New to Valiant

[tbenson]

I am new to Valiant and have a very short story - but hopefully that's just the beginning!

I met fellow forum member mkb28 when I bound some of his comic book collection. I am the sales rep for Houchen Bindery and handle all of the comic book projects.
We were able to schedule things so I was able to deliver his first batch in person and he told me about this forum.
I have been lurking for a few hours waiting for admin to approve me, and now here I am.

The first Valiant title I ever read was the 2012 relaunch of X-O. I read the first 2-3 issues and loved them, but then lost track and never got back to it.
My next stop on the forum is to see if I can't pick up a full run of any of the X-O series' on the selling page.

I would love some suggestions for a new to Valiant reader.

I am working on understanding the history of the publisher going from Valiant to Acclaim to Nothing to Valiant Entertainment.

Thanks for having me!

[Chiclo]

Welcome!

There is a wonderful oversized X-O hardcover collection that includes the first 14 or so issues - but I get the feeling you might want to bind that sort of thing yourself.

[tbenson]

Welcome!

There is a wonderful oversized X-O hardcover collection that includes the first 14 or so issues - but I get the feeling you might want to bind that sort of thing yourself.

At this point I just want to get familiar with it all, so if I can't find the issues easily I will pick up the publisher's books. You're right that I do usually want to bind it myself, but sometimes they do such a fantastic job that I have to pick it up. And I steal ideas from them too! I will check this out. Thanks for the info.

[greg]

I have been lurking for a few hours waiting for admin to approve me, and now here I am.

Welcome to the board!

[DirtbagSailor]

Welcome!

DBS

[lorddunlow]

Welcome to the boards. It's fun here as long as you steer clear of the Canadians
I would recommend Archer and Armstrong is a can't miss series.

[Daniel Jackson]

Welcome.

[Aram]

Welcome!

I don't think You can't go wrong with Archer and Armstrong and X-O, they are the best of the New in my opinion, followed then by everything else.

"My" Valiant History 101 Summary: (To bring you up to speed)

1989-1990

Jim Shooter uses his industry know-how and contacts to form Valiant Comics. Initially they do some corporate advertisements like Spaghetti-O's and then publish comics with Nintendo and WWF characters, this enables them to expand and finally get into publishing their own Universe.

Valiant Universe Begins: May 1991-1992;

The first 49 books (not counting reprinted material or Variants) are published and quickly gain legendary status.

Magnus 0-14
Solar 1-11
Harbinger 0-7
X-O Manowar 1-6
Rai 1-5
Shadowman 1-3
Archer and Armstrong 0

Summer of 1992: This led up to what some of us feel was quite possibly the ultimate comic event ever; UNITY. 18 books published in 2 months Crossing over into each other in near perfect harmony and continuity.

Unity 0
Magnus 15,16
Solar 12,13
Harbinger 8,9
X-O Manowar 7,8
Rai 6,7
Shadowman 4,5
Archer and Armstrong 1,2
Eternal Warrior 1,2
Unity 1

End of 1992 / Beginning of 1993:

After this time there was a falling out with the Powers that Be and the Man Primarily Responsible for Essentially Directing the Creation of the Valiant Universe, Jim Shooter. He was outed from the company he Formed and Bob Layton Takes a leading Role.

1993-1994

The Beginning of the Downward Spiral. Books begin to be over printed due to insane speculation leading to million+ print runs. The comics are financially successful, but much of the story does not hold up to the brightness that Valiant obtained before UNITY.

1994-1996

Valiant (Voyager Communications) Sells out to Acclaim (the Video Game company) for $65 million. Many Titles are Axed, a new relaunch/crossover/something? (Birthquake) tanks, and series that survive are mostly changed for the worse?

1996

Valiant is now Acclaim Comics. The Old universe Ends around the Time Acclaim publishes the "Ironman/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal" video game and 2 part comic. Acclaim relaunches a completely New take on Valiant Properties. The comic industry is now the living-Dead, what's left is primarily filled with Zombies and the United States of America becomes a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland filled with the decaying corpses of comic shops all around the country..

