Written by sean
Posted on January 23, 2012
Aric, Visigoth Metal Superstar
By Popular demand, the X-O theme music is available for download here in all of it’s high file quality glory:
MP3 file: Episode 65 intro – X-O Manowar Metal
(right click/save as to save the file)
This is the opening music from Episode 65, X-O Manowar’s greatest hits.
Written by sean
Posted on December 8, 2011
Valiant Comics FCBD 2012 Cover
The news we’ve been patiently waiting for is here.
Valiant Comics will return in 2012 on Free Comic Book Day
For those of you marking your calendars now, Free Comic Book Day is May 5, 2012. My calendar is marked.
Looks like the FCBD issue will be a sort of preview book, with info about characters, creators, and such. It seems that it will definitely include X-O Manowar (obviously), Harbinger, and Bloodshot.
The cover to this Free Comic Book Day issue is by Jelena Kevic-Djurjevic. The redesigned X-O Manowar looks pretty sweet!
It also looks new issues of comics featuring these characters will be hitting the store shelves around the same time. May is looking to be a very good month indeed.
Dude! X-O Manowar is holding a sword made out of lightning!
Here’s a nice long quote of quotables and information:
“This has been an event a decade in the making, and we’re approaching this with dedication, passion and a commitment to excellence,” said Executive Editor Warren Simons. “We’ve lined up some colossally talented colleagues – both new and old friends alike – and if you have a love for great comics and innovative stories, we’ve got some great stuff in store for you.”
Featuring a cover of the brand new X-O Manowar by superstar artist Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic, this sneak peek into Valiant’s extraordinary first year comes packed with never-before-seen stories, character redesigns, and interviews with Valiant’s team of visionary creators.
“We couldn’t be happier to be partnering with comics retailers, Diamond and ComicsPro for Free Comic Book Day 2012, the most exciting day in comics,” said Publisher Fred Pierce. “In 2012, fans and retailers can expect some of the best books in all of comics to be shipping monthly from Valiant.”
Valiant’s Free Comic Book Day special edition is just the first title that the publisher has lined up for the month of May. Look for announcements regarding the full array of new titles, creative teams, and shipping dates to be released in the New Year.
“Free Comic Book Day is just the beginning,” said Valiant Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani. “For anyone who loves comics and top-notch storytelling, the return of the Valiant Universe will be an event not to be missed.”
Valiant Entertainment is a character-based publishing and licensing company that owns and controls some of the most cherished comic characters ever created across all media worldwide. Since their creation in 1989, Valiant characters have sold 80 million comic books and have been the basis of a number of successful video game franchises. Valiant’s extensive library includes over 1,500 characters, such as X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Harbinger, Shadowman, and Ninjak. Visit:
Written by sean
Posted on September 26, 2011
I’ve been noticing something in a lot of comics, and it has really become prominent in my mind as I have been reading the new DC Comics that have started coming out this month. These comics are horribly decompressed, to the point of not really contain enough story to justify purchasing them.
So far, I’ve received the first 27 of those 52 books. Some I really enjoyed (Action Comics, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Stormwatch, Batwoman), others I didn’t like very much. I didn’t expect to like them all, so I’m not too disappointed.
I have been disappointed that almost every book has been a very quick read. There isn’t a lot of story contained in each issue.
The first title that DC relaunched was Justice League. After reading some previews, and on a hunch, I started a stopwatch when I sat down to read it. It is 24 pages long, cost $3.99 cover price, and it took a little over 8 minutes to read.
That’s fifty cents a minute.
There has been a trend in comics, developing over the last 10 to 12 years, to decompress the comics. This means stories are spread out over several issues, rather than packed into one issue. While this has led to some improvements in storytelling, allowing comics to be more cinematic, and use storytelling with nuance and more emotional impact, it has also resulted in less amount of story in each comic.
Most of these new DC Comics are heavily decompressed. In a lot of the comics, not much happens in the first issue. After I finish reading most of these comics, even many of the issues I really enjoyed, I feel like I haven’t really gotten my money’s worth in terms of the amount of storytelling included.
I have noticed that a lot of the attitude towards decompressed storytelling is a reluctant acceptance. It is considered “just the way it is”, or the price to pay for better quality comics.
I’m not convinced, so I recompressed Justice League #1.
I edited the entire comic, moved some panels, removed other panels, moved word balloons, etc., to see if the story that was told in 24 pages could have been effectively told in fewer pages.
Every word balloon in the original comic is included in this (except for one, can you figure out which?), and I tried to be respectful of things like splash pages, and other story beats. I did overlay some panels over existing splash pages, since I don’t think that two splash pages, and one double-page splash are necessary for quality storytelling. Also, the last three pages are unchanged, because I couldn’t find a good way to edit the three pages down to two, and maintain the cool final splash page of Superman.
It is a little rough in places, since these panels were not drawn to fit on the page in the size, order, and placement that I put them, this was meant to illustrate a point, not be a final product.
As it is, my edited version of Justice League is 16 pages, compared to the published version which is 24 pages.
This is an experiment, to see what people think. Please let me know, do you think the edited pages convey the story as well as the original?
I think that they do, and I think that we could have had an additional 8 pages of Superman squaring off against Batman included in this comic.
I might be wrong though, and my tastes may just be different, and I very well may have butchered this thing to the point of neutering the quality of the original. This is, after all just an experiment.
I’m not gonna display the whole darn comic on this site, here are a couple pages as an example.
First, the original four pages of comic are from the middle of the story, and introduce the character of Vic Stone. These are the original pages, unedited, as they appear in Justice League #1
ORIGINAL PAGES:
Justice League #1, page 18, as originally published
Justice League #1, page 19, as originally published
Justice League #1, page 20, as originally published
Justice League #1, page 21, as originally published
Now, the edited version. I edited the above sequence down to 2 pages.
EDITED PAGES:
Justice League #1, page 12 in the compressed, edited version
Justice League #1, page 13 in the compressed, edited version
What do you think? Does the storytelling hold up in the edited version? Does it lose anything in the edited version? If it loses something, are you willing to lose that to gain an additional 8 pages of story in this comic?
Here’s the whole thing. All 16 pages of Justice League #1, edited down from the 24 published pages seen if you bought the comic off the rack.
Now, PLEASE, before you check this out, GO BUY THE ORIGINAL. This comic has been wildly successful, and DC quickly printed 2nd and 3rd prints when the comic immediately sold out. You should be able to get this book at your local comic book retailer, or you can buy a digital copy and read it on your computer.
This is a cool issue, and Jim Lee’s art is amazing. In fact, the most difficult thing about this project was removing the awesome Jim Lee art. I’ve been a fan of Jim Lee since I bought my first X-Men comic (Uncanny X-Men 274) back when I was 12.
The reason I took the time to do this is that I like the DC Comics characters, and I will continue to buy DC comics, as long as I feel like I am getting a good value. I haven’t felt that way about most of these, and this experiment is meant to demonstrate why.
