Who Should Alien call to run Valiant (poll)

[syzhang28]

Feel free to discuss your vote

[ManofTheAtom]

"Ice cream" Classic VFans...

[ManofTheAtom]

I'm opting for new blood provided they understand what makes VALIANT different from DC, Marvel, and Image.

[ManofTheAtom]

I'm opting for new blood provided they understand what makes VALIANT different from DC, Marvel, and Image.

[Juki]

I voted Dinesh (although I don’t think that will happen since he is on a Bad Idea journey) because he has a passion for Valiant, relationships with great artists and writers, and a way of hyping things up and getting attention. My second vote is “new blood.” But, that is dangerous if you get someone that doesn’t understand and/or care about the characters and history (of course anyone that is hired will act like they care… but then could go crazy).

I would prefer to have someone younger (under 50) running things. But, it would be fantastic to bring back the Original Gangsters like Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Bob Hall, etc. to do some work. However, they should not be the mainstays working on all the books. That should be a younger crowd in my opinion.

[Ryan]

Voted new blood as well, with the caveat that they need to figure out how to deeply understand the universe and it's history, what makes VALIANT special, and what has and hasn't worked in the past. And have a proper respect for the characters. I feel like in the US comics industry VALIANT is looked down upon and just seen as an inferior variant of the big 2 by many creators, even the ones who've worked for VALIANT. Maybe it will be better with Argentinians who don't have those biases.

Dude I lol'd at Fabian Nicieza. All that's missing is the Lion Forge guy (can't remember his name) and James Perham (RIP) and you would have had them all.

[syzhang28]

Voted new blood as well, with the caveat that they need to figure out how to deeply understand the universe and it's history, what makes VALIANT special, and what has and hasn't worked in the past. And have a proper respect for the characters. I feel like in the US comics industry VALIANT is looked down upon and just seen as an inferior variant of the big 2 by many creators, even the ones who've worked for VALIANT. Maybe it will be better with Argentinians who don't have those biases.

Dude I lol'd at Fabian Nicieza. All that's missing is the Lion Forge guy (can't remember his name) and James Perham (RIP) and you would have had them all.

You're right! I wish I could go back and edit the poll to include them. Although, in many ways those were all new names at the time so I guess they kinda count in here.

[TheFerg714]

Obviously Dinesh would be ideal, but I think that ship has sailed (although he has said that he'd be down to buy Valiant again, if the opportunity arose).

What did Fabian Nicieza do? Was he EiC during VH2?

[ManofTheAtom]

Obviously Dinesh would be ideal, but I think that ship has sailed (although he has said that he'd be down to buy Valiant again, if the opportunity arose).

What did Fabian Nicieza do? Was he EiC during VH2?

Correct.

[lorddunlow]

I voted ice cream.

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[ManofTheAtom]

I voted ice cream.

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Rocky Road...

[grendeljd]

I voted new blood - also with the hopeful caveat that whomever that is had some knowledge and or respect for the history of the characters too.

Ideally I would have picked Dinesh to return, but since Alien is licensing the IP & DMG retains ownership I don’t think this scenario will happen. I’d happily support Valiant outright if Dinesh got an opportunity to buy it back.

I would also be curious to see what Jim Shooter would do with it but tend to agree with others who have expressed some hesitancy on whether or not he could still catch that lightning in a bottle again. Might be cool to have him write a title!

Bob Layton might also be an interesting choice as well - I’m not sure if he would have the drive or interest in overseeing a whole line again right now. Might be cool to have him write or draw a book though!

[syzhang28]

I have a theory. Dinesh says he would return but given the chance I don't think he would. Hearing enough interviews with him and I think he wants to in his heart but he knows its better to move forward and not back. Hope I'm wrong and the chance happens.

[Ryan]

For those voting Layton, have you read Future Comics?

[ManofTheAtom]

For those voting Layton, have you read Future Comics?

They were okay, but definitely not VALIANT.

[corey]

I went dinesh... dreaming of the great times

[ManofTheAtom]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

[syzhang28]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

Hot take, it hasn't aged well. There are some great ideas but the execution feels even older than the 90s, you can feel the rush they were under too, and the sexual proclivities Shooter often includes in his stores are done in a way that we would no longer consider them appropriately handled.

[syzhang28]

double post

[Ryan]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

Hot take, it hasn't aged well. There are some great ideas but the execution feels even older than the 90s, you can feel the rush they were under too, and the sexual proclivities Shooter often includes in his stores are done in a way that we would no longer consider them appropriately handled.

They aged well enough that there were still a lot of fans in the 2000s, without which there would be no VEI. Almost nothing made in the 90s or even 2000s would be considered PC by today's standards.

My question to all the people who voted Dino, what would be different this time around? Most people seem to agree that it was losing steam towards the end, so what would change and how would they break through to a wider audience when they couldn't the last time around?

[syzhang28]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

Hot take, it hasn't aged well. There are some great ideas but the execution feels even older than the 90s, you can feel the rush they were under too, and the sexual proclivities Shooter often includes in his stores are done in a way that we would no longer consider them appropriately handled.

They aged well enough that there were still a lot of fans in the 2000s, without which there would be no VEI. Almost nothing made in the 90s or even 2000s would be considered PC by today's standards.

My question to all the people who voted Dino, what would be different this time around? Most people seem to agree that it was losing steam towards the end, so what would change and how would they break through to a wider audience when they couldn't the last time around?

