Be Honest...

[syzhang28]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Don't kid yourself, it's a license. They all work the same. The owner approves everything. There is no hands off. This is likely why we haven't heard much from Alien. Not even a social account to ask questions to. First question I would ask is "Does DMG need to approve every series you do?"

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Don't kid yourself, it's a license. They all work the same. The owner approves everything. There is no hands off. This is likely why we haven't heard much from Alien. Not even a social account to ask questions to. First question I would ask is "Does DMG need to approve every series you do?"

[syzhang28]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I wasn't considering that a deal-breaker. I just honestly wonder how many people knew of Alien Books beforehand.

Likely no one. But acquiring VALIANT may end up being as good for them as doing Alien and Predator comics was for Dark Horse.

Or doing Nintendo was for VALIANT.

You know doing Nintendo at Valiant famously almost bankrupted them?

[ManofTheAtom]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I wasn't considering that a deal-breaker. I just honestly wonder how many people knew of Alien Books beforehand.

Likely no one. But acquiring VALIANT may end up being as good for them as doing Alien and Predator comics was for Dark Horse.

Or doing Nintendo was for VALIANT.

You know doing Nintendo at Valiant famously almost bankrupted them?

It's been decades since I've read up on that, so if I ever knew it it skipped my mind.

[syzhang28]

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

Three people from VALIANT are transferring to Alien, no? Who are they? We know Danielle Ward is one. Is Fred Pierce the second? Who is the third?

I think we can trust in Pierce and Ward, no?

Is Walter Black the third, or is he leaving too? If he was the third and they were the only ones from DMG/VALIANT at Alien, I think things would be in good hands.

Honestly I don't know much about how the inner workings of Valiant have been or who has been involved. I only judge from the product that's put out, the books. All I can say is what my impression of the DMG era has been. It's like if people who had no knowledge of Valiant and very little interest in Valiant were brought in to run the comics.

Again not a personal shot, I don't know who is running what. I haven't seen anything that makes me think anyone that's been at DMG-Valiant can be 'trusted' to make great, VALIANT-style comics.

This should tell us who was still at VALIANT as of the publication of the second issue of the current X-O Manowar series.

Black has been there at the end of two iterations of VALIANT...

Travis Escarfullery we know is gone.
My bet on the 3 are Daneele Ward, Lisa Hawkins and Russ Brown

[slack]

Don't kid yourself, it's a license. They all work the same. The owner approves everything. There is no hands off. This is likely why we haven't heard much from Alien. Not even a social account to ask questions to. First question I would ask is "Does DMG need to approve every series you do?"

they have Facebook, they've responded to me there.

they also respond to this email: info@alienbooks.com

[ManofTheAtom]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

Three people from VALIANT are transferring to Alien, no? Who are they? We know Danielle Ward is one. Is Fred Pierce the second? Who is the third?

I think we can trust in Pierce and Ward, no?

Is Walter Black the third, or is he leaving too? If he was the third and they were the only ones from DMG/VALIANT at Alien, I think things would be in good hands.

Honestly I don't know much about how the inner workings of Valiant have been or who has been involved. I only judge from the product that's put out, the books. All I can say is what my impression of the DMG era has been. It's like if people who had no knowledge of Valiant and very little interest in Valiant were brought in to run the comics.

Again not a personal shot, I don't know who is running what. I haven't seen anything that makes me think anyone that's been at DMG-Valiant can be 'trusted' to make great, VALIANT-style comics.

This should tell us who was still at VALIANT as of the publication of the second issue of the current X-O Manowar series.

Black has been there at the end of two iterations of VALIANT...

Travis Escarfullery we know is gone.
My bet on the 3 are Daneele Ward, Lisa Hawkins and Russ Brown

sounds about right.

[Chiclo]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

She did the job she was told to do, and then got a great job at IDW where the Star Trek line is apparently AMAZING from what I hear of any Trekkie people I know. It doesn't feel like she was even around that long, we had so many editors.

I don’t know if it was her or the era in which she served but it never felt like she was a good fit for Valiant. At the time, she comes on board and they start shaking things up after a pretty stagnant year with that Lion Forge guy, can’t even remember his name. It looked promising but the titles were just one bust after another, shallow stories and art that ranged from mediocre to bizarrely bad. Was this the era of the potato car? In retrospect, it feels more like she was building a resume than wanting to make Valiant comics. She was not the only one, it felt like a bunch of these folks were just jobbing it rather than making (or editing) art. IDW looks like a better fit for her. My comment was not about her personally; she was just the highest profile personality in an era of decline.

