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So back in 1987, Jim Shooter was fired from his gig as Marvel's editor-in-chief. After an unsuccessful attempt to actually buy the company, he instead decided to start his own. It launched in 1989 as Valiant Comics, with a bunch of creators he took from Marvel in tow. In addition to a large number of brand new characters, Valiant licensed (or purchased - I'll claim ignorance on the complete details) of older Gold Key characters, notably Magnus: Robot Fighter, Solar: Man of the Atom, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Yeah, that Turok. The comic wasn't as foggy. Valiant was a bit different than Marvel and DC. They tried, as much as possible (which is to say, not very) to follow real-world science. Characters were affected by friction, Newton's laws, relativity, and so on. They also tried to let the universe spread organically. They didn't just throw whatever they could at the wall to see what stuck. Pretty much everything was interconnected, but not in a way that required you to read everything. Valiant also, for better or worse, pioneered a number of innovations that spread through the Big 2 like wild fire, such as #0 issues as origin stories and chromium covers. (Okay, for worse.) Through all of this, Valiant was pretty successful, both commercially and critically (as much as Wizard counts as critic). That, of course, didn't last. Shooter was ousted in 1992 and two years later, Valiant was sold to Acclaim, the video game company. Being a video game company, they weren't so hot on making comics, but they did like the properties. Games based on Turok, Shadowman, and X-O Manowar (in a crossover with Iron Man!) were released (along with maybe some others I forgot). They're all, at best, forgettable, but they're worth noting, none the less. At around the same time, they relaunched the entire line, with new versions of the character. This eventually proved to be an unpopular move, despite having quite a bit of talent working on the books, and most of the line was had been canceled by 1999. The following year, Jim Shooter came back and wrote a big crossover that led into what he claimed was what Valiant would have been like had he never left. Nothing much happened after that and Acclaim was dead by 2004. As part of Acclaim's demise, the original Valiant and Acclaim properties were auctioned off, with the Gold Key characters reverting to current owner, Random House. After a couple reprint volumes that included some original material, the current Valiant has decided to relaunch one more time. Which brings us to today: The Summer of Valiant. As part of this relaunch, Valiant is bringing back four of their series:   X-O Manowar is the story of Aric, a Visigoth who is abducted by aliens and forced into slavery. He eventually comes into possession of one of their most powerful weapons, the X-O Manowar armor. Issues 1 and 2 written by Robert Venditti and penciled by Cary Nord are out! And they're pretty damned good so far.  Harbinger tells the story of Pete Stanchek, a psionically powered teenager on the run from some mysterious agency. Issue 1 written by Joshua Dysart and penciled Khari Evans just dropped this week. I'll say that I wasn't as high on it, but I'm definitely curious to see where it goes.  Next up is Bloodshot written by Duane Swierczynski with pencils by Manual Garcia and Arturo Lozzi. I'm not actually sure what this is entirely about. I'm a bit hesitant since it seems the most 90s of the bunch, but here's what Valiant has to say: quote:Your name is Angelo Mortalli. Your brother is trapped behind enemy lines and on the verge of — no. That’s not right. Your name is Raymond Garrison. You’ve retired from the dangers of the field, but a desperate plea from your oldest friend plunges you into a vicious firefight that — no. That’s not right, either. You are Bloodshot. You are the shade of gray that freedom requires. The perfect confluence of military necessity and cutting-edge technology. A walking WikiLeaks that is a reservoir of dirty secrets that could set the world on fire. And you’ve just been captured.  Last, but certainly not least is the book I'm looking forward to most, Archer & Armstrong. From what I recall of the original series, it was basically a buddy book about an assassin monk and his drunkard immortal friend. This book's written by Fred Van Lente with pencils by Clayton Henry. Sounds pretty promising, and is scheduled for an August release. So far, I've been pretty impressed with what they've put out, and I'm definitely looking forward to more. Anyone else checked these out?
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Jun 8, 2012 05:16
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The first Shadowman game was actually the hypest poo poo ever. I can't say I like the direction any of these relaunches are taking, but hey, more non-Marvel non-DC comics is never a bad thing, even when it's a rerun.
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Jun 8, 2012 06:35
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I'm sad they didn't get Magnus back. That was my favorite of the Valiant books. I read a lot of them since they were a dime a piece at the comic store. I liked Magnus and Rai a lot.
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Jun 8, 2012 06:58
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Jeez I am loving that Archer and Armstrong cover.
