Valiants mentioned in the 2003 Overstreet market reports

[valiantman]

I think you guys are confusing Pre-Unity Valiants with their overproduced Post-Unity Valiants.

Fabfrank, you've hit the nail on the head.

 

There are 800 different Valiant comic books (1991-1996).

Less than 50 of them qualify as Pre-Unity Valiants (1991-mid1992).

Archer & Armstrong 0

Harbinger 0 (Pink),1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (1 thru 6 have coupons)

Magnus 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 (1 thru 8 have coupons)

Rai 1,2,3,4,5

Shadowman 1,2,3

Solar 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (first print),11

X-O Manowar 1,2,3,4,5,6

Any or all of those books are good deals at cover price,

and they are unbelievable bargains at 3/$1.

I suggest that you buy them...and get this...I'm actually gonna say it... READ them.

 

If you've got a "hang-up" about any Valiant books...

I'd bet it's probably not one on the above list.

(Hint: Bloodshot, Turok, etc.)

 

The "final issues" from 1996 are very, very low prints (15,000 or less),

but the only thing that they really have going for them is the print run/completion factor.

They don't have the "nostalgia factor/recognizability",

most aren't particularly great reads/artworks,

and storyline with strict continuity wasn't as important...

Still, you're right about the last issues...those are low prints.

They are another nice way to spend $0.33.

 

Since it's a Valiant themed thread, I don't feel so bad about these "Valiant info" posts.

[Kevin Boyd]

most aren't particularly great reads/artworks, and storyline with strict continuity wasn't important...

 

I won't disagree with you on most of them. However, I did read X-O, Turok, Eternal Warrior and Shadowman right up until the end and here's how I feel about them:

 

I found Shadowman to be pretty consistant right up until the end. Bob Hall kept the book fairly solid right up until the end when Jack Boniface leaps off a roof at the end of the last issue.

 

X-O discarded all supporting cast members in favor of image-style art from Bart Sears and all but killed my favorite Valiant character. Nice art though.

 

Jackson Guice & Paul Gulacy did some great work on Eternal Warrior and the character came together for me after years of bland storylines.

 

The Rags Morales and Paul Gulacy Turok issues are some of my favorite comics of the mid-1990's, which may be why Turok was one of the last titles to be cancelled.

 

Kev

[Fabfrank]

That's ironic about the low pint runs on the final issues. I always assumed they were overprinted till the end.

There was even a brief period where Shadowman and a Unity type book (Unity2000??) were printed by Acclaim comics. The Shadowman went for 2-4 issues and the Unity type book was a 6 issue mini-series that only went 3 issues that I know of.

I wonder what the print run on those were?

 

On a separate note, I see alot of the successful early qualities of Valiant in todays CrossGen books. Does anybody agree/read these books?

[Kevin Boyd]

dotcomfool's website indicates that the print runs on Unity 2000 1-3 were very low - under 10000 copies of each.

 

The Shadowman flip books (I don't recall what was on the other side) sort of picked up from the end of Shadowman and the V2 universe. The V2 Master Darque was travelling through the multiverse doing something with the various Jack Bonifaces who all seem to end up commiting suicide or something. In Rai 0 it was revealed that something special happened when Jack/Shadowman dies in 1999. Since it appears that Jack died in 1995 Acclaim decided to revisit V1 in the Unity 2000 series and asked Jim Shooter to write it. Shooter even got Jim Starlin to pencil it for him.

 

Somehow V2 Master Darque attracts the attention of Solar from a V1-like Valiant universe - one which evolved from Shooter's own intentions for the V1 universe before he was forced out (sort of like the one shown in Rai 0). Solar gathers his forces as does Darque and the two universes seem set to collide.

 

The book was never completed because Acclaim didn't end up paying anyone and shut down mid-way thru. The completed art for #4 was sold on ebay a few months ago.

 

Kev

[valiantman]

That's ironic about the low print runs on the final issues. I always assumed they were overprinted till the end.

 

You can divide Valiant Comics into three distinct groups...

 

"The Early books" - 1991-1992 (pre-Unity and Unity books, Jim Shooter era)

"The Common books" - 1993-1994 (Overproduced, still everywhere for $0.50 each)

"The Final books" - 1995-1996 (super-low print runs for the dying universe)

 

With only 800 comics in the whole Valiant Comics universe...

it's not a bad "side collection" to go along with your regular interests.

(Especially while they're still so cheap.)

[FlyingDonut]

I will pay you double cover price for all the copies of Harbinger 1-4, Rai 1-4, Solar 1-10, Magnus 1-10, X-O Manowar 1-4 you can find in NM. Since they are so easy to find, you shouldn't have any problem! Just let me know when you have them so I can cut you a check.

[Lofwyr]

I will pay you double cover price for all the copies of Harbinger 1-4, Rai 1-4, Solar 1-10, Magnus 1-10, X-O Manowar 1-4 you can find in NM. Since they are so easy to find, you shouldn't have any problem! Just let me know when you have them so I can cut you a check.