1996-2002

Acclaim tools the Valiant characters to better suite their video game story needs and makes a killing on Valiant based
Video Games, however it loses it's shirt on essentially everything else the company attempts. The comics dwindle into lower print numbers, with Quantum and Woody being an exception. The title was canceled and then revived after reader backlash was so intense it made Acclaim reverse their decision. 2002 comes and Acclaim Axes the whole comics division, due to facing it's immanent death after losing it's sports games license.

2004

Acclaim files bankruptcy.

2005-2007

VEI

Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari long time Valiant Fans organize investors to pursue gaining the rights to the comics and reviving the Characters. After a Initial losing bid, the winners back out due to a legal challenge from a unscrupulous company who attempted to swipe the trademarks. Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari are able to purchase the rights to Valiant and Acclaim Characters, minus the ones based off the "Gold-Key 3", that Jim Shooter originally licensed; Turok, Magnus and Solar. After a Legal Battle, VEI and the "unscrupulous company" come to some agreement which might include VEI not being able to say anything about the said Company.

2007-2008

VEI however now has all rights and moves ahead. From My understanding Initially VEI works with Jim Shooter to relaunch the Universe, A few new stories are Created with Jim Shooter and Bob Layton that are included in 3 new Hardback collections of the early issues of; Archer and Armstrong, Harbinger and X-O Manowar.

However heads collide at some point and it is unable to be worked out. Jim Shooter Leaves and Relaunches the "Gold Key 3" with Darkhorse in 2008, possibly while he was still officially working with VEI. I speculate that VEI likely then needed to rework their Universe from Scratch again.

2008-2012

Silence from VEI.

2012

VEI Explodes upon the world In MAY 2012 with the amazing "Summer of Valiant". 1 New Title launched each month through August starting with X-O Manowar and ending with Archer and Armstrong.

2012-Infinity

VEI continues to amaze old Fans and New fans with a Connected Universe and consistently high quality books in every way (except often cover stock during the first few years ).

[MarkRoseHFX]

Welcome to the board tbenson

pay no attention to lorddunlow he's of questionable West Virginian heritage and possibly related to the banjo kid from Deliverance

[comicsyte95]

Welcome!

[tbenson]

Welcome!

I don't think You can't go wrong with Archer and Armstrong and X-O, they are the best of the New in my opinion, followed then by everything else.

"My" Valiant History 101 Summary: (To bring you up to speed)

1989-1990

Jim Shooter uses his industry know-how and contacts to form Valiant Comics. Initially they do some corporate advertisements like Spaghetti-O's and then publish comics with Nintendo and WWF characters, this enables them to expand and finally get into publishing their own Universe.

Valiant Universe Begins: May 1991-1992;

The first 49 books (not counting reprinted material or Variants) are published and quickly gain legendary status.

Magnus 0-14
Solar 1-11
Harbinger 0-7
X-O Manowar 1-6
Rai 1-5
Shadowman 1-3
Archer and Armstrong 0

Summer of 1992: This led up to what some of us feel was quite possibly the ultimate comic event ever; UNITY. 18 books published in 2 months Crossing over into each other in near perfect harmony and continuity.

Unity 0
Magnus 15,16
Solar 12,13
Harbinger 8,9
X-O Manowar 7,8
Rai 6,7
Shadowman 4,5
Archer and Armstrong 1,2
Eternal Warrior 1,2
Unity 1

End of 1992 / Beginning of 1993:

After this time there was a falling out with the Powers that Be and the Man Primarily Responsible for Essentially Directing the Creation of the Valiant Universe, Jim Shooter. He was outed from the company he Formed and Bob Layton Takes a leading Role.

1993-1994

The Beginning of the Downward Spiral. Books begin to be over printed due to insane speculation leading to million+ print runs. The comics are financially successful, but much of the story does not hold up to the brightness that Valiant obtained before UNITY.

