Any love for the Valiant reboot?

[valiantman]

Just finished today's Harbinger #23

[Bosco685]

ICv2 Interview: Valiant Execs: The First Two Years, the Book Business

 

What’s the status of media projects for Bloodshot, Harbinger or other properties?

 

DS: What we can say is somebody is our partner on Bloodshot, Mathew Vaughn is on board as director, and Neal Moritz is our producing partner on it (see "Here Comes the 'Bloodshot' Movie" for the status back in 2012). We have a -script that all the partners are very happy with so we’re very close to getting that into production. You’ll an announcement once we get over that hump. There’s been a very interesting development with Harbinger that we can’t talk about yet.

 

In addition to Bloodshot, we have three or four other titles that we’ve got writers for that we’re developing in house. Joe Straczynski is writing Shadowman (see "JMS to Adapt Valiant's 'Shadowman'"). He’s on his third draft. Sean Daniel is our producing partner: he produced the Mummy films and he’s doing Ben-Hur now. So that’s going very, very well. We’re talking to a couple of directors on that one. There’s another one where we’re about to lock down a big name director.

 

Part of our presence as a company is to wait until everything is solidified, especially with the prevalence of things getting optioned and announced as a TV show or a movie and then nothing comes of it. We want to avoid that.

 

Of the projects in the pipe, you think Bloodshot will be the first to hit reality?

 

DS: Yes, I think that will go to production in the next 12 to 18 months.

 

[Buzzetta]

Ha- after I took the time to scan all of the Bloodshot books I started flipping through them and pulled them about an hour after offering them for sale.

 

I still like this Valiant reboot too much even if they did shelve EW.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Does anybody think Jim Shooter will come back into the fold someday?

If Valiant was smart they would hire Jim Shooter back, and then send him to Hollywood to get some Valiant movies done.

Marvel did it with Stan Lee. I am sure Jim Shooter has big connections in Tinsel Town.

Like I said before all Valiant needs is one of their comics to hit the big-screen.

Valiant is a goldmine waiting to be discovered.

 

[Gatsby77]

Nah - Shooter's done.

 

He came back for Unity 2000 - it failed.

 

He came back to reboot Magnus, Solar & Turok for Dark Horse in 2010 - those failed.

 

The irony is that the respective # 1 issues of the Dark Horse Magnus & Solar were very similar in tone to the pre-Unity stories of 20 years ago. They still failed - in part, due to lack of promotion by Dark Horse, but primarily because comics storytelling has evolved in the decades since.

 

Shooter's approach to comics writing that worked so well back in 1991-93 is simply too prosaic for today's time - where we've got far more sophisticated stories being done even in mainstream Marvel/DC fare like Batman & Daredevil.

 

 

[valiantman]

Actually, Valiant (the current company) did hire Jim Shooter in 2008 and he worked for them into 2009.

 

Valiant didn't announce anything because they wanted to make a big splash when they were ready to go to print.

 

After several months of working for Valiant, Jim Shooter left suddenly and went to Dark Horse --- to do Magnus, Solar, and Turok in 2010.

 

Valiant sued him for breach of contract, but eventually dropped the lawsuit because it wasn't going to end well for anyone.

 

Shooter's new work at Dark Horse included the "big three" from Gold Key and was cancelled before 10 issues of any title.

 

I'd say Valiant is doing much better without him, since they're up to 26 issues on X-O Manowar, have 8 on-going titles, and haven't missed a month yet.

[kimik]

How are the sales tracking over time on the titles? Is X-O the only one above 10K/month in sales still?

[valiantman]

How are the sales tracking over time on the titles? Is X-O the only one above 10K/month in sales still?

Sales have been around 8,000 copies per title.

Event, anniversary, or #1 issues tend to raise the average above 10K, but 7K to 9K is normal.

 

Here's a breakdown of the smaller publishers by average copies per title from earlier 2014:

 

Valiant 8,420

IDW 8,108

Avatar 7,696

Zenescope 6,098

Dynamic Forces 5,996

Bongo 5,723

Boom 5,698

 

[Gatsby77]

I'm glad to see the new Dynamite Entertainment Valiant books still outsold the Valiant line in May.

 

They all did better than all but X-O & Unity, and Dr. Spektor # 1 trumped even those titles.

 

Good stuff so far.

[VEI Reborn]

I'm glad to see the new Dynamite Entertainment Valiant books still outsold the Valiant line in May.

 

They all did better than all but X-O & Unity, and Dr. Spektor # 1 trumped even those titles.

 

Good stuff so far.

 

 

 

Not that Valiant doesn't have too many covers....... but with Dynamite having like 70 covers, you would expect the numbers to be higher.

 

My take...

 

Solar has been awesome. Spektor fantastic #1 issue, Magnus very weak and Turok is pure garbage

[Gatsby77]

Agreed on Turok - sad to say that, despite three diff. attempts, the character really hasn't been done well since the original early 90s VH1 title.

