My valiant story
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
My valiant story
In the early nineties my best friend and I collected comic books, specifically anything that contained art work by Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio. My friend was an avid fan of the publication Wizard, and that was where we heard about an up and coming Comic Book company called Valiant that was being started up by Jim Shooter. On one of our routine treks to one of our favorite comic stores, we both saw Harbinger #1 on the rack, and started to laugh. From the cover, we both thought that the book was a joke, and happily left the store with the latest issues of Marvel’s X-Books without wasting our money on Harbinger.
It wasn’t until the speculator market started targeting the pre-unity Valiants that my friend and I started to pay attention. My first book was Harbinger #7, and I found myself wanting to know more about the Harbinger kids. Having been inundated by the flashy art and the action packed sequences that were being driven by Marvel, I had forgotten that the heart of a comic book was in the story. From that point on, my friend and I collected all of the valiant books. We both loved Harbinger and Solar, but more than anything, we loved the stories that were being told. We loved the universe so much, we dressed up as Shadowman and Rai respectively. My best friend even snuck into a comic distributors meeting to get a hold of Valiant Gold Variants.
The greatest day for us was when we went to the San Diego Comic con and met the man himself, Jim Shooter. It was literally like meeting a god to us. Shooter was sitting at one of the tables, and I told my friend, "Hey, its Jim Shooter". He looked at me and said, "yeah right". He had been playing tricks on me the entire day, spouting off "Hey, its Whilce Portacio!!", with me gullibly going "Where? Where?" I pointed to him, and the first thing we did was pull anything Valiant we could find. He had his Harbinger #1 and I had my Unity 0. We went up to him and he was very approachable and happily signed our books. He looked at my friends Harbinger #1 and said, “I rank the first 7 issues Harbinger as one of my all time best work ”. We couldn’t agree more. It was a great day.
Although time has passed, having started a family, and with my priorities changed, I still find time to read the Harbinger TPB every now and then. Valiant will always have a special place in my heart because it continually reminds me of some of the best times in my life and of a friend who would do anything for Valiant.
It wasn’t until the speculator market started targeting the pre-unity Valiants that my friend and I started to pay attention. My first book was Harbinger #7, and I found myself wanting to know more about the Harbinger kids. Having been inundated by the flashy art and the action packed sequences that were being driven by Marvel, I had forgotten that the heart of a comic book was in the story. From that point on, my friend and I collected all of the valiant books. We both loved Harbinger and Solar, but more than anything, we loved the stories that were being told. We loved the universe so much, we dressed up as Shadowman and Rai respectively. My best friend even snuck into a comic distributors meeting to get a hold of Valiant Gold Variants.
The greatest day for us was when we went to the San Diego Comic con and met the man himself, Jim Shooter. It was literally like meeting a god to us. Shooter was sitting at one of the tables, and I told my friend, "Hey, its Jim Shooter". He looked at me and said, "yeah right". He had been playing tricks on me the entire day, spouting off "Hey, its Whilce Portacio!!", with me gullibly going "Where? Where?" I pointed to him, and the first thing we did was pull anything Valiant we could find. He had his Harbinger #1 and I had my Unity 0. We went up to him and he was very approachable and happily signed our books. He looked at my friends Harbinger #1 and said, “I rank the first 7 issues Harbinger as one of my all time best work ”. We couldn’t agree more. It was a great day.
Although time has passed, having started a family, and with my priorities changed, I still find time to read the Harbinger TPB every now and then. Valiant will always have a special place in my heart because it continually reminds me of some of the best times in my life and of a friend who would do anything for Valiant.
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kikitwitme
- Get those scissors away from my coupons
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Rufusharley
- donkey-shorts!..uhh i mean..danke schön!
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Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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Re: My valiant story
Ouch....live and learn I guess. Welcome to the board.loki_1992 wrote: On one of our routine treks to one of our favorite comic stores, we both saw Harbinger #1 on the rack, and started to laugh. From the cover, we both thought that the book was a joke, and happily left the store with the latest issues of Marvel’s X-Books without wasting our money on Harbinger.
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Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
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Re: My valiant story
Welcome 
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96Valiantfan
- You gotta have Faith!
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worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
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I used to make different Valiant themed sweatshirts to wear to cons. I had one with the cover art to Rai 0 without the logo. I had another with the cover art to Ninjak 1. It turns out you could use the ValiantVision glasses on that cover and it looked like Ninjak Was jumping out of my chest. I'm going to wear the Valiant's Back! t-shirt from San Diego to a local con later this month just like the good ol' days.
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betterthanezra
- Wanna see an unpublished Shadowman page?
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- Valiant fan since: 1991
- Favorite writer: Josh Dysart
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tarheelmarine
- Ask me about the Mellow Mushroom
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- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Magnus Robot Fighter
- Favorite title: Shadowman
- Favorite writer: Jim Shooter
- Favorite artist: Jim Calafiore
- Location: Japan
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The Harbinger
- You gotta have Faith!
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Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
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Re: My valiant story
Welcome! And nice avatar--gotta love Walt 
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DarqueArcher
- Rockin' out in Torquehalla
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