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Jun 9, 2012 00:17
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I wish Eternal Warrior was on the relaunch  Anyway, I'm looking forward to Bloodshot. Something about a nanomachine super-soldier who can "mindlock" appeals to my interests.
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Jun 9, 2012 18:44
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Mr. Maltose posted:Jeez I am loving that Archer and Armstrong cover. Tintin and the Secret of the Soup Kitchen
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Jun 9, 2012 19:10
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I just hope that this leads to Quantum and Woody coming back.
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Jun 9, 2012 19:14
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Tavarin posted:I just hope that this leads to Quantum and Woody coming back. Yes, please.
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Jun 10, 2012 19:24
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My fondest memories of OG Valiant was winning the Bloodshot chromium covered #1 issue way back in the day from my local comic book store. Of course also in that same raffle as the top prize was the platinum Spider-Man #1 which is a bit more coveted. Hopefully this will be successful for them. They had some good properties, it's just a shame it seems like half of them are now off limits.
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Jun 11, 2012 06:06
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Archer and Armstrong was awesome back in the day. I need that comic.
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Jun 12, 2012 04:47
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rotinaj posted:Archer and Armstrong was awesome back in the day. I need that comic. I got to hang out with the Valiant crew for an extended time at C2E2 and if half the poo poo they have planned pans out we are in for some awesome comics. And this week they just dropped the Ninjak teaser which will be book #6 after Eternal Warrior. There's also an unfounded rumor that Dark Hose will not be extending their Gold Key license and that while Valiant is not interested in adding them to their current publishing line it will open the door to print collections of the entire original Valiant Universe including a planned oversized Unity hardcover.
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Jun 14, 2012 09:00
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I loved Valiant in the early days, Harbinger is still one of the better books released and Solar: Man of the Atom was a great read. Archer and Armstrong was really good as well. Although my memories may be cloudy. I read Harbinger #1 and I really liked it, there feels like real emotion and the guy totally is a idiot which makes sens as he's 18 years old. Overall very enjoyable read here are some spoilers The main character straight up physically rapes a girl he was in "love" with when they were kids, incredibly screwed up plus he makes her love him. After this he's visited by another psychic who offers to train him and straight up tells him that he completely hosed up. So yeah the main character rapes a girl. Not a physically rape but he mind controls her into believing she is in love with him. So yeah, that's incredibly screwed up but also completely what a 18 year old with mind control powers who is untrained would do, it's also very disturbing. It's also kind of obvious or hinted at that He some how drove his brother insane at some point and is now taking care of him on the run from some "organization" Very dark , but hopefully will have more emotional depth and interactions. It's a good book but it's hard to sympathise for the main character when he does that but then he is taking care of his brother too so it's kind of a grey area there. Hollismason fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Jun 14, 2012 |
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Jun 14, 2012 17:15
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Wow. This brings back memories and I may have to check this out. I was working at a call center around the time that Turok came out and two of the floor supoervisors were so excited because they had put their money together and were going to buy 50 copies of the #1 issue and pretty much planned to retire on that. I also think I may have purchased Valiant Vision glasses at some point.
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Jun 15, 2012 18:29
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Lurdiak posted:The first Shadowman game was actually the hypest poo poo ever. I beat it last year, it held up pretty well! The only exposure I've had to Valiant comics was the first issue of Bloodshot that I got in a 30$ mystery box. It was pretty awful I think I'll pick up the new Bloodshot just to see what it's about!
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Jun 16, 2012 12:43
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Bonzo posted:I was working at a call center around the time that Turok came out and two of the floor supoervisors were so excited because they had put their money together and were going to buy 50 copies of the #1 issue and pretty much planned to retire on that. Oh 90s.  So how'd that plan work out for them?
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Jun 17, 2012 01:39
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I went ahead and picked up X-O 1 and 2, and Harbinger 1. Enjoyed all three but I'm concerned about X-O after the smug costume reveal at the end of issue 2... perhaps I was just having a '90s self-absorbed cartoon moment. Where he shoots the aliens and then is revealed to have the costume looks like something a 12-year-old would write and go "oh man this is cool." Still, love the books and can't wait for Archer and Armstrong. I never read the originals so it'll be entirely new to me. And is it me, or does Bloodshot seem entirely skippable?
