Be Honest...

[Ryan]

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.

I would need to see examples of this 'incredibly rude mouthing off' to Valiant employees. I don't think that's true at all. Everyone on here is usually respectful even when they don't like something, compared to a lot of fanbases.

It sounds like your equating critiquing the comic books to personal attacks. If we can't critique the comics and have opinions we may as well move the board to China too. Only infinite praise is allowed.

Sure there are always a few immature people in any public forum, but for the most part the Vfans are super nice and put up with a lot considering they're the ones who have invested the time, money, and care that is responsible for Valiant comics still existing in the first place.

[daniellew61]

I don't think anyone mouthed off to me as much as misunderstood me, which is fine.
I worked there, I did not do anything to make things worse directly or write any of the books you guys were disappointed in, or whatever. I'm chill. I can't change how others feel.
I just wanted to address the worry of who might be going to Alien cause I think I can do some good.

[Ryan]

I don't think anyone mouthed off to me as much as misunderstood me, which is fine.
I worked there, I did not do anything to make things worse directly or write any of the books you guys were disappointed in, or whatever. I'm chill. I can't change how others feel.
I just wanted to address the worry of who might be going to Alien cause I think I can do some good.

That's cool, we're just fans so we're just responding to the books as consumers of the final product. Just like anyone critiques the last Netflix show they watched. Critiquing or responding to a work of fiction is not a personal attack on whoever made it.

We're not privy to all that's involved in the process, or what the initial goals are. It's quite possible that many of the fans on this 20 year old message board aren't even the target audience for what you're making.

[daniellew61]

Yea I wish instead I just replied instead "No only 2 cool people are going to alien"

[Ryan]

I think everyone appreciates openness and honesty. We just all have to acknowledge we're coming at this from very different perspectives.

[Chiclo]

Yea I wish instead I just replied instead "No only 2 cool people are going to alien"

Yep. That's the internet in a nutshell.

[daniellew61]

Yea I wish instead I just replied instead "No only 2 cool people are going to alien"

Yep. That's the internet in a nutshell.

Hahahaha.

I just hope my patience waiting for this all to get better was worth it!!! And I believe.

Last August when it went down to 1, and the trades got like, held off? It felt like someone killed me.

Now at least those can get all out, with the other tpb scheduled too.

X-O UNCONQUERED and Bloodshot Unleashed are like, two of my favorite books we had and I felt like someone hurt my friends when it got all moved and stuff.

[slack]

Yea I wish instead I just replied instead "No only 2 cool people are going to alien"

Yep. That's the internet in a nutshell.

Hahahaha.

I just hope my patience waiting for this all to get better was worth it!!! And I believe.

Last August when it went down to 1, and the trades got like, held off? It felt like someone killed me.

Now at least those can get all out, with the other tpb scheduled too.

X-O UNCONQUERED and Bloodshot Unleashed are like, two of my favorite books we had and I felt like someone hurt my friends when it got all moved and stuff.

Are the XO and NINJAK books still coming from Valiant, or are they on hold, and coming from Alien Books?

[daniellew61]

They came to Alien.
Still waiting for more information about the release schedule.

[slack]

They came to Alien.
Still waiting for more information about the release schedule.

Thank you! I don't know if that was ever actually made clear.

I was guessing they were staying VEI since they were VEI solicited. So this is interesting new info to me...

[Blood of Heroes]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

[leonmallett]

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.

A high-handed, somewhat rude and pretty entitled post there from you syzhang28.

[ManofTheAtom]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

I miss the poker games. I only got to attend two.

[Blood of Heroes]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

I miss the poker games. I only got to attend two.

You did pretty well if I remember correctly

[ManofTheAtom]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

I miss the poker games. I only got to attend two.

You did pretty well if I remember correctly

Definitely.

I imagine that the pandemic is to blame for putting a stop to them. Hopefully it'll happen again and not die out.

[Ryan]

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.

A high-handed, somewhat rude and pretty entitled post there from you syzhang28.

Nah. He is entitled to his opinion. He comes off as a sincere and concerned fan to me. Let's not forget fans are the reason that these dream jobs exist in the first place. That doesn't mean toxicity should be allowed, but this doesn't come off as toxic to me.

[daniellew61]

The poker game! I lost pretty early, I only wanted to hang out haha.
Hey, I will ask the alien crew how they feel about poker!

[ManofTheAtom]

The poker game! I lost pretty early, I only wanted to hang out haha.
Hey, I will ask the alien crew how they feel about poker!

Awesome. Hope I can make it someday.

The first-ever SDCC I attended in 1993 had a casino night sponsored by Malibu Comics. They had all sorts of table games (roulette, craps, etc), and prizes (mostly toys) you could buy with your winnings.

I honestly thought that was a regular thing at SDCC. I didn't know better at the time.

