Do You Want The GK3 Characters At VEI?

[leonmallett]

I vote No as I think VEI is doing just fine without them. That being said, should they introduced into the Valiant Universe (which I doubt), I'd buy them with out hesitation.

Same.

And as I stated elsewhere (apologies, Starbrand):

1) Their return will crowd out NEW characters and soak up talent.

2) If there was such an enormous groundswell for them as ongoing books, surely one of the most recent two revamps would have worked. I doubt it would boost numbers that dramatically after their first 3 or 4 "collector" issues.

3) A third incarnation in 5 years could have a negative perception among LCS shoppers.

That being said, if VEI published them, I would buy them so long as they were good stories.

Totally agreed with all points, and to add that given VEI's limited resources there would pretty much have to be an impact on the rest of the line. I just cannot see the trade-off being worthwhile.

Ultimately if it *does* come to pass it seems a choice driven by sentimentality, and that does not seem to be a driver of good decisions. I want VEI to continue looking forward, this does not feel like a forward looking decsion if it does come to pass.

[StarBrand]

I'll say one thing... 48 votes already is a lot of votes! This is a subject most of us care about, one way or the other.

[leonmallett]

I'll say one thing... 48 votes already is a lot of votes! This is a subject most of us care about, one way or the other.

48 votes out of tens of thousands of VEI readers is pretty small change, either in favour or otherwise. It is not a representative sample of VEI's readership. Just a sample of a very committed small core among that readership.

But you knew I would say that right?

[StarBrand]

I'll say one thing... 48 votes already is a lot of votes! This is a subject most of us care about, one way or the other.

48 votes out of tens of thousands of VEI readers is pretty small change, either in favour or otherwise. It is not a representative sample of VEI's readership. Just a sample of a very committed small core among that readership.

But you knew I would say that right?

If I recall correctly this is a high number of responses for a poll on this board this early on.

[FormerReader]

Ultimately if it *does* come to pass it seems a choice driven by sentimentality, and that does not seem to be a driver of good decisions. I want VEI to continue looking forward, this does not feel like a forward looking decsion if it does come to pass.

I agree with this to a point. True, Valiant knows there is a diehard group of fans that believe these books belong as part of Valiant. If they have crunched the numbers and believe they can justify the cost to buy the characters with future revenue then I'm all for it. If as a result of this acquisition Valiant stops investing in new characters and storylines then that becomes a problem and I would hope they would have researched the pitfalls of over extending themselves.

Let's not kid ourselves, this is a significant risk if true. It is not as if the last two incarnations of these characters have done well. Having said that I would gladly lay down my money.

[leonmallett]

I'll say one thing... 48 votes already is a lot of votes! This is a subject most of us care about, one way or the other.

48 votes out of tens of thousands of VEI readers is pretty small change, either in favour or otherwise. It is not a representative sample of VEI's readership. Just a sample of a very committed small core among that readership.

But you knew I would say that right?

If I recall correctly this is a high number of responses for a poll on this board this early on.

For the board:

For the VEI readership as a wider whole: tiny.

[MoonChild]

The owners are fans, huge fans of the original gks, at the given opportunity theyd snatch em up in a heatbeat (if the rights are outright and at a decent price). Thats really all that matters and im all for it, of course. I know their value as a commodity. Itd be a huge deal and great investment for vei. They know that so im not worried about it. In due time, sooner or later.

[lorddunlow]

The owners are fans, huge fans of the original gks, at the given opportunity theyd snatch em up in a heatbeat (if the rights are outright and at a decent price). Thats really all that matters and im all for it, of course. I know their value as a commodity. Itd be a huge deal and great investment for vei. They know that so im not worried about it. In due time, sooner or later.

What he said.

[Intrepidxc]

I for one would like to see VEI own the GK3, but I'm not sure I'd want to see an ongoing series for any of them. Perhaps a mini-series or they could be worked into the current ongoing series as secondary characters.

