Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

How did you become a VALIANT collector?

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279378376
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Valiant fan since: 1991
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Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by 279378376 »

Hi guys,

So, right when the Valiant Universe started, I was into comics, and I remember being in the local (well, 20 miles away) comics store one day, and seeing a Valiant - I am pretty sure it was Magnus #1, and going "oh this looks cool" and buying it, and when I read it, I loved it.

I began collecting every Valiant issue, and it wasn't too long before they started getting popular, and I always had a bit of a knack for noticing what comics were getting "hot" and buying some extra issues ahead of time. There were a handful of comic shops within a 45 minute drive and I'd visit them all pretty regularily, and often find deals.

I wound up basically owning everything pre-Unity I think, although not every single variant. I did all the mail-ins (unless there were any I missed), and I got most of the more rare issues, but always felt really burned that I never got one of the Unity #0 red issues. The comic store I bought all the new issues at didn't give me one or put one aside, which was kind of mean since I was easily the person buying more Valiants from them than ANYONE else, and they told me so (I had a standing order to put all new issues aside for me). I might be getting this mixed up as far as how you got the red edition - maybe I'm thinking of some other variant - but I know it was pretty messed up that they probably hoarded the really rare ones, once it was clear that Valiant back issues usually went up in price quickly. I also never got an Archer and Armstrong gold, but c'est la vie I guess.

So anyhow, I guess soon after Unity, I just went off comics. I think I went off to school, maybe ran out of spending money to some degree (still no clue how I afforded to buy all the issues I did - the cover prices were pretty high for the 90s if you adjust for inflation!), etc.

I love all those old Valiants, but they've been sitting in 2 boxes for years and years (bagged/boarded obviously). It's funny, because I kept track of the titles I owned, and how many of each, on top of one of the boxes, and I did wheel and deal a bit back then, and I can see that I used to own 7 copies of Harbinger 1 (sold five of them to a guy for a decent price just before going to college), but then also a kind of weird variety of other stuff.

For instance, I owned:

10 copies of Magnus 2 - if I recall, this was rumored to be very rare at the time and prices got high??? I know I bought these for cover price when they were selling much higher

11 copies of Shadowman 8 - I guess it seemed like Master Darque was going to make this valuable?

2 copies of Eternal Warrior 5 - What was the deal here, Bloodshot I guess?
4 copies of Eternal Warrior 6 - ditto I guess

But don't get me wrong, I wasn't just in it for the money or collecting's sake, I loved all these comics, and I actually had a bare wood guitar body at the time I (embarassingly now) spent 10-20 hours painting with a reproduction of the Rai #1 cover - I am talking the Rai #1 that was the flipside of Magnus 5. I sanded it off the guitar about 10 years ago, but I regret it now, it wasn't too bad a job, and I would just like to see it.

So anyhow, those were my beginnings in Valiant, but then I did spend most of the time post-Unity totally ignoring it. I'm too lazy to go cross-check dates, but I think a few things happened at once: Unity ending and new comics starting (I think? I'm fuzzy on this), me going away to college, and some switch-ups at the comic shop (including, sadly, one of my 2 main buddies who worked there dying incredibly young, of some heart issue).

For years, I thought that my Valiants were (in monetary terms) worthless, I thought the company was dead and that only a select few Marvel comics were collectible anymore. However, a weird trail of events led me to finally looking up the current state of Valiant: I watched the Deadpool trailer, looked him up on wikipedia, saw his first appearance's cover, said "oh I have that", checked on Ebay to see how much it sells for, went "WHOA", pulled out all my comics, found out I have some decent Marvels, so I advertised the Deadpool and some first appearances of Cable on Craigslist, a guy came to buy them, as he came in, he went to look at the 2 boxes with Valiants and I said "oh those are Valiants, they're worth nothing, I'm just going to read them sometime when I have time, here I stuck all the Marvels in the kitchen", and then as he was leaving he said "so you're sure you don't want to sell any Valiants? My friend told me some of those are valuable", so afterwards I searched on Ebay and went whooooaaaa, I misjudged. I think I did some really cursory Ebay-ing a while ago and thought that they all sold for like $2 and then some insane shipping fee.

It's kind of a pain now, because honestly, I love these comics BUT I could use the money from selling them, but that seems like an insane hassle - I mean, I don't have the time or energy to mail off the best ones to CGC, pay some big fees and then wait 75 business days to get them graded, etc.

I am no grading expert, but mine seem to be in really good shape though (especially compared to my bagged and boarded Marvels of the time which were cheaper materials of course), and that is where the pain comes in: I definitely don't want to open anything up that might be worth $100+, but like I said, I don't want to get them graded either, that looks like a nightmare. So I don't know, I may take really good pics of them and list them on Ebay ungraded and hope to get an okay price, or I may just hang onto them and be lazy, and justify it as "well if they make movies of this stuff, it might be worth way more!"

Also right now I'm a bit low on cash, but it'd suck if in a year or two, I wound up with an especially good job (which is possible) and had loads of money and the profit from these comics seemed like peanuts, but I had sold them all. And let's say I sold them all today and magically got top dollar for every single one and had like $2000+, the main thing I would do would be buy an expensive camera, which let's be honest, would have very little value in 4 or 5 years anyway, HOWEVER, just as easily, I could keep all these, never really read them again, and I could die with them always having just say in the box. Dilemnas hahahha.

Long post, yikes.

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bobby97801
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by bobby97801 »

Welcome :thumb:

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DirtbagSailor
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by DirtbagSailor »

Welcome to the boards!

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comicsyte95
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

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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nycjadie
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by nycjadie »

Welcome! There are lots of fans like you here.

279378376
Working on the first full appearance of me
Working on the first full appearance of me
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 8:45:52 pm
Valiant fan since: 1991
Favorite character: Rai
Favorite title: Rai
Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by 279378376 »

nycjadie wrote:Welcome! There are lots of fans like you here.
Man, that's the TRUTH, I read a few other posts in this forum after I posted mine, and the very first one I read was almost exactly like mine, detail for detail ! That's good for Valiant I guess, if old fans like me are progressively catching on to them and getting into them again.

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greg
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by greg »

279378376 wrote:
nycjadie wrote:Welcome! There are lots of fans like you here.
Man, that's the TRUTH, I read a few other posts in this forum after I posted mine, and the very first one I read was almost exactly like mine, detail for detail ! That's good for Valiant I guess, if old fans like me are progressively catching on to them and getting into them again.
I was a big Valiant fan in 1992-93, then I felt like they were "old books" when I got back into them again in 1997-98.
I was 21 and I started looking for something "old" that I liked "way back" when I was 16. :lol:

Many of the guys on this site have a window where we didn't collect Valiant (or any comics) for a few years...
it's always great to hear from guys who were "out of comics" for 20+ years who get re-excited by them.

Sometimes those of us who've been "back in" for a long time might get bored or satisfied with our collections, but it's funny how contagious a little new enthusiasm can be. :thumb:
Welcome! :high-five:

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Daniel Jackson
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Great story. Welcome.

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mkb28
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by mkb28 »

Welcome to the Boards! :thumb:

Mkb28

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caxiotis
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Re: Okay, here's my story (superfan from day 1)

Post by caxiotis »

Welcome
Pull List: I only buy TPB's, HC's and Hellboy comics


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