Which was your first Valiant comic?

shaxper · Post by **shaxper** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:19 am

It's probably been asked before, but I'm curious. I'd also like to know what made you buy it, and what you thought.

My first Valiant purchase was Harbinger #13. I finally realized, after months of Wizard hype, that the Harbinger craze wasn't going away. Someone compared them to the X-Men and I got even more curious. Besides, these things were sure thing investments, right?

Harby #13 was a particularly bad issue to start with, since it deviates so much from the regular continuing story. I didn't particularly like it, but it didn't stop me from grabbing Harby #1 (for sheer investment purposes) and the Harby tpb out of a continued curiosity. Well, understandably, I LOVED the tpb, and was sold on Harby from there.

Honestly, I didn't read much of the other stuff. I was one of those bad collectors who bought two of every valiant issue and never read most of them. I first read Magnus, X-0, and Solar several years later, when I dug my collection out from storage and was surprised to discover I had all the first issues. I'd totally forgotten.

It was then that I REALLY got turned on to Valiant. I've been interested ever since, but didn't really start collecting again until I found this place last year.

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:33 am

My first Valiant off the racks was, I believe, Harb #1. I think. I know I said this on the old board. Mebbe X-O #1. I think X-O because of BWS. It's all kinda fuzzy hazy about when I bought what, but I know by the time Unity came out, I had pretty much everything.

shaxper · Post by **shaxper** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:36 am

Impressive to find someone who was reading Valiant pre-Unity. My LCSes didn't even start carrying Valiant until Unity. Did you tend to pick up a lot of independents at the time, or was it just the BWS factor?

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:56 am

shaxper wrote:Impressive to find someone who was reading Valiant pre-Unity. My LCSes didn't even start carrying Valiant until Unity. Did you tend to pick up a lot of independents at the time, or was it just the BWS factor?

It was the Wizard factor. Harb #1 was listed in....#3? #4? As being a 'hot pick' or 'future something' or somesuch. I was a silly fanboy at the time, and bought everything anyone told me was 'hot' at the time....utterly ignoring, of course, Bone, Cry for Dawn, Strangers in Paradise, Crow, etc etc etc.

Of course, the full page ads in CBG at the time by Valiant, stating all the iisues they'd sold out of (and it was EVERYTHING) also helped.

I actually didn't get around to READING anything until well after Unity, which was a bummer, I would have liked to have read Unity when it was new. But, in Sept of '92, I remember reading everything all at once, up to and including Unity, in about a two week span...

It was a LOT of fun.

And, of course, living in the Bay Area allowed me access to a lot of Valiants....I remember picking up a stack of Rai #3's when new and thumbing through to pick out the best one....and at another store, looking at Harb #'s 5 & 6 in depth....and passing them up to buy a NM X-Men #132 for $10.

I also had literally 30 Solar #2's in my hand, right around Christmas of 1991, for 25 cents each...picked out 1...and put the rest back. Sigh. Got a Harb #1 for 25 cents, though.

And Steve thinks there's nothing 'good' in the 25 cent bins....

Vault-Keeper · Post by **Vault-Keeper** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 1:34 am

you found these in the quarter bins during Christmas of 1991? When these issues were still fairly new? OK...

whatever you say...

DJSpecter · Post by **DJSpecter** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 1:44 am

Do the Nintendo books count? (I'll always wonder if anybody bought a home subscription to that stuff.)*

-Dave

*Similar to the first couple of issues of Magnus and Solar, the Nintendos had a form to fill out for a year's subscription. And I don't think any book lasted past issue 6 (or even got that far).

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:03 am

Vault-Keeper wrote:you found these in the quarter bins during Christmas of 1991? When these issues were still fairly new? OK... whatever you say...

Yes, son, because that book (Solar #2) was five-six months old by then, and, if you remember your history, you'll remember that Valiants didn't sell at ALL until Wizard started going nuts about them.

You'll ALSO remember, son, that five to six months old is NOT 'fairly new' when new books come out once a month or more, and five to six months of sitting on a shelf is HARDLY proof that it's ever 'going to sell at cover'...

DUH.

Sounds about like that $400 Spiderman purchase of yours.....whatever you say....

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:56 am

My first was Magnus #4. I was just getting into comics at the time, and I first read about Valiant in a Mile High Comics newsletter. The preview for the Rai/Magnus flipbook looked cool so I picked up #4 when I saw it at the shop and I loved it (big shock, right?).

GJB · Post by **GJB** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:33 am

Solar #1, then #3. The funny thing is I forgot I bought them, but when the valiant craze hit, I rediscovered them and felt I hit the jackpot.

