Almost fell out of my chair

How did you become a VALIANT collector?

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jmatt
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Almost fell out of my chair

Post by jmatt »

My brother-in-law got me back into comics in 1992. I read plenty as a kid, mostly Batman etc. Once at a church auction I won like 10 issues of Mister Miracle (that hadda be about 1975) and loved it. So my brother-in-law drags me into a comic store and I buy an issue of Legends of the Dark Knight ("Flyer", part 2). This piques my interest and now I'm hitting the LCSs on a regular basis to get other LotDK issues.

I'm 28, make good money (no kids or mortgage yet) and the Comic Book Bug bites me. This is right around the time the collector boom is kicking in and well, I was just stupid with money. Gimme 7 copies of Jim Lee's X-Men #1 reboot and what's this Spawn character? Gimme 10 of those and on and on. I was spending $75 a week in comics, easy. Usagi Yojimbo, Sandman, etc etc.

Then one day I see X-O Manowar #9 on the shelf. Looks cool, what's this about? Whoa. Valiant is my new Home. I'm hooked. I'm buying every Valiant I can get my hands on. Unity blew me away; I'm in on the ground floor of something big. Rai #4 for $120? I'll take it. Multiple issues of every early Valiant title I find.

It's 1993 and I'm on the Compuserve Comics Forum. I'm "The Valiant Guy". I'm writing monthly reviews of each issue and speak with Seaborn Adamson regularly (a cookie to anyone who can tell me who Seaborn is, God rest his soul). I'm poking John Ostrander in the ribs about Immortal Enemy continuity (one suggestion even led to a written line in a Magnus title). I'm also visiting every comic shop from Montauk to Jersey and posting reviews of the place; I must have been in a hundred stores (lived on Long Island at the time).

Then, the denouement. Shooter leaves, Acclaim kicks in and things start spiraling downhill. I love the new art (Sears, Chen, et al) but I grow frustrated, as many did. And eventually, one mortgage and 2 kids later, in 1999, I stop reading.

Oh, over the years anytime I found myself near a comic shop I'd peek in and grab whatever pre-Unity titles I found for $2 a throw. Okay, I already have six copies of Solar #1 but let's throw another on the pile.

Fast forward to March 17th, 2012. I've been threatening forever to get back into comics, and my wife forwards me a link to the Allentown Comic Con (we live in PA). Oh, look. Rags Morales will be there. I pack up the family and we go. Rags is unbelievably gracious and signs all 28 comics (mostly Turok) I bring with me. We speak for 40 minutes and he dishes on what it was like to work for Valiant back in those heady days.

We get home and now my juices are flowing. I'm thinking of a 2-page centerfold that I was sure Rags did -- but maybe it was Tim Truman. So I'm googling Valiant stuff stuff, and what's this? Some company called VEI bought the rights back in 2004? Huh, I had no idea.

I click on the link and start reading. Almost fell out of my chair. They're rebooting the Valiant line? Sue, come here quick! You're not gonna believe this!!

And so here I am. A Valiant fanatic eagerly awaiting what the future holds, as are you.
Last edited by jmatt on Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:22:49 am, edited 6 times in total.

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Chiclo
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by Chiclo »

jmatt wrote:It's 1993 and I'm on the Compuserve Comics Forum. I'm "The Valiant Guy". I'm writing monthly reviews of each issue and speak with Seaborn Adamson regularly (a cookie to anyone who can tell me who Seaborn is, God rest his soul). I'm poking John Ostrander in the ribs about Immortal Enemy continuity (one suggestion even led to a written line in a Magnus title).
You are going to have to work harder to stump us than ask about the Valiant Archivist. 8-)

There's a Valiant podcast too.

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jmatt
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by jmatt »

Chiclo wrote:You are going to have to work harder to stump us than ask about the Valiant Archivist. 8-)
Awesome. That didn't take 30 minutes. :lol:

A moment of silence for Seaborn; a truer Valiant fanatic we won't find. What a strange and tragic end to one who loved it all as much as we do.

For those of you unfamiliar with Seaborn, he was a resident of Georgia. One winter day during a freak southern snowstorm a car skidded off the road and killed him as he walked along, roadside.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by Elveen »

Great story. The relaunch is gonna be sweet

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R Daneel
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Almost fell out of my chair

Post by R Daneel »

awesome story jmatt ... I love hearing about this stuff. it makes our little valiant universe seem so much smaller sometimes. glad you finally found your way to this community, it rocks.

PS: I still have most of my 100 issues of XMen and XForce #1; I was ~20, no financial responsibilities and making too much money at the time too. My LCS luckily gave me their reader copy of Magnus #1 to borrow and the next day I was back buying #2 which had just hit the shelves.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by kevinbastos »

Welcome!
Hey, look! I have a podcast!
And a Website!
http://www.valiantnewuniverse.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by iggy101us »

:thumb:

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by caniac »

Thanks for sharing and finding us...welcome to the board, enjoy the ride! :thumb:
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by BruceReville »

How tall is the chair? Did they show you how tall it was on the box or display? I know the view is free, but eventually you had to pay for the height and I think you may have been ripped off if they showed you one height and then you only had a minimum amount left after you bought it. Therefore the height shown on the box or display you eventually pay for even though they show you it for supposedly free.

