Hi from Josh/My story

[GammaJosh]

Hi folks, I have been recently getting very into Valiant again, found the ValiantFans website and board, and wanted to introduce myself! My name's Josh, I live near Washington, DC, am the guitarist in a hard rock/metal band, and am a pretty huge comics fan.

I was originally into comics for only about 5 years, I'd say from ages 10-15. I have very fond memories of being into superheroes before age 10, but this was mostly from reruns of shows like The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and Super-Friends. For some reason I have always been drawn to Marvel and my first comics around age 10 were Amazing Spider-Man #316 (classic Venom cover), and Uncanny X-Men #245. Starting with those two issues, I developed into a pretty devoted comics fan, eventually developing a weekly habit, which was no mean feat considering I had to talk my parents into driving me to the comic shop whenever I wanted to go, since there was no store within walking or biking distance.

Somewhere in the middle of this period from ages 10-15, Valiant debuted. I didn't even hear about Valiant until Unity hit, and didn't start actually buying issues until about halfway through Unity. I think at the time I tried out all the characters, but the ones that I really enjoyed the most were Archer & Armstrong, and most of all, Shadowman. I didn't even play an instrument yet at this time, but something about the fact that Jack was a musician was just awesome. I think my first issue was the classic #8. I remember the "blood runners" storyline captivated me and seemed so dark and edgy to me at the time. Something about Valiant's coloring style also really made an impression on me.

I was enjoying the Valiant books, but by the time I really was getting into them, I started my freshman year of high school, priorities changed, and I stopped buying and reading comics completely. I think The Second Life of Dr. Mirage and Armorines were the last new Valiant titles that I tried out. I was out of comics completely by 1995. I dabbled with a few comics again around 2001, enjoying Byrne/Garney Hulk and JRJR's Spider-Man, but that didn't last very long. Finally, in 2006, Marvel's Civil War event brought me back to comics in a big way. By this point I was an underwriter at a big insurance company, and my mundane work life really made me appreciate the imaginative and colorful world of comics again. Within a year or two, I had developed a 30-40 title per-month habit, all Marvel. Until the "Summer of Valiant"!

I hadn't thought about the original Valiant universe for quite a while when I first heard rumblings of the return. The advertisements and articles about the then upcoming relaunch stirred a forgotten appreciation for these wonderful characters that I had spent such precious little time with as a kid. I immediately resolved to try out X-O and Harbinger, and as I'm sure you can all guess, I was thoroughly impressed with the new books. I added them to my sub-list, with strict instructions for my comic shop guy to add everything Valiant to my list.

So here we are a few years later and I am still enjoying the ride immensely. Within the first few months of the relaunch I knew that I wanted to collect all the new comics. And now within the past few months I have decided to go back and start collecting the original Valiant titles. I'm slowly building my collection and look forward to revisiting the original Valiant universe...as soon as time permits! I have a huge pile of comics to read (including an X-Men marathon, starting with 1963 and currently having read my way up to the Age of Apocalypse), and not a lot of time between band commitments and "real life" commitments. I have a feeling the Valiant titles will somehow find their way to the top of my pile though.

And speaking of band commitments, you guys might soon read about something I'm working on. Until then, I'll probably be stopping in here just to geek out in general!

Cheers,

Josh S.
Washington, DC

[bobby97801]

Welcome to the board, Josh.
Great story

[lorddunlow]

Welcome to the boards, fellow Josh! I'm glad to see you are not Canadian. You don't know this yet, but you have been placed smack in the middle of the war of Joshes against Canadian members of this board.

I hereby recruit you to help me vanquish those pesky Canucks such as MarkRoseHFX, hawkeyeps, The Beyonder, and nscc. grendeljd is also Canadian, but his name is Josh as well, so he's in a grey area.

Obviously, about the above.

Glad to have you. It's fun here.

Also, kevinbastos tweets about beer a lot.

[GammaJosh]

I am all about beer and marginalizing Canadians. I think we're gonna get along just fine.

[MarkRoseHFX]

I am all about beer and marginalizing Canadians. I think we're gonna get along just fine.

Welcome to the board!

And you're also now on my list of Americans that i'm going to beat with a hockey stick.

[lorddunlow]

I am all about beer and marginalizing Canadians. I think we're gonna get along just fine.

Welcome to the board!

And you're also now on my list of Americans that i'm going to beat with a hockey stick.

See, these Canadians are violent. They must be stopped at all costs!

[comicsyte95]

Welcome!

[kevinbastos]

Welcome, man. Cool story.

