I may have mentioned this in a previous posting or so, so sue me for repeating myself. My primary collecting period began roughly around the mid-90's. It was a time period where DC was unleashing events that almost made their "Crisis" pale in comparison, Image was bringing their style over substance to record heights of sales, and Marvel was left wondering what to do to achieve its general dominance. (It PROBABLY involved launching 10 X-Books to make up the difference...) But there was another "contender" company I was aware of in the 90's. A company that I REALLY don't remember a lot of my friends reading the material of, and when I attempted to tackle their material... it didn't exactly leave me feeling overwhelmed in excitement. Or just generally "whelmed" in that sphere! I speak of Jim Shooter's direct market nurtured baby, Valiant Comics!
According to the universal font of ALL knowledge... Wikipedia... Valiant Communications had its roots in 1989 with the visions of Jim Shooter and Bob Layton. It was not long before this year that Shooter was ousted as Editor In Chief for Marvel. (Referring back to "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story" by Sean Howe, those Shooter EIC years were rather... um... "interesting". But when a guy learns at the feet of Mort Weisenger, I suppose you have little recourse but to act like a butthole when you're in a position of power!) The comic line had unusual starts, publishing comics based off of Nintendo properties like "Super Mario Bros.", "The Legend of Zelda", and EVEN "Game Boy". Yes... A gaming system had it's own comic. What I wouldn't have given for "The Adventures of the Sega 32X... Valiant EVEN had brief rights to publish comics based off of the WWF. I DESPERATELY wish I could read these books, but they were printed in such limited quantities, they can cost the Earth even on reliable cheap comic resources! But taking a page from the rebellious nature of the Image founders, 1992 was the year Valiant started publishing its "original material".
I use quotation marks for "original material", because their characters were partly re-purposed characters from Dell Comics for some of their big players, like "Magnus Robot Fighter" and "Solar". That's not to say they just grabbed publishing rights for then-extinct characters solely, because they did create their own characters, such as XO-Manowar, Rai, Archer & Armstrong, and... because it's the 90's, and adding "Blood" to a character's name is GREAT MARKETING... Bloodshot. As mentioned, these books were pretty much under my past comic community's radar, along with my own. I've talked about it before on the group that I generally favor DC, and Marvel had some interesting ideas to fill in the creative gaps of their fled creators. And of course, being an impressionable youth, the stylistic approach from Image was HOT to me. But when I would peek at a Valiant comic, their creations just felt... flat to me. The artwork was not as enticing as what Image had to offer, the characters felt too bland, and the shared-universe aspect for such a YOUNG universe I perceived as intimidating. (Right when I really did take notice of Valiant, originally, the "Unity" storyline was starting off, for example.) That's not to say I didn't drop money to occasionally sample their books, so here's a few examples of my comic-reading "stops".
Perhaps the BIGGEST selling point for this trade paperback of the first four issues of "Rai" was it came sealed with an individual copy of the zero issue. Hey, that sales approach got me to buy the "WildCATs" trade, even though I OWNED most of the single issues! I think out of all the examples I'll present today, this story stuck out the best as an enjoyable read to me. Basically, you have a far-future Japan being controlled by an evil corporation... as you do in fiction... and a person possessing supernatural samurai abilities goes up against a technologically superior army in resistance. I remember at the time that, while the art didn't really "Wow" me, I did at least find the story entertaining. Not to give any spoilers, but the ending was also pleasantly unexpected. ... That is, until Rai was brought back not too long afterwards, but we'll talk about that...
... Right NOW! (Thought I was going to tease this out longer, eh?) This was the single issue of "Rai and the Future Force" I ever bought, and that was due to it being oversized and residing in a quarter bin. And wow, was I ever confused, and not really all that curious to attempt backtracking the sequence of events. All I can recall for you readers was that I remember Rai being left for dead at the end of the graphic novel, with his "genetic seed" being passed onto the new character, Bloodshot. So... Why is Rai back? Why is he teamed up with Magnus and I THINK it was the Eternal Warrior, along with a few other people I never learned about? At least this issue did tell a perfectly stand-alone story, and did feature a fight against a robot army. Because if there's one thing I've learned about comics; you cannot fail with a story about superheroes fighting a robot army.
Before he ruined Spider-Man's life, and was a bit of a jerk as the early 2000's Marvel editor, Joe Quesada was just a blooming artist. Now his bloom occurred WAY before his involvement with Valiant, but he left for the imprint after a very successful run on his part with Marvel's "X-Factor" title. My opinion on Joey Q's artwork can shift like the wind, but I will readily agree that his material from the general 90's period to when he worked on Marvel Knights' "Daredevil" was pretty darn good! (But look at his current pinups. I think the man forgot what basic anatomy is all about.) So this was the one example of a creator pulling me into a Valiant book. And it was about a NINJA character! Ninjas are RRRAAADDD, man! ... If that's the case, then why do I only remember how awesome that front cover for the first Ninjak issue was, and that Joey Q only worked on two issues before departing to start his Event Comics imprint with partner Jimmy Palmiotti? But I save the wackiest for last...
Ever since the days when I first saw "Creature from the Black Lagoon" on TV with 3D glasses, and saw "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin" in its original 3D run, I've had a lifelong charmed affair with the third dimension in film and comic media. Yes! I even bought three-dimensional comics, with the goofy glasses! I remember some of my key purchases for that pursuit involved a reprint of Joe Kubert's "Tor", and I think it was an issue of Now Comic's "Real Ghostbusters" to boot. So imagine my awe and wonder when Valiant announced that THEY would be infrequently publishing comic books in 3D again... only WWWAAAYYY better than they ever were previously published. They tested the market waters with the "Valiant Vision Starter Kit". The concept for Valiant Vision was it was a reading experience that was enhanced with 3D glasses, but you didn't need them to read the issue utilizing the gimmick. With that starter kit, you received a pair of glasses, instructions on how to use the glasses, a pinup for your wall that could be used with the glasses... and a squirt of a "Solar" story. I mean that, literally. For probably about $3-4, you were only getting an 8 page... story, if you can call it that... with supplementary materials. Needless to say, this gimmick didn't exactly set the world on fire.
The strange thing about Valiant is it was one of the largest 90's independent publishers, but it managed to die off before the decade closed. Say what you will about elements of Image, and their implosions, but the general imprint still survived. Valiant was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment, the merger produced some successful video game merchandising, such as the GREAT "Turok" game series, and an interesting "Shadowman" game... and the kind of sloppy mess that was "Iron Man/XO-Manowar: Heavy Metal". But I'd say the company ultimately faded out of existence come 1998 or so. Even more bizarre, come 2012, the entire Valiant line is relaunched to MUCH critical and commercial success! It has prompted me to consider giving the line a second try to rectify my initial hesitant opinions. I suppose that, much like any other entertainment medium, comics can become cyclical, and even the Valiant can survive...
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