And BTW Welcome To The Boards - glad to have you here and you'll get the joke -- eventually
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Daniel Jackson
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Very cool story.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by dhudson1 »

:clap:
'Cause I'm a man with
A whole lot on his mind
Just out there somewhere
Traveling in time

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jmatt
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by jmatt »

R Daneel wrote:awesome story jmatt ... I love hearing about this stuff. it makes our little valiant universe seem so much smaller sometimes. glad you finally found your way to this community, it rocks.

PS: I still have most of my 100 issues of XMen and XForce #1; I was ~20, no financial responsibilities and making too much money at the time too. My LCS luckily gave me their reader copy of Magnus #1 to borrow and the next day I was back buying #2 which had just hit the shelves.
Hello Mr. Olivaw. I was an Asimov nut for awhile, myself. Anyone who can make themselves suffer through Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor can call themselves that. :lol:

Where does the time go? Just yesterday I was wondering if this ShadowHawk guy would be around for long. Or Pitt. Or The Maxx. Now my daughter is heading off for college in September. 100 copies of X-Force? Perhaps one day you and I can get together and line numerous birdcages.

One more quick story since I mentioned it in my OP: By the age of 28, my copies of Mister Miracle had been lost to time and tide. I didn't even remember the name of the character; I just remember this one cover with some funky looking guy strapped to a missile and being launched into space to meet his untimely doom. A vivid memory. And now a quest.

In all of these comic shops I'm visiting, I keep describing the character to the owner as looking kinda like Galactus. That's not really true, perhaps my subconscious was swayed by the fact that they were both drawn by Jack Kirby. Anyway, no one has any idea of what I'm talking about. Eventually, I give up and stop embarassing myself by asking. Years go by.

So one day I'm in Tor's Comics in Holtsville, NY, searching through the generic "M" section for Magnus issues.

And there it is.

I am 36 years old but I am instantly transported back to 1975. I am 11 years old, laying crosswise on my bed as I read the comic laying on the floor.

Eight years of searching and there it is. I literally had to fight back the tears.

Image

He had 10 or 12 issues. I don't remember or care what I paid for them, I bought them all.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by comicsyte95 »

Welcome! :clap:
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by betterthanezra »

Welcome Great Story...

-Brian
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https://twitter.com/#!/shadowsip" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My Valiant story here

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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StarBrand
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by StarBrand »

jmatt wrote:
Chiclo wrote:You are going to have to work harder to stump us than ask about the Valiant Archivist. 8-)
Awesome. That didn't take 30 minutes. :lol:

A moment of silence for Seaborn; a truer Valiant fanatic we won't find. What a strange and tragic end to one who loved it all as much as we do.

For those of you unfamiliar with Seaborn, he was a resident of Georgia. One winter day during a freak southern snowstorm a car skidded off the road and killed him as he walked along, roadside.
Great story! I've never heard of Seaborn, though. Any more details on exactly what he did?
Valiant is the son of the New Universe.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by magnusr »

StarBrand wrote:Great story! I've never heard of Seaborn, though. Any more details on exactly what he did?
He was a fan with such devotion to the universe that he was appointed Valiant Archivist. He did major part of the continuity bible and several forewords and inserts (like the Darque Passages book that came with the Shadowman TPB). There is more info about him in some late issues after the sad accident and part 2 of the X-O/Iron Man series ends with a tribute.

/Magnus

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by StarBrand »

magnusr wrote:
StarBrand wrote:Great story! I've never heard of Seaborn, though. Any more details on exactly what he did?
He was a fan with such devotion to the universe that he was appointed Valiant Archivist. He did major part of the continuity bible and several forewords and inserts (like the Darque Passages book that came with the Shadowman TPB). There is more info about him in some late issues after the sad accident and part 2 of the X-O/Iron Man series ends with a tribute.

/Magnus
Thank-you.
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by greg »

Image

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by caxiotis »

Welcome :thumb:
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StarBrand
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by StarBrand »

greg wrote:Image
Thanks very much for posting this. Seaborn sounds like he was a great guy, and definatley one who loved Valiant Comics very much.
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jmatt
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by jmatt »

I just have to say that I'm very pleased that recounting my Valiant story provided us with an opportunity to remember someone whose love for the books outweighed my own by an order of magnitude. Seaborn would be delighted that his legacy lives on.

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StarBrand
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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by StarBrand »

jmatt wrote:I just have to say that I'm very pleased that recounting my Valiant story provided us with an opportunity to remember someone whose love for the books outweighed my own by an order of magnitude. Seaborn would be delighted that his legacy lives on.
:thumb:
Valiant is the son of the New Universe.

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Re: Almost fell out of my chair

Post by MoonChild »

Welcome, great time to hop back on board!
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