Better late than never...turborip's Valiant story!
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
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turborip
- You gotta have Faith!
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Better late than never...turborip's Valiant story!
OK, back when Valiant was a brand new company I pretty much ignored them. Not really on purpose, but my teenage budget was pretty limited and starting a new range of titles wasn't appealing to a guy barely getting his X-Men and Batman fix at the time. I also felt a little burnt by the Image books being all style, no substance and thought Valiant might be more of the same.
My best friend did pick up on Valiant at the beginning though. I believe he even clipped the coupons to obtain a Harbinger 0. I read a handful of issues (Magnus sticks out in my mind) and realized these weren't half bad. (Side note: I need to call up my buddy and see if he still has these. He must, as he has every comic he's ever bought still).
I ended up moving though and never really pursuing getting my own Valiants. I did pick up the a Turok 1 and I think Secret Weapons 1, but the way everyone in my new community was treating these like a get-rich-quick scam left a real bad taste in my mouth. I also didn't have a great comic shop to really buy stuff from, so I ended up out of the habit completely after a while. Around 1999, I get back in the habit very slowly with just a handful of titles.
To this day my collecting of new stuff is pretty limited. About two years ago I realized that as much as I enjoy many new titles I tend to wait on getting things either in trade or at a discount later on. I also started pursuing getting back issues and trying to recreate some of the collection I had given up on.
Valiant wasn't really on my radar for this endeavor until recently. A co-worker of mine gave me their old collection, just sitting in boxes doing nothing. They had no interest in them for over a decade, so they gave them to me. In those boxes was some pretty good runs of Shadowman (issues 0, 18-42), X-O Manowar (issues 0, 20-41 plus some others), Ninjak 1-9 and a smattering of common issues. Oh, and Deathmate too.
I read a handful of issues and found the art and story very appealing and was hoping to start from the beginning. I found that I could get good reading copies of the trades for Harbinger, Rai, Shadowman, X-O Manowar and Solar Alpha and Omega for a decent price from an online source. Having read and immensley enjoying those, I've decided to put together a decent reading set of Valiants. Perhaps I'll pursue variants and such at a later time, but for now I'm looking forward to seeing how this universe unfolds!
My best friend did pick up on Valiant at the beginning though. I believe he even clipped the coupons to obtain a Harbinger 0. I read a handful of issues (Magnus sticks out in my mind) and realized these weren't half bad. (Side note: I need to call up my buddy and see if he still has these. He must, as he has every comic he's ever bought still).
I ended up moving though and never really pursuing getting my own Valiants. I did pick up the a Turok 1 and I think Secret Weapons 1, but the way everyone in my new community was treating these like a get-rich-quick scam left a real bad taste in my mouth. I also didn't have a great comic shop to really buy stuff from, so I ended up out of the habit completely after a while. Around 1999, I get back in the habit very slowly with just a handful of titles.
To this day my collecting of new stuff is pretty limited. About two years ago I realized that as much as I enjoy many new titles I tend to wait on getting things either in trade or at a discount later on. I also started pursuing getting back issues and trying to recreate some of the collection I had given up on.
Valiant wasn't really on my radar for this endeavor until recently. A co-worker of mine gave me their old collection, just sitting in boxes doing nothing. They had no interest in them for over a decade, so they gave them to me. In those boxes was some pretty good runs of Shadowman (issues 0, 18-42), X-O Manowar (issues 0, 20-41 plus some others), Ninjak 1-9 and a smattering of common issues. Oh, and Deathmate too.
I read a handful of issues and found the art and story very appealing and was hoping to start from the beginning. I found that I could get good reading copies of the trades for Harbinger, Rai, Shadowman, X-O Manowar and Solar Alpha and Omega for a decent price from an online source. Having read and immensley enjoying those, I've decided to put together a decent reading set of Valiants. Perhaps I'll pursue variants and such at a later time, but for now I'm looking forward to seeing how this universe unfolds!
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Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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Rufusharley
- donkey-shorts!..uhh i mean..danke schön!
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Draco
- Well I think I talked enough poop...
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- Valiant fan since: preordered vh1 from start
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Chiclo
- I'm Chiclo. My strong Dongs paid off well.
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Sounds like our friend found a gateway dead universe.turborip wrote:Thanks everyone, for the welcome!
One thing I think is really cool is that Valiant has a broad range of material, but it's not never-ending. It's a do-able set of titles to obtain.
Next you'll be wanting a full set of Ultraverse... Comic's Greatest World... then you get into the harder stuff like Comico and Eclipse.
Defiant and Broadway are good to start with after the Valiant fix. Shooter was the mind behind both companies and there's maybe 60 issues between the two of them.
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turborip
- You gotta have Faith!
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As a long time "Big Two" reader, I love the concept of a shared universe.Chiclo wrote:Sounds like our friend found a gateway dead universe.turborip wrote:Thanks everyone, for the welcome!
One thing I think is really cool is that Valiant has a broad range of material, but it's not never-ending. It's a do-able set of titles to obtain.
Next you'll be wanting a full set of Ultraverse... Comic's Greatest World... then you get into the harder stuff like Comico and Eclipse.
Defiant and Broadway are good to start with after the Valiant fix. Shooter was the mind behind both companies and there's maybe 60 issues between the two of them.
I did get issue 1 of Warriors of Plasm in that lot that brought me the Valiant books. I kept if for Shooter and Lapham alone.
I also got a handful of Prime, Mantra, and Hardcase from the Ultraverse line but haven't re-read. I always liked Prime for the Breyfogle art.
One universe at a time though......
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Chiclo
- I'm Chiclo. My strong Dongs paid off well.
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That's what we all said at first too.turborip wrote:As a long time "Big Two" reader, I love the concept of a shared universe.Chiclo wrote:Sounds like our friend found a gateway dead universe.turborip wrote:Thanks everyone, for the welcome!
One thing I think is really cool is that Valiant has a broad range of material, but it's not never-ending. It's a do-able set of titles to obtain.
Next you'll be wanting a full set of Ultraverse... Comic's Greatest World... then you get into the harder stuff like Comico and Eclipse.
Defiant and Broadway are good to start with after the Valiant fix. Shooter was the mind behind both companies and there's maybe 60 issues between the two of them.
I did get issue 1 of Warriors of Plasm in that lot that brought me the Valiant books. I kept if for Shooter and Lapham alone.
I also got a handful of Prime, Mantra, and Hardcase from the Ultraverse line but haven't re-read. I always liked Prime for the Breyfogle art.
One universe at a time though......
The Ultraverse books aren't literary masterpieces. If you get more Defiant books (they sometimes show up with Valiant lots, especially WoP 1), give them a read.
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JustCallMeAric
- ...remember that they are just paper.
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Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
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MoonChild
- I HAVE NO INTENT ON BEING PATIENT!
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- Valiant fan since: 1992
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- Favorite title: Harbinger
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