Who's Currently Buying Every VEI Title Month-in-Month-Out?

[Shadowman99]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

[ShadowTuga]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

[Donkey]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

[Sunlight on Snow]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

"Herzlich willkommen!"

Most of the 2012 series are still the very best of all the VEI series as of now. You'll definitely want to check out Dysart's Harbinger run (incl. Imperium) as well as Venditti's X-O Manowar.

[Shadowman99]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

"Herzlich willkommen!"

Most of the 2012 series are still the very best of all the VEI series as of now. You'll definitely want to check out Dysart's Harbinger run (incl. Imperium) as well as Venditti's X-O Manowar.

Definitely follow up SOS's recommendations

[ShadowTuga]

Since I am pretty new to Valiant, I have been buying everything that comes out. Sometimes I will pick up the odd variant cover here or there. Enjoyed most of the stuff I have read so far. I am not going to lie I have been thinking about dropping Gen Zero. It does nothing for me.

I have gone kinda crazy with trades. Found a discount book stores selling for as low as $6 (Cdn), and up to $11(Cdn) and have been buying anything Valiant.

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

"Herzlich willkommen!"

Most of the 2012 series are still the very best of all the VEI series as of now. You'll definitely want to check out Dysart's Harbinger run (incl. Imperium) as well as Venditti's X-O Manowar.

Definitely follow up SOS's recommendations

Seriously, what these 2 said: Dysart's Harbinger + Imperium "saga" is the best thing VEI or Valiant (AFAIK) ever published.

[possumgrease]

If Gen 0 isn't doing anything for you then drop it, otherwise you'll just end up resenting paying cash for something you're not enjoying and there's just no point in that. That's my advice anyway

Glad you're enjoying your dive into Valiant, and welcome to the boards!

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

"Herzlich willkommen!"

Most of the 2012 series are still the very best of all the VEI series as of now. You'll definitely want to check out Dysart's Harbinger run (incl. Imperium) as well as Venditti's X-O Manowar.

Definitely follow up SOS's recommendations

Seriously, what these 2 said: Dysart's Harbinger + Imperium "saga" is the best thing VEI or Valiant (AFAIK) ever published.

I agree, although shadowman 0 and 10 may be the best individual issues.

[Sunlight on Snow]

Welcome and what-SM99-said!

Thanks guys. It is overwhelming how info there is on this board.

Honestly I think if I need to read more of the Harbinger back catalogue.

"Herzlich willkommen!"

Most of the 2012 series are still the very best of all the VEI series as of now. You'll definitely want to check out Dysart's Harbinger run (incl. Imperium) as well as Venditti's X-O Manowar.

Definitely follow up SOS's recommendations

Seriously, what these 2 said: Dysart's Harbinger + Imperium "saga" is the best thing VEI or Valiant (AFAIK) ever published.

I agree, although shadowman 0 and 10 may be the best individual issues.

At the very least these two are the best single Shadowman issues.

It's worth mentioning you do not need to pick up the entire series as it is just average otherwise. The two issues can be read individually - first 0 then 10. The very first arc by Justin Jordan is okay, too. Don't bother picking up the rest.

[ShadowTuga]

Sort-of-rant-not-really:
Well, it had to happen. I am no longer all-in. For budget purposes, but mostly because after Bloodhot USA #4 (and the comeback from dead of Kay), I kinda had an epiphany in the following days: I just think (and that is my opinion, please understand this) that VEI has become a superhero shared universe that has the same gimmicks as the Big 2. But without the nostalgia factor, for myself, specifically- I never heard of this company until 2012. Am I interested in reading about these characters anymore?
Honestly,there's not one single Valiant book right now that I really, really, like. Some of it is cool, some of it is not for me. Logic tells me I'm wasting my money, because I am not enjoying it.

Also: there's the problem that there's no Dysart, FVL or Venditti ongoings (maxis) for the next year or so. If ever. So far what I heard from Dysart is that he wants to come back to finish his story.
These 3 writers hooked me on Valiant, and now there's Kindt and Lemire being the go-to writers of the company and in one case, an architect of the continuity. While they write great freaking comics, I just don't feel that they are working together to make the universe tight, more like, each own treats his book like an indie publication ("doing their thang"). Except that Kindt tries to tie all the books together. And there's Rafer Roberts, whose writing is just not of my taste. At all. I really hate the new Harbinger book.