 

No thanks, the copies I have are for my personal collection 2x cover wouldn't even begin to cover the time spent browsing backissue bins. My point was anyone that is motivated enough can find those issues at or below cover. You guys make it sound like you're trying to find an ungraded mint hulk 181 untouched in a backissue bin or something. Except for a new internet speculating niche of valiant collectors driving prices up on ebay it hardly justifies the claims of investment worthiness.

 

I guess some people never learn from the early 90's..

 

 

 

 

[Fabfrank]

Kev you are the man. I always wondered what happened to that series. I thought I would never find those last 3 issues.

BTW, didn't they also come out with Turok in a magazine size format for 1-3 issues? If my memory is correct, it was an off size. Larger than Wizard but smaller than a Savage Sword. Anybody know about this book?

[valiantman]

I guess some people never learn from the early 90's..

 

 

Actually...what we learned in the 1990's was that hype is nothing...

and quality is everything. Hence, the current search for quality Valiant back issues.

[valiantman]

didn't they also come out with Turok in a magazine size format for 1-3 issues?

 

Tough question...luckily, I can help.

 

Yep, there's a Turok magazine...two issues...

The first is "Seeds of Evil", the other is "Adon's Curse".

Both are probably 1998, from Acclaim.

http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/issue.asp?cn=939

http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/issue.asp?cn=940

 

(...and every other Valiant or Acclaim book is also in here...)

http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/library.asp

 

[Lofwyr]

Actually...what we learned in the 1990's was that hype is nothing...

and quality is everything. Hence, the search for Valiant back issues.

 

As I said before most of the greatest speculating is with the valiant variants editions it has nothing at all to do with the literary quality of valiant. The readers will always be able to get their issues.

 

[Crackandpresstoan11]

"The comparison between EC Comics and Valiant Comics is valid"

 

I think a more valid comparison would be the Atlas/Seaboard titles of the 70's.....

Most titles can be had in nm for $5-10 about 30 years after the titles ceased to be published.... Stories were not that great ( but not too many were in the 70's ) but some of the best artists at the time were involved. I don't see Valiant titles surpassing the value of the Atlas books.

[Fabfrank]

Thank you Dotcomfool. I have them both. I was really hoping that Acclaim was going to resurrect these books. I guess not. Thanks for the info guys.

[joe_collector]

Oh, I understand.

 

You're one of those guys that bought Bloodshot #1 (600,000 copies)

and/or Turok #1 (1,750,000 copies).

 

I'm sorry...I completely understand.

 

I understand too..... you're mentally ill.

 

Re-read my posts and you'll see that I owned and read the original Valiant run, was disgusted with the "foil enhanced, over-printed tripe" that was coming out in the early-90's, and right after Bloodshot #1, I SOLD MY COPIES.

 

I sold all my copies AFTER Bloodshot #1,

 

A-F-T-E-R. Subsequent to, following, taking place next.

[joe_collector]

>>I will pay you double cover price for all the copies of Harbinger 1-4, Rai 1-4, Solar 1-10, Magnus 1-10, X-O Manowar 1-4 you can find in NM. Since they are so easy to find, you shouldn't have any problem! Just let me know when you have them so I can cut you a check.

 

Yo Donut, let's not get into public school antics. I could probably find a ton of early-Valiants (in fact I KNOW I could) but I care as much about those books as I do a roll of toilet paper. They're not worth the fuel my car would burn driving over to get them.

 

If you want Valiants so badly, go waste your own time finding them.

 

Oh, and I thought all you guys knew that the early print runs published, weren't exactly "above the board".

[joe_collector]

Good comparison to Atlas, and I find it amusing we're taking part in this insipid conversation (and helping to prolong this "Low-Print Run Investment Thread") about a long-dead line of books that didn't last as long as the Micronauts Marvel series.

 

"Hype, hype, hype, let's bring back the 90's... so I can sell off this crate of Valiants!!"

[Crackandpresstoan11]

"Oh, and I thought all you guys knew that the early print runs published, weren't exactly "above the board". "

 

That is pretty interesting... I never heard that before. What makes you think that the print run numbers are fudged? And by how much?

 

[joe_collector]

Just like any other business, there is the amount printed and the sell-through. In that era, it was all Direct and I only saw the sell-through numbers listed anywhere. Those were the 25K and 50K ones being tossed around.

 

But this was a lower number than was actually printed, and I'm not sure if anyone here has the print totals, which included special orders, back-door deals and other niceties of the industry.

 

Has it really been that long that no one remembers this?

[FlyingDonut]

Yo Donut, let's not get into public school antics. I could probably find a ton of early-Valiants (in fact I KNOW I could) but I care as much about those books as I do a roll of toilet paper. They're not worth the fuel my car would burn driving over to get them.

 

I don't want them either. I have customers who do. This isn't public school antics, this is business. If you find me pre-Unity Valiants, I can sell them all day long.

[joe_collector]

You know what my point is, and although I could "find" them all day, I had my time in the Valiant camp, got out while the getting was good, and never plan on stepping through that door again.

 

If you can sell them at a huge profit, then kudos all around, but I ain't touching that stuff ever again. Liked the stories, but I have no attachment to the comics, the company or the characters.

 

I equate it to a summer fling, nice memories, but not something you'd go back to.