As others have mentioned I like the idea of VEI owning the rights, just to bring those characters back into the Valiant fold. To do that it needs to make sense for VEI and I wouldn't want them to risk the future of the company to buy the rights to the GK3.

[Captain Craig]

Yes.

I'm not reposting my thoughts here again.

They simply belong, end of story. We wouldn't have the VALIANT we love in the first place had they not been there to lay the foundation. VALIANT very well could be a dead universe w/characters people said "have potential" but are sitting dormant like so many others. The GK3 gave Shooter room in the market place and he made gold out of it, bring 'em home.

[ShadowTuga]

Yes.

I'm not reposting my thoughts here again.

They simply belong, end of story. We wouldn't have the VALIANT we love in the first place had they not been there to lay the foundation. VALIANT very well could be a dead universe w/characters people said "have potential" but are sitting dormant like so many others. The GK3 gave Shooter room in the market place and he made gold out of it, bring 'em home.

I take it that you're making a distinction between ORIGINAL VALIANT and VEI, Cap.
Some of us fans of VEI think that we wouldn't have the current AWESOME universe WE LOVE TOO, without current X-O, Harbinger, Archer & Armstrong, Rai, Imperium, etc.

[lorddunlow]

Yes.

I'm not reposting my thoughts here again.

They simply belong, end of story. We wouldn't have the VALIANT we love in the first place had they not been there to lay the foundation. VALIANT very well could be a dead universe w/characters people said "have potential" but are sitting dormant like so many others. The GK3 gave Shooter room in the market place and he made gold out of it, bring 'em home.

I take it that you're making a distinction between ORIGINAL VALIANT and VEI, Cap.
Some of us fans of VEI think that we wouldn't have the current AWESOME universe WE LOVE TOO, without current X-O, Harbinger, Archer & Armstrong, Rai, Imperium, etc.

Who?

I thought this was a forum for fans of Prince Valiant.

[slym2none]

And people with pumpkin heads.



-slym

[Aomalle27]

Which titles exactly would be drowned out by the GK characters? Rai XO, Some variation of Harbinger, Unity and the upcoming Ninjak are the only ongoings. That's five titles of the 9 per month norm. Still have room for all three GK books plus another VEI title. Plus; the DH rebooted was poorly executed and the Dynamite reboot has just been a hot mess. No reboot is gonna be successful under those terms. Personally, VEI gets more fan dollars, plus has an enormous opportunity to draw in new readers with GK. What were the numbers for the Dynamite books? Another five to six thousand readers exposed to Valiant surely wouldn't hurt.

[erwinrafael]

No.

But I could be swayed if they somehow make FVL the architect of VEI continuity, as he knows how to tie up several threads like he did in A&A. But if it becomes yet another Matt Kindt disaster, I would not even acknowledge the existence of such a GK3 series.

[Bone-A-Fach-ee]

No.

But I could be swayed if they somehow make FVL the architect of VEI continuity, as he knows how to tie up several threads like he did in A&A. But if it becomes yet another Matt Kindt disaster, I would not even acknowledge the existence of such a GK3 series.

I love FVL on A&A, and Timewalker. No disrespect to him, but he WAS the writer on the Dynamite Magnus book, right? And that book failed. His fault? Probably not, but I doubt Valiant would look at him as the architect of a failed trio when he was already part of failing with said trio. Once again though, I friggin LOVE FVL in Valiant.

It might be too hard a hurdle to bring them back for VEI. But again, to have the rights to reprint Masters editions, or an amazing UNITY collection would be .
If they do come back into VEI, they should certainly NOT get their own series, at least not for a long time. They should appear in other books first, to at least test the waters from readers, reviewers, etc, before they commit to releasing a title with a twice failed character.

[erwinrafael]

The reason I suggested FVL is that he is the only one I would be comfortable with thinking of ways to bring in the characters into the VEI universe without *SQUEE* up continuity. He has shown that intellectual capability.

Kindt *SQUEE* up continuity even in the same issue.