Maybe it is just me. But the fact is I just don't feel like reading Valiant for more than the months until August. Even then, I don't feel like reading anything outside of Ninjak and Rapture.

There's also the fact that more and more, I'm going back to the stuff of old that made me happy when it comes to comics as a young adult and even as a child, and that's not Valiant. It's Marvel and DC.

I told my LCS to order X-O until #6, and that will be the last Valiant "ongoing" book I'll buy for the time being. I wish the company a super-rich and successfull future, and I'll be stiil buying the trades of the series I'm interested (Ninja-K), but I'm no longer a Valiant Zombie (in the sense of buying everything), not that there's anything wrong with that.

I will be here still, so many topics to discuss other than current Valiant comics. But, yeah, I'm not all-in anymore.

[Gafti]

You guys even read Faith? J\k.

I am working my way through the trades, and plan on jumping onto all #1's from now on.

I'll still dip into spiderman from time to time, and the new Iron Fist is quite good. Beyond that, I don't mess with Marvel. I'm just not into D.C.'s new 52 at all.

[Shadowman99]

Sort-of-rant-not-really:
Well, it had to happen. I am no longer all-in. For budget purposes, but mostly because after Bloodhot USA #4 (and the comeback from dead of Kay), I kinda had an epiphany in the following days: I just think (and that is my opinion, please understand this) that VEI has become a superhero shared universe that has the same gimmicks as the Big 2. But without the nostalgia factor, for myself, specifically- I never heard of this company until 2012. Am I interested in reading about these characters anymore?
Honestly,there's not one single Valiant book right now that I really, really, like. Some of it is cool, some of it is not for me. Logic tells me I'm wasting my money, because I am not enjoying it.

Also: there's the problem that there's no Dysart, FVL or Venditti ongoings (maxis) for the next year or so. If ever. So far what I heard from Dysart is that he wants to come back to finish his story.
These 3 writers hooked me on Valiant, and now there's Kindt and Lemire being the go-to writers of the company and in one case, an architect of the continuity. While they write great freaking comics, I just don't feel that they are working together to make the universe tight, more like, each own treats his book like an indie publication ("doing their thang"). Except that Kindt tries to tie all the books together. And there's Rafer Roberts, whose writing is just not of my taste. At all. I really hate the new Harbinger book.

Maybe it is just me. But the fact is I just don't feel like reading Valiant for more than the months until August. Even then, I don't feel like reading anything outside of Ninjak and Rapture.

There's also the fact that more and more, I'm going back to the stuff of old that made me happy when it comes to comics as a young adult and even as a child, and that's not Valiant. It's Marvel and DC.

I told my LCS to order X-O until #6, and that will be the last Valiant "ongoing" book I'll buy for the time being. I wish the company a super-rich and successfull future, and I'll be stiil buying the trades of the series I'm interested (Ninja-K), but I'm no longer a Valiant Zombie (in the sense of buying everything), not that there's anything wrong with that.

I will be here still, so many topics to discuss other than current Valiant comics. But, yeah, I'm not all-in anymore.

Seems fair enough to me, I wouldn't buy comics if I didn't enjoy them either.

I know where you're coming from on no Venditti/Dysart/FVL titles. Honestly, FVL's A+A and Ivar runs were entertaining enough to me, but I don't quite understand why everyone rates him as highly as they do (just my opinion, I guess I probably just 'don't get it' in his case). But I'm definitely feeling it on the lack of Venditti and Dysart titles - definitely my two favourite writers on VEI titles to date, along with Kindt's Divinity III. I haven't read the new XO title yet, so part of me is still bummed out that Venditti's run on the title is over as I really, really enjoyed it. And no Dysart in the stable at the moment just plain sucks really. I hope he gets to finish Imperium some day. Also, I wasn't too bowled over by H:R #1+2, but I picked up #3+4 a couple of days ago and I felt that the title was starting to pick up steam, so I'm interested to see where the story goes next - I'm okay with Roberts writing the title. It doesn't quite seem to have the emotional depth to it that Dysart's run did, but that's not something that I'm worried about.

I get the impression that in your case you're strongly attached to the long-run series. Whilst that's definitely my preference too, I think that if VEI are going to stick with this mini/maxi-series type format then that's something that VEI readers are simply going to have to get used to, or jump ship on titles/the company if they can't/won't.

