My Valiant Story

[1st Among Equals]

Okay so I've been asked how I got into comics a couple of times and I had nothing better to do so I thought what the heck. When I was growing up I loved watching the X-Men and Spiderman cartoon shows. Me and my sister just loved them. Are parents bought lots of figures and we used to play all the time. My grandpa would also send us toys from his comic shop(I'll talk about that later ). When my dad retired from the army after ten years of service we moved from South Carolina to California to live with my grandparents. It was cool because I hadn't seen them(well at least I don't remember seeing them I was three when we moved). That year's Easter my grandma gave me a 3-CPO and a landspeeder(which started me collecting star wars). The cool thing was that my grandpa had a comic store called Heroes and Villians. You can just amagine a three or four year old kid(i dont remember how old I was)walking into a store full of figures comics and cards. It was awesome!
Skipping ahead a year or two we pull up to visit my aunt who is working in the store. As we walk up to the door a man comes out kind of fast and bumps me with a large black garbage bag. I don't remember what my dad said but i just remember the guy not really listening to him and walking off quickly. We walk into the store to find my aunt crying. THE DUDE THAT BUMPED ME HAD JUST HELD HER AT GUN POINT FOR STUFF!!!
My dad asked her if she was all right and took off after the guy(he had just became a police officer that year). He cought to the guy which when he saw him he ditched the bag. I don't know where but I the guy lost my dad but the police ended up getting him close by. It was either a fake gun or like a rusted old one but still I'm thankfull my aunt wasn't shot. My grandpa closed the shop because no one wanted to do a shift alone after that. He had stacks of long boxes full of comics in his garage for a long time. He than had a garge sell. I was looking through the books(I was about 6 or 7 still learning to read) when I came across some G.I. Joe books. He said that i could have them. I didn't really read them it was still kind of hard to understand what they were talking about but i still liked them a lot. Skipping a head years every now and than when i went to his house i would get a book but nothing that really mad me interested incomics. Skipping ahead a lot I was twelve when my mom was going through old pictures/school work/important financial stuff like that when she came across a comic book. This is what i actually think really started it. It was a Shadowman TPB in a palstic case. I didn't really like it and kind of just like ok what is it. I think this was because Didn't know who the publisher Valint was and thought that since it wasn't DC or Marvle that it sucked cause it was some sheap publisher. Oh how wrong I was! The story was just amazing!! I loved it. My dad said it was his favarite character when he was younger. When we went camping in Montery like a month later there was a comic shop there. I looked through all the boxes for shadowman and only came up with a Shadowman #8. My dad suggested Solar and X-O comics but I was like no. The only one i did pick up was Solar #16 because it had a spideralien on the front and my dad said it was like the chick that bit Jack. I absolutley loved them! When we got home my dad asked my grandpa if he had any valiant without m,e knowing. One day I get home from school to find a couple of stacks of Valiant...they were awsome!! After a while i had all the different issues that my grandpa had(he is the best!)and had to have more. I went to a LCS and searched through their 50cent boxes. I bought $50 worth of books. I got some others from other LCS but not much. I have golds,number 1's,signed,and other rare books such as some last issues from my grandpa but I'm still far from done. That is why I joined this board looking to complete my collection and to just talk everything valiant. Now I'm currently 14 turning 15 soon and wow i didn't look up till now and this is a long story so thanks for reading.

[Daniel Jackson]

Interesting story thanks for sharing. Glad your Aunt wasn't hurt by that maniac.

[1st Among Equals]

Seriously.

[TKWill]

Wow, must have been nice to grow up with a grandfather that had a comic shop. Know what I got to do when I went to my grandfather's work? Milk cows and shovel *SQUEE*. It is true, but they have a beautiful farm in central Minnesota.
That's pretty neat that your pa is preaching VALIANT to you, can't ask for more than that. Not to mention it lets you know that there are more than X-books, Supes and Batman which alot of prople your age are probably into. Speaking of which what do your friends think of VALIANT? Do they "get it?"

[1st Among Equals]

idk I guess it's not the same as it used to be. No kids at my school read comics or anything. I'm like the only kid that walks into my LCS and like all the 40 year collectors(no offense there'is just no younger people there)kind of just like stare at me like this kid better not be putting finger prints on all the books.

[TKWill]

I think they do that whenever anyone they don't recognize comes into "their" LCS. Geeks can be very territorial, I remember when I was growing up we almost had rival LCS gangs, there were the people that went to Abilene Books, Comics and Games and those that went to Paperback exchange. ABC&G had tons of back issues like tens of thousands, but you paid for them. Paperback exchange had quarter bins of some good stuff and the guy was really into the indie books so that was cool. I went to Paperback exchange, even though the guy that worked the comics was sort of liek Jack Black in High Fidelity. It took a long time for him to not treat us like crap.

Then there was the third one Sportscard Emporium, this is the one I could walk to, I would go on a Saturday afternoon if I had a few bucks burning a hole in my pocket. Bill, the owner, was crooked as all get out. I knew not to buy and auto'd book from him. And he would sit all day and compare card pack thickness (does that even work?) To try and pull the packs that had the chase cards in them and then put boxes full of his rejects on the shelf. I only bought sealed cases off of him. I was glad to see his store shut down. He had the only Valiant back issues in town and they were going for mad cheddar. I think he bought all of the other LCS issues like a week or two after they came out. Oh well, he was the first to shut down and I was alright with that.

[Adventure346]

Strangely enough, I get looks whenever I go to the LCS...but I'm 31. However, I have also been the kid in the store getting the "and what do you think you're doing?" look. Glad to hear you like the Valiant universe, enjoy, and Welcome

[Lightning Strike]

Skipping ahead a lot I was twelve when my mom was going through old pictures/school work/important financial stuff like that when she came across a comic book. This is what i actually think really started it. It was a Shadowman TPB in a palstic case. I didn't really like it and kind of just like ok what is it. I think this was because Didn't know who the publisher Valint was and thought that since it wasn't DC or Marvle that it sucked cause it was some sheap publisher. Oh how wrong I was! The story was just amazing!! I loved it. My dad said it was his favarite character when he was younger. When we went camping in Montery like a month later there was a comic shop there. I looked through all the boxes for shadowman and only came up with a Shadowman #8. My dad suggested Solar and X-O comics but I was like no. The only one i did pick up was Solar #16 because it had a spideralien on the front and my dad said it was like the chick that bit Jack. I absolutley loved them! When we got home my dad asked my grandpa if he had any valiant without m,e knowing. One day I get home from school to find a couple of stacks of Valiant...they were awsome!! After a while i had all the different issues that my grandpa had(he is the best!)and had to have more. I went to a LCS and searched through their 50cent boxes. I bought $50 worth of books. I got some others from other LCS but not much. I have golds,number 1's,signed,and other rare books such as some last issues from my grandpa but I'm still far from done. That is why I joined this board looking to complete my collection and to just talk everything valiant. Now I'm currently 14 turning 15 soon and wow i didn't look up till now and this is a long story so thanks for reading.

Cool second part of the story

[slym2none]

Welcome abroad! Thanks for sharing that rather interesting story...





-slym