So please, buy the comic! This edit isn’t meant to replace the original, only as a means of demonstrating an opinion, based on having read the original.
Now, here’s the complete edited version.
Check it out while it’s hot, before I have to take it down or something.
Written by sean
Posted on September 14, 2011
Chiclo, Why are you so happy? (Click to find out the answer!)
Why is Chiclo so happy?
What did he find on a recent adventure?
Click on the picture to find out, or just click here.
Written by sean
Posted on July 19, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011, the day before Comic-Con begins
San Diego is calm, there are no folks in costumes, no bombardment of lights and sounds, no horrendously long lines (though there is already one short line, and I’ll get to that).
After checking in to my hotel, I walked down to the convention center for a look around. There isn’t much top see, yet, but here’s what is there.
I don’t remember if it started last year or the year before (or was it even before that), but there is a new tradition of wrapping the hotels next to the convention center in a gigantic advertisement. This year, The Marriott is wrapped with Immortals, with Batman: Arkham City going up on the other side of that same tower.
Immortals on the Marriott
The Hilton got Cowboys & Aliens, a giant advertisement for the world premiere of the movie, which is happening in San Diego, this Saturday during Comic-Con.
Cowboys & Aliens advertisement on the Hilton
Across the street from the Hilton, the ballpark is getting a giant Arkham City ad put up as I was walking by.
The gaslamp isn’t the insane maelstrom of people that it will be by tomorrow evening, but the Hard Rock building is already sporting its ads for the Amazing Spider-Man movie, coming out next year (seems a bit soon for ads to me).
The Amazing Spider-Man advertisement on the Hard Rock
There is already a line for Hall H. I talked to the lovely ladies who are first in line, they have been in the line since Monday around noon. They are waiting for the Twilight panel, which is the very first panel on Thursday morning. They were excited, and were having lots of fun being there. The line they formed was an unofficial line, and while I was talking to them, one of the event organizers came by to tell them that they would be opening up the official line in one hour. They were thrilled.
Line for Hall H at San Diego Comic Con as of mid-day Tuesday before the show
Batman: Arkham City is all over the trolley car train, they seem to be pushing this game like nobody’s business. I sure hope it is better than Arkham Asylum…
Batman Arkham City Advertisement on the Trolley Car
Written by sean
Posted on June 2, 2011
Valiant Entertainment got a whole bunch of money, and a whole bunch of new management, and announced plans to roll out new comics in 2012.
Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Marvel, has joined Valaint Entertainment as the Chairman of the company, and this comes along with an investment by Cuneo & Co., to give them working capital to produce new books in 2012.
They are planning to stick with the core characters, X-O, Harbinger, Bloodshot, Ninjak, etc., from what it sounds like.
Read the news on the major news sites:
Written by sean
Posted on July 19, 2010
A few of the creators working on the new Gold Key character books from Dark Horse will be at San Diego Comic-Con, here’s the complete info.
Dennis did the art for the Doctor Solar portion of Free Comic Book Day Magnus/Doctor Solar, as well as Doctor Solar 1 and 2. I’m not sure yet if he will be returning after issue 3, but I will certainly be asking him.
Dennis will be in Artist Alley booth FF-05. He is also scheduled to be signing at the Dark Horse Comics booth (#2615) on Thursday from 4-5pm.
Roger is drawing the upcoming third issue of Doctor Solar. I’ll be stopping by his booth to get his take on the character, and see if I can find out what is in store for upcoming issues.
Roger will be in Artist Alley booth DD-20
Raymond has been painting the incredible covers for Magnus, Robot Fighter, and Turok, Son of Stone. He also did the cover art for the Free Comic Book Day Magnus/Doctor Solar issue.
Raymond doesn’t have a booth, but is scheduled to sign at the Dark Horse Comics booth (#2615) Friday from 4-5pm. He will also appear at the Heavy Metal Magazine booth (#1629) and the Wizards of the Coast, Magic the Gathering booth (#1128/1130/1132) at times during the weekend.
Looks like Jim Shooter won’t be making it to San Diego Comic-Con.
Also, Bill Reinhold, the artist for the new Magnus, Robot Fighter series isn’t going to make it this year.
That’s too bad, I was hoping to get the Free Comic Book Day Magnus/Doctor Solar issue signed by all 4 creators. Maybe at another con.
Bernard Chang and Sean Chen will be in their BLVD Studios booth (#1223). Both were great Valiant artists, Sean Chen is well known for his work on Rai and the Future Force, Bernard Chang is well known for his work on Dr. Mirage. They will also have Bill Sienkiewicz and David LaFuente at their BLVD Studios booth. Stop by annd say hi!
Bob Layton will be at the convention, though I don’t know when his scheduled appearances and signings are. He does not have an artist alley booth this year.
Only The Valiant will be recording LIVE from the convention floor, startign Friday at 2:30pm. Check out the recording schedule and map posting for more information.
Any other creators that we missed? Leave a comment and let us know.
Written by sean
Posted on July 16, 2010
Double Doctor Solar, all the way!
If you don’t know what this is a parody of, shame on you! (and click here)
Written by sean
Posted on July 15, 2010
Are you coming to San Diego Comic-Con? We’d love to meet you and join us as we record from the convention floor.
We will be recording at 2:30 pm Friday from the convention floor. We will be right here:
2:30pm Friday in the Lounge. Meet us there!
We would love to meet people we haven’t met yet, and see those of you we already know. We will be sharing our thoughts about the show, and we’d love to here your thoughts too!
Also, we will be going to the Tilted Kilt Wednesday after Preview Night, just a few blocks from the convention hall. Join us for a beer and talk comics!
Written by sean
Posted on July 14, 2010
Dark Horse Comics have released their solicitations for comics sold in October. We’ll be getting new issues of Doctor Solar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, and Turok, Son of Stone, all written by Jim Shooter.
Here’s the solicitations, click on the images for larger images of the covers.
Doctor Solar 3, Michael Komarck Cover (click for a larger image)
DOCTOR SOLAR #3
Jim Shooter (W), Roger Robinson (A), and Michael Komarck (Cover)
On sale Oct 6
FC, 40 pages
$3.50
Ongoing
The dark god Moloch the Devourer pits his demonic hellfire against the thermonuclear fury of Doctor Solar. Whitmore Pickerel, whose power to bring his imagination into existence unleashed the Devourer, conjures the mighty sun-god Surya for protection. But instead, Surya bows before Moloch, and the Man of the Atom faces cosmic-scale war on a second front. With the power of Solar pitted against the god of the sun, can the planet survive?
Sean’s comment: Looks like Dennis Calero is off the book for this issue. I wonder if this is a permanent change?