Interesting that you mention a desire to return to titles that pleased you as a child. I'd be interested to know how that goes for you because I had a similar experience recently. Out of a sense of nostalgia I decided to re-watch Dragonball Z, which I loved as a kid in my early teens. I guess I'm about halfway through the the series now and although it's enjoyable on a fairly brainless level (it's most definitely been written for kids, that's clear enough) I just don't feel the same way I did about it as when I was a kid - there's no sense of tension/suspense in the battles for me any more or even any kind of joy in seeing the 'good guys' defeat the bad guys and overall I'm simply not enjoying it as much as I did when I was a kid. It's great that that story is there for me to go back and revist, but it doesn't seem as though I can find what I'm looking for there any more, and I wonder how your experience with your old comics will go. Hope it works out for ya though!

[TheFerg714]

I'm just not into D.C.'s new 52 at all.

Well you're in luck, because the New 52 is over and replaced by Rebirth, which has been SO much better, just in terms of consistency and overall quality.

[ShadowTuga]

I'm just not into D.C.'s new 52 at all.

Well you're in luck, because the New 52 is over and replaced by Rebirth, which has been SO much better, just in terms of consistency and overall quality.

Absolutely. Speaking for myself as a bat-fan, New52 had Snyder's run as the only real must-read book. And Grant Morrison's ending of his saga. I liked some of the other books here and there, but so far, Rebirth has been a much more enjoyable experience (I read 3 Bat-books each month and I like them all). Also, Rebirth has the Watchmen connection which is crazy and fun to see/speculate. I really want to know wth happened with DC's continuity due to these characters, specifically Oz and the Doc. I mean, what?:..

SM99: about the nostalgia. I think it started with me re-reading old Marvel stories. At one point, I was so IN that I thought "I could just read old comics" like I used to do, five years and some change ago; I always end up re-reading my favourite storylines, and that's how I know I really liked a book. I could read "The Dark Knight Returns" or the "Dark Phoenix Saga" tonight and enjoy it as much as I did when I re-read it for the first time- the first time read is always unique, of course. And there are so many finished series out there that I can go for years without touching a current comic, ever. Also, Manga is a HUGE universe of all types of comics that I really enjoy discovering. Some of my fav comics are Manga.

What I'm trying to say is that between Bronze Age-early Modern Marvel/DC and up-until-now manga, I have a ton of comics to read and re-read.

Now, not all of the stuff I enjoyed as a kid is "timeless": for example, you're from the UK, you surely know of Fighting Fantasy books. I am a huge FF (and Lone Wolf) nerd, will be until I die (or when my Stamina reaches 0 ) and I think that the best FF books I read were adult readings, when I was in my 20s already and "reconnected" with my geek side. I still collect old FF books and I am anxiously waiting the new releases.
On the other hand, the X-Men '92 cartoon, for example. While it is very fun to watch in places, that feels like an old TV show. For kids.

Before New52, my comic book reading was basically tradewaiting. I only bought finished series or runs, never cared about variants or bagging and boarding comics, i.e. never took my collecting "seriously". Hence why it is easier for me to quit, since I am way more of a reader than anything, first and foremost. I can wait for the story to be done, check the reviews/feedback/buzz and read it, without worrying if the damn book is another #1, for example. And on that, you are right sir: I do value ongoings really high. I was really happy about Detective Comics returning to its original numbering. It speaks to me as if a company is saying "we've been here for a long time before you, and we will be here when you're gone". It adds weight to a book, I don't know. I should listen to reason and say "screw it, let's just see if it's good!" but that weight is important. It means that the book has a solid fanbase, also. And with that, you can argue that it is more fun to be a fan of a Marvel or DC character than of a character from another company: there are way more people on the web to discuss these characters with you, and with that, different types of discussions, not just collecting the rarest version of an issue. I do get that people like this sort of discussion, but it is really not for me. And Valiant is sort of a collector's company, IMO. They know their audience and they do well in cater to them. If a new #1 each 2 months is the market's golden rule, I will just stick with the stuff I enjoyed before. Why would I be invested emotionally in a character "that I just knew about" that will probably be out of sight in a year? Why should I care (buy floppies) about what happens to that "cool, new character" in a mini-series, if I know that there's another one coming soon? It feels " it's comics", in the worst of ways.

In a nutshell: I am tired of the constant renumbering and rebranding of books, in all companies, but I am forever attached to the Big 2 because childhood.

[Shadowman99]

I'm just not into D.C.'s new 52 at all.

