Collecting in the Dark Ages...

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

So, the Lost Souls no price variant thread got me thinking about stuff.....

How many of you were followers of Valiant from the heydays of 92-93...and continued buying throughout the darkest days of the late 90's and beyond....?

I can tell you that I discovered Valiant 6 months or so before Unity, around Harby #2-3....I honestly don't recall what was the first book I READ, but I know the first book I bought was Harby #1 (in the 25 cent bin. )

I had a couple of sets of pre-unity by 1993, but by the fall of 1992, prices were ridiculous ($8 for Solar #10!), so I didn't buy much more.

Of course, by the summer of 1993, things were totally insane (even though the writing was on the wall by then), so I never got any premium books, no golds, plats, reds, nothing.

By the fall of 1993, I was off to my first semester of "real" college (after doing a 1 year stint in community college) and I sold one of my pre-unity sets...yay.

I kept the other pre-unity set (which I still have segregated to this day), and that was that....I stopped buying new issues, because I was not happy paying $1.50 to $1.95 for new books, when I remembered buying them for 75 cents. But I never stopped buying back issues, and from 1994, the hunt was on. Any time I saw a Valiant back issue for a reasonable price (ie, $5 or less) I bought it.

The unfortunate thing is that, because people had paid so much for Valiant books, most were completely unwilling to get rid of them for so much less. As a result, from 1995-1997, there were VERY few Valiant books on the market anywhere.

But, after that, the trickle began, and I picked up any and all Valiant keys (except VVSS, darn it!) that I could find for relatively cheap. That's one of the reasons why I have the books that I have....I've been buying them forever.

What about you? Were you, like myself, Greg, Zero, and others, a diehard fan and buyer even in the dark days....? Were you able to amass a large collection of Valiants for next to nothing?

Share your stories....

[Slashes-With-Claws]

I was still very young when Valiant comics first came out, not even a teen. I got a few X-O from my mom, but that was it. I did not really start getting back into them until about 2004.

[Phoenix8008]

My virst taste of Valiant was X-O Manowar. I had heard somewhere (maybe in Wizard?) about the concept of 'Conan in Iron Man's armor'. It struck a chord in me and I couldn't wait to get it. Unfortunately, I never picked up anything else pre-Unity. After being exposed to all the other titles during Unity though, I was hooked on Valiant.

My favorites were X-O, Eternal Warrior, and Bloodshot. After Unity, I also got into Magnus and Rai for the Malev war. With the prices at the time, I couldn't afford to go back and get Harbinger stuff. And I thought of Harbinger and HARD Corps as two sides of the same coin and didn't want to get only half the story. So I never got into HARD Corps much either. Got all the issues of Chaos Effect though, and enjoyed them. Had fun near the end with Timewalker and Psi-Lords, and even stuck around long enough to see the Armorines, Geomancer and Ninjak books start up.

When Birthquake came though, I just didn't have the money to continue and the stories just weren't as great anymore. I still loved the old stuff though and really was heartbroken when I lost my whole collection years ago during a move. So now I'm back trying to get the whole of VH1 from quarter bins before paying more to fill in the remaining holes.

[Elveen]

During the summers when I was teaching I would get out my 1 long box and 1 short box and re-read my Valiants. I could read most of the early uni (execpt for some Solar and Mag, I didn't have the trades) I had, maybe 25% of the Pre-unity books, but I had the Rai and Harby trade so I could read the stories.

(I stopped collecting around..... Secret Wep #3..... I think......)

One summer early 2000 I dediced to check out a LCS to see if they had any Vals. He had bunch in the back issue bins. Some were keys, I think I got a Mag #0 w/ card for like $4 and a Rai #2 for the same.

I also got a bunch of commons (especially Shadowman and A&A books).

They guy let me go into the storage, move a bunch of long boxes to get to the books I wanted. He sold them to me for .50 (but I had to pay extra for bags. The guys had multiple copies of each book, like a bunch of them.

