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Early VALIANT books are now 30 years old. Are you an expert? (You could be...)
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19 posts in this topic

On 2/6/2022 at 11:16 PM, aardvark88 said:

Glad u mentioned Nintendo and Super Mario Bros. at the end of your deeply researched :manhero: website.

Those probably need their own section considering the CGC market activity from the past few years.  It's funny to me because I started my first Valiant website in the late-1990s to document early 1990s Valiant, but only for the Valiant Universe characters, not the "licensed junk" that Valiant used as fundraisers.  The "junk" for Valiant fans is turning out to be "treasure" for Nintendo fans. lol

I'd say that the later printings of Death of Superman books have pretty much shown that just about any "junk" can become a big deal if a few people decide to care (and the supplies don't meet the demand).

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On 2/8/2022 at 7:56 PM, bluehorseshoe said:

Well done and great read.  Would love to see a VSS document/ prime, I buy those books instantly when I run into them now and then. Groundbreaking concept in my book.

I had a webpage for them years ago, but it didn't get ported to the current server.  It's still on the internet archive site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120114023543/http://valiantfan.com/valiant/vvsstitle.asp

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You forgot to point out that Valiant had the first chromium comic book ever...Bloodshot #1:baiting:.

 

I only bring this up because (one) of the greatest cover ever is X-O Manowar #0.  You can get a CGC 9.8 copy right now for a measly $50!!!

 

***One of the greatest gimmicks ever

Edited by AnthonyTheAbyss
Needed to add "one"
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On 2/9/2022 at 10:43 PM, AnthonyTheAbyss said:

You forgot to point out that Valiant had the first chromium comic book ever...Bloodshot #1:baiting:.

 

I only bring this up because (one) of the greatest cover ever is X-O Manowar #0.  You can get a CGC 9.8 copy right now for a measly $50!!!

 

***One of the greatest gimmicks ever

Yep, there's more that I could have included.  Interesting thing about Bloodshot #1 is that people like to say it was overproduced, but it was just 13th in 1992.  Look at the dozen other dreks above it. https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1992.html lol

X-O Manowar #0 (the first full chromium cover) was 38th in 1993. Three dozen dreks above, and some are still 25 cents today. https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1993.html lollol

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The pre-unity experience definitely makes it into my nostalgia bucket. Trying to just get your hands on any of those early issues was more difficult than any scavenger hunt you could imagine. The only way to see the covers often was in the Wizard magazine.

Regardless of what we know now in terms of how the whole 90s general market played out, these were still very exciting times. I believe kind of the peak was when Harb came out; then Spawn did later that same year but the rise of the independents was really incredible to see it unfold in real time. 

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Funny you start this thread, I've begun to revisit my pre-Unity Valiant obsession by buying the harder to find books that I was never able to get my hands on as a kid.  Recently I've wondered if we'd ever see a resurgence in interest in those early rare books.  The first printing of Solar 10 is still not cheap in a 9.8 though!

Edited by Miguelb
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On 2/11/2022 at 8:57 AM, Miguelb said:

Funny you start this thread, I've begun to revisit my pre-Unity Valiant obsession by buying the harder to find books that I was never able to get my hands on as a kid.  Recently I've wondered if we'd ever see a resurgence in interest in those early rare books.  The first printing of Solar 10 is still not cheap in a 9.8 though!

I had the same feeling to "revisit my pre-Unity Valiant obsession by buying the harder to find books that I was never able to get my hands on as a kid" when I turned 21, but that was in 1997. lol

The 25 years since then have just solidified my appreciation for the pre-Unity books, and although I like some of the later Valiant characters and stories, nothing was like those first two years. 

I guess the same is probably true for Marvel 1961-1963 and D.C. 1938-1940, but I don't have a chance of completing those collections. :kidaround:

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On 2/11/2022 at 10:54 AM, valiantman said:

I had the same feeling to "revisit my pre-Unity Valiant obsession by buying the harder to find books that I was never able to get my hands on as a kid" when I turned 21, but that was in 1997. lol

The 25 years since then have just solidified my appreciation for the pre-Unity books, and although I like some of the later Valiant characters and stories, nothing was like those first two years. 

I guess the same is probably true for Marvel 1961-1963 and D.C. 1938-1940, but I don't have a chance of completing those collections. :kidaround:

I was probably just a bit younger, 11 or 12 when Valiant was HUGE.  Impossible to find those issues on a junior high allowance....by the late 90s the market had tanked so hard I was able to get the early Rai issues (who along with Bloodshot was my favorite character) for dirt cheap.  Was saddened by the time Joe St Pierre stopped on the series because it always defined it for me.  End of last month I finally sent Rai 0 and Rai 1 in for pressing and grading, dont particularly care about making money on them...simply a matter of a PC I plan to hold onto.  Will probably end up over paying for a slabbed Solar 10 as well!

Edited by Miguelb
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The preUnity Valiant was excellent. It was like being part of a new universe, pun intended.

Wasn't same for me after Shooter was dismissed. Then worse the wizard fan boys and speculating flippers jumped in. Then style over substance ruled.

My favorite issues were:

Solar 1-10

Shadowman 1

X-O 3,4

Harbinger the XMAS issue i forget the number

 

 

 

 

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On 2/7/2022 at 9:43 PM, Aman619 said:

Nice job.  Handy to have around when going through longboxes of stuff I bought back then. As Solar offered early on, “let me give you a hand” as in applause for your efforts!

Thanks!

1241919947_Unity0page91.thumb.jpg.87eec05a2ceac1acacd43d7f96ba597a.jpg

Edited by valiantman
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On 2/11/2022 at 11:54 AM, valiantman said:

 

The 25 years since then have just solidified my appreciation for the pre-Unity books, and although I like some of the later Valiant characters and stories, nothing was like those first two years. 

 

I concur. I was going to mention this but eventually when I finally could get the books, the writing clearly was the differentiator for me personally right out of the gate and what made that initial early Valiant run so special and unique vs. any other independents.

They were the innovation where I felt allot of the other titles from different outfits that came after were just trying to follow suit. Although other than Magnus and Eternal Warrior, I must confess that I kind of dropped off a little past unity point. 

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