Well you're in luck, because the New 52 is over and replaced by Rebirth, which has been SO much better, just in terms of consistency and overall quality.

Absolutely. Speaking for myself as a bat-fan, New52 had Snyder's run as the only real must-read book. And Grant Morrison's ending of his saga. I liked some of the other books here and there, but so far, Rebirth has been a much more enjoyable experience (I read 3 Bat-books each month and I like them all). Also, Rebirth has the Watchmen connection which is crazy and fun to see/speculate. I really want to know wth happened with DC's continuity due to these characters, specifically Oz and the Doc. I mean, what?:..

SM99: about the nostalgia. I think it started with me re-reading old Marvel stories. At one point, I was so IN that I thought "I could just read old comics" like I used to do, five years and some change ago; I always end up re-reading my favourite storylines, and that's how I know I really liked a book. I could read "The Dark Knight Returns" or the "Dark Phoenix Saga" tonight and enjoy it as much as I did when I re-read it for the first time- the first time read is always unique, of course. And there are so many finished series out there that I can go for years without touching a current comic, ever. Also, Manga is a HUGE universe of all types of comics that I really enjoy discovering. Some of my fav comics are Manga.

What I'm trying to say is that between Bronze Age-early Modern Marvel/DC and up-until-now manga, I have a ton of comics to read and re-read.

Now, not all of the stuff I enjoyed as a kid is "timeless": for example, you're from the UK, you surely know of Fighting Fantasy books. I am a huge FF (and Lone Wolf) nerd, will be until I die (or when my Stamina reaches 0 ) and I think that the best FF books I read were adult readings, when I was in my 20s already and "reconnected" with my geek side. I still collect old FF books and I am anxiously waiting the new releases.
On the other hand, the X-Men '92 cartoon, for example. While it is very fun to watch in places, that feels like an old TV show. For kids.

Before New52, my comic book reading was basically tradewaiting. I only bought finished series or runs, never cared about variants or bagging and boarding comics, i.e. never took my collecting "seriously". Hence why it is easier for me to quit, since I am way more of a reader than anything, first and foremost. I can wait for the story to be done, check the reviews/feedback/buzz and read it, without worrying if the damn book is another #1, for example. And on that, you are right sir: I do value ongoings really high. I was really happy about Detective Comics returning to its original numbering. It speaks to me as if a company is saying "we've been here for a long time before you, and we will be here when you're gone". It adds weight to a book, I don't know. I should listen to reason and say "screw it, let's just see if it's good!" but that weight is important. It means that the book has a solid fanbase, also. And with that, you can argue that it is more fun to be a fan of a Marvel or DC character than of a character from another company: there are way more people on the web to discuss these characters with you, and with that, different types of discussions, not just collecting the rarest version of an issue. I do get that people like this sort of discussion, but it is really not for me. And Valiant is sort of a collector's company, IMO. They know their audience and they do well in cater to them. If a new #1 each 2 months is the market's golden rule, I will just stick with the stuff I enjoyed before. Why would I be invested emotionally in a character "that I just knew about" that will probably be out of sight in a year? Why should I care (buy floppies) about what happens to that "cool, new character" in a mini-series, if I know that there's another one coming soon? It feels " it's comics", in the worst of ways.

In a nutshell: I am tired of the constant renumbering and rebranding of books, in all companies, but I am forever attached to the Big 2 because childhood.

Hold on a moment: what's going on with the Watchmen in Rebirth? I had a quick look on Wikipedia but couldn't quite figure out if these characters are playing more than shadowy bit-parts?

Well, I'm pleased that you've got everything you need in your comic library already, that's a good situation for anybody to be in And you're right, there are so many finished stories out there to get into that in some ways there isn't a need for anyone to pick up new comics these days. Almost everything I read outside of Valiant are finished stories from years back so I know what you mean about the wealth of material that's out there

Have to admit though that I've never heard of Fighting Fantasy! I have no idea what it's about, is it a game of some kind?

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content. When it comes to VEI's '9-books max' strategy all that means to me is that when one book finishes its current arc and goes off the shelves for a while I can start looking forward to when it'll next be on the shelves again and how the story will pick up and continue. As I said, everyone's got their own ideas on VEI's renumbering (etc.), that's clear enough, but maybe this perspective will be interesting for some people to consider as they might be able to enjoy the comics a bit more if they're able to make more allowances than they currently do

[Zhuge1]

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content.

