Let the goodness roll in!

Harbinger Wars: Battle for Las Vegas!

Awesome! The controls aren’t perfect but overall Valiant made the right choice. Fun and playability is entertaining. I like the 8-bit feel, because I have always enjoyed those kinds of games. I can’t wait to play as some of the new characters as the series advances. Hopefully I get to play it on a better phone than the one I do now, because it lags to no end. I’m still stuck on the first level to tell you the truth.

One Dollar Debut!

I still praise them for this genius scheme. I’m picturing myself as a person who has no idea what Valiant is (I was at this stage at one point) seeing this $1 book on the shelf and thinking, a Visigoth in a sci-fi armor. Then reading it as soon as I get home, then continuing the series, finding the Valiant Fans forums, and listening to the Podcast. It’s a cycle of happiness. Hopefully Valiant’s step into fame expands with this move. Good job on your part, guys. *thumbs up*

Shadowman #0

Rating: 8.9 out of 10; Variant Choice: Kari Evans

Touching and gruesome. My three word synopsis. I absolutely love the back story of Darque and the thought and emotion but behind it. I wonder is Sandria will every return (probably), to come back and cause some problems for Jack/Shadowman. Their life of trials and suffering that they went through to achieve this magic was scarring. I really like how this isn’t just about Jack and it is developing Darque a lot better than he was in the beginning of the series. 8.9 Shadowtamos

Free Comic Book Day!

OmyGOSH! That was mind blowing. HUGE DISCLAIMER! SPOILERS! UNITY, NINJAK, ETERNAL WARRIOR, AND H.A.R.D CORP. I had already read all the Quantum and Woody previews. Definitely can’t wait for that to come out. But the previews at the end were amazing. I’m so excited for Eternal Warrior. Ninjak and H.A.R.D Corps are kind of second base for me, but seeing them in their own titles sound fun.

*holds wad of cash in air*

Take my money now Valiant.

I was talking with my father, about what this may hold for the future. He was surprised at this sudden release of 3 new titles. Why so sudden. My thought behind was that, and hopefully I’m right or were all screwed, that Valiant already has most of the creative teams put together and at least 1 and 1/2 issues in the bag, because Quantum and Woody, Ninjak, Eternal Warrior, and H.A.R.D Corps are all coming out this summer.

I will soon review some of the Harbinger and Archer & Armstrong books so see you guys later in the month.

Looks like we’ll be getting a new announcement each day.

For now, let’s feast our eyes on this teaser image:

The Summer of Valiant, part 2 kicks off with Quantum and Woody

THE SUMMMER OF VALIANT IS BACK.

QUANTUM AND WOODY #1 | JAMES ASMUS | TOM FOWLER | JULY

The world’s worst superhero team gets off to a bad start on July 10th.

Geppi Museum Visit

After years of living in Baltimore I decided to finally visit Geppi’s Entertainment Museum. It’s basically a museum dedicated to American pop culture ranging from toys and comics to movies and TV from the past. Of course the biggest and most impressive room to me was the comic room. Comics from all the past decades displayed very nicely. Even some comics from before there were comics! All the key issues were there. And of course I had to see how many Valiants they had. They had Unity, Bloodshot and Nintendo Game Boy.

The museum takes up an entire floor of one of the buildings there at Camden Yards where the Baltimore Orioles play baseball, with side rooms connected by a main hallway filled with posters and art.

Each room had a theme and era represented. From the Great Depression and WWII to early TV and Sci-fi culture.

I was able to talk to their retail manager, Zach, and learned more about the museum and how it’s only the tip of a very large collection, and we briefly discussed Valiant, old and new. I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the Baltimore area.

Check out the gallery of images from the museum, click on any image to launch the browser:

[Show as slideshow]

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Faith love Valiant Comics!

The almighty ComicChron has spoken, and the sales numbers are in.

Faith is happy.

And yes, I’m not kidding. Valiant is the number 3 publisher, but we’ll get to that. After all, it is like Obi-Wan said, from a certain point of view.

First, lets take a look at the numbers.

Here’s the sales ranking, and the number of copies sold, of each of the November titles.