I understand that FVL'S Magnus run is actually good, based on comicbookroundup.com and the Magnus thread in this board.

[lorddunlow]

to have the rights to reprint Masters editions, or an amazing UNITY collection would be .
If they do come back into VEI, they should certainly NOT get their own series, at least not for a long time.

This is my thinking exactly. The value of having the properties is so much more than being able to put them in the new universe. Imagine Solar and Magnus Omnibusesesesesesi (I'm pretty sure that's the correct spelling), Unity Omnibus. Being able to not have to tiptoe around legal issues when releasing stuff. Having legitimate digital editions of those books, etc. If they can own the properties outright for a good price, they could definitely have them be profitable without ever even putting them in the new universe.

Imagine getting a Solar or Magnus Masters HC with a new story by the original creatives like with some of the others.

Toys, video games, etc.

[omega_override]

yes, because of magnus. i think he would be very valuable for vei's 4001 timeline.

It might be because Magnus didn't really do much for me, but I don't think Magnus could do all that much that Rai hasn't expounded upon. I mean the series was just about some inhuman strong man beating the crap out of mad robots with bits of politically driven agendas that in all honesty was done far better by Rai

Now if for some reason nu-Valiant decides to reintroduce Psi-Lords, then that's a completely different story

[leonmallett]

Which titles exactly would be drowned out by the GK characters? Rai XO, Some variation of Harbinger, Unity and the upcoming Ninjak are the only ongoings. That's five titles of the 9 per month norm. Still have room for all three GK books plus another VEI title. Plus; the DH rebooted was poorly executed and the Dynamite (sucks!) reboot has just been a hot mess. No reboot is gonna be successful under those terms. Personally, VEI gets more fan dollars, plus has an enormous opportunity to draw in new readers with GK. What were the numbers for the Dynamite (sucks!) books? Another five to six thousand readers exposed to Valiant surely wouldn't hurt.

Regardless of whether they are featured in ongoings or minis, if those GK characters soak up 2-3 slots of the 8-9 book schedule, then the net impact is still that exposure of other properties is diminished.

[leonmallett]

I just don't see sales becoming huge off the back of this, even from the archive stuff; the VH1 stuff can be repackaged pof course, but are sales so high to make that a big driver of this decision? Which is why (as I said earlier) that this seems to me to appear on the surface to be down to sentimentality.

[1st Among Equals]

Don't forget about the big villains they would get back (or heroes ) Dr. Eclipse, Erica pierce, malevs, ect. Each one of those can be a big story arc bring the characters together.

[Zhuge1]

I voted no, but to be honest, I don't care either way. I wasn't a fan of the GK3 characters during the first iteration of Valiant; and I doubt I'd be that interested in them if they are reintroduced. My primary reason for voting no is that I'd hate for resources to be reallocated from any of the existing properties to to GK3 properties. If they are reintroduced, Valiant should not do so through licensing, but instead should work to purchase the IP outright.

[Magnus9178]

Yes - I want these characters back.

Dynamite's versions are a perversion of the characters I love.

Do I think VEI needs them... absolutely not.

I do however trust VEI's plan and organization of their universe that if they were able to obtain the rights then we would see them handled properly.

[Captain Craig]

Regardless of whether they are featured in ongoings or minis, if those GK characters soak up 2-3 slots of the 8-9 book schedule, then the net impact is still that exposure of other properties is diminished.

We are about to enter the end Year 3, start Year 4 and seen the company put out more books. Yes, they've stated the limit AS OF NOW being 9 books a month but that's not always going to be the case.
Even if they acquired the characters right now VEI has plans for their books through this year.
It'd be 2016 before a title came out and I expect VEI to eventually, sooner rather than later, be producing 10+ titles a month.

So right now, with the 9 limit, isn't really a valid defense argument as I see it cause they don't have them yet. When they do, if they do have them the 9 books a month limit isn't going to be in play I'd wager. They will already be producing more at that point.