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Jun 18, 2012 15:19
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I'm not entirely interested in Bloodshot, but I'll try the first issue or two. The premise sounds interesting, but it's definitely the book I'm least interested in.
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Jun 18, 2012 15:37
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Didn't Dark Horse just try a revival of the Valiant characters about 2-3 years ago? I remember enjoying the new takes on Solar and Turok. There was a Magnus Robot Fighter revival too but I only bought one issue and I don't remember what happens in it.
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Jun 18, 2012 23:08
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As I understand it, they had a license for the original Gold Key incarnations of the characters, but weren't really doing anything, so they hired Jim Shooter to splort out some new books. They didn't really sell. I think they wrapped up fairly recently. See, the Gold Key characters were originally licensed by Valiant so that they'd be able to have some implied history. I've never been that fond of them--except Magnus Robot Fighter. He's a dude who punches out robots, come on.
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Jun 19, 2012 01:07
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I loved the original incarnation of Valiant, and I have to admit that this relaunch has actually gotten me back into stores. I've been going on ebay and buying up a bunch of the old books that I miss reading, and I have to say that Unity was one of the best company wide crossovers ever done. I hope this new Valiant can pull off something like that.
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Jun 22, 2012 05:15
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I was in middle school when Valiant started and began collecting them around the time X-O Manowar came out. It was a weird phenomenon because at that time collectors were buying comics by the fistful and early Valiant issues became very expensive due to their rarity. Trade paperbacks hadn't become big (printing was still done manually) and digital wasn't even a thing yet so you actually had to buy the comics in order to read them. I remember Rai #4 was the most expensive comic around for a while, simply due to the fact that it had an extremely low print run (Rai wasn't a very good comic book). Anyway people started buying multiples of Valiant comics because the early issues were so sought-after (Rai #4 = $500 therefore Bloodshot #0 = $5000, right?) and the comics themselves never really warranted that kind of popularity. I swear if they had just chugged along without the hype and kept producing a small number of quality comics, Valiant would have survived the crash and produced massive, elaborate, well-planned storylines like Unity. They would have been magnificent. But no, instead we got Bloodshot and Hard C.O.R.P.S. and Ninjak as they rapidly expanded their line to cash in on the stupidity of collectors by producing as many #1 or #0 issues as possible. These new Valiant comics seem pretty cool, though. It sucks that they can't bring back Solar because he was always the coolest part of their universe.
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Jun 22, 2012 12:09
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I remember picking up the Alpha and Omega TPB back in 1994 because it came with a full sized poster of the giant panel formed (that and I wasn't about to drop the kind of money dealers wanted for the early issues) Solar was great until Acclaim took over, then it became super cheesy. I picked up a few of the later issues out of the quarter bin a while back and couldn't believe how awful most of the lines got in the end.
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Jun 22, 2012 14:50
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So who's got the Turok license now? Has it reverted back to Valiant? I'm really looking forward to a Turok relaunch.
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Jun 22, 2012 22:02
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Benny the Snake posted:I wish Eternal Warrior was on the relaunch Apparently Lee Bermejo did character designs for Eternal Soldier and he supposedly showed up in X-O Manowar #1, so you may not be lamenting too long. I can't think of a better writer for Archer & Armstrong than Fred Van Lente, and Duane Swierczynski is a pretty good fit for Bloodshot, too. I know some folks weren't too hot on his Marvel work but that description reads a lot closer to his (pretty consistently awesome) novels.
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Jun 23, 2012 05:53
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Benny the Snake posted:So who's got the Turok license now? Has it reverted back to Valiant? I'm really looking forward to a Turok relaunch. Dark Horse holds it until the end of this year but Valiant has already stated they are not interested in licensing properties this time around.
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Jun 28, 2012 06:37
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Tavarin posted:I just hope that this leads to Quantum and Woody coming back. Thirding this. Holy poo poo was I happy when I finally tracked down the last issues I was missing from the entire run. (And some Ebay person I bought a bunch from threw in a Christopher Priest-signed black and white proof copy of #1, hooray.) At the very least I want them to publish the "missing" issues -- you know, they got cancelled once, and then when they started printing again they released an issue that was eight or nine ahead of where they'd been at cancellation time? Then they went back to fill in the gap, but never made it before they got cancelled again.