I agree with this but I do find it frustrating that the next X-O trade is going to be "volume 1" again which, to me, is not only awkward, but potentially confusing to new prospective readers.

[ShadowTuga]

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content.

I agree with this but I do find it frustrating that the next X-O trade is going to be "volume 1" again which, to me, is not only awkward, but potentially confusing to new prospective readers.

I just arrived a couple hours ago from a trip to my LCS, had to pick some figures. The owner actually called me and asked me what was the best advice for a new reader to get into Valiant's X-O. Ha! I said that the new series was a jumping-on point, but he had a client who wanted to read all the previously published material, VH1 included and was sort of lost. He thought that the first VEI volume suffered a sort of reboot and that nothing in there counts, so he did not want to burden the new guy with a pile of trades to read. I said that if he's enjoying the new series, then he should check it out for completion purposes, but it is not necessary. It is a completely different book. He asked me if there was a mini that "bridged" these 2 vols, also.

Maybe it is confusing for a new collector, but casual readers will just go with what they heard it is good, I guess. I have no idea if a new reader will find the info he needs easily. Outside of these boards, there's not much out there compared to the Big 2 books.

SM99: Brother, you never heard about Fighting Fantasy?! It's those green-spined gamebooks, "where You are the adventurer, all you need is a pencil, a rubber and a pair of dice" to play. I really thought that every british man in his 30s or 40s would have played a FF book, sometime in their life.

[Shadowman99]

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content.

I agree with this but I do find it frustrating that the next X-O trade is going to be "volume 1" again which, to me, is not only awkward, but potentially confusing to new prospective readers.

I just arrived a couple hours ago from a trip to my LCS, had to pick some figures. The owner actually called me and asked me what was the best advice for a new reader to get into Valiant's X-O. Ha! I said that the new series was a jumping-on point, but he had a client who wanted to read all the previously published material, VH1 included and was sort of lost. He thought that the first VEI volume suffered a sort of reboot and that nothing in there counts, so he did not want to burden the new guy with a pile of trades to read. I said that if he's enjoying the new series, then he should check it out for completion purposes, but it is not necessary. It is a completely different book. He asked me if there was a mini that "bridged" these 2 vols, also.

Maybe it is confusing for a new collector, but casual readers will just go with what they heard it is good, I guess. I have no idea if a new reader will find the info he needs easily. Outside of these boards, there's not much out there compared to the Big 2 books.

SM99: Brother, you never heard about Fighting Fantasy?! It's those green-spined gamebooks, "where You are the adventurer, all you need is a pencil, a rubber and a pair of dice" to play. I really thought that every british man in his 30s or 40s would have played a FF book, sometime in their life.

Yeah, as au fait as I'm sure most of us here are with the VEI renumbering system I'm sure there are plenty of readers out there that could potentially find it confusing. Honestly though, I don't think it's any more or less confusing than any other company renumbering their titles (e.g. DC/Marvel), so if people can manage with titles from those companies they sure as Hell can manage with Valiant renumberings and let's face it, all it takes these days to figure out reading order is a quick visit to a comic's Wikipedia page so there's really no excuse.

Haha, sorry 'tuga, I never heard of Fighting Fantasy! And I've *never* heard ANY of my friends mention it before... Maybe it's not as big in the UK as you think? And I've played Warhammer and D&D before so it's not like I'm totally alien to the tabletop gaming world... I guess I'll have to look into it a little more and find out what it's all about.

[ShadowTuga]

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content.

I agree with this but I do find it frustrating that the next X-O trade is going to be "volume 1" again which, to me, is not only awkward, but potentially confusing to new prospective readers.

I just arrived a couple hours ago from a trip to my LCS, had to pick some figures. The owner actually called me and asked me what was the best advice for a new reader to get into Valiant's X-O. Ha! I said that the new series was a jumping-on point, but he had a client who wanted to read all the previously published material, VH1 included and was sort of lost. He thought that the first VEI volume suffered a sort of reboot and that nothing in there counts, so he did not want to burden the new guy with a pile of trades to read. I said that if he's enjoying the new series, then he should check it out for completion purposes, but it is not necessary. It is a completely different book. He asked me if there was a mini that "bridged" these 2 vols, also.

Maybe it is confusing for a new collector, but casual readers will just go with what they heard it is good, I guess. I have no idea if a new reader will find the info he needs easily. Outside of these boards, there's not much out there compared to the Big 2 books.