I agree with the statement about the 90s

I don't agree that VEI had a losing streak towards the end. I think people confuse the post Dinesh era with the Dinesh era. He wasn't able to keep the quality after he left because he wasn't there. His last year saw their biggest breakout hits and some of the best books like X-O Manowar with Matt Kindt (which I think sold over 100,000 copies), Bloodshot Reborn, Ninja-K. All huge books with big creators and great stories. You can't judge the issues that came out after he left on those books or any books that launched after he left except maybe Life and Death of Toyo Harada which Joshua Dysart said was very much created while Dinesh was there. Same for Jim Shooter after he left. Turok, Hard Corps etc. probably would have been great if he had overseen them. imo

[syzhang28]

Actually the best example is probably Harbinger Wars 2 which had a bigger creator team and was going to be literally twice as long. I really wonder what would have that story been. The first VEI sequel was a big deal and they looked like they were going to treat it that way. Again imo

[Ryan]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

Hot take, it hasn't aged well. There are some great ideas but the execution feels even older than the 90s, you can feel the rush they were under too, and the sexual proclivities Shooter often includes in his stores are done in a way that we would no longer consider them appropriately handled.

They aged well enough that there were still a lot of fans in the 2000s, without which there would be no VEI. Almost nothing made in the 90s or even 2000s would be considered PC by today's standards.

My question to all the people who voted Dino, what would be different this time around? Most people seem to agree that it was losing steam towards the end, so what would change and how would they break through to a wider audience when they couldn't the last time around?

I agree with the statement about the 90s

I don't agree that VEI had a losing streak towards the end. I think people confuse the post Dinesh era with the Dinesh era. He wasn't able to keep the quality after he left because he wasn't there. His last year saw their biggest breakout hits and some of the best books like X-O Manowar with Matt Kindt (which I think sold over 100,000 copies), Bloodshot Reborn, Ninja-K. All huge books with big creators and great stories. You can't judge the issues that came out after he left on those books or any books that launched after he left except maybe Life and Death of Toyo Harada which Joshua Dysart said was very much created while Dinesh was there. Same for Jim Shooter after he left. Turok, Hard Corps etc. probably would have been great if he had overseen them. imo

Fair points, that answers my question. My perception of losing steam might be a personal feeling or based on the long running Dysart and Venditti runs ending. But some people might like Kindt and Lemire better. I'll give those runs another look.

[grendeljd]

#RestoreTheShooterverse

Hot take, it hasn't aged well. There are some great ideas but the execution feels even older than the 90s, you can feel the rush they were under too, and the sexual proclivities Shooter often includes in his stores are done in a way that we would no longer consider them appropriately handled.

They aged well enough that there were still a lot of fans in the 2000s, without which there would be no VEI. Almost nothing made in the 90s or even 2000s would be considered PC by today's standards.

My question to all the people who voted Dino, what would be different this time around? Most people seem to agree that it was losing steam towards the end, so what would change and how would they break through to a wider audience when they couldn't the last time around?

I agree with the statement about the 90s

I don't agree that VEI had a losing streak towards the end. I think people confuse the post Dinesh era with the Dinesh era. He wasn't able to keep the quality after he left because he wasn't there. His last year saw their biggest breakout hits and some of the best books like X-O Manowar with Matt Kindt (which I think sold over 100,000 copies), Bloodshot Reborn, Ninja-K. All huge books with big creators and great stories. You can't judge the issues that came out after he left on those books or any books that launched after he left except maybe Life and Death of Toyo Harada which Joshua Dysart said was very much created while Dinesh was there. Same for Jim Shooter after he left. Turok, Hard Corps etc. probably would have been great if he had overseen them. imo

Fair points, that answers my question. My perception of losing steam might be a personal feeling or based on the long running Dysart and Venditti runs ending. But some people might like Kindt and Lemire better. I'll give those runs another look.

I remain a big fan of the Dinesh-led VEI era, there are plenty of fantastic series from that time - but I do think there were also some misfires among the classics they created. That Generation Zero title was a particularly disappointing book to me. Poor use of some great characters created by Dysart in his Harbinger run. Terrible waste of potential on that one.

[grendeljd]

And I would also comment that many things in pop culture do not stand the test of time or age well… comics included. Times & tastes change (not always for the better, but not always for the worse either), and I think most examples of entertainment simply cement themselves in the era they were created in. They mostly do not easily move forward in time.

I think it’s a bit of a long shot to ever truly hope for the return of an old favourite that has seen its day, unchanged from the original thing that was created in its time - but it’s also very much part of human nature to want that. The emotional attachment to the past and a perceived ‘glory day’ is a strong pull for most of us in general - a escapist mechanism to travel back in time and focus on something that gave us happiness while stripping away any bad memories associated with that time. We naturally want to preserve that perception of that happy thing as perfectly as possible.

Having said all that - I think that what VEI initially did was the very best kind of modern revamp one could hope for from a much beloved property. It was also of its time - and as we continue to move away from that period it may date itself more firmly to its time, but so far I think the early stuff still ages well.

Is it time to revamp again with this opportunity via Alien? I think it’s a grey area right now - we aren’t really far enough away from Dinesh’s VEI for a full relaunch, and yet I feel we could do with some distance from much of the DMG material.