• Shadowman #1 – 90th – 25,048 copies
• X-O Manowar #7 – 150th – 14,527 copies
• Harbinger #6 – 159th – 13,617 copies
• Archer & Armstrong #4 – 162nd – 13,478 copies
• Bloodshot #5 – 163rd – 13,156 copies

For a little perspective, that is about the same amount of sales as critical hits Invincible, Revival, and Chew. These numbers are also fairly even with the previous numbers, not a lot of drop off, which suggests that these numbers are starting to even out.

Number 3

Now, here’s a little more number crunching, courtesy of Greg Holland over at ValiantFans.com. He calculated the average sales per title for every company, and ranked them.

Guess what? Valiant is number 3.

Impressive. Most impressive.

Courtesy of Greg:

As Greg pointed out, even without Shadowman, which added a boost due to being a first issue, Valiant still ranks as number 3.

After five titles, Valiant is off to a steady start!

Shadowman, Original vs. New

To start, what’s the same?

• Both versions seam to operate better at night, as we see that Jacks dad is able to be killed when the sun rises.
• Both Jacks have a talent. One is a Jazz musician. The other a capable handy man working at a museum.
• The logo (man figure standing in a doorway) is the same of course.
• Both were given powers without being asked. Jack #1 was seduced and bitten by a spider alien. Jack #2 born into this legacy.
• Both are good looking, “Lady’s” men.
• Blood and gore are very prominent.
• In both books there are panels with bodies hanging from the rafters of a room where people were mutilated.
• Both have a villains that consume humans.

Both issues have a gruesome scene of discovery, and a villain that consumes people (click to enlarge)

• And finally we’re introduced to the name “Shadowman”, in both books at the very end.

In both, the name Shadowman is introduced in the last page (click to enlarge)

And what are some of the differences?

• There are more characters introduced in the new one. I count 7-8 characters to only 2-3 in the first one.
• Jack’s parents are shown, and even given a little background. (very little).
• I believe a lineage of Shadowmen are shown. (son of Julien, son of Micheal, son of Josiah..).
• One Jack does one thing very well (play jazz), the other has had a “hundred” jobs over the last few years.
• Short hair versus long.

Classic Jack has long hair and is a talented Jazz musician, while the new Jack has short hair and a variety of skills (click to enlarge)

• And costume clothes. One’s seam to just appear out of thin air while the other puts his on one leg at a time like anyone.

I’m sure there are many more similarities and differences between the two series, but these are the ones I’ve found. And I look forward to seeing what else Valiant keeps the same or changes. This is one of the best characters Valiant has and I can’t wait till #2!

- Rufus

After much soul-searching, I wanted to let you know that I will be stepping down as a regular podcast host of “Only The Valiant” until further notice. I will still be contributing to the website in the form of written articles and new comic reviews, in a much higher capacity than before…but I need some time to focus on my needs and I felt that it would be a disservice to the rest of the OTV crew and to the listeners if I was not able to contribute 150% to the discussions, which is the case at this point in time.

Please know that this decision was not easy and the rest of the OTV guys are fully supportive of my choice. It is very likely that I will return to the podcasting-fold sooner than even I realize.

In the meantime, keep listening to the show as there are lots of great episodes to come. I thank each and every one of you for making my place on this podcast one of warmth and excitement in a multitude of ways.

Namaste,

Jonesy

Well the Big Apple is always exciting and this weekend was no exception. I bought one of the last Friday tickets online and showed up about 30 min early to pick it up. The lines were incredible. For those who already had tickets waiting to get in, it looked like hordes lining up to enter the cities last safe zone. When I finally got my badge and entered the convention hall i panicked because I forgot where Valiant’s booth was. I finally located it on the map in the Con book and made my way over. Their location was great, very near an entrance and centrally located. I first saw Fred Pierce giving out free Valiant/Shadowman promo books and said hi. Also there was Peter Stern, Valiant employee, keeping the booth organized and running smoothly, and Manuel Garcia (Bloodshot) signing. Manuel was hard at work sketching a flip book for a fan but was kind enough to sign a few items for me. I ran into a number of other Valiant friends and we hung out there at the booth for a bit chatting and catching up.

It was then that I learned of plans to visit Valiant’s headquarters just a few blocks away. First we were going to head over before the panel, but plans changed to a 6pm visit. We headed over to artists alley to meet up with Sean Chen, artist on the original Valiant, and stopped by Arturo Lozzi’s, cover artist, table. From there we broke for lunch and meet back again at Valiants booth around 2pm where Joshua Dysart (Harbinger) was just being relieved by Fred Van Lente (Archer & Armstrong) on signing duties. Both are very approachable and easy to talk to.