I remember looking for something a little different from the mainstream books and the cover of Solar #1 caught my eye. The story and colors were awesome. So I went with it. It's too bad I have a short attention span sometimes, because for some reason, I moved back to spiderman and the punisher and stopped buying Solar.

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 10:25 am

Rai 3. Still my all time favorite cover. The next day I went back to the same store and picked up Solar, Harbinger, and X-O.

lobo · Post by **lobo** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:27 pm

ZephyrWasHOT!! wrote:My first Valiant off the racks was, I believe, Harb #1. I think. I know I said this on the old board. Mebbe X-O #1. I think X-O because of BWS. It's all kinda fuzzy hazy about when I bought what, but I know by the time Unity came out, I had pretty much everything.

I remember you saying that A&A #0 was your first because it was my first also. Think back, you know you did.

I think I paid $5 for the A&A #0 along with cover price for the first batch of Unity chapters. Read them all over a weekend and could not wait for more.
After unity was done I bought all new Valiant releases for the next year or so. The only pre Unities I paid big bucks for were at the time was XO 1-6 because I was hooked on that title. Never followed up with other pre-unities until within the last eighteen monthes. But I've made up for it spades!

cjv · Post by **cjv** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 3:49 pm

Mine was Shadowman #1. So pre-Unity, but not by much. I remember seeing the XO cover for a Wizard magazine once, and wondering who that was.

Chris

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 4:14 pm

I'm kind of foggy on this, but I think I remember reading Wizard and buying into all their Valiant hype, so I went to my LCS at the time and looked for them. I think my first Valiant I bought off the shelf was probably Archer and Armstrong #3, so I missed out on getting any of the pre-Unity stuff for cover price.

Jaknife · Post by **Jaknife** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 4:48 pm

Turok #5. i, as my avatar and signature imply, am not a big fan of acclaim. however, i would have never gotten into valiant had my cousin not bought turok dinosaur hunter for the 64. i saw turok #5, and bought it, intending to give it to him. he wasnt really interested, so i kept it, and found the 4 that came before it. from there i began to buy bloodshot, and now i buy everything.

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:20 pm

lobo wrote:
ZephyrWasHOT!! wrote:My first Valiant off the racks was, I believe, Harb #1. I think. I know I said this on the old board. Mebbe X-O #1. I think X-O because of BWS. It's all kinda fuzzy hazy about when I bought what, but I know by the time Unity came out, I had pretty much everything.
I remember you saying that A&A #0 was your first because it was my first also. Think back, you know you did.

It's possible...I'm fairly certain A&A was the first Valiant I READ, as opposed to the first one I bought.

For me, there's a big difference. For example...I've owned several near complete X-Men #94-up runs over the years, but have never READ any of them until eariler this year...and have not read past #133 (mainly cause I couldn't find a copy of #134 until last weekend! Yes, it's that bad. That reminds me....I should take pics.)

And, of course, the only reason I read A&A first was because of BWS. I'm pretty sure I didn't read past #0, cause I'm weird about not reading crossovers until I have the whole story, start to finish.

But, it was, after all, 12+ years ago.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:31 pm

The first issue of Super Mario Brothers (the one with Racoon Mario on the cover, the first time it came out) or Magnus #1, depending on how you look at it.

jordan silo · Post by **jordan silo** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 1:23 pm

My very first VALIANT comic book was Magnus Robot Fighter #19

ZephyrWasHOT!! · Post by **ZephyrWasHOT!!** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:52 pm

Speaking of never read....I know, I know, not really related, but it fits...

I JUST LAST NIGHT for the VERY first time in my LIFE...read Miracleman #23 and #24.

And now I have finally read all 24 issues.

Took me about 10 years, but I did it.

Whew.

I can't IMAGINE buying it new in 1993, after a YEAR+(!!!) wait from #23, and then having to wait ELEVEN YEARS AND COUNTING for the story to be finished! My GOD!

jordan silo · Post by **jordan silo** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 12:23 pm

ZephyrWasHOT!! wrote:Speaking of never read....I know, I know, not really related, but it fits...

I JUST LAST NIGHT for the VERY first time in my LIFE...read Miracleman #23 and #24.

And now I have finally read all 24 issues.

Took me about 10 years, but I did it.

Whew.

I can't IMAGINE buying it new in 1993, after a YEAR+(!!!) wait from #23, and then having to wait ELEVEN YEARS AND COUNTING for the story to be finished! My GOD!

I know how that feels trying to find the time of day to finish reading an entire series!