[VEI Reborn]

Agreed on Turok - sad to say that, despite three diff. attempts, the character really hasn't been done well since the original early 90s VH1 title.

 

 

 

I was actually starting to enjoy the Dark Key version before the cancelation. This current incarnation is dreadful. I am going to give a few more issues before giving up [due to what we saw in Spektor]

[kimik]

Sales have been downhill on Turok ever since VH1 #1.............

[kimik]

How are the sales tracking over time on the titles? Is X-O the only one above 10K/month in sales still?

Sales have been around 8,000 copies per title.

Event, anniversary, or #1 issues tend to raise the average above 10K, but 7K to 9K is normal.

 

Here's a breakdown of the smaller publishers by average copies per title from earlier 2014:

 

Valiant 8,420

IDW 8,108

Avatar 7,696

Zenescope 6,098

Dynamic Forces 5,996

Bongo 5,723

Boom 5,698

 

I am surprised that Bongo still sells that many on average.

 

WRT Valiant, is there a big drop off from X-O to the rest?

[Gatsby77]

Seems so.

 

According to ICV2, X-O # 25 ranked # 159 on Diamond's chart last month with about 12.5k.

 

Unity # 7 and Harbinger # 23 both were in the 8,000s, with every other title trailing below 8k.

 

Shadowman was the weakest, clocking in at only 6,200.

 

Best Dynamite Gold Key book was Dr. Spektor # 1, with 16.5k.

[spreads]

Seems so.

 

According to ICV2, X-O # 25 ranked # 159 on Diamond's chart last month with about 12.5k.

 

Unity # 7 and Harbinger # 23 both were in the 8,000s, with every other title trailing below 8k.

 

Shadowman was the weakest, clocking in at only 6,200.

 

Best Dynamite Gold Key book was Dr. Spektor # 1, with 16.5k.

 

Last month was a bit of an anomaly for X-O, but all the Valiant titles have been pretty close to each-other overall. X-O has always been top 3, but there's been months where Harbinger was really close to it in sales (500-1000).

[FormerReader]

Seems so.

 

According to ICV2, X-O # 25 ranked # 159 on Diamond's chart last month with about 12.5k.

 

Unity # 7 and Harbinger # 23 both were in the 8,000s, with every other title trailing below 8k.

 

Shadowman was the weakest, clocking in at only 6,200.

 

Best Dynamite Gold Key book was Dr. Spektor # 1, with 16.5k.

 

Last month was a bit of an anomaly for X-O, but all the Valiant titles have been pretty close to each-other overall. X-O has always been top 3, but there's been months where Harbinger was really close to it in sales (500-1000).

 

I'm hoping Rai can maintain higher numbers and bring up the average. The fact the Crain is going to continue on art duties is great news to me!

 

Hopefully we see an overall boost due to Armor Hunters this summer.

[Buzzetta]

Part of me wants to keep my Valiant books and part of me wants to jump ship for two reasons:

 

1 - They cancelled Eternal Warrior

2 - My LCS forgets to order stuff. I say, order 1 of every Valiant for me. Sometimes he misses an issue and then I have to go hunt it down on eBay which is getting annoying.

[FormerReader]

Part of me wants to keep my Valiant books and part of me wants to jump ship for two reasons:

 

1 - They cancelled Eternal Warrior

2 - My LCS forgets to order stuff. I say, order 1 of every Valiant for me. Sometimes he misses an issue and then I have to go hunt it down on eBay which is getting annoying.

 

Two things that should make you happy.

 

1 - It isn't canceled. They are taking a break. We should get an update in the next couple of months. Yes it isn't on a regular schedule now, but I am willing to give them time to do what they think is going to deliver the best title possible.

 

2 - Impulse Creations, Collectors Paradise (huge Valiant fan and supporter)DCBS, etc.

[Bosco685]

Warren Simons Named Valiant Editor-in-Chief

 

In our exclusive first interview with Simons in his new post, CBR News and the freshly minted man in charge discuss what the change means for him and the publisher, their goals going forward and the tantalizing hint that next month's Comic-Con International in San Diego will feature "the biggest announcement the company's ever done."

 

 

CBR: In regards to the number of books released a month, Valiant has expanded to a point, but hasn't flooded the market in a way they might be tempting. How much more room do you see in the short-term future to grow that number?

 

WS: I think we're going to focus on nine titles as our maximum for the foreseeable future. Quality is paramount.

 

CBR: Anyone in the comics industry is very aware at this point that Comic-Con International in San Diego is coming up soon -- any hints as to what we can expect to hear from Valiant coming out of that show?

 

WS: We're going to have the biggest announcement that the company's ever done. But besides that, I don't want to hint at too much. [Laughs] I don't want to set expectations too high, but I am very, very, very happy. I'm very excited. We've got an extraordinary creative team, an extraordinary story. It's going to be a lot of fun.

 

Movie time?