Cautiously Optimistic

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Funcha
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Cautiously Optimistic

Post by Funcha »

After a kind of underwhelming 2018 for Valiant (thanks, Harbinger Wars II) I'm starting to think Valiant may be getting back on track in 2019. Some of their recent CREATIVE hires are getting pretty good buzz and it sounds like there's a bit of a push to finally start doing some universe building again. Plus, with the hype train starting in probably spring for Bloodshot, I'm hoping it's good times ahead. Unless of course DMG goes under. Who knows how any of that could play out.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by nwoslave »

Im excited for Cullen Bunn and Dan Abnett. They are very good writers and its good to see high profile writers coming on board. Lemire and Vendetti and kindt became boring.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by syzhang28 »

I hope so too. I can see names like Bunn and Abnett being the reaction of a company that no longer has talent inside it's walls to make good stories. Farm it outside. But that also reminds me of Mark Waid, Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis at Acclaim.

For me Lemire, Kindt and Venditti are masters and on the mount rushmore of Valiant like Shooter, Windsor-Smith etc. They made so many great things - X-O Manowar, The Valiant, Armor Hunters, Ninjak, Bloodshot Salvation, Book of Death, Divinity, etc etc etc. They only started to trip a little when the people collaborating with them inside the company were cut out.

I hope the new hires work out but Robert Meyers was never a creative executive at Valiant. Under Dinesh he was operations right? He was only creative at Double Take which doesn't instill confidence. And they are hiring lots of sales people, meanwhile my store tells me they've lost 80% of their Valiant subs this last year. No real point to my post here, just some thoughts.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by nycjadie »

I'd add Dysart to that Rushmore.

I have fingers crossed. New talent can be a good thing, but I wish it was mixed with a bit of old. Have new talent on a few titles, but some stalwarts in others.

I also like that they culled back titles and are focusing a bit in scope. I hope that new editors will focus on long term growth of the line and characters, with an eye towards more titles in the future.

We shall see. Optimistic. Fingers crossed.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by kinggirlfriend »

For me the VEI Mount Rushmore would be, Venditti, Dysart, Van Lente, and Kindt.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by BugsySig »

kinggirlfriend wrote:For me the VEI Mount Rushmore would be, Venditti, Dysart, Van Lente, and Kindt.
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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by grendeljd »

I’m also in a cautiously optimistic frame of mind about this year for Valiant. The new books coming all sound fairly interesting to exciting, with some really solid creative teams that I’m looking forward to checking out.

The only element that gives me some pause is that these new titles are all mini-series... in all honesty (and not aiming to be flat-out negative), I find it hard to have concrete confidence in a steady diet of temporary titles. Too often they don’t have enough substance to keep me reeled in. I do hope their goal is to do more broad universe building with them instead of just putting out fluff/filler self-contained/meaningless minis.
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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by Blood of Heroes »

kinggirlfriend wrote:For me the VEI Mount Rushmore would be, Venditti, Dysart, Van Lente, and Kindt.
Should add Dino to that list. :thumb:

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by kinggirlfriend »

Oh yes, for sure!

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by TheFerg714 »

Funcha wrote:After a kind of underwhelming 2018 for Valiant (thanks, Harbinger Wars II) I'm starting to think Valiant may be getting back on track in 2019. Some of their recent CREATIVE hires are getting pretty good buzz and it sounds like there's a bit of a push to finally start doing some universe building again. Plus, with the hype train starting in probably spring for Bloodshot, I'm hoping it's good times ahead. Unless of course DMG goes under. Who knows how any of that could play out.
I feel the exact same way. 2018 was ROUGH. It easily had pound-for-pound less quality books than previous years. Honestly, the only 5/5 books for me were both of the Secret Weapons #0 issues, HW2 Prelude #1, Armstrong and the Vault of Spirits, and all of Ninja-K. There were still plenty of great books: X-O's fourth arc, Bloodhound's issue, Q&W by Rahal, Shadowman (especially the second arc), and Brittania were all great, but every previous year had at at least double the amount of great books; at least in my opinion.

However, 2019 is looking great. I'm so crazy hyped for LaDoTH. As a society, we don't deserve such a (probably) brilliant masterpiece. Punk Mambo, Killers, and Fallen World all sound amazing! Dan Abnett was a one-in-a-million catch, and if they can get that guy to do literally anything else for Valiant, their universe will be all the stronger for it.
Last edited by TheFerg714 on Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:35:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by TheFerg714 »

kinggirlfriend wrote:For me the VEI Mount Rushmore would be, Venditti, Dysart, Van Lente, and Kindt.
YES! No other writers have had the same impact as these four. Kindt is just obvious. No other writer has covered as much ground as Kindt has, and most of it is either amazing, or at the very least, unique. Venditti made master-class series for X-O and Gilad; Dysart built everything we know and love about the Harbinger side of the universe; and Van Lente fleshed out the immortal brothers, which can arguably be considered the linchpins of the entire universe.

The only other possible options would be Lemire and maybe Jody Houser, although they've exclusively only worked with Bloodshot and Faith respectively. Too bad we won't be able to ever consider Heisserer to be the fifth head on Mt. Rushmore... In an alternate timeline, I'm sure Heiserrer would have done some amazing things with Valiant... If only.

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Re: Cautiously Optimistic

Post by kjjohanson »

TheFerg714 wrote:
kinggirlfriend wrote:For me the VEI Mount Rushmore would be, Venditti, Dysart, Van Lente, and Kindt.
YES! No other writers have had the same impact as these four. Kindt is just obvious. No other writer has covered as much ground as Kindt has, and most of it is either amazing, or at the very least, unique. Venditti made master-class series for X-O and Gilad; Dysart built everything we know and love about the Harbinger side of the universe; and Van Lente fleshed out the immortal brothers, which can arguably be considered the linchpins of the entire universe.

The only other possible options would be Lemire and maybe Jody Houser, although they've exclusively only worked with Bloodshot and Faith respectively. Too bad we won't be able to ever consider Heisserer to be the fifth head on Mt. Rushmore... In an alternate timeline, I'm sure Heiserrer would have done some amazing things with Valiant... If only.
Lemire co=wrote the Valiant, which touched upon everyone, although it's hard to say who focused on what. Lemire may have been more focused on setting up Bloodshot than the rest of the characters.
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