Upon further reflection, I think a good way to explain my thoughts is that Heather Antos was another opportunity that the DMG people squandered. They did not use her right - good fit or not.

[syzhang28]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking on the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

I don't appreciate the attempt this post makes to twist what we've all been saying into "you're ruining it on purpose". Reading the other comments, everyone is being very level headed, calm and respectful. I, for one, would appreciate the same back. I'm referring here to your "mouthing off comment".

Some thoughts on your post:

- You're not being accused of purposefully ruining Valiant
- I don't think you can say you've done a good job as a sales person when sales are at all time lows.
- I fully believe that you've worked hard and that you've done the best you can.
- If you're having to say that you've done a good job yourself while others are not saying it, that's very telling
- Please don't try and blame the things that have happened under DMG on anything prior to DMG. We're all too educated on Valiant to fall for it. You guys dropped the ball. It's okay. It happens. You did your best. But own it. The people before you did a world class job. That was perhaps an impossible act to follow (especially with them doing it again right now at Bad Idea) but don't disrespect them by blaming your failings on them. We've all given you every chance in the world. Every new book, we had open minds for.
- "but it's a job" is the problem to me. I totally get and respect that you approach it this way but we want people to be there who think of it was more. The people before you made it their life. Their mission. Again, tough act to follow.
- "we're human beings with real lives who love comics." Never forgotten. And the reason why I'm taking time to clearly and calmly respond. I too am a human being with a real life who loves comics.
- I am not a person who works at Valiant though. And to me, and a lot of people around the world that is winning the lottery. Again, "I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am." is, respectfully, where I think you tripped. You did win. You just don't realize it.
- "This is not always an easy gig." I imagine it's never an easy gig. It looked like a up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege when Dinesh and his crew were there. I think that's just how it has to be to do great comics.
- "I mouth off right back at some of you". You represent Valiant so please be respectful if you decide to respond. I personally don't think it is ever appropriate to "mouth off right back" to customers.
- "There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard" This is actually not true though I suspect you said this without knowing or as exaggeration to make a point. The major distributors all issue catalogs and those catalogs comprise all publishers. There are dozens at best. Not "thousands, thousands, and thousands". But it is agreed that not everyone of us knows every publisher. Nonetheless, it cane be said that Alien is a publisher that has not yet done anything of note.

[ManofTheAtom]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking on the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

I don't appreciate the attempt this post makes to twist what we've all been saying into "you're ruining it on purpose". Reading the other comments, everyone is being very level headed, calm and respectful. I, for one, would appreciate the same back. I'm referring here to your "mouthing off comment".

Some thoughts on your post:

- You're not being accused of purposefully ruining Valiant
- I don't think you can say you've done a good job as a sales person when sales are at all time lows.
- I fully believe that you've worked hard and that you've done the best you can.
- If you're having to say that you've done a good job yourself while others are not saying it, that's very telling
- Please don't try and blame the things that have happened under DMG on anything prior to DMG. We're all too educated on Valiant to fall for it. You guys dropped the ball. It's okay. It happens. You did your best. But own it. The people before you did a world class job. That was perhaps an impossible act to follow (especially with them doing it again right now at Bad Idea) but don't disrespect them by blaming your failings on them. We've all given you every chance in the world. Every new book, we had open minds for.
- "but it's a job" is the problem to me. I totally get and respect that you approach it this way but we want people to be there who think of it was more. The people before you made it their life. Their mission. Again, tough act to follow.
- "we're human beings with real lives who love comics." Never forgotten. And the reason why I'm taking time to clearly and calmly respond. I too am a human being with a real life who loves comics.
- I am not a person who works at Valiant though. And to me, and a lot of people around the world that is winning the lottery. Again, "I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am." is, respectfully, where I think you tripped. You did win. You just don't realize it.
- "This is not always an easy gig." I imagine it's never an easy gig. It looked like a up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege when Dinesh and his crew were there. I think that's just how it has to be to do great comics.
- "I mouth off right back at some of you". You represent Valiant so please be respectful if you decide to respond. I personally don't think it is ever appropriate to "mouth off right back" to customers.
- "There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard" This is actually not true though I suspect you said this without knowing or as exaggeration to make a point. The major distributors all issue catalogs and those catalogs comprise all publishers. There are dozens at best. Not "thousands, thousands, and thousands". But it is agreed that not everyone of us knows every publisher. Nonetheless, it cane be said that Alien is a publisher that has not yet done anything of note.