Magnus Robot Fighter 3 Comics Raymond Swanland cover (clikc to enlarge)
MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER #3
Jim Shooter (W), Bill Reinhold (A), Wes Dzioba (C), and Raymond Swanland (Cover)
On sale Oct 27
FC, 40 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
In the year 4000, savage illegal prizefights operate in the shadows of the milespires. In one corner, the deadly, gen-enhanced number-one contender—Hyppolyta. In the other corner, the remorseless robotic champion—Steelhammer, who has annihilated every opponent he has faced, man or machine. Drawn unwillingly into the ring to save a life, Magnus must battle them both—steel-smashing man against super-woman, robot fighter vs. robot fighter—to the death.
Sean’s Comment: This should be a smash-a-riffic, action packed, high entertaimo issue.
Turok, Son of Stone 1, Raymond Swanland cover (click to enlarge)
TUROK, SON OF STONE #1
Turok returns! All-new series written by Jim Shooter!
Jim Shooter (W), Eduardo Francisco (A), TBD (C), and Raymond Swanland (Cover)
On sale Oct 20
FC, 48 pages
$3.50
Ongoing
Turok, wandering warrior from a far land, rescues Andar, son of a Chiricahua chief, from the ruthless King Maxtla and his Aztec horde. Pursued into a vast cavern, prey and predators are swept away by an unimaginable force to a savage, timeless land of nightmares and miracles, where dinosaurs thunder and rampage. Beset by bloodthirsty enemies and beasts, Turok and Andar encounter an even deadlier threat—the fearsome Panther People and their mesmerizing goddess, Aasta.
Turok, Son of Stone returns, reimagined by legendary writer Jim Shooter and illustrated by hot new talent Eduardo Francisco (Victory, Executive Assistant: IRIS).
Sean’s Comment: This should be a cool take on things. At least the Lost Land will be back. And dinosaurs. It’s not Turok without dinosaurs.
Written by sean
Posted on July 9, 2010
Turok, Son of Stone will be launched by Dark Horse Comics in October. The title will be written by Jim Shooter, like all the Gold Key character relaunch titles, and the art will be by Eduardo Francisco, who recently has been working on Mass Effect: Incursion.
The first issue will be available October 13.
Check out this Comic Book Resources article for a look at the cover art by Raymond Swanland. It looks fantastic!
Written by sean
Posted on July 1, 2010
Jim Shooter did a couple of interviews with Newsarama about the coming launch of Gold Key characters at Dark Horse. Interesting, informative stuff as usual.
There are two separate interviews, they can be found here:
In the interview discussing Magnus Robot Fighter, he also talks about Turok and Mighty Samson, coming soon from Dark Horse, though he doesn’t mention a release date.
Just a heads up, in case you missed these.
Written by sean
Posted on June 16, 2010
There is a great article over at Comic Book Resources, with Jim Shooter discussing Script Writing. He talks about different types of scripts, the challenges of each style, and uses his script for the forthcoming Doctor Solar #1 as an example.
Some of the things in the article remind me of a presentation he gave on visual storytelling at New York Comic Con last year. Very cool stuff.
Go check out the article!
Written by sean
Posted on April 3, 2010
The new Doctor Solar ongoing series will debut in July, as was announced at Wondercon this weekend.
The new series will be penciled by Dennis Calero and written by Jim Shooter.
I asked the folks at the Dark Horse booth about the relaunch of the Gold Key character books, and they said that a new Magnus ongoing series will debut in August, and that there are also plans to launch a new Turok ongoing series this summer as well, though they didn’t mention a month.
Though they have mentioned plans to launch Turok, this is, that fact that they intend to launch the new series this summer has not been announced yet. Convention scoop!
Note that this was mentioned from the Dark Horse folks working at the booth, and is not an official announcement.
Jim Shooter will also be writing the new Magnus series. I don’t know at this time who the artist will be in the ongoing Magnus series.
Written by sean
Posted on February 20, 2010
The Only The Valiant guys are gonna discuss the Malev War, the epic storyline of man versus sentient robot invaders. Recording will take place during the week of Feb 22 to 26. We would love to have your input.
The Malev war is the long, overarching story that runs in Magnus 21 to 37, and in Rai and the Future Force 9 through 22.
Send in your thoughts to us by email: onlythevaliant at gmail dot com, or call our voicemail number: (270) 8-NINJAK.
Any questions and or comments are welcome!
Written by sean
Posted on February 3, 2010
Break out your Rai and Magnus comics, because we’ll be talking about the Malev War in an upcoming episode, and we want to hear your thoughts.
Send us an email, onlythevaliant -at- gmail -dot- com, or leave us a voicemail at 270-8-NINJAK to give us your thoughts. We’ll be recording around early to mid-February, so leave us a message soon!
Do you have questions about the story? Certain things you would like to us to discuss? Let us know how you think this story holds up!
The Malev War runs in Rai and the Future Force 9 through 22, and Magnus, Robot Fighter 21 through 37.
Written by sean
Posted on January 15, 2010
Bill Jemas, former publisher at Marvel Comics, is now involved with Valiant Entertainment.
Rich Johnston at bleeding cool made the announcement of Jemas’s involvement. The announcement itself doesn’t say much about the capacity of his involvement, so that is still up for speculation. Whether he is an employee, a shareholder, an adviser, or any other capacity is not publicly known.
Jemas is known for being the publisher at Marvel Comics in 2000, the year that turned around Marvel from the brink of bankruptcy to the publishing success it is now. The big projects that were started during his tenure were Marvel Knights and the Ultimate Universe, both were very popular and successful.
He seems like the kind of guy that is willing to take risks and try different stuff, which is probably a good thing for Valiant.
Written by sean
Posted on October 30, 2009
Philosoraptor stopped by the Only The Valiant office with some thought provoking questions. Apparently, the mysteries of the Valiant Universe are deep and wide, and cause the eponymous Philosoraptor to think!
Philosoraptor points out a flaw in our beloved character
Philosoraptor ponders the mystery of Mothergod
If you want to make your own, here is the blank! If you make them, post them up or email them to us and I’ll add them to the thread.
Philosoraptor blank
Written by sean
Posted on October 26, 2009
Comic book Podcasters around the globe are talking about horror in comics this week!
Check out the list of Podcasts discussing horror in comics this week. It is a great time to check out another podcast.
Of course, Only The Valiant will have our own horror comic discussion coming out this week too!
Written by sean
Posted on October 7, 2009
I did a little leg work and ordered a copy of the complaint against Jim Shooter (thank you eLaw.com). I’ve got a copy of the lawsuit document that VE filed to sue Jim Shooter.
Essentially, the following seems to be the major scope:
Jim Shooter was EiC! This was every Valiant fan’s dream come true, new Valiant stories under the direction of Big Jim himself.
It looks like Jim Shooter will have to file a document in response to this one, I’ll be working to get that when it is filed as well.
You can read the actual document filed with the New York County Clerk here:
VALIANT complaint against SHOOTER (pdf)
I got this document from a public source by my own means, and don’t mind sharing it here on this site. Permission is NOT given to copy the file and distribute it elsewhere. Please do not copy the file and post it elsewhere.
Written by sean
Posted on October 6, 2009
I previously posted about the lawsuit that Valiant Entertainment filed against Jim Shooter.