Now it was time to head over to the panel. When we got to the panel room I was surprised to see a lengthy line already formed out side it! That was a first for me for all the Valiant panels I’ve been to this year. I still got pretty good seats once inside and watched as Hunter Gorinson (Valiant marketing) introduced Warren Simons (Valiant executive editor), Dinesh Shamdasani (Valiant CCO), Fred Van Lente (A & A), Joshua Dysart (Harbinger), and Justin Jordan (Shadowman). Each talked about upcoming books and stories and plans for the future. We learned about a Harbinger #0 coming out with focus on Harada, and a crossover between Harbinger and Bloodshot. You could tell Justin was excited about his book coming out next month. Josh eloquently conveyed his passion for his book and characters. Fred showed why he’s the perfect man to helm A & A. Dinesh looked at ease and his eyes sparkled with optimism. And Warren was as chill and laid back as ever.

Questions from the audience were great but one recurring theme was people’s interest in the old Gold Key characters (Solar, Magnus, and Turok). Even after repeated responses that they will not be in this Valiant universe some people still insisted on bringing them up, to audible groans from the audience. One of the biggest things I noted was the size of the audience. The room was packed! I would estimate over 200 people. There was, as at past panels, a palpable excitement in the room, and the audience was very diverse. One of the last surprises was Dinesh telling us that everyone there would be getting free Archer & Armstrong #1 Golds which were handed out as we left the room!

The only negative to my day was the fact that the last flight of the day, for me to get back home, left at 6:05 pm. I had to make the hard decision that there would be no office tour for me this time. I said my goodbyes to my friends and left the convention. As i was walking down the street outside a guy asked me if i wanted to sell my day pass for $25… I said absolutely.;)

What a great day. And a great showing by Valiant. I can’t wait for the new stories coming up and of course for Shadowman! Till next time this is Rufus advising all to keep it together!!

• What is Valiant Black? Bleeding Cool has a video of the unveiling of this cool promo book
• An Economic Times article showcasing Jason and Dino taking on their Valiant Venture
• Harbinger and X-O Manowar take spots #8 and #2 in the top ten comic reboots of the year
• Stash My Comics takes a retro review of Ninjak #1 in anticipation of X-O #5 this month
• Podcast: Blog Talk Radio: Nerd Nation has some reviews of recent Valiant comics

Wrath of the Eternal Warrior Teaser

Tuesday:

• Podcast: Super Podcasto Magnifico reviews X-O Manowar #4
• Podcastorama: War Rocket Ajax has an interview with Fred Van Lente discussing Archer & Armstrong

Wednesday:

New comic book day! Archer & Armstrong #2, and Bloodshot #3 came out. What did you think? We’ll have our thoughts on these in our next episode, coming this Sunday!

Thursday:

• CBR has a big old tease for Eternal Warrior, with more info to be released today at Baltimore Comic Con!
• Bleeding Cool shows that X-O Manowar is big in Japan
• Multiversity Comics has an interview with Warren Simons, Valiant Executive Editor

Friday:

Not a whole lot of stuff today, I think the Valiant folks are all traveling to Baltimore. Probably some exciting news coming later today!

But first, Sale! Comixology has a sale on Valiant digital comics. All four of the new number 1 issues, plus all of the classic Valiant back issues, are only 99 cents. The sale lasts through Sunday.

Monday:

• There is an interview with Warren Simons at Previews World

Tuesday:

• A four-page preview of Archer & Armstrong #2 hit the web, we’re gonna link to our article with the preview pages, and not one of the dozens of other sites that have these pages (cuz we can)
• X-O Manowar #4 reviews start to come in, from Kastors Korner and Comic Vine
• Listen Alert: Between The Bubbles Podcast has a spotlight Valiant Comics

X-O Manowar #4 Wednesday!

Wednesday:

New comic Wednesday! X-O Manowar #4 is out, along with the fourth printing of X-O Manowar #1, and the second print of Archer & Armstrong #1.

