"We Anticipate Being Able to Focus on Expanding": Valiant Publisher Breaks Down New IDW Deal

[ManofTheAtom]

"We Anticipate Being Able to Focus on Expanding": Valiant Publisher Breaks Down New IDW Deal

[Ryan]

Lol, so no comment on this?:

CBR: First off, let's start all the way back at the beginning. As I understand it, DMG continues to own the Valiant brand, characters, and IP, and Alien is able to make Valiant comics through the use of licensing, is that correct?

Matias Timarchi: Yes, it’s a license. // it made sense to grow our partnership in this way when Valiant was looking for an editorial partner.

CBR: DMG's Jeff Ritchie previously confirmed with CBR that the company's current deal with Alien Books is a five-year, royalty-based deal. "Valiant retains creative and editorial decision making, Alien puts the story lines together based on Valiant’s creative input, it is a team effort with Valiant maintaining creative control," Ritchie added. "We at Valiant have a great working relationship with Matias and the entire team at Alien."

CBR: On top of that, does Alien have carte blanche on developing and producing books or is DMG still involved with getting writers, artists, and storylines developed?

MT:Everything needs to be approved by DMG, but they’ve given us the keys to the car, so to speak. We are able to manage which characters get focused on, where the storylines go, and who’s working on the different projects. They’ve been great partners and supportive of our creative decisions, including the Valiant Beyond relaunch, and very understanding during these recent months with the distribution shake-up and move to sub-distribute through IDW.

As I've been saying for years, this Alien/DMG partnership is nothing at all like Voyager/Western (Gold Key) relationship. It is far from the straightforward licensing of the characters that you've insisted it was.

Also Valiant Beyond is clearly a full reboot.

[Ryan]

"We Anticipate Being Able to Focus on Expanding": Valiant Publisher Breaks Down New IDW Deal

Focus on Expanding? How about focusing on making one truly excellent comic book that all of the Valiant fans, old and new, can enjoy? How about focusing on deeply understanding what made Valiant great, special, and unique enough to have a rabid cult following throughout the 2000s and what were the bad decisions that have been made to lose mostly all of that rabid fanbase?

Just my

[Chiclo]

Lol, so no comment on this?:

CBR: First off, let's start all the way back at the beginning. As I understand it, DMG continues to own the Valiant brand, characters, and IP, and Alien is able to make Valiant comics through the use of licensing, is that correct?

Matias Timarchi: Yes, it’s a license. // it made sense to grow our partnership in this way when Valiant was looking for an editorial partner.

CBR: DMG's Jeff Ritchie previously confirmed with CBR that the company's current deal with Alien Books is a five-year, royalty-based deal. "Valiant retains creative and editorial decision making, Alien puts the story lines together based on Valiant’s creative input, it is a team effort with Valiant maintaining creative control," Ritchie added. "We at Valiant have a great working relationship with Matias and the entire team at Alien."

CBR: On top of that, does Alien have carte blanche on developing and producing books or is DMG still involved with getting writers, artists, and storylines developed?

MT:Everything needs to be approved by DMG, but they’ve given us the keys to the car, so to speak. We are able to manage which characters get focused on, where the storylines go, and who’s working on the different projects. They’ve been great partners and supportive of our creative decisions, including the Valiant Beyond relaunch, and very understanding during these recent months with the distribution shake-up and move to sub-distribute through IDW.

As I've been saying for years, this Alien/DMG partnership is nothing at all like Voyager/Western (Gold Key) relationship. It is far from the straightforward licensing of the characters that you've insisted it was.

Also Valiant Beyond is clearly a full reboot.

Ouch! Talk about inheriting the mistakes of DMG!

[Ryan]

Ouch! Talk about inheriting the mistakes of DMG!

It confirms what I've always thought, Alien was brought in by DMG as a way to farm out the production of the comics. To stay in the monthly comics game but cut costs.