After hearing about the lawsuit, I sent out some requests for comment from a few of the parties involved.
Valiant Entertainment’s response was simple:
“Valiant Entertainment was unable to comment.
I also contacted Dark Horse Comics to see if they had any response or comment at this time, and they had a similarly simple response:
“We have No Comment at this time.
I’m going to try to contact Jim Shooter when I get home from work today. Perhaps I can get a trifecta of “No Comments”.
Also, I ordered a copy of the complaint filed with the New York County Clerk today, I hope that it will show up some time tomorrow. Expect some comments and information about the lawsuit after that arrives in my inbox.
Written by sean
Posted on
Last weekend I found out that Valiant Entertainment is suing Jim Shooter.
Jim has been working for Valiant Entertainment (VE) since late 2008 in some capacity. It has been full time work, as far as I understand. The news that Jim Shooter was going to go work for Dark Horse comics on Magnus, Turok and Doctor Solar comics was a bit of a blow to VE. I’m sure it was news to them when that was announced at SDCC this year.
Anyhow, VE has filed suit against Shooter. The text of the lawsuit isn’t available publically yet, so everything I have heard is hearsay through JayJay Jackson and another friend of Jim’s have shared some information.
The suit apparently is based around violation of a non-compete clause, and that Jim Shooter damaged VE’s attempts to license the Gold Key characters themselves (which they obviously wanted for themselves).
The lawsuit can be seen to be filed here:
Bleeding cool is the only major site that is running any news about this.
More information will be here as it becomes available.
Written by Chiclo
Posted on October 2, 2009
Every so often there’s a comic book that comes out that makes headlines in mainstream news. The Death of Superman is probably the best known of these comics. A more recent one was Captain America #25. The most recent was Archie #600 – where Archie marries Veronica.
Now, I am not an Archie collector. I have gone so far as to jokingly call an adult Archie collector a pervert. That being said, when I was nine or so years old, I was all about Archie comics. I had lots and lots of Archies that I had managed to find any and everywhere – it seemed like people just didn’t want them and I didn’t understand why. I was an obsessive collector as a child (and I suppose I still am to some degree or another). Just as I had sold my Dino Riders or Ninja Turtles to get Archie comics, I sold my Archies when I got into Marvel. Today, in my near fifty boxes of comics, I may have as many as ten Archie comics. Not ten boxes, just ten comics. I got these in large purchases from other collectors or from on eBay. I don’t shun them, but by the same token, I don’t seek them out. For two years, though, any recreational reading I did centered around the Riverdale gang. Jughead was my hero and Reggie was history’s greatest monster.
As I grew up and became something loathsome and odious – a teenager – my interest in comics waned considerably but never died completely. I still made it to the comic book store, the same one I still go to today, about three or four times a year and would pick up a handful of Marvel comics but I had firmly consigned Archie to the dustbin of my own history. Early in my twenties, the visits to the comic book store became a little more frequent and eventually a weekly affair. My comics horizons expanded greatly beyond Marvel. I started picking up backissues of DC and Dark Horse characters that I liked and then I discovered Valiant, Malibu and the dead universes. Still, I shunned Archie comics. I take that back – I didn’t even think about Archie. The thought simply never entered my head. Late last year, I started working in a strip mall, some four doors down from Hastings, a regional chain of book and movie stores that carries comics. I started dropping by Hastings on my lunch break and reading comics and within the first few days had read all the comics that interested me (slim pickings). And then I picked up a current issue of Betty. Still didn’t buy it. I felt like I was lowering my standards to stave off boredom. I didn’t get sucked in to Riverdale like I did 20 years ago, but I was inundated with nostalgia. I remembered all the characters like it was yesterday which I am sad to say is more than I could say for my 10 year high school reunion. I would read a couple of Archie comics a week this way. I fished Archie 500 out of a quarter bin at a convention, excusing myself to my bemused wife that I was thinking about putting together a set of all the #500 issues. About 2 months later, I saw in an issue of Comic Shop News that Archie was marrying Veronica.
I don’t remember the last time I had read anything about Archie comics outside of an article about comic books. The Internet – at least the corners of the Internet that I visit – was talking about Archie comics. I was shamed by my refreshed and recent knowledge of Archie on an [adult swim] board. That month’s Previews magazine came out and Archie was on the back cover. Previews Day is a happy day in my house. The wife and I pour over Previews separately, together and then yet again to make our order. Both embarrassed, we admitted that we both wanted to order Archie 600 and for the first time for either of us, we pre-ordered an Archie comic. Furthermore, we decided to order all 6 parts of the story, across 6 months. I hadn’t given any more thought to Archie after that until the next Previews came out and not only did we order Archie 601, we decided to order a Betty and Veronica Double Digest where Betty and Veronica visit the Cadillac Ranch while traveling Route 66 – a landmark just outside of Amarillo. For those of you that don’t know, the Cadillac Ranch is a collection of 11 Cadillacs from the ’50s and ’60s half-buried snout first into a field. This artistic display is several hundred feet off of I-40 about 3 miles west of town. It is one of two tourist landmarks that Amarillo is known for – the other being the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the 72 oz. Steak “if you eat it in an hour, it’s free!” (I did it in 57 minutes at the age of 15). The most amazing thing about the Cadillac Ranch is that there are always people there – any time of day or night, any day of the week in any weather. Usually it’s just one or two cars, but they are always there. I worked about 2 miles away from the Cadillac ranch and often had to give out-of-towners directions there, one time in French, so help me.
Anyway, the day that Archie 600 came out was like many other Wednesdays. I went to the comic book store and stood around for 2 hours or more, chatting with the guy that runs the register and other customers that came in. I was there for about half an hour when an old woman came in and asked for Archie. An hour later, another old woman came in and bought the last three copies they had. She explained “for when they are worth something some day”. First of all, I doubt highly that Archie 600 will ever be worth more than $5 and really doubt it will go over the $2.50 cover price. The print run on this comic must be huge, especially for something outside of the Big 4. Neither of these women had been to a comic book store probably ever and they were buying comics. These were not the kinds of women that would have bought Death of Superman or Death of Captain America. At least one of them was buying comics for the wrong reason, but they were buying comics. There was even a thread about the comic on a message board I frequent dedicated to firearms!
***SPOILER ALERT – If you are still reading, that is.***
So… Archie 600. Interesting premise. Archie was wandering around Riverdale the night he graduates from high school and comes across Memory Lane, an actual street. Down Memory Lane, there are comic book stores and candy and ice cream shoppes and other places that he remarks are from his childhood but he decides to go up Memory Lane, a dirt road that goes into a wooded area and forks. As he wanders “up Memory Lane”, he sees what happens after he graduates college, tracking Veronica down and proposing to her. Betty and Jughead are standing outside the jewelery store and Betty sees the proposal and is crushed. Issues 601 and 602 have been published at the time of this writing. Most of issue 601 deals with wedding preparation and Veronica asking Betty to be her Maid of Honor. Issue 602 shows the wedding itself and how Archie and Veronica are doing shortly thereafter.
