My Valiant Story...From Batman to Bloodshot and More

[mkb28]

Back in the early 90's I was collecting nothing but Batman titles. I was always curious/fascinated by some of the Valiant books (Bloodshot, X-O Manowar) but I never started to read or collect them. Batman was taking up all of my budget. I stopped collecting around 1997 or so when my first child was born. Now I have three kids between the ages of 8-14 and my old Batman collection was wasting away in my closet. I decided to divide up my comic books (5 long-boxes) to get them started on their own collection. I also began buying all of the "New 52" Batman titles for them and we have had a lot of fun piecing together the missing books from 1997 to 2011.

With my job, I get to travel throughout the midwest, so I get to visit some great comic book stores. In 2012 I noticed the Valiant re-launch and I picked up a copy of X-O Manowar #3 and I was hooked. I started collecting X-O and Bloodshot right away and then I decided to collect all of the new titles. What a great opportunity to collect an entire "Universe!" Harbinger is an awesome book too and I think my 14 year old son will love it. I have broadened my collection to include the old Valiant titles and I now have complete runs of X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Harbinger, Eternal Warrior, Ninjak, Shadowman, Secret Weapons, Armorines, H.A.R.D. Corps, and I am putting the finishing touches on Rai. My goal is to collect all the old books of any new title that Valiant is launching today. It has been a blast to read the old issues before checking out the new title. Zach from Day Dream Comics in Iowa turned me on to this website and Squirrel, X-omatic, and SonicDan have all helped me piece together my collection. I am forever grateful and I look forward to the future with Valiant!

Michael
mkb28

[caniac]

Welcome to the board

[FormerReader]

Welcome!

[Daniel Jackson]

Welcome to the board, Michael.

[caxiotis]

Welcome

[MarkRoseHFX]

Welcome!

[pixierosa]

Welcome! What are the best KC shops? I periodically head there for R&R...

[mkb28]

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome!

Hello Pixierosa:

My favorite stores in Kansas City are as follows:

B-Bop Comics- North (Large selection of new and back issues)
6320 NW Barry Rd, Kansas City, MO
They also have a South location in Overland Park, KS

A to Z Comics (Large selection of new and back issues and the back issues are 50% off)
1300 U.S. 40, Blue Springs, MO

On your way south from NE, stop by Cosmic Collectibles in St. Joseph, MO
1803 Garfield Avenue
The place is a "hole in the wall" location but a huge selection of Valiant back issues, all priced at $1.00 a piece.

I travel through NE and Des Moines, IA quite a bit.

Take care!

Michael
mkb28

[pixierosa]

Thanks!

[grendeljd]

Welcome! Wow, you've built up your classic Valiant collection fast, that's very cool. I'm still picking away at finishing runs of my favourite titles, and I was collecting many of them back in the day,

[comicsyte95]

Welcome!

[kevinbastos]

Welcome.

Enjoy the crazy.

[betterthanezra]

Welcome to the boards!!!!

-Brian

[myron]

nice story, good goal, good luck

[Phoenix8008]

Wow, very similar story to mine. Only my collection took me awhile longer to put together and I had it done a couple years ago when I thought the new Valiant comics were supposed to be coming out. Turned out it took VEI a little longer than all of us wanted. Also I only had a couple stores to scavenge from and alot of help from alot of the same people you named here on the boards! It was a great journey though and I love having all the old Valiants to read and now to compare to the new series'!

[mkb28]

Update on my Valiant VH1 collection. I only need a few Valiant Voice issues and I will have an entire "reading" collection and I have approximately 90% or more of all the Acclaim books. I still need several Gold and V.V.S.S books to have a complete collection, but I am working on that too. Many thanks to all the Boardies who have helped along the way- Bloodshot, Caxiotis, Carson, vooch311, X-omatic, Squirrel, Elveen, Moonchild, Sonicdan, and all the others I am probably forgetting.

Now if you could just help me figure out how to get them all read!

Thanks, Everyone!

Michael
Mkb28

[Burrito Boy]

Belated welcome to the board.