SM99: Brother, you never heard about Fighting Fantasy?! It's those green-spined gamebooks, "where You are the adventurer, all you need is a pencil, a rubber and a pair of dice" to play. I really thought that every british man in his 30s or 40s would have played a FF book, sometime in their life.

Yeah, as au fait as I'm sure most of us here are with the VEI renumbering system I'm sure there are plenty of readers out there that could potentially find it confusing. Honestly though, I don't think it's any more or less confusing than any other company renumbering their titles (e.g. DC/Marvel), so if people can manage with titles from those companies they sure as Hell can manage with Valiant renumberings and let's face it, all it takes these days to figure out reading order is a quick visit to a comic's Wikipedia page so there's really no excuse.

Haha, sorry 'tuga, I never heard of Fighting Fantasy! And I've *never* heard ANY of my friends mention it before... Maybe it's not as big in the UK as you think? And I've played Warhammer and D&D before so it's not like I'm totally alien to the tabletop gaming world... I guess I'll have to look into it a little more and find out what it's all about.

Problem is, it seems, even Wiki does not have that much info on that specific subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-O_Manow ... ertainment

And that's for the company's Superman/Spiderman (as in "most recognisable character"; I'd think it's Aric given it was his book who re-started the VEIverse).
There are other sites of course, and specific ones about Valiant that can help a hell lot more than Wiki, but not all people know where to search/have the patience to do it. I guess this guy was one of those cases: he heard about Valiant's X-O on CBR or something, tried it, liked it enought that he asked for more info on the collections and my guy did not know how to help him exactly. It's weird, but I've seen this guy give advice to people on a wide variety of comics, but he's really at fault with Valiant. Maybe the fact that the company was seen as a "gimmick-oriented thing that ruined comics in the 90s", as apparently some folk still see it has to do with it. They never seemed invested in promoting it for real, sadly. The Valiant corner in my store is a small shelf in the sides of the store, not even the main displayer.
When I started reading, I remember him asking if I wanted to buy some old Acclaim X-O's and some VH1 Harbinger (not keys, I checked, and all in very bad state for a collector) that had survived.

As for Fighting Fantasy, that's really weird given that you are familiar with RPGs and all. The books sold at one point 20 million copies, they bragged about it in the back covers.

EDIT- You asked me before abut the Watchmen connection: you can read pretty much what is known so far, here (Wiki )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Ma ... DC_Rebirth

It is still playing out, Batman and the Flash will have 2 issues each this month that deal with this (the Comedian's pin was in Batman's cave- how freaking awesome is that?! and we know that it wasn't Barry who changed reality) and these are the books where I think most of the info pre-final-event-somewhere-next-year is. DC claims it is a 2 year plan/story, rather than a renumbering and rebooting again. Of course they will renumber 99% of their books, but if they keep Action and Detective current numbering after they hit the 4 digit mark, it's great. I will keep collecting Detective for years to come.

[Zhuge1]

I just arrived a couple hours ago from a trip to my LCS, had to pick some figures. The owner actually called me and asked me what was the best advice for a new reader to get into Valiant's X-O. Ha! I said that the new series was a jumping-on point, but he had a client who wanted to read all the previously published material, VH1 included and was sort of lost. He thought that the first VEI volume suffered a sort of reboot and that nothing in there counts, so he did not want to burden the new guy with a pile of trades to read. I said that if he's enjoying the new series, then he should check it out for completion purposes, but it is not necessary. It is a completely different book. He asked me if there was a mini that "bridged" these 2 vols, also.

Well, hopefully the LCS hooked him up with the TPBs from Venditti (and maybe even the classic omnibus )

[Shadowman99]

I definitely follow what you're saying about being a reader and the 'number weighting' of titles. I'll just put this out there for consideration, but I guess everyone has their own perspectives: To me the re-numbering of VEI titles isn't important. I just regard these stories as chronologically continuous regardless of what's on the cover so to me the book title/number is irrelevant. For example, Q+W came out first, then Q+W Must Die, then Delinquents and soon Q+W!: as far as I'm concerned this is all just the story of Quantum and Woody and so I can simply choose to ignore what VEI regard as financially necessary renumbering/retitling because it doesn't affect the continuity of the story content.

I agree with this but I do find it frustrating that the next X-O trade is going to be "volume 1" again which, to me, is not only awkward, but potentially confusing to new prospective readers.