I remember seeing a bunch of books with the same titles, but they books looked so different. (which later I would find out was the end of the runs and the Accliam books)

I clearly remember EW wings and fist and steel, and some wierd shadowman looking books..... you know what they were...... but I did not know at the time.


I am convinced that this shop was just buying some of everything. I remember looking at the fist and steel books, he had like 10 of them. (at least)

I wish I knew then what I knew now. I could have cleaned him out.

But by the time I knew what was what, I went back and the store had switched owners, and had become a new book only store with gaming tables.


But at least I did get the Mag #0, it is still my only copy.

[Lightning Strike]

So, the Lost Souls no price variant thread got me thinking about stuff.....

How many of you were followers of Valiant from the heydays of 92-93...and continued buying throughout the darkest days of the late 90's and beyond....?

I was there from the early days (my first Valiant issue was the Harby pink), and collected them almost to the end. I then made the horrible decision of selling off about 75% of my Valiant collection, only to start reaquiring them over the last year.

[JustCallMeAric]

I started about a year ago and it is hard to find LCS selling Valiant. i have lucked out though and gotten a ton of pre-unity for cover price.

[myron]

I collected from magnus 1 until roughly may or june of 96...it was at that time we moved to a town that didn't have a CS and since the stories had really gone down the toilet at that time I stopped cold turkey with valiant...I still picked up silver, bronze and copper age stuff that I would find when I needed a fix, but didn't really get back into Valiant until the new millenium...didn't 'bay at that time either. Kind of kicking myself on that now but, meh, whatever...

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

(I don't think anyone reads anything I write anymore)

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

I was still very young when Valiant comics first came out, not even a teen. I got a few X-O from my mom, but that was it. I did not really start getting back into them until about 2004.

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

When Birthquake came though, I just didn't have the money to continue and the stories just weren't as great anymore. I still loved the old stuff though and really was heartbroken when I lost my whole collection years ago during a move. So now I'm back trying to get the whole of VH1 from quarter bins before paying more to fill in the remaining holes.

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

(I stopped collecting around..... Secret Wep #3..... I think......)

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

So, the Lost Souls no price variant thread got me thinking about stuff.....

How many of you were followers of Valiant from the heydays of 92-93...and continued buying throughout the darkest days of the late 90's and beyond....?

I was there from the early days (my first Valiant issue was the Harby pink), and collected them almost to the end. I then made the horrible decision of selling off about 75% of my Valiant collection, only to start reaquiring them over the last year.

No one read a thing I wrote.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

I collected from magnus 1 until roughly may or june of 96...it was at that time we moved to a town that didn't have a CS and since the stories had really gone down the toilet at that time I stopped cold turkey with valiant...I still picked up silver, bronze and copper age stuff that I would find when I needed a fix, but didn't really get back into Valiant until the new millenium...didn't 'bay at that time either. Kind of kicking myself on that now but, meh, whatever...

I give up.

[siren3-4]

You can't always get what you want . . . you can't always get the post you want . .


But if you read sometimes . . . you just might find . . .


. . I think I have to pee . . . .

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

You can't always get what you want . . . you can't always get the post you want . .


But if you read sometimes . . . you just might find . . .


. . I think I have to pee . . . .

I had to pee last night....so I did....

[myron]

(I don't think anyone reads anything I write anymore)

what's that...I can't read...


I paid cover(less my pull percentage) for most of my valiants up to June 96...I had a pull at the CS's where I lived. Palmdale, Ca and then Janesville, Wi...neither of those places ever offered up any of the incentive issues, even though both new I was a die hard. The place in Palmdale kept most of that stuff for the owner only...not sure about the place in Janesville...


I didn't have kids at the time so it was easy to commit $35+ a week to comics

[siren3-4]

You can't always get what you want . . . you can't always get the post you want . .


But if you read sometimes . . . you just might find . . .


. . I think I have to pee . . . .

I had to pee last night....so I did....

Ah ha !!!! So you admit it !!!!