***END SPOILERS***
Very few people admit to having read Archie comics but most people at least know about Archie, Veronica and Betty. Archie has been around since 1941. He’s got a publication history that rivals any superhero currently running – Batman, Superman, the Spectre or even the Green Lama. Archie Comics currently holds less than 5% of the market share of comics, but they have survived for 70 years and will probably survive 70 more putting out many titles – enough to sustain separate Betty, Veronica, and Betty and Veronica comics (which have become to varying degrees particularly preachy about environmentalism) alongside digests and double digests. Strangely, the titles focusing on a male lead other than Archie don’t last very long – way back when there was a Jughead title where he assembled a team of environmentally conscious teens who… fought illiteracy? I don’t remember exactly what happened in that particular title I read some 20 years ago. Jughead, Reggie and Dilton have all had short lived titles but they don’t last very long. The Archie Comics company has at various times branched out into other genres – westerns and at least twice has established superhero stables. The first superhero comic I ever bought was the Mighty Mutanimals, a spin off of their licensed Ninja Turtles books. Even today, Archie puts out a long-lived Sonic the Hedgehog licensed title that recently spun off a second title, the name of which currently escapes me.
Several of the Archie characters are nothing short of iconic – not only Archie, Betty and Veronica but Jughead and to a lesser extent, Reggie. I would not be surprised to learn that Betty and Veronica were the forerunners to Ginger and Maryanne. Betty and Veronica represent two very different types of all-American girls (without being sex objects) and Archie could never choose between them – a quandary that resonates with young men around the country who would love to have problems like that. I would go so far as to argue that Archie has adapted better to the changing eras better than Superman. If nothing else, Archie has always remained topical and current. The only way I can solidly make the same claim for Superman is that he no longer changes in now anachronistic phone booths.
Archie’s influence in the market is often overlooked and unfairly played down. I know I don’t think of Archie when I am thinking about Golden Age or pre-WWII characters that are still in publication. Another interesting tidbit – of all the big publishers, Archie and DC are the only two left that support and submit their comics to the Comics Code Authority, a board that at one time was very influential in the comic book industry, acting as a de facto censor. I have heard excellent arguments that the CCA is an artifact of another time, but certainly the guidelines set up (and several times amended to reflect the times) by the CCA would be excellent guidelines for a revived attempt to get younger children – 6 to 10 year olds – reading age-appropriate comics again, certainly an excellent step to preserve the comic book industry. Archie could potentially be a lynchpin in that attempt, and without such efforts on behalf of the publishers, they may doom their industry in the coming decades.
Written by sean
Posted on September 17, 2009
A month or so ago, I wrote about a book that had been solicited from Image Comics, The Timeless Adventures of the Eternal Warrior. The title of this book is clearly in conflict with the Eternal Warrior trademark registered to Valiant Entertainment. After this was solicited, there was some speculation amongst Valiant fans that noticed this solicitation.
If this book were to be published, it would be quite a problem for Valiant Entertainment, showing that others are infringing on their protected trademarks, without them doing anything to counter that. Since some people have non-valiantly speculated that Valiant Entertainment is a dead company (because they have been very quiet), they thought that this might not be addressed by them.
It turns out that Image Comics has changed the title of the book to The Eternal Conflicts of the Cosmic Warrior. I wasn’t able to find any information about why this was changed, but it makes sense that it was changed because it was brought to their attention that this title is a trademark infringement.
I’m pretty sure that the use of this title was unintentional, and in fact, I ordered this book to check it out. Maybe the use of the title was good, because it drew some extra attention to the book!
Interesting stuff!
Written by sean
Posted on September 1, 2009
Only The Valiant has been entered in a WordPress design contest over on FresheVenture.com. If you have enjoyed our podcast or our website, please take a moment to vote for the website!
CLICK HERE to vote, then scroll down the page till you see OnlyTheValiant, check the button right next to it, and click on VOTE.
It takes less than a minute, and this is a great way to repay us for the work that goes in to this website and podcast. Thank you!
Written by sean
Posted on August 27, 2009
We’ve taken a bit of a break from podcasting after San Diego Comic-Con, but we will be back soon with a lot of great shows for you!
Coming up this weekend will be a show in which we discuss the news of new Gold Key character comics at Dark Horse. Look for it soon!
Written by sean
Posted on August 7, 2009
Jim Shooter was asked 20 questions and gave 20 answers about the relaunch of the Gold Key characters at Dark Horse.
One of those 20 questions was from yours truly at the Only The Valiant Podcast. Click to read the questions and answers:
Most of these questions are from fans, a request for questions was given at the valiantfans forum.
Written by sean
Posted on August 6, 2009
Dark Horse has made a press release of the announcement they made at Comic-Con regarding their plans to print new Magnus, Solar, Turok, and Mighty Samson comics.
You can see the complete press release at the Dark Horse website at the following link:
The press release contains some history about Jim Shooter, and statements by Jim Shooter and Dark Horse President Mike Richardson. They both express enthusiasm for this upcoming project.
The press release also gives a little bit of background information about Magnus, Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, Turok, Son of Stone, and The Mighty Samson.
Hopefully they will announce plans for writers, artists, titles, and release dates soon.
Written by sean
Posted on August 1, 2009
OnlyTheValiant.com is being entered in a design contest!
FresheVenture.com is sponsoring a best blog design contest, and onlythevaliant.com has been entered. FresheVenture is a website to help new and continuing online entrepreneurs. Nominations are being held during the month of August, and voting on the best blog design will happen in September. Check back for more information, and go vote for OnlyTheValiant.com in September!
Written by sean
Posted on July 30, 2009
The Timeless Adventures of the Eternal Warrior, by Paul Grist, is being solicited this month in Previews. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, since Valiant Entertainment seems to have this trademark registered.
The solicitation of the book is as follows:
THE TIMELESS ADVENTURES OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR (ONE-SHOT)
story PAUL GRIST
art & cover PAUL GRIST
OCTOBER 7
32 PAGES / FC
$3.50The Eternal Warrior. He’s the Cosmic Champion, a wanderer through time, forever caught in the battle between order and chaos
There’s a woman called Bernadette who wants to be the Empress of the Universe, and she’s just found the one thing that could help her achieve that. The only man who can stop her is the Eternal Warrior. And he’s just arrived 10 minutes too late!
So what is the issue here?
It comes down to the difference between copyrights and trademarks.
Copyrights protect the content of a published work. For instance, the copyright for Eternal Warrior would refer to a character named Gilad that is ten thousand years old, wears a jacket with strange containers down one side, has a glove with spikes on it, and has long flowing hair like Fabio.
Trademarks protect titles of products. In this case, the title Eternal Warrior is registered by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to Valiant Entertainment. An online record of this registration is located here.