I just arrived a couple hours ago from a trip to my LCS, had to pick some figures. The owner actually called me and asked me what was the best advice for a new reader to get into Valiant's X-O. Ha! I said that the new series was a jumping-on point, but he had a client who wanted to read all the previously published material, VH1 included and was sort of lost. He thought that the first VEI volume suffered a sort of reboot and that nothing in there counts, so he did not want to burden the new guy with a pile of trades to read. I said that if he's enjoying the new series, then he should check it out for completion purposes, but it is not necessary. It is a completely different book. He asked me if there was a mini that "bridged" these 2 vols, also.

Maybe it is confusing for a new collector, but casual readers will just go with what they heard it is good, I guess. I have no idea if a new reader will find the info he needs easily. Outside of these boards, there's not much out there compared to the Big 2 books.

SM99: Brother, you never heard about Fighting Fantasy?! It's those green-spined gamebooks, "where You are the adventurer, all you need is a pencil, a rubber and a pair of dice" to play. I really thought that every british man in his 30s or 40s would have played a FF book, sometime in their life.

Yeah, as au fait as I'm sure most of us here are with the VEI renumbering system I'm sure there are plenty of readers out there that could potentially find it confusing. Honestly though, I don't think it's any more or less confusing than any other company renumbering their titles (e.g. DC/Marvel), so if people can manage with titles from those companies they sure as Hell can manage with Valiant renumberings and let's face it, all it takes these days to figure out reading order is a quick visit to a comic's Wikipedia page so there's really no excuse.

Haha, sorry 'tuga, I never heard of Fighting Fantasy! And I've *never* heard ANY of my friends mention it before... Maybe it's not as big in the UK as you think? And I've played Warhammer and D&D before so it's not like I'm totally alien to the tabletop gaming world... I guess I'll have to look into it a little more and find out what it's all about.

Problem is, it seems, even Wiki does not have that much info on that specific subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-O_Manow ... ertainment

And that's for the company's Superman/Spiderman (as in "most recognisable character"; I'd think it's Aric given it was his book who re-started the VEIverse).
There are other sites of course, and specific ones about Valiant that can help a hell lot more than Wiki, but not all people know where to search/have the patience to do it. I guess this guy was one of those cases: he heard about Valiant's X-O on CBR or something, tried it, liked it enought that he asked for more info on the collections and my guy did not know how to help him exactly. It's weird, but I've seen this guy give advice to people on a wide variety of comics, but he's really at fault with Valiant. Maybe the fact that the company was seen as a "gimmick-oriented thing that ruined comics in the 90s", as apparently some folk still see it has to do with it. They never seemed invested in promoting it for real, sadly. The Valiant corner in my store is a small shelf in the sides of the store, not even the main displayer.
When I started reading, I remember him asking if I wanted to buy some old Acclaim X-O's and some VH1 Harbinger (not keys, I checked, and all in very bad state for a collector) that had survived.

As for Fighting Fantasy, that's really weird given that you are familiar with RPGs and all. The books sold at one point 20 million copies, they bragged about it in the back covers.

EDIT- You asked me before abut the Watchmen connection: you can read pretty much what is known so far, here (Wiki )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Ma ... DC_Rebirth

It is still playing out, Batman and the Flash will have 2 issues each this month that deal with this (the Comedian's pin was in Batman's cave- how freaking awesome is that?! and we know that it wasn't Barry who changed reality) and these are the books where I think most of the info pre-final-event-somewhere-next-year is. DC claims it is a 2 year plan/story, rather than a renumbering and rebooting again. Of course they will renumber 99% of their books, but if they keep Action and Detective current numbering after they hit the 4 digit mark, it's great. I will keep collecting Detective for years to come.

You're right: I just took a look at XO's wikipedia page and whilst someone's done a fair job of keeping the 'collected editions' section updated, they're lagging at the momentby having not at least published a note on the new series having just been launched. Perhaps that section could do with a little revision and updating to account for the new series. Still, imo there's enough info here for a new reader to fill in the gaps themselves with a quick google search to find out a bit more about the new series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-O_Manow ... d_editions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for getting back to me RE Watchmen - I'd checked out the wiki page already so I guess maybe nobody's any the wiser at the moment! I love all things Watchmen but it's going to take more than just a couple of bitty hints towards them to interest me in this series.