Shadowman 1 !!!

[IMJ]

Anyone think the all black pull box variant will be a tough find in good shape? My LCS had 3, they only let me pick up two. I only pre-ordered the standard book from DCBS because the variants for this month (Iron Man #1 people) were out of control.

[grendeljd]

N

I'm thinking shops are going to be caught with too few, so we will see. If the pullbox is at 5500, it probably means the whole run is about 15K, which will be too few for a sleeper hit. Diamond will have extras, we'll see how fast they disappear.

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

Thats great to hear - hope it sells out fast, you guys deserve the success! And thanks to you for getting involved in Valiant, Patch - you're part of something epic, and I am glad you're there.

[MarrowMan]

N

I'm thinking shops are going to be caught with too few, so we will see. If the pullbox is at 5500, it probably means the whole run is about 15K, which will be too few for a sleeper hit. Diamond will have extras, we'll see how fast they disappear.

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

The art is astounding, you're a master.

[MarrowMan]

Anyone think the all black pull box variant will be a tough find in good shape? My LCS had 3, they only let me pick up two. I only pre-ordered the standard book from DCBS because the variants for this month (Iron Man #1 people) were out of control.

I managed to get 2 blackouts, one is crispy mint, the other not so much.

[drmirage]

Books from Midtown are motly 9.2-9.4 candidates. This is from having ordered with them more than a dozen times.

(various dings, bends and spine nicks are normal)

I just picked up one regular and two blackout variants at Midtown. There seemed to be equal numbers of each on the shelf. Condition-wise on the blackouts, I was able to pick out two strong 9.4+ candidates, but that was after rejecting about 8 others for various dings, bends and spine nicks. The ulc was especially troublesome on most of the rejects.

[LABRADORIAN]

I have 3 mint blackout copies, my brother has to pick up his so I have no idea of the shape of them.

[MarkRoseHFX]

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTCCCCCHHHHHH congratulations!

[MarkRoseHFX]

I got a real nice minty fresh copy of the Blackout in my pullbox. saw 5 on the shelf at my other regular store. 2 out of the 5 looked pretty minty.

[SJS4]

Picked up my issue today. Was surprised there were no other copies on the shelf. Must have either sold out or my LCS didn't order any extras. However I am guessing it sold out because my LCS has been ordering shelf copies for the other Valiant titles, and especially had extras of each #1 launch.

Can wait to see the sales numbers for November. Looking to see a sellout for Shadowman #1!

[hawkeyeps]

N

I'm thinking shops are going to be caught with too few, so we will see. If the pullbox is at 5500, it probably means the whole run is about 15K, which will be too few for a sleeper hit. Diamond will have extras, we'll see how fast they disappear.

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

Thank you for making a great comic, I love where your going with it and the issue looked fantastic!

[BugsySig]

N

I'm thinking shops are going to be caught with too few, so we will see. If the pullbox is at 5500, it probably means the whole run is about 15K, which will be too few for a sleeper hit. Diamond will have extras, we'll see how fast they disappear.

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

Great to hear and congrats on the launch

I have to say this is the most beautiful superhero book I have read in a long time. I love the redesign for Shadowman, thought the "Shadow Spirit" was brilliantly executed, and found Mr. Twist and his minions to be genuinely disgusting and terrifying.

Oh, and all the covers are disgustingly amazing.

[pixierosa]

N

I'm thinking shops are going to be caught with too few, so we will see. If the pullbox is at 5500, it probably means the whole run is about 15K, which will be too few for a sleeper hit. Diamond will have extras, we'll see how fast they disappear.

The numbers are much higher. Shadowman is launching very successfully. Thanks to all of you for being Valiant fans!

The art and story are superb! Absolutely beautiful. Congrats and thank you for this book! Looking forward to future installments.

[IMJ]

Anyone think the all black pull box variant will be a tough find in good shape? My LCS had 3, they only let me pick up two. I only pre-ordered the standard book from DCBS because the variants for this month (Iron Man #1 people) were out of control.

I managed to get 2 blackouts, one is crispy mint, the other not so much.

Be careful to look for a lot of color breaks in small amounts along the spine on this book....

[jmatt]

In my conversation with Dinesh a few weeks back, he said if the books were bagged and boarded, they would get damage too.

He was right. In order to get the 1:20 and 1:50, I worked a deal with my LCS where I bought 25 copies (13 black, 12 regular) and they are all absolutely perfect; flawless.

The only book that had minor spine stress marks (3 or 4) was the 1:50 stuffed into a tiny modern size bag!

[ckb]

In my conversation with Dinesh a few weeks back, he said if the books were bagged and boarded, they would get damage too.

He was right. In order to get the 1:20 and 1:50, I worked a deal with my LCS where I bought 25 copies (13 black, 12 regular) and they are all absolutely perfect; flawless.

The only book that had minor spine stress marks (3 or 4) was the 1:50 stuffed into a tiny modern size bag!

But that didn't happen after it was put into the bag and board! It would have had soft corners and a stacking curl, too, if it was left loose!

[drmirage]

Sorry to hear that your 1:50 book isn't minty. This is what frustrates me the most... Hearing someone ordering 50 copies of regular /pullbox that come in NM+/M condition, but the 1:50 / 1:25 books have creases, soft corners, spine streses. I mean... . You spend a lot of $ to qualify for the limited variant and the variant you get is VF+/NM- book. (I'm not blaming the LCS.. it may not be their fault.. but it could be for handling and from Diamond)

That is why I do not make the deals with the LCS for this reason. I don't mind paying a premium $ for the variant books as long as the books I get are very clean. (I paid $125 for A&A #1 Adams and $150 for X-O Manowar Gold.. it was a lot.. but it got me a CGC 9.8 book)

With that being said, that is why I choose to pre-order multiple variants at $35-$45 each rather than spending $150-200 to get 50 regular/pullbox, 2 copies of 1:25's and 1 copy of 1:50's....

