Here we go again - my Valiant story... (sorry, kinda long)
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Phoenix8008
- I don't know about a power, but I keep hearing these weird tones from the radio
- Posts: 3257
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:49 am
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Aric
- Favorite title: Harbinger
- Favorite writer: Joshua Dysart
- Location: Florida, USA
Here we go again - my Valiant story... (sorry, kinda long)
Greetings to you all. My second post here on these boards, but I've been lurking for awhile now. Hearing the great news about VEI winning the legal battle knocked me off my lurking perch though and I just had to join in for what's coming next. So here's my story for what it's worth...
I can't say what age I started loving comic characters. There used to be a picture of me dressed up as Spider-Man from when I was 4 or 5. So at least that far back. I didn't get into comic books themselves though until I was 11. We were at a school fair and my 7 year old sister won a comic book for a prize. She didn't want it, so she handed it to me... a Spider Man comic book. Little did I know it would be the first of many.
I started getting Spider Man comics from the spin racks at the grocery store and a couple years later moved back to Indiana from Texas and found my first store devoted to COMIC BOOKS. I was in heaven. I was also just in time to catch the start of a brand new series...Web of Spider Man #1. Finally a title I loved that I could get in on the ground floor at instead of trying miserably to gather hundreds of expensive back issues. I eventually fell away from Spider Man and got hooked on X-men thanks to the Mutant Massacre stories. Before I knew it, if it had an 'X' in the title, I was collecting it. But this is supposed to be my VALIANT story, so we'll skip ahead a bit...
Out of high school and into the Air Force I went. I was still into all things 'X' (still am, just can't afford them all any more), as well as the harder Sci-fi of Silver Surfer and even the mystical of Dr. Strange (never did get into DC stuff very much except for the big events- Death of Supes, Knightfall, etc). I also loved the other Jim Shooter creation- Marvel's New Universe! I had all of them by the time it stopped coming out. Then one day in a grocery store, I was flipping through what must have been a Wizard magazine when I came across an article about a new comic about to come out. The idea behind it sounded so cool I knew I wanted to check it out- putting Conan the Barbarian into Iron Man's armor!? Let the fun begin! I was hooked BEFORE ever seeing the comic!
So my local comic store starts getting Valiant comics and I start collecting XO. But this Eternal Warrior looks cool too. Grab that as well. Sad to say I never got into Rai or Magnus or Harbinger before Unity. After Unity though, all bets were off! Had to get Magnus and Rai and the Future Force too. And what's Rai without his distant ancestor Bloodshot?! Gotta have him. Timewalker was fun too. Somehow never got into the A&A series to see much of the 3rd immortal brother, but oh well. Never had the money to add Harbinger and HARD Corps to my list either, but I wanted to. So I was a hard core Valiant fan from the relase of XO until around Birthquake. Then there were double the titles and I just couldn't do it anymore. I could feel it then that they were spreading themselves too thin and already the story and the characters were suffering for it. I tried to keep going for awhile, but by that time I had a wife, a child, and all the responsibilities which those bring with. So my 6 longboxes of comics sat mostly untouched, with an occasional special issue added over the next few years. Then the bells began tolling for my collection and I didn't even hear them...
I got kicked out of the Air Force for being overweight (you heard me) and in that process got demoted in rank. We were on our way back to Indiana but the amount the Air Force would pay to move was based on my rank, which had just taken a hit. So they wouldn't pay to move as much as when we moved in to the house we had. And we had cut it close then while having one less kid than we now did. So I made the decision- I would have to leave some of my heaviest stuff behind. Namely my boxes full of comics and many of my hardback books (including my entire Star Wars collection of books). I wasn't giving up on them though. I was leaving them with a friend there in Nebraska and planned to make a return trip one weekend and load all of it up in the van to take back home. I never got the chance.
My friend (who was also in the Air Force) ended up getting out early a couple months later. Finances had kept me from making the drive out there yet and he never even bothered to call me to let me know what was happening. Next thing I knew, he was gone and my comics.... well, who knows. Maybe sold, maybe given away. Lost. Gone.
I started again of course. But just a little here and there. Wife and four kids now means even more responsibility and less money for hobbies. And with Dungeons and Dragons taking my primary hobby spot, that left just a little here and there for comics. Even then I kept getting a small box full and losing it. We would fall on hard times and need whatever money we could get to put food on the table. Sell the comics to the half price bookstore for $50 bucks. I had to do this 2 or 3 times over the years.