In particular, the use of the words Eternal Warrior as the title of a product is registered to Valiant Entertainment, Inc, and includes:
Printed matter, namely, comic books; graphic novels; books featuring stories in illustrated form; books relating to comic book characters; periodicals, namely, magazines featuring illustrated stories for children and adults; comic strips; posters; art prints; lithographic prints; seriographic prints; limited edition prints; collector’s cards featuring comic book characters; trading cards; trading card albums
As far as I understand Trademark laws, the contents of this comic solicited by Image are fine. Even the description of the character within the book as the Eternal Warrior is probably fine. The use of the words Eternal Warrior in the title of this book seems to be a violation of VEI’s registered trademark.
These trademark laws help to protect both consumer and producer. If VEI does eventually print a new Eternal Warrior comic book, it is in the companies interest and in our interest as consumers to only have one product in comic book stores called Eternal Warrior.
If I were to recommend to a friend that he go to the comic shop and buy the latest issue of Eternal Warrior, there should not be any confusion about which comic book I am referring to. With two different books, with entirely different content in the marketplace, the consumer could reasonably be confused.
It will be interesting to see what happens, and if this comic book does come out with the title that it is solicited with. I will be ordering a copy, at the very least for posterity, to see how this plays out.
Written by sean
Posted on July 29, 2009
One of the biggest pieces of comics news from San Diego Comic-Con is that Dark Horse plans to create new comics with Gold Key characters, and they have tapped Jim Shooter to lead their creation.
Jim Shooter has said that these will be new imaginings of the classic characters, and not a direct continuation of either the original Gold Key versions or the versions seen in Valiant comics. While Jim Shooter may not be the writer for all of the new comics, he will be leading the creative direction.
The characters scheduled to come out from Dark Horse are Doctor Solar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Turok, Son of Stone, and The Mighty Sampson.
Dark Horse has not announced any specific titles or a date of release, though they have said that these should be appearing by mid-2010. They may be less than a year away from being published.
Here is a list of news articles reporting this:
So what does this mean for Valiant? Clearly, these characters will not be part of any new Valiant Comics and Valiant Universe.
The flipside is that we will get new Magnus, Robot Fighter stories from Jim Shooter!
UPDATE! Here is video of the panel that announced these new comics, and announced Jim Shooter as the writer:
Written by sean
Posted on July 19, 2009
Sean and Average Joe are going to be recording an episode of Only The Valiant from the convention floor. If you will be at San Diego Comic-Con, we want you to join us and chat about the convention, Valiant Comics, or anything else on your mind.
This is your chance to be famous!
Recording will start at 4pm and we’ll go till 5pm or so.
We will be in the lounge in the back corner of the Convention, with the Only The Valiant portable recording studio (my laptop and a mixer). Click on the below map to get a bigger image:
Again, click the above image for a bigger map of where we will be recording.
We hope to see you there!
Written by sean
Posted on June 25, 2009
Sean’s credentials went through, and he will be attending as press. Average Joe got his pass settled out, and we’ve got a great place to stay right by the convention center.
We will, of course, be podcasting and blogging from the convention.
We will also be snagging up all the best deals on Valiant books at the show.
We will probably try to set up a live podcast from the convention like we did last year, when and where everyone will be invited to drop by and let us know what you thought of the show.
Written by sean
Posted on June 22, 2009
Valiant is a tricky beast. Some Valiant comics are the most valuable comics of their era, and some are the least valuable.
Here’s a guide to what’s what.
The only regular edition Valiant comics that are worth anything are the pre-Unity issues, and the last few issues of each series.
By “regular edition”, I mean the normal copy of the book that hit newsstands and comic racks. Not the gold logo books or the V.V.S.S.
The pre-Unity books are:
[*A note about Harbinger 0: There were two versions of Harbinger 0 printed. The first was the version that people could get by mailing away the coupons in the first 6 issues of Harbinger. This version had a pink cover. The second print has a blue cover, and came sealed in a polybag with the trade paperback that reprinted Harbinger 1-4. The blue version is common, and not valuable.]
Most of the above list of Pre-Unity books have at least some value. Most will sell for $3 to $5, with a few, like Magnus, Shadowman, Archer & Armstrong, and Vintage Magnus, possibly selling for less.
There are a few standouts in the list, they are as follows, with the price range that they sell for:
These values are approximate, and depend on how many folks are buying books on ebay, the condition of the books, and so on.
The last issues of any series tend to have some value, mostly because a comic book usually gets cancelled because sales are low. As a result, there is usually significantly fewer of the final issues of a series.
Of the last-in-the-series Valiant issues, the real standouts, in terms of value, are:
These may sell from anywhere between $10 and $30. The couple of issues before the last may fetch a few dollars over cover price as well.
All of the issues in between the pre-Unity issues and the final issues, well, not worth so much. The Unity issues and the issues that came out a month or two after Unity may sell for a dollar, but I have bought them for as little as 5 cents each.
These issues that aren’t really valuable include most of the well known Valiant books and first issues, and the various chromium, or “shiny” issues. Bloodshot #1, Turok #1, H.A.R.D.Corps #1, X-O Manowar #0, Shadowman #0, Bloodshot #0, Ninjak #1, Magnus #25, Rai #9, and on and on. There is an overabundance of these issues, and they don’t have much resale value, if any.
Some of them do have pretty cool stories though!
The issues from the Acclaim years, pretty much everything that came out after the Birthquake crossover, may be worth a dollar or so each, because sales were down and few were printed.
Everything in between is from the years when Valiant was incredibly popular and sales were high, partially due to so many people buying these comics as investments.
We discussed the comic boom and speculator’s bubble that occurred in comics in this time in Only The Valiant episode 5.
The gold logo books were incentive books that Valiant gave to people for supporting or promoting Valiant.
These are worth about $10 to $20 each. The stand outs are the first gold logo books printed, Archer & Armstrong 0 gold, and Eternal Warrior 1 gold, especially the flat version.
When Eternal Warrior 1 gold was printed, many of them were shipped to west coast comic book shops accidentally. Many shops put these up for sale, thinking they were second printings.
It didn’t help that Marvel comics used gold ink on their covers at the time on second printings.
Valiant printed the remainder of the Eternal Warrior 1 gold books with an embossed cover to distinguish it from the regular version as a premium. Both of these are amongst the most valuable gold logo books, selling for $20 to $30, though the flat version tends to sell for a little more than the embossed.
V.V.S.S. is a series of signed books that Valiant produced. They are differentiated from other signed books by a certificate of authenticity, and they are embossed with a Valiant V.V.S.S. seal.
The earliest of these produced, like Turok 1, Rai 9, and Magnus 25, sell for about $10 – $15. The later few sell for significantly more, with the last couple, Eternal Warrior 27 and Geomancer 1 selling for as much as $100 or so.
There are two variant books that are worth quite a bit, these are Unity 0 red, and Chaos Effect Alpha Red. These differ from the regular versions because they have red where there is blue on the regular versions.
Unity 0 red and Chaos Effect Alpha red both sell for between $40 and $80. The Chaos Effect Alpha Red (or CEAR, as it is affectionately known), tends to be worth a little more than Unity 0 red.