• Comics Bastards has a review of X-O #4
• CBR has an interview with Josh Dysart about all things Harbinger. There are previews of issue 4, upcoming covers, a look at the next story arc, and… Flamingo. Best article this week.
• Classic X-O Manowar issues 13-20 are available digitally on Comixology. These issues have the finally to the “Seed of Destruction” storyline, Aric’s adventures with Turok, and Aric going up against the US Military and Operation: Deep Freeze
• Mania has a piece catching up on all the Valiant Comics

Thursday:

• How many potential logos were created for Shadowman? Almost 100, and Bleeding Cool has them all
• Bleeding Cool also reports that orders for X-O Manowar #5 already exceed 24,000
• And then…

Now that the first arc is finished, anyone want to do an X-O Manowar Q&A? Ask away!

— Robert Venditto (@robertvenditti) November7, 2011

Here’s some of the questions, click to see the answers on Twitter:

• @BarryReesePulp: Haven’t read issue four yet but will we eventually see Randy, Ken and Orb?
• @MichaelSacal: Will we ever see the human babies that the Vine took again?
• @baddeacon: How pissed is Aric that he missed the sacking of Rome in 410 A.D?
• @baddeacon: Will Aric settle in to a status quo anytime soon?
• @fork71: Are there limitations to what the suit can do? Is that your choice as the author?
• @liltingzephyr: Why are your comics so awesome that my husband won’t share them with me?
• @dallowspicer: Cutting off Aric’s hand in the first arc was a big step, was that a difficult decision?
• @MichaelSacal: Aric was a nomad, would he now settle down, or continue being one?
• @daronk77: Will you be explaining how/why time moved differently for Aric?
• @daronk77: Also how was the suit able to ‘fill in the blanks’ if it was on the ship with him?
• @baddeacon: (Going for the fences) Why did the armor choose Aric, and reject all the previous Vine?
• @Gojira_Rex: If I were a gamer, what powers would I say Shanhara has exhibited?
• @fork71: How many issues ahead do you write?
• @magicalmatt42: ya when does the trade come out so I can read it?
• @MarkRoseHfx: hey V-ditti who do you think would win a fight between Batman and Darth Vader?
• @daronk77: how about the beastmaster and Aric?

Friday:

Sale! Comixology has a sale on Valiant digital comics. All four of the new number 1 issues, plus all of the classic Valiant back issues, are only 99 cents.

• CBR has a preview of Shadowman #1
• #FanArtFriday! Check out some of the entries!

And that’s the week! Have a good Labor Day weekend!

It’s not a party without cake

When Fred arrived he swept in to the place with a charismatic elegance. He has a witty sense of humor which seams appropriate for the book he is writing, ‘Archer & Armstrong’. He was accompanied by Atom! Freeman, Valiant’s marketing director, and Fred’s wife Crystal. Fred got right to task with greeting fans and signing copies of A&A that they’d brought to give out.

Fred Van Lente signs Archer and Armstrong for a fan

I had gotten in touch with Fred before hand and he was more than happy to take a few minutes, when there was a lull, to answer a few Only The Valiant questions. He was supper easy to talk to and made it really easy for this rookie reporter to do some front line journalism.

Fred Van Lente with Archer & Armstrong #1

My voice comes comes across a little faint, but Fred’s directs his majestically right in to the mic. (must learn to project my interviewing voice) but the questions I asked were:

1. What got you into writing?
2. What inspires you in writing? What motivates you? What gets you excited to work?
3. Since this is a reboot, what did you think was important to keep about the characters? What did you think was important to change?
4. You’re working with Clayton Henry, did you add anything, or change the script in anyway, knowing that you would be collaborating with Clayton?
5. There are a lot of historical, religious, and cultural references in this book. Did you reference it all, or look it up? Or do you just know all this stuff?
6. How often do you go to ‘Hogs & Heifers’?

Not to long after our interview they had Fred come over and cut the cake. (He’s very generous with his portions!)

Now it’s a party

I was also invited to join Fred and Atom! and Todd (from Collectors Corner) for a Orioles baseball game later that night. Fred is a big baseball fan and never misses an opportunity to visit a new ball park. And it would have been a great night if not for mother nature raining on everyone’s parade (and ball game). After 2 hours of waiting we decided to call it a night.

Rainy night at the Orioles ballpark

But still what a great day! A chance to learn some insight into an instant block buster for Valiant, and the great talent that is Fred Van Lente. Till next time this is Rufus signing off