(I was out of comics from 1998 to like 2006 . . . I missed all the fun . .but in coming back I did get a Harby pink 0 for $15 from my LCS . . .)

[greg]

What about you? Were you, like myself, Greg, Zero, and others, a diehard fan and buyer even in the dark days....? Were you able to amass a large collection of Valiants for next to nothing?

Share your stories....

Since I'm already in the list, am I allowed to contribute?

[siren3-4]

(I don't think anyone reads anything I write anymore)

what's that...I can't read...


I paid cover(less my pull percentage) for most of my valiants up to June 96...I had a pull at the CS's where I lived. Palmdale, Ca and then Janesville, Wi...neither of those places ever offered up any of the incentive issues, even though both new I was a die hard. The place in Palmdale kept most of that stuff for the owner only...not sure about the place in Janesville...


I didn't have kids at the time so it was easy to commit $35+ a week to comics

You don't have to answer to him . . . he peed last night . . .

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

Alright, lemme try this again....I guess I wasn't as clear as I could have been.

(I so don't mean to be harsh. Honest. )

How many of you were followers of Valiant from the heydays of 92-93...and continued buying throughout the darkest days of the late 90's and beyond....?

What about you? Were you, like myself, Greg, Zero, and others, a diehard fan and buyer even in the dark days....? Were you able to amass a large collection of Valiants for next to nothing?

Share your stories....

So....if you continued buying....and never stopped looking....for Valiants, all this time...share your stories.

Here's one:

My very first Magnus #0 and Harbinger #0 Pink (both of which I still have):

Ed Kalb was selling his store out (again), and I was buying long box after long box in early 1999....he had a TON of Valiant stuff, not a lot of dupes, but a LOT of pre-unity. He also had a Harby #0 Pink and a Magnus #0...I about wet myself, as I had NEVER owned these books prior to this (this was maybe 3-4 months after I first found eBay in Oct of 1998.)

Price? 30 cents each.

WOOHOOO!!

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

What about you? Were you, like myself, Greg, Zero, and others, a diehard fan and buyer even in the dark days....? Were you able to amass a large collection of Valiants for next to nothing?

Share your stories....

Since I'm already in the list, am I allowed to contribute?

Totally!

How about the time when I won a near complete set of VH1 and VH2 on eBay in Dec, 1999 for less than $1000...?

[Slashes-With-Claws]

I was still very young when Valiant comics first came out, not even a teen. I got a few X-O from my mom, but that was it. I did not really start getting back into them until about 2004.

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......

Nope.

Well, I have stories from that period, but they are not Valiant related.

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

I was still very young when Valiant comics first came out, not even a teen. I got a few X-O from my mom, but that was it. I did not really start getting back into them until about 2004.

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......

Nope.

Well, I have stories from that period, but they are not Valiant related.

TOTALLY nothing personal (to everyone), I was just looking for stories from people who specifically never stopped looking for and buying Valiants since 1992-93.

[cjv]

I did not follow in the late 1990's.

After Acclaim bought Valiant, I started to lose interest. My mid 1996 I was still doing Valiant Visions, but the comics just didn't interest me too much. In addition, Acclaim wasn't as interested as they were previously in lending support to the newsletter.

By the time I started a new job in 1997 (just prior to my starting grad school in 1997) I was no longer reading the new Valiant stuff. In fact, after I started grad school, I pretty much stopped collecting comics entirely.

Chris

[ZephyrWasHOT!!]

You can't always get what you want . . . you can't always get the post you want . .


But if you read sometimes . . . you just might find . . .


. . I think I have to pee . . . .

I had to pee last night....so I did....

Ah ha !!!! So you admit it !!!!

Well, yes. I'll probably have to do it again, soon.

(I was out of comics from 1998 to like 2006 . . . I missed all the fun . .but in coming back I did get a Harby pink 0 for $15 from my LCS . . .)

Sooooo....you DIDN'T collect during the Dark Ages, and therefore don't HAVE any stories from that period......