[Blood of Heroes]

The poker game! I lost pretty early, I only wanted to hang out haha.
Hey, I will ask the alien crew how they feel about poker!

[lorddunlow]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

I just realized I should have reached out to you when I was in San Diego a few days ago. Oh well. I'm hoping I can snag some tickets to SDCC for next year. I'll have to catch up then. Hopefully we can get a poker game going.

Sent from my Pixel Fold using Tapatalk

[Blood of Heroes]

I don’t post much anymore but I thought I’d chime in here…

I met Danielle in 2019 at SDCC. She was instrumental in making the last Valiant poker game happen that year and was just a wonderful person in general. I wish you all the best at Alien, Dani.

I just realized I should have reached out to you when I was in San Diego a few days ago. Oh well. I'm hoping I can snag some tickets to SDCC for next year. I'll have to catch up then. Hopefully we can get a poker game going.

Sent from my Pixel Fold using Tapatalk

Yes. You should have.

[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?"

A question that came to mind, who did VALIANT have to run their ideas through for the Gold Key characters back in the '90s? Who had to approve them? I don't think I remember reading or hearing about anyone from Random House that was actively involved in such things.

Today, comics like those published by IDW (i.e. Star Trek) do credit such people.

[Ryan]

A question that came to mind, who did VALIANT have to run their ideas through for the Gold Key characters back in the '90s? Who had to approve them? I don't think I remember reading or hearing about anyone from Random House that was actively involved in such things.

Today, comics like those published by IDW (i.e. Star Trek) do credit such people.

Gold Key was originally an imprint of Western Publishing, which was a very successful publisher in the early and middle 20th century. It wasn't until the early 2000s that they ceased operations and sold their properties to Random House.

Shooter has mentioned this a lot in his interviews, but here's a quote from the Vinnie Bartilucci interview from 1991. It's a great interview since it was done in the middle of VALIANT's rise.

[Shooter had just been talking about how they had tried to buy the rights to the THUNDER Agents}
SHOOTER:
But anyway, what other books were my exceptions? And the answer was Magnus, Robot Fighter. So I went to the owners of the Gold Key/Dell characters, and made a deal with them. I thought they were good characters, I thought they had some cache. I thought there were people like me, who remembered Magnus fondly. Also, having those rights, that's an asset. And having an asset like that is real good if you're gonna be going to banks and borrowing money to start a business, like we did.

So that was all part of the plan. And it took us quite a while to get around to doing the characters because we wanted to strike with Nintendo and WWF as soon as we could, while it was still hot. And we knew that Magnus would be as good this year as it was last year. But the important thing is Magnus, the long term thing, and the universe we're building around him. And that's where our priority is right now.

BARTILUCCI:
You seem to have quite a bit of latitude with the characters.

SHOOTER:
The reason I got Magnus was not because I was the first bidder. and not because I was the highest bidder. The reason I got it was because the man at Western, the CEO, and he's one of the principal owners...he was at one point in negotiations trying to buy Marvel. During that period of time, like all other key people, I was interviewed by him a couple of times. So I got to know him a bit. He got to know us, got to know our operation, and was impressed with the creative effort...he was impressed with me and my friends. (laughs) So when I went to him, I didn't have big money to offer...I didn't even have a comic book company at the time. I had no wherewithal to publish. All I had was my name and reputation and the idea. And I explained to him, look I'd like to license these characters...can we work something out? And his response was rather interesting...he said well, I think you're one of the most creative people I've ever met. The thing that impressed me when I was looking to buy Marvel was you and your guys, that's what really I was buying. The rest was just used furniture and people I was gonna get rid of.

So he said, I'll bet on you. I'll make a deal with you, because those characters aren't doing any-thing right now, and you'll make them into something. So we'll make a deal, they're yours, and when you're ready to publish, they'll be here waiting for you. And we made a deal, he basically betting on the company. He didn't soak me for a lot of money I didn't have. It took me almost two years to come back and say to him, okay, I'm ready to publish. In that time Dark Horse was trying like crazy to get those characters. I've talked to Mike Richardson about it many times. DC made them an offer, Marvel made them an offer... big money too.

But the man kept his word. So after we said we were ready, we took almost another year to actually get the characters going, because we had other opportunities that we had to go after first. But as I've said, the real long term plan is for those characters. And doing them well... that's my half of the bargain. He kept his word, I'm keeping mine.

[Ryan]

So basically Shooter formed a special relationship with the CEO of Western Publishing, so the licensing deal was not typical. The Western CEO had a great deal of trust in Shooter due to their personal relationship, what Shooter had accomplished at Marvel, and his strong affection for the characters.

[ManofTheAtom]

So basically Shooter formed a special relationship with the CEO of Western Publishing, so the licensing deal was not typical. The Western CEO had a great deal of trust in Shooter due to their personal relationship, what Shooter had accomplished at Marvel, and his strong affection for the characters.

So, they were hands off. Cool.