For the past year or two I've slowly gotten a half dozen issues a month until I had an unstable stack on my bookshelf. I finally decided to get some bags and boards and a box to put them in. So a few weekends back I was bagging up my comics and my wife said she could tell I was 'in my happy place'. It was true too. Just going through the motions felt great. Silly, I know. But it did. Anyway, with the economy like it is the comic shops are having trouble. One closed a couple months ago and the other one is closing January 31st. On the bright side all their back issues are now only $1 each. On the down side, I'll have to drive an hour to get to the nearest shop soon. But in going through the back issues I found some Valiant books that I once had, and others that I didn't but wished that I had. Bought $35 worth of issues and plan to go back for more next payday. So now I have the last half of Unity and half a dozen other issues of Valiant comics and it really stoked the fire in me to get them all again. It'll be a slow process I'm sure, but I'm not gonna give them up or sell them this time. I'm back. And I'm so glad that my resurgent interest in Valiant led me here to this site just in time to hear the great news and to be here for whatever comes next, because I'm ready to go again and this time I'm not gonna let go...
I can't say what age I started loving comic characters. There used to be a picture of me dressed up as Spider-Man from when I was 4 or 5. So at least that far back. I didn't get into comic books themselves though until I was 11. We were at a school fair and my 7 year old sister won a comic book for a prize. She didn't want it, so she handed it to me... a Spider Man comic book. Little did I know it would be the first of many.
I started getting Spider Man comics from the spin racks at the grocery store and a couple years later moved back to Indiana from Texas and found my first store devoted to COMIC BOOKS. I was in heaven. I was also just in time to catch the start of a brand new series...Web of Spider Man #1. Finally a title I loved that I could get in on the ground floor at instead of trying miserably to gather hundreds of expensive back issues. I eventually fell away from Spider Man and got hooked on X-men thanks to the Mutant Massacre stories. Before I knew it, if it had an 'X' in the title, I was collecting it. But this is supposed to be my VALIANT story, so we'll skip ahead a bit...
Out of high school and into the Air Force I went. I was still into all things 'X' (still am, just can't afford them all any more), as well as the harder Sci-fi of Silver Surfer and even the mystical of Dr. Strange (never did get into DC stuff very much except for the big events- Death of Supes, Knightfall, etc). I also loved the other Jim Shooter creation- Marvel's New Universe! I had all of them by the time it stopped coming out. Then one day in a grocery store, I was flipping through what must have been a Wizard magazine when I came across an article about a new comic about to come out. The idea behind it sounded so cool I knew I wanted to check it out- putting Conan the Barbarian into Iron Man's armor!? Let the fun begin! I was hooked BEFORE ever seeing the comic!
So my local comic store starts getting Valiant comics and I start collecting XO. But this Eternal Warrior looks cool too. Grab that as well. Sad to say I never got into Rai or Magnus or Harbinger before Unity. After Unity though, all bets were off! Had to get Magnus and Rai and the Future Force too. And what's Rai without his distant ancestor Bloodshot?! Gotta have him. Timewalker was fun too. Somehow never got into the A&A series to see much of the 3rd immortal brother, but oh well. Never had the money to add Harbinger and HARD Corps to my list either, but I wanted to. So I was a hard core Valiant fan from the relase of XO until around Birthquake. Then there were double the titles and I just couldn't do it anymore. I could feel it then that they were spreading themselves too thin and already the story and the characters were suffering for it. I tried to keep going for awhile, but by that time I had a wife, a child, and all the responsibilities which those bring with. So my 6 longboxes of comics sat mostly untouched, with an occasional special issue added over the next few years. Then the bells began tolling for my collection and I didn't even hear them...
I got kicked out of the Air Force for being overweight (you heard me) and in that process got demoted in rank. We were on our way back to Indiana but the amount the Air Force would pay to move was based on my rank, which had just taken a hit. So they wouldn't pay to move as much as when we moved in to the house we had. And we had cut it close then while having one less kid than we now did. So I made the decision- I would have to leave some of my heaviest stuff behind. Namely my boxes full of comics and many of my hardback books (including my entire Star Wars collection of books). I wasn't giving up on them though. I was leaving them with a friend there in Nebraska and planned to make a return trip one weekend and load all of it up in the van to take back home. I never got the chance.
My friend (who was also in the Air Force) ended up getting out early a couple months later. Finances had kept me from making the drive out there yet and he never even bothered to call me to let me know what was happening. Next thing I knew, he was gone and my comics.... well, who knows. Maybe sold, maybe given away. Lost. Gone.
I started again of course. But just a little here and there. Wife and four kids now means even more responsibility and less money for hobbies. And with Dungeons and Dragons taking my primary hobby spot, that left just a little here and there for comics. Even then I kept getting a small box full and losing it. We would fall on hard times and need whatever money we could get to put food on the table. Sell the comics to the half price bookstore for $50 bucks. I had to do this 2 or 3 times over the years.