In addition to these red variants, there are blue variants of a few of the trade paperbacks. On the Rai trade paperback variant, the background is blue instead of black, on the X-O Manowar trade paperback variant the logo is blue instead of black, and on the Harbinger trade paperback variant the blue Harbinger Foundation logo is blue instead of black, which is why this variant is often referred to as a “bluebird”. These variant trade paperbacks can sell anywhere from $5 to $15 or so.
Last of all are the Diamond Unity trade paperbacks. These trade paperbacks collect Unity in two volumes, and are bound versions of the single issues. Of note is the fact that the first volume uses a gold logo version of Eternal Warrior 1 instead of the regular version.
These trade paperbacks are quite rare, and usually sell for over $100 each. Note that these are different from the regular Unity trade paperbacks that Valiant released, which collects Unity in 4 volumes.
Of course, the real Value in Valiant Comics is in how much you enjoy them. The majority of Valiant Comics may have been printed in huge numbers, so that they aren’t worth much on the open market, but the stories are good.
If you aren’t going to recycle those boxes of Valiant comics from 1993 and 1994, pick a few out and read them. Then recycle them.
I am of course, biased. I am a huge fan of Valiant comics, and the Valiant characters. In my mind, I got a deal for the price I paid for the books in my collection.
Value may be determined by how much someone else is willing to pay for something, but worth can only be determined by yourself. I love me some Valiant Comics, and to me, they are worth a lot.
Written by sean
Posted on June 19, 2009
Here’s what you need to know about the current status of Valiant Comics, and what may be coming in the future.
First of all, a little history. Valiant started back in the early 90′s by Voyager Communications. Voyager sold Valiant Comics to Acclaim (the video game company), in 1994. Valiant Comics stopped publication in 1996.
Acclaim relaunched many Valiant characters as Acclaim Comics later in 1996. These were published until 1999, though a few promotional books were published after that. Acclaim went bankrupt in 2004, and sold the Valiant intellectual property to a group that would eventually be known as Valiant Entertainment, Inc (VEI).
Though VEI owned the characters, with all copyrights associated with them, another company known only as Valiant Intellectual Properties (VIP) laid claim to the Trademarks for many of the Valiant characters. A lawsuit ensued, the details of which are not publicly known. The result is that VEI now has the rights to the Valiant Trademarks.
If you want to hear more about the history of Valiant comics, we recorded a two-part episode on Valiant Comics history. These were from the early days of the podcast when we were getting our bearings, and they are here: Valiant History Part 1, and Valiant History Part 2.
VEI currently has the rights to the all of the Valiant characters, except the original Gold Key properties, Magnus, Doctor Solar, and Turok. More on those in a moment.
In 2007, VEI released their first publication, a hardcover collection of Harbinger 0 through 7, with an 8-page backup story of all new material.
Over the next year and a half or so, they followed this up with a hardcover collection of the first issues of X-O Manowar and Archer & Armstrong, each of which contained an all new 8-page backup story.
Since VEI secured ownership of these characters, these three 8-page stories are the only new Valiant material we have seen.
One of the complications of all of this is that some of the mainstays of Valiant comics, Magnus, Solar, and Turok, were never owned by Valiant. These characters were licensed to Valiant by Western Publishing, the company that owns all of the old Gold Key properties.
Apparently, the rights to these characters have been licensed to Dark Horse Comics, according to an article on Newsarama. The meat of the article is a quote by Dark Horse President Mike Richardson:
We’ve been republishing collections of the Gold Key Magnus and Solar, Man of the Atom, books for a reason. When those are done, we’ll be coming out with new adventures.
Since this story ran, nothing has been said about this, either by VEI or by Dark Horse. This has opened up speculation by fans whether Dark Horse really will publish stories with these characters, or if VEI is trying to work out an arrangement to get the use of these characters.
There has been a lot of speculation about what this means to VEI, but nothing definitive has been stated. It is unclear if the rights to reprint the old Valiant titles featuring these characters belongs to VEI, or to Dark Horse.
If they do belong to Dark Horse, this complicates reprinting the old stories, since so many Valiant characters crossed over from one title to another.
There is also speculation that while Dark Horse seems to have the rights to Gold Key character of Doctor Solar, the character of Phil Seleski, the Solar that we know from Valiant comics, still belongs to VEI.
So where does that leave us?
Even if VEI does not have the rights to Magnus and Solar, there is much that can be done with all of the other properties they own, Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Shadowman, Rai, Eternal Warrior, Archer & Armstrong, Ninjak, Dr. Mirage, Quantum & Woody, etc.
The Chief Creative Officer of VEI has made public statements on the valiantfans message board that they are working to generate new stories and new content.
Additionally, the rights to develop Harbinger have been sold to Rat Entertainment, Brett Ratner’s production studio (currently at Paramount). Brett Ratner stated that he wanted to create a new superhero franchise from the ground up, and Harbinger fits that bill.
The flipside of this is any startup comic book production company is faced with difficult economic times right now. With unemployment ramping up, credit ramping down, people seem to have less disposable income. There may be less of an audience willing to spend money on trying new comics at this time.
Despite this, rumors do not stop that VEI is working to create something, and it seems from the bits and pieces of what they have publicly said that if they do launch new comics, they want to make sure that they are a high quality production.
I for one hope that we do see new comics from Valiant soon. I hope for the day when I see the characters I know and love in new comic book stories.
Though the details of when, or even if, that will happen are not publicly known, I am hoping for the best, and I am hoping to be amazed.
Written by sean
Posted on June 17, 2009
People ask all the time, what are the best Valiant Comics?
While opinions vary, the following nine issues and story arcs are close to the list of the best of the best.
All of these stories were made in the first three years of Valiant, which were really the glory years for Valiant Comics. In these years, the books were produced that made Valiant what it was at the time, an up and coming rival to more established comic book publishers, including Marvel and DC.
If you had to choose only a few dozen Valiant comics to read, you will be reading the best made with this list.
The first three entries on this list could each be placed in the number one position. In fact, if this were a list of my favorite Valiant stories, the third entry in this list would be placed first. I think, though, that Harbinger 1 through 7 is the best of the best when it comes to Valiant comics.
Stories of super-powered teenagers is not new by any means, but Harbinger managed to do it best. Ultimately, the success of this is because it is not about super heroes that are teenagers, but about teenagers that happen to have powers and abilities. The first few issues include strange adventures (including a trip to outer space) riddled with emotional ups and downs. The story builds upon itself until it reaches the emotional climax in issue 6, and tells the fallout from this in issue 7.
I didn’t realize just how powerful this story is until I sat down and read the entire seven issue run in one sitting. If you like comics, you should read Harbinger. If you think comics are kids stuff and super heroes, you should read Harbinger.
