My Valiant Story

How did you become a VALIANT collector?

Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg

Post Reply
User avatar
Shadowmatt
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?
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:38:54 pm
Location: Grafton, WI
Contact:
My Valiant Story

Post by Shadowmatt »

I have been a comic collector since roughly 1986, when I was old enough to be able to understand what was going on in the story. I was primarily a Batman and the Flash reader, but after a while, I started to drift off to an occasional reader. Around 1991, I came back to the comic store on a more regular basis, as that was the "cool" thing to do. Eventually, I saw a cover that just struck me as being extremely cool looking, so I had to pick it up. That book was Solar #1 and I picked up most of the entire series. The next book I got into was Rai, followed by my personal favorite, Shadowman.

I read these comics for roughly four years, right up until just after the Chaos Effect, when my local comic shop seemed to stop ordering Valiant books other than Ninjak or X-O Manowar at all. I would pick up Shadowman, Solar, and Magnus whenever I could (especially since Magnus was written by John Ostrander and later Keith Giffen, and Solar was written by Dan Jurgens toward the end).

I never really stopped reading Valiant books, I would get as many of them as I could whenever I could. Currently, I'm working on filling in some gaps in my collections (I only need four more issues of Shadowman, ten of Solar, and about fifteen of Magnus). I stumbled upon this website looking for a listing of all of Solar's appearances.

Hopefully in the near future I will have complete runs of these books. Thankfully I'm able to pick up larger runs on ebay for affordable prices. Whatever I can't find on ebay, a local comic shop sells some Valiant books for cover price, so I look there!

User avatar
myron
I do embrace my inner geekdom
I do embrace my inner geekdom
Posts: 16277
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 10:37:59 am
Valiant fan since: 1991
Favorite character: Gilad
Favorite title: Pre-Unity Harbinger
Location: watertown, wi

Post by myron »

welcome :thumb:
Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?

User avatar
Heath
The Saints will win the Super-Bowl!
The Saints will win the Super-Bowl!
Posts: 11527
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:05:06 pm
Valiant fan since: 1992
Favorite character: VH1 Shadowman; VEI X-O
Favorite title: VH1 Shadowman; VEI X-O, Harb
Favorite writer: Bob Hall; Dysart, Van Lente
Location: Torque's Hundred-Yard-Long New Orleans Saints' Themed Dining Hall

Post by Heath »

Welcome, Shadowmatt!

Which Shadowman issues are you missing? I have extras of most issues and might can help you out.
I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.

User avatar
depluto
[custom level vored]
[custom level vored]
Posts: 19504
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 1:38:47 pm
Valiant fan since: Yes
Favorite character: Yes
Favorite title: Yes
Favorite writer: Yes
Location: Pluto Beach FL

Post by depluto »

Welcome. And don't settle for cover price. Most collections on this site were built for much less. This is a good place to trade and buy, too.

ibreakhorses
...it has been down hill ever since.
...it has been down hill ever since.
Posts: 3988
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:18:44 am

Post by ibreakhorses »

Welcome, you came to the right place! :thumb:

User avatar
jedimarley
Evra'Ting Ire Mon.
Evra'Ting Ire Mon.
Posts: 16063
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 1:44:29 pm

Post by jedimarley »

Sup' Bro. :thumb:

User avatar
Shadowmatt
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?
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:38:54 pm
Location: Grafton, WI
Contact:

Post by Shadowmatt »

depluto wrote:Welcome. And don't settle for cover price. Most collections on this site were built for much less. This is a good place to trade and buy, too.
I try to get as many runs off ebay that I can, but it seems that around here, all of the comic shops have discontinued their discount bins (unless it's a Silver Age book in crappy condition). Since Mile High jacked their prices, I'm staying away from ordering from them when there are so many other resources on the net.

User avatar
Daniel Jackson
A toast to the return of Valiant!
A toast to the return of Valiant!
Posts: 38007
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33:38 pm

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Shadowmatt wrote:Since Mile High jacked their prices, I'm staying away from ordering from them when there are so many other resources on the net.

I don't blame you; right now is definitely not the time to buy Valiants from Mile High. Welcome to the boards btw.

User avatar
Technique
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Posts: 5238
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:16:31 am
Location: The S is for Sucks

Post by Technique »

Daniel Jackson wrote:
Shadowmatt wrote:Since Mile High jacked their prices, I'm staying away from ordering from them when there are so many other resources on the net.

I don't blame you; right now is definitely not the time to buy Valiants from Mile High. Welcome to the boards btw.
Does MHC even do any market research? Or do they just automatically jack their prices by 500% if they get an inkling that somethings hot?

I bought from them once, a few months ago. I don't think I will buy from them again they messed everything up so bad.