1994-1996

Valiant (Voyager Communications) Sells out to Acclaim (the Video Game company) for $65 million. Many Titles are Axed, a new relaunch/crossover/something? (Birthquake) tanks, and series that survive are mostly changed for the worse?

1996

Valiant is now Acclaim Comics. The Old universe Ends around the Time Acclaim publishes the "Ironman/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal" video game and 2 part comic. Acclaim relaunches a completely New take on Valiant Properties. The comic industry is now the living-Dead, what's left is primarily filled with Zombies and the United States of America becomes a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland filled with the decaying corpses of comic shops all around the country..

1996-2002

Acclaim tools the Valiant characters to better suite their video game story needs and makes a killing on Valiant based
Video Games, however it loses it's shirt on essentially everything else the company attempts. The comics dwindle into lower print numbers, with Quantum and Woody being an exception. The title was canceled and then revived after reader backlash was so intense it made Acclaim reverse their decision. 2002 comes and Acclaim Axes the whole comics division, due to facing it's immanent death after losing it's sports games license.

2004

Acclaim files bankruptcy.

2005-2007

VEI

Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari long time Valiant Fans organize investors to pursue gaining the rights to the comics and reviving the Characters. After a Initial losing bid, the winners back out due to a legal challenge from a unscrupulous company who attempted to swipe the trademarks. Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari are able to purchase the rights to Valiant and Acclaim Characters, minus the ones based off the "Gold-Key 3", that Jim Shooter originally licensed; Turok, Magnus and Solar. After a Legal Battle, VEI and the "unscrupulous company" come to some agreement which might include VEI not being able to say anything about the said Company.

2007-2008

VEI however now has all rights and moves ahead. From My understanding Initially VEI works with Jim Shooter to relaunch the Universe, A few new stories are Created with Jim Shooter and Bob Layton that are included in 3 new Hardback collections of the early issues of; Archer and Armstrong, Harbinger and X-O Manowar.

However heads collide at some point and it is unable to be worked out. Jim Shooter Leaves and Relaunches the "Gold Key 3" with Darkhorse in 2008, possibly while he was still officially working with VEI. I speculate that VEI likely then needed to rework their Universe from Scratch again.

2008-2012

Silence from VEI.

2012

VEI Explodes upon the world In MAY 2012 with the amazing "Summer of Valiant". 1 New Title launched each month through August starting with X-O Manowar and ending with Archer and Armstrong.

2012-Infinity

VEI continues to amaze old Fans and New fans with a Connected Universe and consistently high quality books in every way (except often cover stock during the first few years ).

--------------------------------------

WOW! This is great. Can I take this even further? I am a crazy completest. I am going to put a list together of every title published and piece it into this timeline. Then I will map it all out into a nice binding map. I am pretty sure someone did this already too. But, it's fun!

[bobby97801]

Welcome

[mkb28]

Welcome TB! Glad to see you are having fun exploring the boards and learning about Valiant. I highly recommend reading all of the new X-O, Harbinger, Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, and Quantum and Woody. Feel free to give me a call or shoot me a PM whenever you have questions.

Great summary from Aram, by the way.

Michael
Mkb28

[Chiclo]

Welcome!

I don't think You can't go wrong with Archer and Armstrong and X-O, they are the best of the New in my opinion, followed then by everything else.

"My" Valiant History 101 Summary: (To bring you up to speed)

1989-1990

Jim Shooter uses his industry know-how and contacts to form Valiant Comics. Initially they do some corporate advertisements like Spaghetti-O's and then publish comics with Nintendo and WWF characters, this enables them to expand and finally get into publishing their own Universe.

Valiant Universe Begins: May 1991-1992;

The first 49 books (not counting reprinted material or Variants) are published and quickly gain legendary status.

Magnus 0-14
Solar 1-11
Harbinger 0-7
X-O Manowar 1-6
Rai 1-5
Shadowman 1-3
Archer and Armstrong 0

Summer of 1992: This led up to what some of us feel was quite possibly the ultimate comic event ever; UNITY. 18 books published in 2 months Crossing over into each other in near perfect harmony and continuity.