To be fair there are more than just hundreds of publishers in those catalogs (some that just publish one comic even) and many that don't make it on them. So thousands sounds accurate.

[GammaJosh]

Are you trying to be a total drag and make sure no Valiant employees interact here ever?

Personally I've seen a lot of people who don't know *SQUEE* about *SQUEE* mouthing off and being incredibly rude to Valiant employees for years, and nobody gets paid enough to put up with that level of disrespect. If someone wants to mouth off back at those folks, I'm fine with that.

Also go back and check the sales trends leading up to 2017. Then extrapolate what you think would happen when the variants and gimmicks drop way off...and then look at what happened when they actually did. The Valiant comeback of 2012 was epic, but those numbers were never going up. It was just attrition the whole time. Maybe the floor would have been a bit higher if things had been done differently, but I struggle to see how Valiant publishing was ever making a profit. No company can go on like that indefinitely.

[syzhang28]

Are you trying to be a total drag and make sure no Valiant employees interact here ever?

Personally I've seen a lot of people who don't know *SQUEE* about *SQUEE* mouthing off and being incredibly rude to Valiant employees for years, and nobody gets paid enough to put up with that level of disrespect. If someone wants to mouth off back at those folks, I'm fine with that.

Also go back and check the sales trends leading up to 2017. Then extrapolate what you think would happen when the variants and gimmicks drop way off...and then look at what happened when they actually did. The Valiant comeback of 2012 was epic, but those numbers were never going up. It was just attrition the whole time. Maybe the floor would have been a bit higher if things had been done differently, but I struggle to see how Valiant publishing was ever making a profit. No company can go on like that indefinitely.

Valiant sales climbed from 2012-the start of 2018. The 2017 books were the best selling (X-O Manowar, Ninja-K, Bloodshot Salvation etc). The drop came after. And pretty steeply.

I'm not trying to push any employees away but I also don't want to make this a place that lets them say things that are untrue just to keep them here. If Valiant employees want to make a statement they should do it with the quality of the comics, the innovativeness of the marketing and the success of their business. Let the work speak.

[syzhang28]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking on the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

I don't appreciate the attempt this post makes to twist what we've all been saying into "you're ruining it on purpose". Reading the other comments, everyone is being very level headed, calm and respectful. I, for one, would appreciate the same back. I'm referring here to your "mouthing off comment".

Some thoughts on your post:

- You're not being accused of purposefully ruining Valiant
- I don't think you can say you've done a good job as a sales person when sales are at all time lows.
- I fully believe that you've worked hard and that you've done the best you can.
- If you're having to say that you've done a good job yourself while others are not saying it, that's very telling
- Please don't try and blame the things that have happened under DMG on anything prior to DMG. We're all too educated on Valiant to fall for it. You guys dropped the ball. It's okay. It happens. You did your best. But own it. The people before you did a world class job. That was perhaps an impossible act to follow (especially with them doing it again right now at Bad Idea) but don't disrespect them by blaming your failings on them. We've all given you every chance in the world. Every new book, we had open minds for.
- "but it's a job" is the problem to me. I totally get and respect that you approach it this way but we want people to be there who think of it was more. The people before you made it their life. Their mission. Again, tough act to follow.
- "we're human beings with real lives who love comics." Never forgotten. And the reason why I'm taking time to clearly and calmly respond. I too am a human being with a real life who loves comics.
- I am not a person who works at Valiant though. And to me, and a lot of people around the world that is winning the lottery. Again, "I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am." is, respectfully, where I think you tripped. You did win. You just don't realize it.
- "This is not always an easy gig." I imagine it's never an easy gig. It looked like a up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege when Dinesh and his crew were there. I think that's just how it has to be to do great comics.
- "I mouth off right back at some of you". You represent Valiant so please be respectful if you decide to respond. I personally don't think it is ever appropriate to "mouth off right back" to customers.
- "There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard" This is actually not true though I suspect you said this without knowing or as exaggeration to make a point. The major distributors all issue catalogs and those catalogs comprise all publishers. There are dozens at best. Not "thousands, thousands, and thousands". But it is agreed that not everyone of us knows every publisher. Nonetheless, it cane be said that Alien is a publisher that has not yet done anything of note.

To be fair there are more than just hundreds of publishers in those catalogs (some that just publish one comic even) and many that don't make it on them. So thousands sounds accurate.