User avatar
Daniel Jackson
A toast to the return of Valiant!
A toast to the return of Valiant!
Posts: 38007
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33:38 pm

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Technique wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:
Shadowmatt wrote:Since Mile High jacked their prices, I'm staying away from ordering from them when there are so many other resources on the net.

I don't blame you; right now is definitely not the time to buy Valiants from Mile High. Welcome to the boards btw.
Does MHC even do any market research? Or do they just automatically jack their prices by 500% if they get an inkling that somethings hot?

I bought from them once, a few months ago. I don't think I will buy from them again they messed everything up so bad.
I'm not sure what Chuck's angle is for jacking the Valiant prices up so much, but I do know that they are not going to get many purchases that way (at least not from me anyway).

User avatar
Technique
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Posts: 5238
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:16:31 am
Location: The S is for Sucks

Post by Technique »

Daniel Jackson wrote:
Technique wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:
Shadowmatt wrote:Since Mile High jacked their prices, I'm staying away from ordering from them when there are so many other resources on the net.

I don't blame you; right now is definitely not the time to buy Valiants from Mile High. Welcome to the boards btw.
Does MHC even do any market research? Or do they just automatically jack their prices by 500% if they get an inkling that somethings hot?

I bought from them once, a few months ago. I don't think I will buy from them again they messed everything up so bad.
I'm not sure what Chuck's angle is for jacking the Valiant prices up so much, but I do know that they are not going to get many purchases that way (at least not from me anyway).
Here's the feedback that I left for them:

NEG Not worth the trouble of dealing with Mile High Comics again.

NEG Correct books eventually sent. One damaged. No refund given for return shipping.

NEG 5 out of 9 books were the wrong books. Hard to get a response from these people.

NEG 5 out of 9 books were the wrong books. Still no refund for return shipping :(

POS Awesome books! Superior packaging! Poor communications :( Slow Shipping :(

POS This positive is for Lynne. Must be holding the place together singlehandedly :)

NEU Don't sell books that you don't have. Refund given for this book.

POS Awesome books! Superior packaging! Poor communications :( Slow Shipping :(

I had mainly ordered some Bravura gold embossed books that they had for sale.

They had it where they had five for sale and you could buy anywhere from one to five. I bought two of each. I was the only one that purchased any. The funny thing is that after I bought the books they upped the prices. It was like they were saying "hey, someone is buying the books at those prices, we better raise the prices."

It's just funny.

As big as they are you would think that they could invest a little into customer service.

User avatar
greg
The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
Posts: 22861
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:39:27 am
Valiant fan since: Rai #0
Favorite character: Depends on title
Favorite title: Depends on writer
Favorite writer: Depends on artist
Favorite artist: Depends on character
Location: Indoors
Contact:

Post by greg »

Shadowmatt, welcome to the board!

As far as Mile High goes, I believe I recently read that they have implemented
an "inventory-based" pricing model.

As a result, the prices drop when their inventory rises,
and the prices rise when their inventory drops.
(I assume they start with a base price for each book.)

So, if there were 5 copies available, and 2 were purchased,
the remaining 3 would be priced higher automatically.

Mile High as been less than 100% success for me, especially recently,
so I tend to avoid them unless their prices are about 1/2 cover.

If you want to see an example of a crazy Mile High price on Valiant...
check out Bloodshot #51. :lol:

User avatar
Technique
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Thatched Roof Cottages!!!
Posts: 5238
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:16:31 am
Location: The S is for Sucks

Post by Technique »

greg wrote:Shadowmatt, welcome to the board!

As far as Mile High goes, I believe I recently read that they have implemented
an "inventory-based" pricing model.

As a result, the prices drop when their inventory rises,
and the prices rise when their inventory drops.
(I assume they start with a base price for each book.)

So, if there were 5 copies available, and 2 were purchased,
the remaining 3 would be priced higher automatically.

Mile High as been less than 100% success for me, especially recently,
so I tend to avoid them unless their prices are about 1/2 cover.

If you want to see an example of a crazy Mile High price on Valiant...
check out Bloodshot #51. :lol:
$75!!! That's insane. I noticed that they priced themselves out of the market for Valiant books but I had not seen that. That's higher than any of their regular pre-Unity books (I think).

Inventory based pricing is fine so long as the base price is correct.

Bloodshot 51 should have a base around $15 and that is what they should charge if they have one or two. The price should only go down from there. It seems they set their base at a high number of copies and then raise the price exponentially as thet number dips below the base.

Do they actually want to sell anything or do they just want to gouge stupid people?

User avatar
Daniel Jackson
A toast to the return of Valiant!
A toast to the return of Valiant!
Posts: 38007
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33:38 pm

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Technique wrote:
Do they actually want to sell anything or do they just want to gouge stupid people?

At those prices I would imagine it's the latter.


Post Reply