Here, have a taco.

[mkb28]

Thanks Burrito Boy. Don't mind if I do!

mkb28

[FormerReader]

Thanks Burrito Boy. Don't mind if I do!

mkb28

[bobby97801]

Wecome

[The Dirt Gang]

Welcome!

[mkb28]

Thanks for the welcome, Bobby and Dirt Gang!

Michael
mkb28

[Uncle Yusuf]

Michael, I think it's beautiful that you've shared your love of reading comic books with your children. How did you go about it? What did your wife think about it? I'm still a newlywed, so my wife and I don't have children as of yet. I often wonder if I'm ever blessed to have children, whether or not they would be interested in reading my library of books and comic books, or even doing any of the things I loved doing in my youth, i.e. weightlifting, wrestling, basketball, etc. I hope so. Anyway, you sound as if you have a wonderful family. God bless them and you. Peace.

[mkb28]

Good evening Uncle Yusuf:

You just made my day with such a nice message. Congrats on your marriage and I hope you two are blessed to have children someday. For now, enjoy your time together. Kids will take up a lot of your time, but you will love it!

As for comics and introducing them to kids, I think the key is to read to your kids from the start. Introduce them to age appropriate superhero books and comics and pretty soon they will be running around in X-O Manowar underoos attacking spider aliens!

Keep in mind, my Batman collection sat in a closet for many years. When I divided them up, my oldest son was 13 and his brother was 11. They got the titles that were more appropriate for teens+. My daughter was only 8 years old, but luckily I had a short box of Batman Animated Series and Batman Adventures books, which were perfect for a youngster. I then picked up Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures for her and she loves them. She and I record all the superhero cartoons and watch them together.

My oldest son has read the New 52 Batman books and I recently gave him the Harbinger TPB's. We had a real teachable moment discussing how Pete may have taken advantage of Kris and how that is not acceptable behavior for any relationship. He is a pretty mature kid so you have to know what is appropriate for each of your future kids.

The key is spending time with them and they will naturally want to please you. If you like comic books, it is a safe bet they will at least give them a try. Believe me, if you have kids, you will bust out those old wrestling skills!

My wife has never had a problem with the kids reading comics, but she frowns on how much I spend on comics. So much that she put me on a budget! It is funny to look back at this first post and in less than 8 months I nearly have an entire reading collection of VH1. I am only missing a few Valiant Voice issues. She knows collecting comics is something I enjoy, so she is supportive.

Thanks again for such a kind note. God bless, my friend!

Michael
Mkb28

[Uncle Yusuf]

Hey, Michael! Aww, man...thanks for the beautiful response, brother. I'm very happy to have made your day. Now we're even because you've certainly made mine right now. Thank you also for congratulating me on my recent nuptials. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post despite how busy you must be with your wife, children, and your work. The day I got married was one of the best of my life. I can't believe it took me so long to do it, but thanks to Allah I did! Allah Willing, in October, we'll be two years into our marriage. Sir, marriage and family are very important and seems that you are light years ahead of me in this department, so please don't be surprised that I admire your wonderful accomplishments in this regard. I commend you for discussing with your son the content of what he was reading and talking to him about the importance of respecting women, of not lying to to them, or mistreating them in any way whatsoever that would compromise their honor. Every woman is someone's daughter and no one would want their daughter to be disrespected. My wife doesn't mind that I read comic books, but she is fascinated as to why I like reading them so much. She found it baffling until she played 'Batman Arkham City' for the first time and now she is beginning to understand the appeal it has for me. The only thing that MIGHT bother her is the way female superheroes are visually depicted. That is the only thing I can think of that she probably finds ridiculous. Other than that, she's cool with it as long as I make more quality time for her when I'm not working or studying. We are both definitely looking forward to having children, Allah Willing, in the near future (a year? Two?), but for now we're enjoying being newlyweds because we both suspect that we're going to be extremely swamped once the babies arrive. Thank you for your sincere counsel on these matters. It is invaluable, and it means more to me than you may realize.

Sincerely, Yusuf