Valiant Entertainment released issues 1 through 7 in a hardcover collection (also including the zero issue that came out after the first seven issues, and a new backup story) called Harbinger: The Beginning. Click here to check out Harbinger: The Beginning on Amazon.com
We discuss Harbinger, with a lot of focus on these first seven issues in episode 10 of Only The Valiant.
The first 4 issues of Magnus are the first comics published by Valiant in the Valiant Universe, and these first four issues tell a story called Steel Nation. Magnus was a super hero book published by Gold Key in the 1960′s, and the premise was that Magnus protected the people of the future from dangerous, rogue robots.
Valiant’s Magnus continues from the Gold Key comics, but adds to the mythos to make the world of the future a much more complex, thought provoking setting. Magnus isn’t just faced with the threat of an uprising of robots that have gained the ability to think for themselves, but presented with the moral dilemma of what it means to be alive. Should Magnus be protecting humans from the robots that mean to harm them, or the other way around?
We discuss Magnus (along with the other Gold Key characters, Solar and Turok) in Episode 7, and we discuss the world of 4001, the setting for Magnus, in Episode 23.
If I was forced to pick my favorite story ever told in a comic, there is a very good chance that this would be my answer. Alpha & Omega is the origin story of Solar, Man of the Atom, and it was serialized as a backup story in the first 10 issues of that title.
While Magnus picks up where the Gold Key Magnus stories left off, Solar, Man of the Atom reboots the old Doctor Solar series. Phil Seleski journey in life strongly parallels that of Raymond Solar, the original Doctor Solar, who’s comic book stories Phil always loved as a kid. This origin story is drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, one of the most talented illustrators in comics, and is spectacular.
If you have ever wanted to read a story about a man who has a wish, gets it, becomes a man with the power of a god, and eventually loses everything, starting with what is most precious to him, read this.
The first three entries on this list were the bang that started out the Valiant Universe, and Rai #0 is the bible that foretold where it was going.
Rai 0 bridges the gap between the present day and the world of 4001, when Magnus and Rai take place. This series introduces characters, and tells about the eventual life (and death) of the characters in the Valiant Universe. The tragedy of this issue is that the Valiant crumbled, and the stories hinted at in this issue were never told. Valiant declined, but this issue is a mark of what could have been. It is also just downright awesome, and sports one of the iconic covers from the Valiant era.
We spent an entire episode talking in depth about this one issue, you can check it out here, episode 24.
Many of the series mentioned in this list were best at the very beginning, but Shadowman is a title that got better after it had a chance to pick up steam.
These issues show Jack Boniface and Shadowman at their best, kicking butt and fighting demons. These issues have the awesome “Blood Runner” storyline, and introduce Master Darque. Master Darque would go on to become one of, if not the, main antagonist of the Valiant Universe, and is one of the coolest, yet creepiest villains to come along in a while.
Shadowman continued to be good after this run, but it is in these issues that Shadowman Master Darque really come into their own as characters.
“I had a dream, that I am falling through time. I am falling still”
The first two issues of Eternal Warrior were part of the Unity crossover, and issue three followed up from there a bit. It wasn’t until issue four that the series really got going on its own. In these issues we see Gilad, the title character, really act on what he is, the fist and the steel of the earth. Issues 4 and 5 introduce Bloodshot, who would eventually get his own title. Bloodshot and Gilad develop a friendship that continues throughout the publication of Valiant comics, even coming up in one of the last Valiant Comics made, Bloodshot: Last Stand.
Issues 6 and 7 have the Eternal Warrior pit off against Master Darque, when Darque tries to obtain the secrets of the earth from Buck McHenry, the former Geomancer, by any means necessary. Barry Windsor-Smith illustrates these two issues, with stunning results. The covers of these two issues are two of my favorite images from Valiant, portraying portraits of the Eternal Warrior, and Master Darque.
If you find these issues flipping through bins, pick them up. They are well worth it.
Archer & Armstrong are the complete opposite of Eternal Warrior, a rag tag duo, one determined to enforce justice to wrong doers, the other determined to drink himself silly. Their adventures range from whacky to incredible, as these two develop an odd, but loyal friendship.
The first 13 issues (including the zero issue) are illustrated and co-plotted by Barry Windsor-Smith (him again), and tell one long, weaving story. This comic is fun, funny, cool, and incredibly entertaining, and is remembered by many as their favorite title that Valiant made. The first issue, released as issue zero, is one of the best origin stories told, and ranks up there as one of the best single issues that Valiant ever produced.
Valiant Entertainment released the first 7 issues of this series in a hardcover collection called Archer & Armstrong: First Impressions. Click here to check it out on Amazon.com
Unity is the best crossover I have ever read.
All eight (at the time) Valiant titles crossed over for two months to tell the Unity storyline. The roots of the story go back a year before the story began, to Solar, Man of the Atom #1, the fifth comic Valiant produced in the Valiant Universe. Each character’s story weaves into the greater story seamlessly. Unity manages to combine huge, world ending action with incredibly personal moments. It is huge, and it is great.
This is the story that really put Valiant on the map, and a couple months after this story came out, Valiant was the hottest thing since sliced bread. Crisis? Secret Wars? Amateur. I have never read a company wide crossover that was as well conceived and executed as Unity. This is the biggest story Valiant ever created, and in my mind, the crowning jewel of Valiant’s achievement.
If you like big, sweeping stories, you owe it to yourself to read Unity. In quite possibly one of our best comic book discussions ever, we discuss Unity in Only The Valiant Episode 16. If you haven’t read this story, get it and read it.
Ok, I admit. The last entry on this list is not one of the best, but it is one of my favorites. What are the real world ramifications of being a man with god-like powers? Well, catching super villains, and not knowing what to do with them when you defeat them. So you bring them home with you. Then your girlfriend gets angry because you have a super villain tied up in the living room and you are late to the holiday party. Your girlfriend is not happy.
This issue is not a huge, amazing, spectacular story, but is fun and quirky. It is really about the more human side of super heroics, and how even when you can save the world from blowing up, you can’t always keep your girlfriend from getting mad.
This is hands down one of the most fun Valiant comics produced. It was one of Valiant’s holiday books, and you can hear us discuss it, and all the other Valiant holiday books, in Only The Valiant episode 20.
Written by sean
Posted on May 19, 2009
It’s possible that a couple of us will be at San Diego Comic-Con. It depends on if we can get press passes issued, but if we do, you can bet that we will be covering the event.
Written by sean
Posted on March 29, 2009
The redesign is done, please take a look around to see the new site. The layout is mostly the same as before, so there shouldn’t be too many surprises.
There is more information and links presented in each episode listing, and the website now has an embedded mp3 player, so you can stream the latest podcast directly directly from your browser.
Keep coming back to the site, as there are a number of additions in the works.
Written by sean
Posted on March 11, 2009
Due to a lot of web design and hosting problems that are incredibly boring to most people, the site is being rebuilt. It will be bigger, better, and faster when it is all done.
In the meantime, please go to: onlythevaliant.libsyn.com to get all of our episodes.
The new site should be up and ready to go in a week or so, thanks for your patience!
