It's Time to Read Some VALIANT

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Oct 31, 2010 7:21:38 am

10/24-10/30/2010 - 11 issues read

This batch dropped off in quality a bit for me. I really liked EW #1 and there were some other good ones, but not as many as last week's books. I think it's partially because the first Unity chapter from each title has some repetition to it.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:28:08 am

10/31 - 11/6/2010 - 12 issues read

I don't like Unity. The plot itself is fine, but I don't care for all of the repetition in it. I understand why it's there, but it's too much. I'll be glad to get to moving storylines again.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:32:57 am

400yrs wrote:10/31 - 11/6/2010 - 9 issues read

I don't like Unity. The plot itself is fine, but I don't care for all of the repetition in it. I understand why it's there, but it's too much. I'll be glad to get to moving storylines again.

That is something that nearly stopped two of the 3 people I showed the story to. They were all "Wait, why do I have to read half the same story over and over again? Is anything going to start happening?"

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:01:52 pm

xodacia81 wrote:
400yrs wrote:10/31 - 11/6/2010 - 9 issues read

I don't like Unity. The plot itself is fine, but I don't care for all of the repetition in it. I understand why it's there, but it's too much. I'll be glad to get to moving storylines again.
That is something that nearly stopped two of the 3 people I showed the story to. They were all "Wait, why do I have to read half the same story over and over again? Is anything going to start happening?"

In all honesty, you could read probably 2 issues and get the whole story. Those people are right. Not much happens at all. If I wasn't trying to read all of VALIANT, I wouldn't keep reading this crossover event. It doesn't stand up. Sorry.

This isn't something I'd give to a non-comic reader..... hell, it's not something I'd give to a comic reader and say, "You want some good comics? A great read that will get you excited?" It's not. It's repetitive and slow and frankly out of sequence. Rai dies in Rai 7. In the next chapter, the Harby issue, they repeat all of that stuff again and Rai is still alive.

Individually, the issues are fine. They probably average out around 7s for me individually. As an event, it gets a 2 as it's a super frustrating read. Seriously, I'm damn near the end, and each issue is still going back to the early, early days of Unity......pahlease.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:01:19 pm

11/7/2010 - 11/13/2010 12 issues read

I'm about 80 issues into VH1.

I like these stories better than the Unity stuff for sure. No repetition = good.

A&A, EW and X-O are my favorites at this point. Shadowman isn't deep or anything, but it's always an entertaining read. Solar and Magnus, not so much.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 20, 2010 9:00:08 pm

11/14/2010 - 11/20/2010 - 18 issues read

Darque introduced. Hard Corps starts with a whimper. The few X-O books were probably my favorites out of this group.

I'm not even 15% through re-reading all of VH1 after several weeks. Sheesh. It's still good reading overall though, but it still feels massive.

I didn't much care for the formation of the suct story in the new A&A HC. The only one that has been really good is the Harbinger one.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sat Nov 20, 2010 9:22:47 pm

400yrs wrote:11/14/2010 - 11/20/2010 - 18 issues read

Darque introduced. Hard Corps starts with a whimper. The few X-O books were probably my favorites out of this group.

I'm not even 15% through re-reading all of *VALIANT (1991-1996)* after several weeks. Sheesh. It's still good reading overall though, but it still feels massive.

I didn't much care for the formation of the suct story in the new A&A HC. The only one that has been really good is the Harbinger one.

XO remained solid until about issue 48. Shadowman never stopped being good. HARD CORPS was never a fave. Agree about the Sect and Harbinger stories. Is it me or did Harbinger itself go dead average right in the middle of Unity?

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:06:31 pm

xodacia81 wrote: XO remained solid until about issue 48. Shadowman never stopped being good. HARD CORPS was never a fave. Agree about the Sect and Harbinger stories. Is it me or did Harbinger itself go dead average right in the middle of Unity?

Yeah, I think so. It feels like that is when the book really took on a whiny tone........ Pete whining about Kris and just acting all *SQUEE* and Kris and Flamingo whining about Torque. There wasn't really any testosterone in the book after Torque died. That kind of made it a *SQUEE* book.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:09:00 pm

11/21 - 11/27/2010 24 issues

Issue by issue, I scored this week's books lower than most other weeks, but overall, this bunch was alot more enjoyable to read moreso than any other week (even the pre-unity stuff).

Excepting Solar and some A&A issues with Archer writing in his journal, the issues all seemed to read much smoother. The story is told through the art as much as the words and there were less dialogue boxes (and they were shorter if there were any). The stories just flowed much better almost like books today.

The first two Bob Hall Shadowman issues (#10 and #11) were easily the best 2 consecutive issues of all the books I've read. Both the art and story were masterful.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:53:02 pm

11/28/2010 - 12/4/2010 - 42 issues read

So I smoked through a bunch of issues this week. I've been reading bits of other things as well, but I've mainly been reading Valiants this week. Is it because these books are better than current stuff? Hell to the no!! These books have been flowing pretty well though and I felt like banging a bunch out.

Best of the bunch so far: Shadowman very easily.