If that's true I stand corrected but I don't see where those other publishers are unless you're counting amateur publishers. Which tbh makes the point I think OP is making about Alien. Not that they are amateur but that professional publishers hopefully have done something of note.

[ManofTheAtom]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking on the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

I don't appreciate the attempt this post makes to twist what we've all been saying into "you're ruining it on purpose". Reading the other comments, everyone is being very level headed, calm and respectful. I, for one, would appreciate the same back. I'm referring here to your "mouthing off comment".

Some thoughts on your post:

- You're not being accused of purposefully ruining Valiant
- I don't think you can say you've done a good job as a sales person when sales are at all time lows.
- I fully believe that you've worked hard and that you've done the best you can.
- If you're having to say that you've done a good job yourself while others are not saying it, that's very telling
- Please don't try and blame the things that have happened under DMG on anything prior to DMG. We're all too educated on Valiant to fall for it. You guys dropped the ball. It's okay. It happens. You did your best. But own it. The people before you did a world class job. That was perhaps an impossible act to follow (especially with them doing it again right now at Bad Idea) but don't disrespect them by blaming your failings on them. We've all given you every chance in the world. Every new book, we had open minds for.
- "but it's a job" is the problem to me. I totally get and respect that you approach it this way but we want people to be there who think of it was more. The people before you made it their life. Their mission. Again, tough act to follow.
- "we're human beings with real lives who love comics." Never forgotten. And the reason why I'm taking time to clearly and calmly respond. I too am a human being with a real life who loves comics.
- I am not a person who works at Valiant though. And to me, and a lot of people around the world that is winning the lottery. Again, "I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am." is, respectfully, where I think you tripped. You did win. You just don't realize it.
- "This is not always an easy gig." I imagine it's never an easy gig. It looked like a up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege when Dinesh and his crew were there. I think that's just how it has to be to do great comics.
- "I mouth off right back at some of you". You represent Valiant so please be respectful if you decide to respond. I personally don't think it is ever appropriate to "mouth off right back" to customers.
- "There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard" This is actually not true though I suspect you said this without knowing or as exaggeration to make a point. The major distributors all issue catalogs and those catalogs comprise all publishers. There are dozens at best. Not "thousands, thousands, and thousands". But it is agreed that not everyone of us knows every publisher. Nonetheless, it cane be said that Alien is a publisher that has not yet done anything of note.

To be fair there are more than just hundreds of publishers in those catalogs (some that just publish one comic even) and many that don't make it on them. So thousands sounds accurate.

If that's true I stand corrected but I don't see where those other publishers are unless you're counting amateur publishers. Which tbh makes the point I think OP is making about Alien. Not that they are amateur but that professional publishers hopefully have done something of note.

I agree. I do think Alien has a leg up on many others since they've published books.

I look forward to the day someone interviews whoever it is at Alien that connected them to VALIANT so we get the behind the scenes story of how these two got together and who sought who.

[GammaJosh]

Valiant sales climbed from 2012-the start of 2018. The 2017 books were the best selling (X-O Manowar, Ninja-K, Bloodshot Salvation etc). The drop came after. And pretty steeply.

I'm not going to take the time to look up the numbers but they are on this board and I feel like that is not true. I used to check out those threads every month and my memory is that neither the first issue bumps or the later-in-the-run floor ever improved after the first 2-3 years.

[daniellew61]

No that's not the 3 people thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore.

As for everything else I posted you can analyze it and critically break it down bit by bit till you're blue. There is what I know, and what you know. I worked there. Don't take this as me *SQUEE* on you for being THIS interested. Just trying to say my side.

There, I think I edited this a little clearer.

[ManofTheAtom]

No that's not the 3 thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore

Oh. I thought in another thread you said you still were.

[daniellew61]

No that's not the 3 thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore

Oh. I thought in another thread you said you still were.

Not at Valiant, should be with Alien all the way soon. Apologize for the confusion

[GammaJosh]

I lied, I did take the time. As I remembered, the floor had clearly dropped from ~12,000 copies to ~5,000 copies between 2013 and 2017.

June 2013:

149 Harbinger Wars 3 $3.99 Valiant 14,012
156 Archer & Armstrong 10 $3.99 Valiant 13,241
157 X-O Manowar 14 $3.99 Valiant 13,227
161 Harbinger 13 $3.99 Valiant 12,930
169 Bloodshot 12 $3.99 Valiant 12,145
171 Shadowman 7 $3.99 Valiant 12,017

June 2017

125 Secret Weapons #1 Valiant 21,938*

163 X-O Manowar (Vol 2) #4 Valiant 14,417

235 Rapture #2 Valiant 8,319

242 Britannia We Who #3 Valiant 7,666

243 Rai History of Valiant Universe #1 Valiant 7,627

288 Faith #12 Valiant 5,291

[ManofTheAtom]

No that's not the 3 thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore

Oh. I thought in another thread you said you still were.

