlow »

Chiclo wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:
Chiclo wrote:2010 and Wagner references. This one is cool. 8-)
Agreed, but I must have missed the Wagner reference.
He cited "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Despite being featured prominently in 2001, it is worth counting as a separate reference.
That's Strauss, not Wagner.
*SQUEE* your science, I have a machine gun.

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Burrito Boy
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Burrito Boy »

Beat me to it. Curses, foiled again.

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Chiclo
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Chiclo »

lorddunlow wrote:
Chiclo wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:
Chiclo wrote:2010 and Wagner references. This one is cool. 8-)
Agreed, but I must have missed the Wagner reference.
He cited "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Despite being featured prominently in 2001, it is worth counting as a separate reference.
That's Strauss, not Wagner.
Son of a *SQUEE*. You can understand how one might confuse the two.

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Burrito Boy
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by Burrito Boy »

I can understand how one might confuse Willhelm Richard Wagner with Karl Edward Wagner but surely not how someone could confuse Wagner with Strauss. Those names sound nothing alike. :P

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greg
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by greg »

Burrito Boy wrote:I can understand how one might confuse Willhelm Richard Wagner with Karl Edward Wagner but surely not how someone could confuse Wagner with Strauss. Those names sound nothing alike. :P
Which one of those is Nightcrawler? :?

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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by nscc »

Welcome to the board! :D
Where are we going and why am I in this hand-basket?

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grendeljd
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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by grendeljd »

Cool story, cool dad, and welcome! How awesome to have grown up in a comic shop like that!

Also, I just joined that Valiant Fan group on Facebook the other day! [unless there is more than one...] So I'm sure I'll see some of your gibbering fan-boy-ism's :D
I like to draw stuff... http://grendeljd.deviantart.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife likes to draw stuff too, and she is better than me! [I'm very proud of her]... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sara-Dec ... ref=stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by leonmallett »

Welcome aboard. Welcome to the boards. :thumb:

Thanks for sharing your story. :)
VEI - I look forward to you one day publishing MORE than 9-10 books per month

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Re: 2012 - The year I made contact

Post by doodlebird »

Enjoy working at the shop, and glad you came to valiant again for the first time. And the new 52 is decent.
read me, HC/TPB me; sign me, sketch me, slab me.
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