Unity 0
Magnus 15,16
Solar 12,13
Harbinger 8,9
X-O Manowar 7,8
Rai 6,7
Shadowman 4,5
Archer and Armstrong 1,2
Eternal Warrior 1,2
Unity 1

End of 1992 / Beginning of 1993:

After this time there was a falling out with the Powers that Be and the Man Primarily Responsible for Essentially Directing the Creation of the Valiant Universe, Jim Shooter. He was outed from the company he Formed and Bob Layton Takes a leading Role.

1993-1994

The Beginning of the Downward Spiral. Books begin to be over printed due to insane speculation leading to million+ print runs. The comics are financially successful, but much of the story does not hold up to the brightness that Valiant obtained before UNITY.

1994-1996

Valiant (Voyager Communications) Sells out to Acclaim (the Video Game company) for $65 million. Many Titles are Axed, a new relaunch/crossover/something? (Birthquake) tanks, and series that survive are mostly changed for the worse?

1996

Valiant is now Acclaim Comics. The Old universe Ends around the Time Acclaim publishes the "Ironman/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal" video game and 2 part comic. Acclaim relaunches a completely New take on Valiant Properties. The comic industry is now the living-Dead, what's left is primarily filled with Zombies and the United States of America becomes a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland filled with the decaying corpses of comic shops all around the country..

1996-2002

Acclaim tools the Valiant characters to better suite their video game story needs and makes a killing on Valiant based
Video Games, however it loses it's shirt on essentially everything else the company attempts. The comics dwindle into lower print numbers, with Quantum and Woody being an exception. The title was canceled and then revived after reader backlash was so intense it made Acclaim reverse their decision. 2002 comes and Acclaim Axes the whole comics division, due to facing it's immanent death after losing it's sports games license.

2004

Acclaim files bankruptcy.

2005-2007

VEI

Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari long time Valiant Fans organize investors to pursue gaining the rights to the comics and reviving the Characters. After a Initial losing bid, the winners back out due to a legal challenge from a unscrupulous company who attempted to swipe the trademarks. Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari are able to purchase the rights to Valiant and Acclaim Characters, minus the ones based off the "Gold-Key 3", that Jim Shooter originally licensed; Turok, Magnus and Solar. After a Legal Battle, VEI and the "unscrupulous company" come to some agreement which might include VEI not being able to say anything about the said Company.

2007-2008

VEI however now has all rights and moves ahead. From My understanding Initially VEI works with Jim Shooter to relaunch the Universe, A few new stories are Created with Jim Shooter and Bob Layton that are included in 3 new Hardback collections of the early issues of; Archer and Armstrong, Harbinger and X-O Manowar.

However heads collide at some point and it is unable to be worked out. Jim Shooter Leaves and Relaunches the "Gold Key 3" with Darkhorse in 2008, possibly while he was still officially working with VEI. I speculate that VEI likely then needed to rework their Universe from Scratch again.

2008-2012

Silence from VEI.

2012

VEI Explodes upon the world In MAY 2012 with the amazing "Summer of Valiant". 1 New Title launched each month through August starting with X-O Manowar and ending with Archer and Armstrong.

2012-Infinity

VEI continues to amaze old Fans and New fans with a Connected Universe and consistently high quality books in every way (except often cover stock during the first few years ).

--------------------------------------

WOW! This is great. Can I take this even further? I am a crazy completest. I am going to put a list together of every title published and piece it into this timeline. Then I will map it all out into a nice binding map. I am pretty sure someone did this already too. But, it's fun!

Not so much the newer stuff, but there is a lengthy discussion already about binding the older stuff.

The first Valiant stuff (VH1) -
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... it=mapping" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Acclaim stuff (VH2) -
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/viewto ... it=mapping" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And a selection of other threads about binding -
http://www.valiantfans.com/forum/search ... mit=Search" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[grendeljd]

Welcome!