Success of Valiant

[Jaknife]

what, in your opinions, were the main reasons that valiants major titles were so awesome?

XO: definitley the writing. i can remember when i first read xo retirbution, cracking up at arics speech. his lines were just so awesome.

Shadowman: i think the fact bob hall wrote and drew the majority of this title was the reason. he could do whatever he really wanted with the character, and it followed his plan, because no one else came in and changed things.

magnus: awesome character, very real feel to him despite his fictitious abilities.

bloodshot: great story. he wasnt a generic shoot em up kind of character. his emotions were quite real, and his motivation was genuine, as in, at first, he chased the mafia cuz they did him wrong, and then he worked for MI-5, so he was erely doing missions for a time.

A&A: definitley the BWS art and story part. the first 12 issues were classic. such a unique book, you couldnt help but like it. when BWS left, the stories got worse fast

EW: truly intruging book. his past stories, and his current. the art was decent, but the writing was good.

Harbinger: ????????? stancheks story at first.

Solar: umm, A&O was awesome.

Turok: just an awesome character. between mike deodato, bart sears and rags morales, turok was a very well drawn book. the writing was consistent, and most of the time wasnt redundant.

Rai: tohru was awesome. his conflict was great. after that, it was okay.


what do yall think?

[Killer Shrike]

Hmm...for me:

XO: The duality of Aric's primitive Visigoth outlook coupled with the overwhelmingly powerful technology of his suit. I liked Aric's barbaric perspective on things. And he called his armor suit "the good skin" You had to like that.

Harbingers: I like the one power motif for "teen supers". I find a character that has one ability that they use cleverly to be more interesting than a character with an array of unrelated abilities.

HARD Corps: I liked the feel of honest men trying to do a job, but the hint that the job they were doing was for a company that was pretty ruthless and questionable. I also liked the no-BS attitude of the earlier issues. When they killed Superstar off bcs he was a lose cannon, I did a Keanu-like "woah".

Bloodshot: He was another gun bunny like Punisher or other faceless clones, but unlike them, Bloodshot was Mr. Cucumber. He wasnt some slavering maniac, he was the epitome of calculated application of force. Just a very neat character. And the whole RAI tie in was brilliant. Classic Valiant visionary fodder.

Eternal Warrior: Im a sucker for historical flashback/modern parrallel stories. I mean, its totally a Highlander rip off, but I always thought EW did it better.

A&A: Armstrong was just hilarious. The lazy "superhero" bit was just pure comedy, and the whacky stories were just zany. My favorite comic of all time is probably the EW/A&A double issue reprising the 4 Musketeers, with three of them being the three immortal brothers doing Man In The Iron Mask. It just seemed really clever to me. A novel idea and a good story. When it was later revealed in the Magnus time frame that Aram was supposed to have been the Geomancer all along but had been gold bricking it....I laughed and chuckled for a good 30 minutes afterwards. Good shtick.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

Continuity, continuity, continuity.

[Daniel Jackson]

They had such a cohesive universe with great characters both heroes and villains. Harbinger was a great concept for a new group of young superheroes. X-O was simply awesome and I loved the idea of the 3 different immortal brothers and the different path each one followed. Rai was another fantastic character with endless possibilities. They of course did a great job with Magnus and Solar books and I preferred Valiant's take on them above the original.

[GWYGUY]

Oh, come on, say it... I will. Valiant came along at a time when we, the appreciative crowd, were sick of lame *SQUEE*, or none at all, storytelling, and a disgusting lean toward Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and countless other pretenders fascination with angled female curvature, no storyline rags. You remember, just as well as I do, Gen 13, Lady Death, Avengelyne, Glory, etc. Truly, how sad was that period in time!? Were the Valiant books classics, worthy of 1st appearance of Silver Surfer/Galactus, Amazing Fantasy Spiderman, or 1st Thanos status? No, but perceptions and print runs change. That kind of collectibility, fueled by demand on an obvious lack of supply, will never exist again. Were the Valiant books classics in their own right? Oh hell yeah!!! Bob Hall, in my opinion is still the Prince, behind of course, the King...Kirby. Barry Windsor-Smith could do NO WRONG, Frank Miller was stellar with the covers, and X-O, Solar, and the Eternal one couldn't be touched. What happened with Valiant was *SQUEE*...plain and simple. The big boys, when threatened with superior competion, applied muscle, and money, to effective ends. And yes, there was that sickening spell of speculators...I'll address them later. Valiant's on the rise now, my friend, simply because of the quality inserted. Check out a little PLASM sometime... Later. -Gary