Remember - dunlow=jmatt

But in seriousness - if you want to read those classic X-Men comics - a few years ago, Marvel temporarily licensed their comics to GIT corporation. They revoked it when they began charging to read them - but many used copies are still out there. Here's a link

http://www.amazon.com/40-Years-X-Men-Co ... n+git+corp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I have been reading along, too on my other site. Take a look.

KB

[FormerReader]

Welcome Josh!

[greg]

Welcome!

I ... am the guitarist in a hard rock/metal band

Just wanted to be the first one in this thread to post this:

[GammaJosh]

But in seriousness - if you want to read those classic X-Men comics - a few years ago, Marvel temporarily licensed their comics to GIT corporation. They revoked it when they began charging to read them - but many used copies are still out there. Here's a link


KB

Thanks KB! I actually have almost all of the GIT DVDs, but most are still sealed. I realized I didn't like reading on my computer monitor after I bought them. I'm fortunate enough to have all the early X-Men stuff in Masterworks and starting with about #130 I've got a full run of the original comics (thank you eBay!).

[GammaJosh]

Welcome!

I ... am the guitarist in a hard rock/metal band

Just wanted to be the first one in this thread to post this:

HAIL! \m/

[Daniel Jackson]

Welcome, Josh.

[kevinbastos]

But in seriousness - if you want to read those classic X-Men comics - a few years ago, Marvel temporarily licensed their comics to GIT corporation. They revoked it when they began charging to read them - but many used copies are still out there. Here's a link


KB

Thanks KB! I actually have almost all of the GIT DVDs, but most are still sealed. I realized I didn't like reading on my computer monitor after I bought them. I'm fortunate enough to have all the early X-Men stuff in Masterworks and starting with about #130 I've got a full run of the original comics (thank you eBay!).

You aren't missing much there. Up until the shift to Adams - it's like tripe.

[GammaJosh]

You aren't missing much there. Up until the shift to Adams - it's like tripe.

Yeah, that was a pretty rough slog through the first 40 issues or so!

[betterthanezra]

Welcome Josh

The Bloodrunner story-line in SM is highly regarded here so your in good company

-Brian

[Peter]

Hello Josh,

Cheers and welcome.

[GammaJosh]

Welcome Josh

The Bloodrunner story-line in SM is highly regarded here so your in good company

-Brian

"Bloodrunner" definitely needs to be a metal song!

[Man Of The Atom]

Welcome to the boards!

[Aram]

But in seriousness - if you want to read those classic X-Men comics - a few years ago, Marvel temporarily licensed their comics to GIT corporation. They revoked it when they began charging to read them - but many used copies are still out there. Here's a link


KB

Thanks KB! I actually have almost all of the GIT DVDs, but most are still sealed. I realized I didn't like reading on my computer monitor after I bought them. I'm fortunate enough to have all the early X-Men stuff in Masterworks and starting with about #130 I've got a full run of the original comics (thank you eBay!).

Welcome to the boards!

Computer reading is way better if you get a 24" monitor that pivots 90 degrees, reading like that is awesome! I haven't done that since I got the ipad with retina display, but it was really nice back before the iPad.

[lorddunlow]

But in seriousness - if you want to read those classic X-Men comics - a few years ago, Marvel temporarily licensed their comics to GIT corporation. They revoked it when they began charging to read them - but many used copies are still out there. Here's a link


KB

Thanks KB! I actually have almost all of the GIT DVDs, but most are still sealed. I realized I didn't like reading on my computer monitor after I bought them. I'm fortunate enough to have all the early X-Men stuff in Masterworks and starting with about #130 I've got a full run of the original comics (thank you eBay!).

Welcome to the boards!

Computer reading is way better if you get a 24" monitor that pivots 90 degrees, reading like that is awesome! I haven't done that since I got the ipad with retina display, but it was really nice back before the iPad.

+1 Also how I read before I got a Nook.

[GammaJosh]

I'll have to try that out eventually. For now, I just can't imagine reading comics or any kind of book without some actual paper in my hands. And you just can't beat that smell of old back issues!

[leonmallett]

Welcome aboard the board Josh.

[kevinbastos]

Also, kevinbastos tweets about beer a lot.

Wait. What? Really?

[grendeljd]

I'll have to try that out eventually. For now, I just can't imagine reading comics or any kind of book without some actual paper in my hands. And you just can't beat that smell of old back issues!

Aaand, we have another Smelly-Feely Club Member!

Welcome, fellow Josh! It would be a shame if you sided with evil Dunlow Josh in the never-ending great Josh/Canadian VFan war, but meh... I reside in the grey area of that struggle. I proudly stand with my fellow Canadian Compadres, but then, sometimes... Dunlow is ok. shhh, don't tell him