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Jun 29, 2012 04:20
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Weatherman posted:Thirding this. Holy poo poo was I happy when I finally tracked down the last issues I was missing from the entire run. (And some Ebay person I bought a bunch from threw in a Christopher Priest-signed black and white proof copy of #1, hooray.) I doubt we'll ever get that version of Q&W because it was so closely tied into the Acclaim comics at the time. If and when we do see a return it will undoubtedly be a total relaunch. I know ten years ago Priest wanted to go back to them but who knows what he would want to do now.
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Jun 29, 2012 04:29
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Rhyno posted:Dark Horse holds it until the end of this year but Valiant has already stated they are not interested in licensing properties this time around.
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Jun 29, 2012 18:17
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bad day posted:I was in middle school when Valiant started and began collecting them around the time X-O Manowar came out. It was a weird phenomenon because at that time collectors were buying comics by the fistful and early Valiant issues became very expensive due to their rarity. Trade paperbacks hadn't become big (printing was still done manually) and digital wasn't even a thing yet so you actually had to buy the comics in order to read them. I remember Rai #4 was the most expensive comic around for a while, simply due to the fact that it had an extremely low print run (Rai wasn't a very good comic book). To this day I still have a few boxes of his filled with nothing but early issues of XO, Turok, Rai, Bloodshot and a lot of early stuff from Image.
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Jun 29, 2012 18:46
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ShimSham posted:To this day I still have a few boxes of his filled with nothing but early issues of XO, Turok, Rai, Bloodshot and a lot of early stuff from Image. The funny thing is by the time Turok and Bloodshot came out the print runs were already so high there was no chance whatsoever said comics would ever accrue value. While the early Valiants were definitely overpriced, they were also genuinely rare and still command a decent price today because of it. If you wanted to make money off of comics in the early 90's, the best thing to do would have been buying massive amounts of late run Transformers and GI Joe comics, because both series had astoundingly low print runs leading up to their cancellation. To this day the most expensive Marvel Transformers comic is the last issue.
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Jul 1, 2012 07:11
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man I had that last issue. Issue 80 of a 4 issue limited series. No clue what happened to it over the years, but I was completely lost with what was going on at the end of the run.
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Jul 1, 2012 18:31
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mints posted:man I had that last issue. Issue 80 of a 4 issue limited series. No clue what happened to it over the years, but I was completely lost with what was going on at the end of the run.
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Jul 1, 2012 19:53
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Man, I am gonna buy the poo poo out of these books. I was a pretty huge Valiant fan back in the day. I had the full runs of Solar, X-O, Magnus, Ninjak, Archer & Armstrong, Eternal Warriors, and Harbringer. The other titles I didn't care that much for, but I'll definitely check out the Bloodshot revival too. I hope they bring Ninjak back eventually. I don't care which version either, I liked both the Valiant and Acclaim versions.
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Jul 1, 2012 20:56
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bad day posted:If you wanted to make money off of comics in the early 90's, the best thing to do would have been buying massive amounts of late run Transformers and GI Joe comics, because both series had astoundingly low print runs leading up to their cancellation. To this day the most expensive Marvel Transformers comic is the last issue. ShimSham fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Jul 1, 2012 |
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Jul 1, 2012 21:29
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Deadpool posted:Man, I am gonna buy the poo poo out of these books. I was a pretty huge Valiant fan back in the day. I had the full runs of Solar, X-O, Magnus, Ninjak, Archer & Armstrong, Eternal Warriors, and Harbringer. The other titles I didn't care that much for, but I'll definitely check out the Bloodshot revival too. I hope they bring Ninjak back eventually. I don't care which version either, I liked both the Valiant and Acclaim versions. Ninjak will be back in X-O Manowar #5: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/ninjak-returns-valiant-interview.html
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Jul 2, 2012 17:03
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palin99999 posted:Ninjak will be back in X-O Manowar #5: This is the best news. And it's the Colin King version, awesome. I liked both, but I enjoyed the Colin King version much more.
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Jul 2, 2012 20:19
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Preview of X-O Manowar #3 http://www.comicvine.com/news/exclusive-preview-x-o-manowar-3/144920/
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Jul 10, 2012 04:12
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Tomorrow Bloodshot comes out. I'm really looking forward to this re-release as it's the only one I'm familiar with that's being released. I wonder if he'll retain his mindlock ability.
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Jul 11, 2012 06:14
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I wasn't too impressed with Bloodshot. I'll give it another issue, but nothing about it really interested me too much.
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Jul 14, 2012 03:42
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dead post
Benny the Snake fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jul 15, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 04:33
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