Is Valiant (Valiant Entertainment) Going Out of Business ? 3 3

[THE_BEYONDER]

Let’s assume I’ve never read a Valiant book ( I haven’t)...what would you fan boys recommend I start with?

[shadroch]

Strictly my own opinion, but I'd start with the original Harbinger series if you are looking for an above average superhero arcs. If looking for quirky escapism, Archer and Armstrong.  Armstrong is immortal, the brother of The Eternal Warrior. The fat,drunken brother of the Eternal Warrior.  Archer is a deluded wanna be seeking enlightenment.  Together they have some fun, mostly light-hearted adventures.   I thought the Eternal Warrior had great potential that it never quite captured.

I've read a few of the second generation Valiants and found them quite lacking. They re-animated the characters but not their souls.

The  first Harbinger TPB would be my recommendation. 

[Cat]

On 8/7/2022 at 12:43 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Let’s assume I’ve never read a Valiant book ( I haven’t)...what would you fan boys recommend I start with?

I got into this Valiant (my first Valiant) by picking up XO-Manowar, which was being written by Robert Venditti (I think(with art by the wonderful Cary Nord. It's really Cary's name that sold me on the book, after getting into DH Conan because of him and Busiek. 

It turned out to be really quite good. Just got to ignore the frighteningly brilliant white tooth on an early man (looking at you, Neal Adams cover). 

[drmccoy74]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:43 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Let’s assume I’ve never read a Valiant book ( I haven’t)...what would you fan boys recommend I start with?

Harbinger and Shadowman are good ones

[Buzzetta]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:43 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Let’s assume I’ve never read a Valiant book ( I haven’t)...what would you fan boys recommend I start with?

I have always been partial to the Eternal Warrior but you might like X-O Manowar a bit better. 

[Ken Aldred]

Pre-Unity is the peak for original Valiant.

I like Solar, with its two stories per issue showing events occurring in two parallel universes, one with BWS art, the other with Don Perlin art, contrasting styles.

Archer and Armstrong was more light-hearted, again nice BWS art.

X-O Manowar was good, with its barbarian vs high-tech concept.

Eternal Warrior had some interesting variety as we get adventures of the protagonist in different time periods.

Shadowman was actually a consistently good read for a long time throughout its run, even post-Unity.

Magnus was a nice continuation of the Gold Key title, modernised, but with a similar feel.

Harbinger is the sacred cow of Valiant, something generally considered beyond criticism.  But, I was quite underwhelmed when I read it.  A good story, but nothing really that special or original about it. Quite overrated.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 8/7/2022 at 9:38 PM, Ken Aldred said:

Pre-Unity is the peak for original Valiant.

I like Solar, with its two stories per issue showing events occurring in two parallel universes, one with BWS art, the other with Don Perlin art, contrasting styles.

Archer and Armstrong was more light-hearted, again nice BWS art.

X-O Manowar was good, with its barbarian vs high-tech concept.

Eternal Warrior had some interesting variety as we get adventures of the protagonist in different time periods.

Shadowman was actually a consistently good read for a long time throughout its run, even post-Unity.

Magnus was a nice continuation of the Gold Key title, modernised, but with a similar feel.

Harbinger is the sacred cow of Valiant, something generally considered beyond criticism.  But, I was quite underwhelmed when I read it.  A good story, but nothing really that special or original about it. Quite overrated.

Harbinger was against the mold of your typical comic book about powered kids when the original books came out in the '90s, which is why a lot of people (myself included) were rather taken by it. But there have been a lot of books since then that are similar, so it probabl ydoesn't hold up quite as much if you're reading for the first time, rather than for nostalgia.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:43 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Let’s assume I’ve never read a Valiant book ( I haven’t)...what would you fan boys recommend I start with?

Start with the 2012 books. X-O Manowar is a solid 50 issues. Fred Van Lente's run on Archer & Armstrong remains one of my favorite comic runs of all time. Kindt's Ninjak is really good. Christos Gage followed that up with Ninja-K that is almost as good.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Thanks for the recommendations guys 

I’ll see what my lcs has in TPB this week....

[Ken Aldred]

On 8/8/2022 at 4:21 AM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Harbinger was against the mold of your typical comic book about powered kids when the original books came out in the '90s, which is why a lot of people (myself included) were rather taken by it. But there have been a lot of books since then that are similar, so it probabl ydoesn't hold up quite as much if you're reading for the first time, rather than for nostalgia.

I read it when it first appeared.

I’ll stand by my impression that it was good but overrated. I remember going in a comic shop barely an hour after it had opened and the shelves had been stripped of the first issue. Luckily another store had one put away for me. Everyone acted as if it was god’s gift to comics, but it really wasn’t quite that good, and the speculation and dealer hoarding of it was at ridiculous levels, even for the early 90s. Thankfully, by 94 it had all crashed hard in that respect and was affordable; £3 rather than its manipulated peak of £100.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[Buzzetta]

Archer and Armstrong Forever cancelled after four issues... ends on "A New Hope" ending and not a "brutal cliffhanger."

Valiant will be publishing ONE title per month for the foreseeable future.  The end is nigh. 

https://www.cbr.com/valiant-cancels-archer-armstrong-cuts-back-one-release-per-month-schedule/

 

[musicmeta]

It's X-O Manowar for me as the best but I like all of the pre-unity runs of all of them. Harbinger is really good.