Be Honest...

[slack]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

[slack]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

[Chiclo]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

[ManofTheAtom]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

[Ryan]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

Good points. The only hope we can have is the same hope we've had every time this has happened. Blind faith.

You have no idea how excited I was in 1995 when the Previews magazine came out that announced Birthquake. A ton of top creators (Bart Sears finally on X-O full time!), a streamlined line with only the top characters. It felt like VALIANT was finally going to get back on top and get back to how awesome it was at first. Still been waiting for that in every re-launch since. Hope springs eternal

[Ryan]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

Three people from VALIANT are transferring to Alien, no? Who are they? We know Danielle Ward is one. Is Fred Pierce the second? Who is the third?

I think we can trust in Pierce and Ward, no?

Is Walter Black the third, or is he leaving too? If he was the third and they were the only ones from DMG/VALIANT at Alien, I think things would be in good hands.

[slack]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I wasn't considering that a deal-breaker. I just honestly wonder how many people knew of Alien Books beforehand.

[ManofTheAtom]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I wasn't considering that a deal-breaker. I just honestly wonder how many people knew of Alien Books beforehand.

Likely no one. But acquiring VALIANT may end up being as good for them as doing Alien and Predator comics was for Dark Horse.

Or doing Nintendo was for VALIANT.

[Ryan]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

Three people from VALIANT are transferring to Alien, no? Who are they? We know Danielle Ward is one. Is Fred Pierce the second? Who is the third?

I think we can trust in Pierce and Ward, no?

Is Walter Black the third, or is he leaving too? If he was the third and they were the only ones from DMG/VALIANT at Alien, I think things would be in good hands.

Honestly I don't know much about how the inner workings of Valiant have been or who has been involved. I only judge from the product that's put out, the books. All I can say is what my impression of the DMG era has been. It's like if people who had no knowledge of Valiant and very little interest in Valiant were brought in to run the comics.

Again not a personal shot, I don't know who is running what. I haven't seen anything that makes me think anyone that's been at DMG-Valiant can be 'trusted' to make great, VALIANT-style comics.

[Ryan]

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker.

I wasn't considering that a deal-breaker. I just honestly wonder how many people knew of Alien Books beforehand.

Likely no one. But acquiring VALIANT may end up being as good for them as doing Alien and Predator comics was for Dark Horse.

Or doing Nintendo was for VALIANT.

Certainly that's possible. I'm not going to argue against anyone being hopeful. I do wonder how much oversight they'll have, that may be a big factor.

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

We should not dismiss Alien offhand.

Their editors might be as passionate and informed about VALIANT as dino/Dinesh proved himself to be (do you need to see a picture of an Alien editor with a VALIANT-themed cake at their birthday party to prove their worth?), or savvy enough to hire people that are, whether they're old guard from the original VALIANT or newbies that became fans because of VEI.

Time Will Tell -- er, not Walter Black, but time itself...

But, had you heard of Alien Books before the press release?

And, I'm not dismissing Alien... I'm dismissing DMG owned IP, and Dan Mintz specifically.

No, but that's not necessarily a deal breaker. They're on the same level as iBooks was when they published Magnus. Ideally, Alien will do a better job than they did.

As for DMG, they may own the IP, like Dreamworks owns Solar, Magnus, Turok, etc, but if Alien acquired the license how much input can DMG still have?

Unless they they have someone actively looking over the licensees' shoulders like 20th Century Fox does with the Alien and Predator licenses and CBS does with Star Trek, DMG may end up being hands off on what Alien does.

Good question. I have to think the license agreement won't be totally hands-off for a few reasons.

1. Alien is not established in the comic market or known for any certain brand of comics. For example if say Mark Millar's studio was taking over VALIANT comics, we would know the exact style of stories that they would be doing. Millar books have an established style when it comes to action-adventure comics, and they would be hired to do that. Alien not so much.

2. Whoever invested the many millions it took to buy the characters (Mintz, DMG, + other investors) have a significant interest in making these properties become profitable in other mediums. I don't think they will just sit back and let Alien do whatever they want. IMO whoever has invested so heavily in these characters (at a big loss at this point I would say) will have a lot of say in how these comics are done. I have been wrong before though.

Three people from VALIANT are transferring to Alien, no? Who are they? We know Danielle Ward is one. Is Fred Pierce the second? Who is the third?

I think we can trust in Pierce and Ward, no?

Is Walter Black the third, or is he leaving too? If he was the third and they were the only ones from DMG/VALIANT at Alien, I think things would be in good hands.

Honestly I don't know much about how the inner workings of Valiant have been or who has been involved. I only judge from the product that's put out, the books. All I can say is what my impression of the DMG era has been. It's like if people who had no knowledge of Valiant and very little interest in Valiant were brought in to run the comics.

Again not a personal shot, I don't know who is running what. I haven't seen anything that makes me think anyone that's been at DMG-Valiant can be 'trusted' to make great, VALIANT-style comics.

This should tell us who was still at VALIANT as of the publication of the second issue of the current X-O Manowar series.

Black has been there at the end of two iterations of VALIANT...

[daniellew61]

Be Honest... who here had ever heard of Alien books before the Valiant press release?

I'm assuming few to none.

I can understand why some of you have "hope"...

But I don't see how anyone can be optimistic.

We have ahead of us, the unknown, and whoever is coming over from the remains of DMG/VEI.

So... some people who worked there as VEI failed and died on the vine (no offense), and gosh knows who else? That's not really an uplifting idea when you think about it.

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Have they thrown out the baby and kept the same old bathwater? (no offense to any bathwater that may be lurking on the forum, I'm sure you can see the merit of my point)

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

[daniellew61]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

She did the job she was told to do, and then got a great job at IDW where the Star Trek line is apparently AMAZING from what I hear of any Trekkie people I know. It doesn't feel like she was even around that long, we had so many editors.

