It’s become almost cliche to say, but it’s the 90s all over again.

Valiant and Image, making the best comics, just like in 1992

Except, it’s not.

Last weekend I went in to my Local Comic Shop (LCS), and opened up a pull box. For a long time, I’ve been buying my comics through DCBS, ever since my last LCS, the one right between where I live and where I work, closed down. I’m a good Valiant minion fan, so opening a pull box and signing up for the pull box variants seemed like the right thing to do.

It doesn’t hurt that the comic shop I now call home is one of the coolest comic shops in the country.

I opened my pull box, and added X-O Manowar, Harbinger, and Bloodshot to it, and I’ll add Archer & Armstrong when it is solicited. Those four aren’t really enough though, so I figured I should add a couple more titles to the list as well. I can’t open a pull box with just four comics!

The first thing that came to mind was, of course, Saga. When I read the first issue, I loved it. It was so weird and compelling. I knew this was something I wanted to read. That goes on the list.

I picked up the first issue of Danger Club a couple of weeks ago, and it was fantastic. It was exciting, full of action, and didn’t waste any time setting up a story that is far more interesting than I expected. This was a surprise.

What else? I’ve heard some good things about Mind The Gap, so I put that on the list. The preview seemed intriguing, and the cover is beautiful. I’ll check it out! Also, Epic Kill looks pretty interesting. What’s not to like about Samurai School-girl Assassins?

Last of all, I can’t pass on The Massive. The previews in Dark Horse Presents, and available digitally, were compelling hooks. Combine that with something about a boat trapped up in the arctic, and I’m sold. (I have a weird fascination with the arctic and antarctic)

I’ve got 4 Valiant Books, 4 Image books, and a Dark Horse book on my pull list. I’m telling you, it’s just like 1992.

In 1992, I was buying Solar, Man of the Atom, Archer & Armstrong, Eternal Warrior, Harbinger, and X-O Manowar, and I bought Spawn and W.I.L.D.Cats when they came out. Sometimes I bought an Aliens or Predator book too, and I stopped buying Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, G.I. Joe, etc.

In 1992, I was buying Valiant, Image, and the occasional Dark Horse book. Now, in 2012, I’m buying Valiant, Image, and the occasional Dark Horse Book. 20 years later, the same buying habits.

Except, as I said before, it’s not the same.

Over the last couple years, I’ve noticed my interests change. I thought I wasn’t as excited about comics as I used to be, it turns out that I just wasn’t as excited about the same comics that I used to be.

Superheroes just don’t do it for me any more. I’ve read tons of Marvel and DC over the years, but these days, watching Captain America punch Cyclops doesn’t interest me like it once did.

I may go into it a bit more in a future Compost Pile, but for now, suffice to say that “big 2″ superheroes don’t do it for me any more.

While I may not be into superheroes like I used to be, I am still interested in extraordinary characters with extraordinary abilities or circumstances. I do love fantasy and sci-fi, after all.

That’s what I feel like I’m getting with the new Valiant and Image books hitting the stands, really good stories with really good characters. Some of the characters are extraordinary, X-O, after all, a Visigoth with a futuristic alien battle armor, is pretty out there. Same with Saga, or Mind the Gap, and from what I have seen, I expect with Harbinger, Bloodshot, and Archer & Armstrong.

Marvel and DC haven’t evolved much. They are still the same characters, in similar circumstances. Image, Valiant, and several others have evolved as I have evolved as a reader. The names of the companies are the same, but the style and quality of the books has increased drastically.

It’s the same companies, but the comics are completely different. they’ve evolved, just like I have. And realizing this, it makes me excited about comics again.

Comic Book Page presents Publisher Spotlight on Valiant Comics in the 1990s

Bob Bretall from the Comic Book Page Podcast invited Sean from OTV to join him for a Publisher Spotlight on Valiant Comics. Bob was a fan of Valiant the first time around, and with Valiant Comics returning to comic shops this summer starting in May, The Comic Book Page thought it was a good time to revisit the first incarnation of Valiant from the 1990s.

Click here to go to the Comic Book Page website and listen to the show.

Bob and Sean discuss the rise and fall of Valiant comics, and discuss the titles that they released, including Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Archer & Armstrong, Shadowman, Eternal Warrior, and more, with an emphasis on what we enjoyed about each title. We also discuss the good and the bad of crossovers, from Unity to Deathmate.

About the Comic Book Page

The Comic Book Page is a comic book discussion podcast hosted by Bob Bretall and John Mayo. They host a weekly show where they discuss three comics released that week, one from Marvel, one from DC, and one from another publisher of their choice. In addition to the weekly spotlight podcast, they release Special Editions on a variety of subjects.

Please visit their website.

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 Press Release here.

Read the news on the major news sites:

Story on CBR

Story at Newsarama

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.