Nothing wrong with that, but just call it what it is instead of all the smoke-blowing that gets done on this board.

I would argue that for a niche comic line like Valiant to survive and thrive, it needs people behind it who are intensely passionate about the characters and universe. Does being the translator/localizer company for Valiant create that sort of passion and knowledge for the characters? Who knows, but I don't think we've seen it in what's been published from Alien so far.

The reason Marvel's 2nd and 3rd generation creators were so good (in the 70's and 80's) was because they had all grown up falling in love with and being obsessed with the 60's Marvel comics by Lee, Kirby, Ditko, etc. They wanted to make comics like those, but expand on them, take the concepts, ideas, and techniques to the next level while respecting and revering those original stories.

For once it would be great to see new Valiant comics created by people who grew up with that same reverence and obsession with the comics of Shooter, BWS, Layton, Lapham, Hall, Perlin, etc. Modern Valiant always seems too interested in following current trends, which leads to generic modern comics that are quickly forgotten, nothing unique or Valiant about them.

This is not a shot at anybody, nothing personal, just the opinion of someone who's been a fan since the beginning (1991 Magnus #4).

[ManofTheAtom]

Lol, so no comment on this?:

CBR: First off, let's start all the way back at the beginning. As I understand it, DMG continues to own the Valiant brand, characters, and IP, and Alien is able to make Valiant comics through the use of licensing, is that correct?

Matias Timarchi: Yes, it’s a license. // it made sense to grow our partnership in this way when Valiant was looking for an editorial partner.

CBR: DMG's Jeff Ritchie previously confirmed with CBR that the company's current deal with Alien Books is a five-year, royalty-based deal. "Valiant retains creative and editorial decision making, Alien puts the story lines together based on Valiant’s creative input, it is a team effort with Valiant maintaining creative control," Ritchie added. "We at Valiant have a great working relationship with Matias and the entire team at Alien."

CBR: On top of that, does Alien have carte blanche on developing and producing books or is DMG still involved with getting writers, artists, and storylines developed?

MT:Everything needs to be approved by DMG, but they’ve given us the keys to the car, so to speak. We are able to manage which characters get focused on, where the storylines go, and who’s working on the different projects. They’ve been great partners and supportive of our creative decisions, including the Valiant Beyond relaunch, and very understanding during these recent months with the distribution shake-up and move to sub-distribute through IDW.

As I've been saying for years, this Alien/DMG partnership is nothing at all like Voyager/Western (Gold Key) relationship. It is far from the straightforward licensing of the characters that you've insisted it was.

Also Valiant Beyond is clearly a full reboot.

This is more of a standard licensing deal. Paramount, for instance, has to approve what IDW does with Star Trek.

[The Harbinger]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

[ManofTheAtom]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

[Chiclo]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

Yippee. Dilution of focus. Just what Valiant needs!

[ManofTheAtom]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

Yippee. Dilution of focus. Just what Valiant needs!

Alien Books has published more than VALIANT from the start. And even VALIANT in all its incarnations except for VEI published more than just the VALIANT Universe.

[Chiclo]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

Yippee. Dilution of focus. Just what Valiant needs!

Alien Books has published more than VALIANT from the start. And even VALIANT in all its incarnations except for VEI published more than just the VALIANT Universe.

And Armada and Windjammer helped Akklaim maintain its high standards of editorial excellence?

[ManofTheAtom]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

Yippee. Dilution of focus. Just what Valiant needs!

Alien Books has published more than VALIANT from the start. And even VALIANT in all its incarnations except for VEI published more than just the VALIANT Universe.

And Armada and Windjammer helped Akklaim maintain its high standards of editorial excellence?

I'm sure the Sliders, Magic, and Armed & Dangerous comics had their fair share of fans. Same could have been true of the Quantum Leap comics had they published them.

[buff-beardo]

We are in the dark ages again for VALIANT characters.
It’s disappointing. These characters have so much potential.