[ManofTheAtom]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

She did the job she was told to do, and then got a great job at IDW where the Star Trek line is apparently AMAZING from what I hear of any Trekkie people I know. It doesn't feel like she was even around that long, we had so many editors.

Cool.

[ManofTheAtom]

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

[Ryan]

We will find out what is changing or not soon enough. I want to know too! I

Speaking for myself, I got hired in December 2018, as a salesperson. I did a good job, and still do a good job. If I wanted to sabotage Valiant..I probably would have hurt it most by giving up a while ago and leaving. A LOT of stuff lead us here, not just a few choices in recent years.

baby and bathwater --? Right now - I love Valiant but it's a job. Same for the ONE other person coming over. Please remember we're human beings with real lives who love comics. We worked our way around the industry to get here because we love comics SO MUCH. I did not win a lottery to get myself where I am. We are not sitting around chuckling trying to screw up comic books or something.
I always wanted Valiant to be cool despite all this drama. A lot of people LEFT or got laid off over the years. We stayed because we love Valiant and can do good things.
This is not always an easy gig.
Plenty of you met me, your stores talk to me, etc - aside from the fact I mouth off right back at some of you, I think you know I am honest and a real one.

The other thing about not ever hearing about Alien before- There are thousands, thousands, and thousands of publishers a lot of you have never heard of besides Alien Comics that exist. They're pretty new in the US, like Fresh, and Alien isn't the only publishing they've done.

OR maybe I'm lying and I am gonna ruin everything!!!!

*visceral chainsaw sounds*

I'm happy to know there are still good people at Valiant fighting the good fight.

[Chiclo]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

She did the job she was told to do, and then got a great job at IDW where the Star Trek line is apparently AMAZING from what I hear of any Trekkie people I know. It doesn't feel like she was even around that long, we had so many editors.

I don’t know if it was her or the era in which she served but it never felt like she was a good fit for Valiant. At the time, she comes on board and they start shaking things up after a pretty stagnant year with that Lion Forge guy, can’t even remember his name. It looked promising but the titles were just one bust after another, shallow stories and art that ranged from mediocre to bizarrely bad. Was this the era of the potato car? In retrospect, it feels more like she was building a resume than wanting to make Valiant comics. She was not the only one, it felt like a bunch of these folks were just jobbing it rather than making (or editing) art. IDW looks like a better fit for her. My comment was not about her personally; she was just the highest profile personality in an era of decline.

[syzhang28]

I guess I should applaud anyone who can move from a failure of a company straight into the same job at the company replacing them... but that leads me to wonder what's actually changing?

Biggest reason to be skeptical imo.

[Ryan]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

What went wrong with Antos?

She did the job she was told to do, and then got a great job at IDW where the Star Trek line is apparently AMAZING from what I hear of any Trekkie people I know. It doesn't feel like she was even around that long, we had so many editors.

I don’t know if it was her or the era in which she served but it never felt like she was a good fit for Valiant. At the time, she comes on board and they start shaking things up after a pretty stagnant year with that Lion Forge guy, can’t even remember his name. It looked promising but the titles were just one bust after another, shallow stories and art that ranged from mediocre to bizarrely bad. Was this the era of the potato car? In retrospect, it feels more like she was building a resume than wanting to make Valiant comics. She was not the only one, it felt like a bunch of these folks were just jobbing it rather than making (or editing) art. IDW looks like a better fit for her. My comment was not about her personally; she was just the highest profile personality in an era of decline.

Good points. It always seemed like an odd fit, but far from the only one. It always feels like DMG is doing the 'throwing spaghetti at the wall' style, like no one knows exactly what to do with Valiant comics. Who are these things even made for?

I'm sure most of the people who've worked there have been sincere and really tried to their best, just a lot of odd fits. At least for what we as the old fans expect Valiant comics to be (not that we all agree). However, if there's one thing that can be seen clearly from DMG's strategy, it's that pleasing the old fans is towards the bottom of the priority list.

[syzhang28]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

To be fair, he did.

And to be honest, he's a one in a million. Maybe one in a hundred million. Dinesh didn't just turn VEI into a huge success, he's since proved that he's a business and creative force with Hollywood projects like Bloodshot and The Witcher, and also Bad Idea. I think at VEI we saw the first opportunity of someone who was going to make a impact no matter what rather than someone who has an opportunity with the great Valiant characters.

To sum it up, I don't think we can point to him and suggest its possible for that to happen twice.

With Valiant in the 90's, Jim Shooter et al. caught lightning in a bottle.
With VEI, Dinesh was the lighting they caught in a bottle.

[syzhang28]

I had not heard of Alien until this announcement.

I am optimistic every time there has been a change at Valiant ever since the DMG takeover. I was excited when they brought in Heather Antos. I was excited when they replaced her. This time will be different!

Maybe this time it really will be different.

This is how my heart feels. My brain is waiting to see though. I wish them will.

I too had never heard of them.

[ManofTheAtom]

Who could have imagined that "dino" would acquire VALIANT and turn it into what VEI became?

To be fair, he did.

And to be honest, he's a one in a million. Maybe one in a hundred million. Dinesh didn't just turn VEI into a huge success, he's since proved that he's a business and creative force with Hollywood projects like Bloodshot and The Witcher, and also Bad Idea. I think at VEI we saw the first opportunity of someone who was going to make a impact no matter what rather than someone who has an opportunity with the great Valiant characters.

To sum it up, I don't think we can point to him and suggest its possible for that to happen twice.

With Valiant in the 90's, Jim Shooter et al. caught lightning in a bottle.
With VEI, Dinesh was the lighting they caught in a bottle.

Indeed.