Still interesting: X-O, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior

Ok reads: Magnus (too much Malev stuff now that is moving slowly), Solar

Dropping in quality: Archer and Armstrong, Harby

Worst of the bunch: Hard Corps. This book is aimless.

Looking at the next bunch of books, there is alot of Deathmate, Turok, Secret Weapons...... I think my reading may slow down. I have a bunch of great new books that are sitting here begging to be read.

sbcomics · Post by **sbcomics** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:42:53 am

42 issues, that's a good pace!

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:53:16 am

That's about the pace you are going to have to do.

Even if you are reading carefully and flipping back and forth, most of these post unity VALIANTs are quick 10 minute reads.

This week, I also read two 5 issue trades (Magneto Testament and Forgetless) and about 4 singles (Sweet Tooth, Scalped x 2, and an issue of What If where Spidey marries the Black Cat). So in total, I read just about 56 issues.

That's probably the most I've ever read in a week's time. Amazingly, it was all pretty enjoyable or at least pleasant (excepting a few issues which didn't spoil the bunch).

sbcomics · Post by **sbcomics** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:43:53 pm

I know. I'm starting to fear it

I think I can do the reading, I just wonder if the reviews will be anywhere near readable.

HaloReach2010 · Post by **HaloReach2010** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:48:28 pm

sbcomics wrote:I know. I'm starting to fear it
I think I can do the reading, I just wonder if the reviews will be anywhere near readable.

Try Red Bull....it gives you wings.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:04:33 pm

I like the sugar free kind. It's nice and tart.

sbcomics · Post by **sbcomics** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:51:37 pm

HaloReach2010 wrote:
sbcomics wrote:I know. I'm starting to fear it
I think I can do the reading, I just wonder if the reviews will be anywhere near readable.
Try Red Bull....it gives you wings.

I am already sort of known to certain folks at work for my Red Bull consumption....

So I imagine it will be involved.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 9:04:44 am

12/5 - 12/11/2010 - 31 issues (199)

Shadowman is still the only consistent book to me. Well, consistently good at least. Hard Corps and Turok are consistently dung.

X-O #0 was awesome.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:27:29 am

400yrs wrote:12/5 - 12/11/2010 - 31 issues (199)

Shadowman is still the only consistent book to me. Well, consistently good at least. Hard Corps and Turok are consistently dung.

X-O #0 was awesome.

HC doesn't get any better. Surprisingly, as I recall, Turok makes a sudden shift towards quality right after Chaos Effect. XO #0 is indeed awesome. Shadowman only gets better. Through the end of the series, at # 43, I felt that the book grew with each issue. I miss that series a lot and think it was the best of all the Valiant series, given its consistency, even though XO/Aric remains my favorite concept/character.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:54:16 am

xodacia81 wrote:Shadowman only gets better. Through the end of the series, at # 43, I felt that the book grew with each issue. I miss that series a lot and think it was the best of all the Valiant series, given its consistency, even though XO/Aric remains my favorite concept/character.

Same here. X-O is probably my favorite character, but this Shadowman run is the best of it.

If it keeps up the quality, I have an extra set of the books.... Acclaim file copies that I bought from Antonio361 a long time ago. I'm really considering getting those bound for easy re-reading. I don't see any other series worth that treatment.... yet.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:06:58 pm

12/12/10 - 12/18/2010 - 14 issues read, 2 unread

Reading slowed down alot this week. Although I've enjoyed what I read, there isn't too much going on that is really interesting in this batch of books.

Surprisingly, only Turok got green coloring this week. It was the only good issue of Turok so far. Shadowman is still the best and Secret Weapons has been surprisingly good so far. A&A has already crapped out.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:05:21 pm

12/19/10 - 12/25/2010 - 7 read, 1 not read (223)

Light reading week with the holidays. Reading was ok, not great.

dave · Post by **dave** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:00:01 pm

400yrs wrote:12/5 - 12/11/2010 - 31 issues (199)

Shadowman is still the only consistent book to me. Well, consistently good at least. Hard Corps and Turok are consistently dung.

X-O #0 was awesome.

Where are you in Turok? I enjoyed the truman/morales issues. They weren't pre-unity by any means but they were at least two full points over dung.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:46:51 pm

dave wrote: Where are you in Turok? I enjoyed the truman/morales issues. They weren't pre-unity by any means but they were at least two full points over dung.

Only 5 issues in. The issue where he sees the old Andar was really good. The monarch stuff just isn't entertaining to me which was the first 3 issues.

dave · Post by **dave** » Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:05:08 pm

oh, cool. It'll get better. It gets a bit repetitive if you ask me. No really intriguing characters. I like issues that feature Turok and Joshua? Andar's grandson. I like that Andar issue as well.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:25:06 pm

Had a few beers. I started Turok 5 or 6 or whatever the hell I'm on this morning. I picked it up just now and couldn't remember what the hell I'd read. That's not good.

Put it back down for another time.

I've been finding that alot lately. Drunk or not. I think the stories are ok, but not memorable at all. Why am I reading this stuff?