[ManofTheAtom]

We are in the dark ages again for VALIANT characters.
It’s disappointing. These characters have so much potential.

Why dark ages?

[The Harbinger]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Expanding for Alien Books may not necessarily be limited to VALIANT but also include their many other projects.

Yippee. Dilution of focus. Just what Valiant needs!

Alien Books has published more than VALIANT from the start. And even VALIANT in all its incarnations except for VEI published more than just the VALIANT Universe.

And Armada and Windjammer helped Akklaim maintain its high standards of editorial excellence?

Hey now, Knighthawk was a boss

[Ryan]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Right. They always have these grand plans and a bunch of marketing-speak.

They did almost a full year of comics with everything leading to the big event Resurgence, that was supposedly going to be the starting point of the next era of Valiant Comics. (Resurgence = an increase or revival after a period of little activity, popularity, or occurrence)

But instead we get a 4 issue series that needs an extra 5th issue to make any sense, and then right as it ends they announce a full reboot of the top characters that has absolutely nothing to do with Resurgence or any of the comics they'd made for the last year. HUH?

All we want are good stories, done respectfully and with the proper care of someone who loves these properties. Not Marketing hyperbole and grand plans to conquer Hollywood or whatever. Valiant is a super niche comic book company, start by being a real fan and making it for the other fans. Then if we're lucky and dedicated enough to succeed at that all the bigger stuff will follow.

[ManofTheAtom]

Wonder how much of a disappointed face emoji to give to the goal ‘expanding’. Yes, it would be nice to have good stories and more of them.

But Valiant could really use the relaunch to just focus on 3 IPs and keep it simple. Make stories, don’t worry about crossovers, and gain fans and readers. Need like 2 years of just stories about the characters instead of half the issues being to hook you to a different series

Right. They always have these grand plans and a bunch of marketing-speak.

They did almost a full year of comics with everything leading to the big event Resurgence, that was supposedly going to be the starting point of the next era of Valiant Comics. (Resurgence = an increase or revival after a period of little activity, popularity, or occurrence)

But instead we get a 4 issue series that needs an extra 5th issue to make any sense, and then right as it ends they announce a full reboot of the top characters that has absolutely nothing to do with Resurgence or any of the comics they'd made for the last year. HUH?

All we want are good stories, done respectfully and with the proper care of someone who loves these properties. Not Marketing hyperbole and grand plans to conquer Hollywood or whatever. Valiant is a super niche comic book company, start by being a real fan and making it for the other fans. Then if we're lucky and dedicated enough to succeed at that all the bigger stuff will follow.

They also announced the FCBD Ressurection one-shot, which continues from where Resurgence finale left off.

[Ryan]

They also announced the FCBD Ressurection one-shot, which continues from where Resurgence finale left off.

Aren't you the guy who kept saying 'wait until Resurgence, that's when it will all come together and we can judge Alien'? Now you're saying it was all a grand plan to try and cash in on a 20 year old trend of turning super heroes into zombies?

It seems like a slap in the face to the hardcore VEI fans. I'm obviously not a big fan of the VEI comics, but I've always respected Dino for how he seems like a great guy and businessman, and I've always respected the quality and effort that went into VEI even if I didn't vibe with the stories. I respect that there are (were?) a lot of fans who love the VEI stories and any new Valiant comics should try to bring them back.

It just seems disrespectfull and dismissive of the VEI fans who have followed this universe since 2012. Or at the very least poor planning, or a plan that seems like its changed 5 times since it started. Just make one good comic, that's respectful and shows a love for the source material. Take the things that made Valiant great (the stories), expand on them and bring them forward to the current day. That's all.

[ManofTheAtom]

They also announced the FCBD Ressurection one-shot, which continues from where Resurgence finale left off.

Aren't you the guy who kept saying 'wait until Resurgence, that's when it will all come together and we can judge Alien'? Now you're saying it was all a grand plan to try and cash in on a 20 year old trend of turning super heroes into zombies?

