Hey Greg, your story link ?

How did you become a VALIANT collector?

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doodlebird
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Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by doodlebird »

Is your story link supposed to link to just the main site link ? :? Am I missing the point :bricks:
read me, HC/TPB me; sign me, sketch me, slab me.
S.SAHLE

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greg
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by greg »

It pointed to a specific page on the old site. That page isn't there now.

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doodlebird
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by doodlebird »

Can you get it to this site ? I lacked diversity of areas when perusing this site until recently, and never got to read your story facepalm
read me, HC/TPB me; sign me, sketch me, slab me.
S.SAHLE

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drmirage
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by drmirage »

Greg's story will be enough to fill a library. :)

THE SECRET HISTORY OF VALIANT FANS WITH GREG HOLLAND

http://onlythevaliant.com/episodes/160/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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greg
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by greg »

I found an archive of the page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120619005 ... boutme.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here are the contents in case the archive isn't around forever...

_______________________________________________________________________________

[[ WRITTEN IN ABOUT 2002, LAST UPDATED AROUND 2005 ]]

MY VALIANT STORY

I've collected different things since about 1988,
mostly sportscards, comic books, and action figures.

In 1992, I bought my first Valiant comic book right off the stand...
It was Rai #0.
I was impressed by the story...
I've always enjoyed time-travel themes, so the "past, present and future"
presented in the comic was intriguing.
Like most others at the time, I had missed almost 2 years of Valiant comics.
When I started searching for those issues that I had missed,
I found that they were hard to come by.

Price guides indicated that early Valiant issues were hard to find everywhere.
These "Pre-Unity" Valiant books were in demand for 3 main reasons.
1. They were the stories that many people had missed.
2. They were the first issues of these Valiant comics.
3. They were not produced in large quantities like Marvel and DC books of that day.

I bought all the "current" Valiant titles in 1993, and I found a few
of the older issues, mostly from the Unity storyline.
But I didn't have the money or even a source for building my collection
of 1991 and early 1992 Valiant comics.

In late-1993, when I felt like many stories weren't worth reading anymore...
and when the comics I just bought for $3 were now in the bargain bin
for 50cents each, I couldn't take it anymore.
I still couldn't buy those early Valiant comics that I wanted.
They were still $20, $50, $100...

I gave up on Valiant.

Although I wasn't buying comics, I was watching the comic book industry.
It became apparent very quickly that the story was not the driving
force in the popularity of the comics...
Art was the seller.
More specifically: flashy, seductive, variant cover art.

Was anyone reading these comics? No.

I guess everything has ups and downs...
It was definitely a "down time" for reading comics.

Through-out the mid-1990s, I checked in the comics industry...
The "latest greatest" comics with the most scantily-clad females
still ruled the market.

When I looked again at Valiant, to see what happened to them...
Valiant as a company was gone, and Acclaim owned all the rights.
The original stories had stopped in 1996, and many weren't
as good after those magical early years...

Then I looked again at the prices...
Not only had the 1993-and-later Valiants dropped in price...
But the 1991 and 1992 issues dropped in price as well!
It was time...

Starting late in 1998, I began buying all those early Valiants
that I couldn't afford 5 years earlier.
Through my local comic shop, through national dealers, and
mainly through online auctions, I have built my Valiant collection
into one of the best that money can buy...
(And it wasn't a lot of money either...)

When I couldn't find a lot of information about Valiant comics online,
I decided to start a website of Valiant Reference information...
Though it is a few years late...the website idea grew from the early Valiant
contests asking fans to "Do Something To Promote Valiant".

In June of 1999, I registered the ValiantComics.com domain name,
and with the help of many fellow collectors, I have steadily
added pages, graphics, and databases to the site.
In 2004, I registered the ValiantFans.com domain name to provide
the community messageboard with a better webhosting platform.

I love reading and re-reading the earliest books in my Valiant collection,
especially issues from Magnus #1 (May 1991 issue) to Rai #0 (Nov 1992).
That's about 100 comics... and let me tell you, those are great stories.
Since you've found this website, you probably already knew that.

When "reading your comics" becomes popular again,
people may finally realize that the "latest, greatest comics"
are really just the "latest comics". "Great" doesn't happen everyday.

Throughout the 20th century, there were thousands of great comic stories.
Some of those great comics now cost as much as a car or a house.
But a few of those great stories are from 1991 and 1992.

GOT VALIANT?

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iggy101us
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by iggy101us »

Welcome to the board. :thumb:

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lorddunlow
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by lorddunlow »

iggy101us wrote:Welcome to the board. :thumb:
:funnypost:
*SQUEE* your science, I have a machine gun.

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doodlebird
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Location: Lake Worth, FL
Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by doodlebird »

Thanks for the story. Very cool to get to read, actually thought you were avid from the get go. Thanks again :D
read me, HC/TPB me; sign me, sketch me, slab me.
S.SAHLE

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greg
The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
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Re: Hey Greg, your story link ?

Post by greg »

doodlebird wrote:Thanks for the story. Very cool to get to read, actually thought you were avid from the get go. Thanks again :D
:D

I think in OTV 160 I said something like "first, in that I was nowhere near first". :P


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