Not at Valiant, should be with Alien all the way soon. Apologize for the confusion

Ah, ok. I misspoke then. I was referring to the fabled three that transferred from VALIANT to Alien (or is it, abducted by Alien?)

Will VALIANT still exist after this, or is Alien absorbing them?

[slack]

If that's true I stand corrected but I don't see where those other publishers are unless you're counting amateur publishers. Which tbh makes the point I think OP is making about Alien. Not that they are amateur but that professional publishers hopefully have done something of note.

I wasn't making a point about Alien Books... I had never heard of them, and honestly wondered if anyone else here had.

I was definitely making the other points you got.
People who were there whose hard work was failing to bolster the company... are now right back to it.

yes, if sales are dropping, the sales team may be hard working and good at their job... but they did keep losing.

No offense to them. It really could all come down to really good employees being constantly hamstrung by *SQUEE*-poor management.

But these ARE the questions and conversations I was hoping for. I don't want Dani to get dragged for responding. I thank her for it. I'm hoping she understands why this is coming up, and that I'm not trying to hurt her.

This is what we'd talk about if she wasn't here... we shouldn't avoid discussion because she is.

[daniellew61]

If that's true I stand corrected but I don't see where those other publishers are unless you're counting amateur publishers. Which tbh makes the point I think OP is making about Alien. Not that they are amateur but that professional publishers hopefully have done something of note.

I wasn't making a point about Alien Books... I had never heard of them, and honestly wondered if anyone else here had.

I was definitely making the other points you got.
People who were there whose hard work was failing to bolster the company... are now right back to it.

yes, if sales are dropping, the sales team may be hard working and good at their job... but they did keep losing.

No offense to them. It really could all come down to really good employees being constantly hamstrung by *SQUEE* management.

But these ARE the questions and conversations I was hoping for. I don't want Dani to get dragged for responding. I thank her for it. I'm hoping she understands why this is coming up, and that I'm not trying to hurt her.

This is what we'd talk about if she wasn't here... we shouldn't avoid discussion because she is.

Thank you.
I always wanted the best for Valiant, and I was FAR from being in solely charge of anything besides making sure the interns got their credits and my own store accounts.

[ManofTheAtom]

I lied, I did take the time. As I remembered, the floor had clearly dropped from ~12,000 copies to ~5,000 copies between 2013 and 2017.

June 2013:

149 Harbinger Wars 3 $3.99 Valiant 14,012
156 Archer & Armstrong 10 $3.99 Valiant 13,241
157 X-O Manowar 14 $3.99 Valiant 13,227
161 Harbinger 13 $3.99 Valiant 12,930
169 Bloodshot 12 $3.99 Valiant 12,145
171 Shadowman 7 $3.99 Valiant 12,017

June 2017

125 Secret Weapons #1 Valiant 21,938*

163 X-O Manowar (Vol 2) #4 Valiant 14,417

235 Rapture #2 Valiant 8,319

242 Britannia We Who #3 Valiant 7,666

243 Rai History of Valiant Universe #1 Valiant 7,627

288 Faith #12 Valiant 5,291

[daniellew61]

No that's not the 3 thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore

Oh. I thought in another thread you said you still were.

Not at Valiant, should be with Alien all the way soon. Apologize for the confusion

Ah, ok. I misspoke then. I was referring to the fabled three that transferred from VALIANT to Alien (or is it, abducted by Alien?)

Will VALIANT still exist after this, or is Alien absorbing them?

Alien is licensing the publishing, like how another company would license to make an action figure or something. There is still a VALIANT for everything before and on

[ManofTheAtom]

No that's not the 3 thing - that's other people - I'm not at Valiant anymore

Oh. I thought in another thread you said you still were.

Not at Valiant, should be with Alien all the way soon. Apologize for the confusion

Ah, ok. I misspoke then. I was referring to the fabled three that transferred from VALIANT to Alien (or is it, abducted by Alien?)

Will VALIANT still exist after this, or is Alien absorbing them?

Alien is licensing the publishing, like how another company would license to make an action figure or something. There is still a VALIANT for everything before and on

Cool. Thanks.