It seems like a slap in the face to the hardcore VEI fans. I'm obviously not a big fan of the VEI comics, but I've always respected Dino for how he seems like a great guy and businessman, and I've always respected the quality and effort that went into VEI even if I didn't vibe with the stories. I respect that there are (were?) a lot of fans who love the VEI stories and any new Valiant comics should try to bring them back.

It just seems disrespectfull and dismissive of the VEI fans who have followed this universe since 2012. Or at the very least poor planning, or a plan that seems like its changed 5 times since it started. Just make one good comic, that's respectful and shows a love for the source material. Take the things that made Valiant great (the stories), expand on them and bring them forward to the current day. That's all.

All we know right now is that post Resurgence the publishing is split along two paths; one is the Beyond side-canon and the other is the Resurrection one-shot and/or arc that was intended to begin on FCBD which continues the plot thread begun with the VEI launch, both of which have been adversely affected by Diamond's banckgrupcy.

Given Hawkins' exit, we don't know what their original plan would have been with either of those, other than Beyond is set to run for a year, 12 issues of four or so different comics. Other than that, we don't know what the plan was for the VEI canon past the Resurrection arc.

[Dallow Spicer1]

I’m still confused on how IDW fit in with Alien??

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

[RyanMcLelland]

I’m still confused on how IDW fit in with Alien??

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

It sounds like Alien and DMG work together on the books (Alien has to run everything past DMG) so I imagine IDW is helping from a publisher standpoint.

But I don’t know much.

[Dallow Spicer1]

I’m still confused on how IDW fit in with Alien??

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

It sounds like Alien and DMG work together on the books (Alien has to run everything past DMG) so I imagine IDW is helping from a publisher standpoint.

But I don’t know much.

Is ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ a saying over in the US?

[Chiclo]

I’m still confused on how IDW fit in with Alien??

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

It sounds like Alien and DMG work together on the books (Alien has to run everything past DMG) so I imagine IDW is helping from a publisher standpoint.

But I don’t know much.

Is ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ a saying over in the US?

https://www.adultswim.com/videos/infome ... any-cooks/

[Ryan]

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

Everything I've seen in the new 'Valiant Beyond' universe could've been done in a post-Resurgence VEI universe. Want a new Harbinger led by Archer with some new characters? Set it up in Resurgence. Want Bloodshot to be a Japanese dude? Make a new in-universe Bloodshot. Want a new Shadowman and more fantasy-magical New Orleans, easily done in VEI with a little explanation. X-O has already been space-fantasy barbarian for a number of years now.

If they wanted a reboot without ties to the old versions, just do that from the beginning. Why spend a year hyping and producing comics leading to a big hyped event only to immediately after launch a new line of the same characters but different versions in a different universe that have nothing to do with any of the last year of comics that you've spent $100s of thousands producing and marketing? It makes no sense to me.

[ManofTheAtom]

DMG and Alien have consistently shins themselves to be amateurs when it comes to releasing a quality comic book line. If IDW can take control and (significantly) improve the books then that might be something.

I always wonder who is giving positive feedback to Alien to make then think they’re on the right track

Everything I've seen in the new 'Valiant Beyond' universe could've been done in a post-Resurgence VEI universe. Want a new Harbinger led by Archer with some new characters? Set it up in Resurgence. Want Bloodshot to be a Japanese dude? Make a new in-universe Bloodshot. Want a new Shadowman and more fantasy-magical New Orleans, easily done in VEI with a little explanation. X-O has already been space-fantasy barbarian for a number of years now.

If they wanted a reboot without ties to the old versions, just do that from the beginning. Why spend a year hyping and producing comics leading to a big hyped event only to immediately after launch a new line of the same characters but different versions in a different universe that have nothing to do with any of the last year of comics that you've spent $100s of thousands producing and marketing? It makes no sense to me.

Bloodshot Beyond is not a Japanese dude, though.