Its still too early to tell on what caused those spine stress / ticks / creases on the Shadowman 1:50 books, we haven't seen them reported in here.

I do know from speaking to either Dinesh or Ed.. (as I do not remember it clearly)..with bags and boards, the books will still get damaged from Diamond due to handling and the books moving around the Diamond boxes.

[Mark Fuller]

This was an outstanduing book, even better than I was hoping! A great 'hero's journey' type story told through jaw dropping art. Patrick Zircher seems to have taken a massive step up latyely, starting with his recent Captain America run. Very pleased he's at Valiant. Shadowman could be - deserves to be - a breakout smash hit.

AS an side, i'm surprised to hear about all the problems in getting the books in good condition. With a few rare exceptions i'm used to getting perfect copies off the shelf at my LCS.

[Newton]

This book blew me away and is instantly my favorite of the Valiant titles. Loved how it quickly jumped into things with action, but at the same time there was a lot of story to absorb. Writing and art were both great top notch.

I appreciated that there were strong horror elements and urge the creators to keep that up. The original Shadowman was darker than some other Valiants, but as a horror fan I really want a full on horror-based superhero title.

[IMJ]

In my conversation with Dinesh a few weeks back, he said if the books were bagged and boarded, they would get damage too.

He was right. In order to get the 1:20 and 1:50, I worked a deal with my LCS where I bought 25 copies (13 black, 12 regular) and they are all absolutely perfect; flawless.

The only book that had minor spine stress marks (3 or 4) was the 1:50 stuffed into a tiny modern size bag!

Wow. Dude that's awesome for support of Valiant, but you might've spent less money simply buying the Variants either from eBay or even from DCBS rather than ordering a ton of books solely for yourself, no?

[LABRADORIAN]

After seeing that some people were saying the spines might have problems, I looked at my "mint" copies of Shadowman, one has fair share of white down the spine, one has barely any white(but its there) and the third copy is mint.

[Aram]

I broke down and actually read my shadowman 1... Pretty shocked at the quick rollout of the character after the lengthy into of X-O. This one felt a little hurried at the end. Orherwise It was pretty awesome, though all the shadowman volume 2 &3 influences are a little harder to swallow since I havent red those yet and was a big fan of the Bob Hall vh1 original.

All nostalgia set aside, I give it a 4 out of 5 only because it seemed rushed at the end and I think it would have been much better with a extra sized intro giving the final introduction in costume a few more pages for effect.

[grendeljd]

I broke down and actually read my shadowman 1... Pretty shocked at the quick rollout of the character after the lengthy into of X-O. This one felt a little hurried at the end. Orherwise It was pretty awesome, though all the shadowman volume 2 &3 influences are a little harder to swallow since I havent red those yet and was a big fan of the Bob Hall vh1 original.

All nostalgia set aside, I give it a 4 out of 5 only because it seemed rushed at the end and I think it would have been much better with a extra sized intro giving the final introduction in costume a few more pages for effect.

The book was actually longer - it clocks in with 26 pages of story, which makes it the second longest single issue to date behind XO #1...

The ending was a quick 2 page intro, agreed - but I felt the pacing of that was solid. Its feels like a good old-fashioned cliff-hanger to only see him on the last page, leaving us to wait a month to get a full issue intro to what he can do as Shadowman...

[MoonChild]

Loved it! One gripe was the last page when hes suddenly in shadowman clothes like others have said. Other than that great mix of all 3 volumes. Great to have Jack Back!!

[400yrs]

I broke down and actually read my shadowman 1... Pretty shocked at the quick rollout of the character after the lengthy into of X-O. This one felt a little hurried at the end. Orherwise It was pretty awesome, though all the shadowman volume 2 &3 influences are a little harder to swallow since I havent red those yet and was a big fan of the Bob Hall vh1 original.

All nostalgia set aside, I give it a 4 out of 5 only because it seemed rushed at the end and I think it would have been much better with a extra sized intro giving the final introduction in costume a few more pages for effect.

The book was actually longer - it clocks in with 26 pages of story, which makes it the second longest single issue to date behind XO #1...

The ending was a quick 2 page intro, agreed - but I felt the pacing of that was solid. Its feels like a good old-fashioned cliff-hanger to only see him on the last page, leaving us to wait a month to get a full issue intro to what he can do as Shadowman...

I thought the pacing on the book was perfect. The last page ended right where X-O #1 probably should've ended. There was alot that was covered in this book and I love reading books like that. Unlike X-O, this first issue nailed pretty much all the beats that a first issue should:

- There was backstory on his parents.
- There was action (actually TWO fight scenes and more crazy action scenes)
- There was the reveal of villains (actually 2 distinct ones)
- There was set up on the Shadowman entity and the amulet
- There was good bit of set up with the main character
- There were quick, but efficient introductions of other supporting characters
- There was the reveal on the last page of the costume

X-O may have been more pages, but as a first issue, this was nice and meaty. Hitting that last point, for me, made this a better first issue than X-O #1.

[IanAlexavier]

No variants at the shop I visited

Great story! Great pacing..

The only thing I didnt like was the last page...BOOM.. Shadowman clothes...?? I would have much rather had his face change into the mask and held off on the clothes for a later issue.

Still lots of fun!