For the past year or two I've slowly gotten a half dozen issues a month until I had an unstable stack on my bookshelf. I finally decided to get some bags and boards and a box to put them in. So a few weekends back I was bagging up my comics and my wife said she could tell I was 'in my happy place'. It was true too. Just going through the motions felt great. Silly, I know. But it did. Anyway, with the economy like it is the comic shops are having trouble. One closed a couple months ago and the other one is closing January 31st. On the bright side all their back issues are now only $1 each. On the down side, I'll have to drive an hour to get to the nearest shop soon. But in going through the back issues I found some Valiant books that I once had, and others that I didn't but wished that I had. Bought $35 worth of issues and plan to go back for more next payday. So now I have the last half of Unity and half a dozen other issues of Valiant comics and it really stoked the fire in me to get them all again. It'll be a slow process I'm sure, but I'm not gonna give them up or sell them this time. I'm back. And I'm so glad that my resurgent interest in Valiant led me here to this site just in time to hear the great news and to be here for whatever comes next, because I'm ready to go again and this time I'm not gonna let go...
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Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
- Posts: 38007
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33 pm
Re: Here we go again - my Valiant story... (sorry, kinda lon
Welcome to the board.Phoenix8008 wrote: So I was a hard core Valiant fan from the relase of XO until around Birthquake. Then there were double the titles and I just couldn't do it anymore. I could feel it then that they were spreading themselves too thin and already the story and the characters were suffering for it.
Birthquake was the last straw for a lot of Valiant fans. The universe was getting further and further away from the foundations Jim had laid down. A shame such a great universe was reduced to mediocre crud, because of the back stabbing and bad business decisions happening at the time.
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iggy101us
- I bought my first comics at Kwik-E-Mart
- Posts: 9005
- Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:12 am
- Location: Calizona Sector, North Am
- Contact:
Re: Here we go again - my Valiant story... (sorry, kinda lon
Welcome. Agree, I originally quit around Birthquake.Daniel Jackson wrote:Welcome to the board.Phoenix8008 wrote: So I was a hard core Valiant fan from the relase of XO until around Birthquake. Then there were double the titles and I just couldn't do it anymore. I could feel it then that they were spreading themselves too thin and already the story and the characters were suffering for it.
Birthquake was the last straw for a lot of Valiant fans. The universe was getting further and further away from the foundations Jim had laid down. A shame such a great universe was reduced to mediocre crud, because of the back stabbing and bad business decisions happening at the time.
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Phoenix8008
- I don't know about a power, but I keep hearing these weird tones from the radio
- Posts: 3257
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:49 am
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Aric
- Favorite title: Harbinger
- Favorite writer: Joshua Dysart
- Location: Florida, USA
Thanks to everyone so far for the welcome.
Yes, I plan to get any early or late issues first. If I'm lucky, as we approach the actually closing date of the shop their price for back issues might go down further.Chiclo wrote:You can probably pick up most of the issues between Unity and Chaos Effect around here for less than $1 an issue.
If that shoppe has any early or late issues, those would be the ones to get to first.
I would love to be able to pick up issues that cheap. I'd love even more to make people on these boards the receivers of my money instead of some faceless person on Ebay or something. Only problem is right now my want list practically reads "everything" and my wallet can't do that quickly. But I may just be able to set aside some money every paycheck to get some stuff here and there. Where on these boards would be the best place for looking to see what people have for sale?Dr. Solar wrote:I know that I have a lot of issues between Unity and Chaos effect I am willing to get rid of for a lot less than $1 per issue.
I just have to get them inventoried...
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Dr. Solar
- Spanked like a 4 year old in K-Mart.
- Posts: 10898
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 8:09 pm
- Favorite character: Sven
- Favorite title: Psi-Lords #2
- Location: Los Angeles Surviving Sectors
The Buy/Sell/Trade forum is the best place for this stuff.Phoenix8008 wrote:I would love to be able to pick up issues that cheap. I'd love even more to make people on these boards the receivers of my money instead of some faceless person on Ebay or something. Only problem is right now my want list practically reads "everything" and my wallet can't do that quickly. But I may just be able to set aside some money every paycheck to get some stuff here and there. Where on these boards would be the best place for looking to see what people have for sale?
If you can post a need list, that is the best way to go about it. Other people have lists of stuff for sale there too that you can check out.
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Chiclo
- I'm Chiclo. My strong Dongs paid off well.
- Posts: 22028
- Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:09 am
- Favorite character: Kris
- Location: Texas
- Contact:
While I'm at it -
There's a few guys that have some outstanding lists of cheap commons just out there for sale. When I first started out, I raided Shakespeare's common list. Commons for 25, 50 and 75 cents all across his list.
Here's his sale thread -
viewtopic.php?p=371217
Valiants are at the bottom of that post.
There's a few guys that have some outstanding lists of cheap commons just out there for sale. When I first started out, I raided Shakespeare's common list. Commons for 25, 50 and 75 cents all across his list.
Here's his sale thread -
viewtopic.php?p=371217
Valiants are at the bottom of that post.
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96Valiantfan
- You gotta have Faith!
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- Location: Waterbury CT.
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Lightning Strike
- Silent from '04 to '07, then he strikes!
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The Harbinger
- You gotta have Faith!
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- Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:10 pm
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