[depluto]

Were the Valiant books classics, worthy of 1st appearance of Silver Surfer/Galactus, Amazing Fantasy Spiderman, or 1st Thanos status? No, but perceptions and print runs change.

Never say never!

I don't think it would ever happen, but if these characters were delivered to the right set of artists and writers ... VH4!

Stranger things have happened. I'm sure people are noticing the surge in Valiant prices, and if anyone bothered to look they could tell that a major reason for the renewed interest is this little gathering here on Greg's site. And we're here because we loved the original comics.

[dino]

Were the Valiant books classics, worthy of 1st appearance of Silver Surfer/Galactus, Amazing Fantasy Spiderman, or 1st Thanos status? No, but perceptions and print runs change.

Never say never!

I don't think it would ever happen, but if these characters were delivered to the right set of artists and writers ... VH4!

Stranger things have happened. I'm sure people are noticing the surge in Valiant prices, and if anyone bothered to look they could tell that a major reason for the renewed interest is this little gathering here on Greg's site. And we're here because we loved the original comics.

I hate to say it but I think that is passing. From the looks of whats happening on ebay the books arent being bought to be read but to be put in a bank valut, same as in the 90s. $200 XO 0 Gold, $45 Rai 9 Gold! those are crazy prices for books that are being bought as collectibles.

[Daniel Jackson]

Ditto. If these people are banking on a big return after shelling out that kind of money for certain Valiant's I think they will be sorely disappointed.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

Fact: It is reported that there are only 5000 of most Valiant gold books. This is probably close to the truth.

Fact: Many of us reading this have multiple, if not dozens, of these books.

Maybe...just maybe....these folks are tired of being outbid by the rest of us, and have decided to get their copies 'at whatever the cost'.

Or....maybe...people are (re)discovering Valiant.

All it takes is 5001 copies wanted to make the prices go crazy.

[Master Dorque]

Oh, come on, say it... I will. Valiant came along at a time when we, the appreciative crowd, were sick of lame *SQUEE*, or none at all, storytelling, and a disgusting lean toward Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and countless other pretenders fascination with angled female curvature, no storyline rags. You remember, just as well as I do, Gen 13, Lady Death, Avengelyne, Glory, etc. Truly, how sad was that period in time!? Were the Valiant books classics, worthy of 1st appearance of Silver Surfer/Galactus, Amazing Fantasy Spiderman, or 1st Thanos status? No, but perceptions and print runs change. That kind of collectibility, fueled by demand on an obvious lack of supply, will never exist again. Were the Valiant books classics in their own right? Oh hell yeah!!! Bob Hall, in my opinion is still the Prince, behind of course, the King...Kirby. Barry Windsor-Smith could do NO WRONG, Frank Miller was stellar with the covers, and X-O, Solar, and the Eternal one couldn't be touched. What happened with Valiant was $h!+...plain and simple. The big boys, when threatened with superior competion, applied muscle, and money, to effective ends. And yes, there was that sickening spell of speculators...I'll address them later. Valiant's on the rise now, my friend, simply because of the quality inserted. Check out a little PLASM sometime... Later. -Gary

You pegged it. Valiant was a true contender amongst mostly pretenders. Although I have to admit, I did like Gen 13. Especially the early stuff when J. Scott Campbell was drawing it. But that was another rare bright spot amidst alot of crap.