Valiant Comics
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Valiant Comics is the comic book publishing company founded by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and renowned writer/artists Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1989.
VALIANT Comics stormed onto the market in the 1990s, selling more than 80 million comic books in its first five years. Its characters have seen print in numerous languages across the globe and have been featured in video games that have sold over 10 million units.
The Valiant characters are often called the most important of those created after the Marvel revolution in the 1960s [[Citing sources citation needed]] (when Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four etc were created). The Valiant universe includes X-O Manowar, Shadowman, Quantum and Woody, Harbinger, Archer and Armstrong, Eternal Warrior, Magnus Robot Fighter, Bloodshot, Ninjak and Rai, among others.
History
The Valiant Characters.
In 1988, former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter and a group of other investors attempted to purchase Marvel Comics. Shooter's group submitted the second highest bid, but ultimately investor/entrepreneur Ronald Perelman wound up submitting the highest bid to purchase the company. Steven J Massarsky, former manager of the Allman Brothers Band, and Shooter then convinced a venture capital firm, Triumph, to back their creation of a new comics publisher. They founded Voyager Communications Inc. and its comic-book publishing imprint, Valiant Comics, and hired Bob Layton away from Marvel to help with its planned superhero line. Voyager/Valiant licensed three classic Gold Key Comics properties: Magnus, Robot Fighter; Doctor Solar; and Turok.
In 1990, Valiant launched its superhero line, mixing modified versions of the Gold Key characters with several original titles & characters - Archer & Armstrong, Eternal Warrior, Harbinger, Rai, Shadowman, and X-O Manowar - to establish a new shared universe. In mid-1992, the company published a line-wide crossover called Unity. Through word of mouth and savvy marketing - employing a coupon-driven promotion to drive sales, as well as offering retailers sales-driven incentives - the popularity of the company grew. Publications like the Overstreet Price Guide and Wizard Magazine took notice of Valiant's success, specifically the escalating demand for rarer pre-Unity books from both fans and speculators.
Despite this burgeoning success, Shooter's security within the company was not ensured. His relationship with Triumph had been badly damaged and he reportedly resisted his partners' plans to position the company for a rapid sale. This dispute lead to Shooter's dismissal. Following his departure, Bob Layton took over the bulk of Shooter's duties in publishing operations and Kevin VanHook became Executive Editor. Valiant greatly expanded its comics line and soon became the #3 comic book publisher in terms of market share, behind only industry giants Marvel and DC. In 1993, the first issue of Turok, Dinosaur Hunter shipped 1.75 million copies. This was one of a series of highly successful books that cemented Valiant's place as an industry heavyweight - Bloodshot #1 sold 900,000 copies, X-O Manowar #0 sold 850,000, Rai #9 sold 800,000, Ninjak #1 sold 500,000 etc.
A year later, Voyager Communications, Inc. went on the (metaphorical) auction block and was sold to the video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million in June 1994. Along with the rest of the comics industry, Valiant's sales soon slumped as the speculative boom collapsed, and Acclaim management took a more active role in publishing decisions.
Acclaim renamed the line Acclaim Comics in 1996. Their primary motivation was to make the properties more suitable for use in video game development. This created runaway video game successes out of the Shadowman & Turok properties. The comic book industry's implosion from 1995 to 1997 hurt the entire comics industry and Valiant/Acclaim comics was no exception.
In 1999, Acclaim began publishing Unity 2000, a company-wide crossover written by none other than Jim Shooter that was supposed to integrate the old Valiant universe and new Acclaim Universe. Accliam failed to market the books but saw a good deal of interest on the first few issues. Acclaim was forced to stop the series after three issues because of an art return fiasco with Jim Starlin (artist on the series) and a payment problem with Jim Shooter. The company ceased all publication two months later.
In 2004, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy and shut down its offices.
In 2005, Acclaim auctioned off the rights for the original (non-Gold Key) Valiant characters as part of their bankruptcy proceedings. The characters auctioned included (but were not limited to) Archer & Armstrong, Armorines, Bloodshot, Doctor Tomorrow, Eternal Warrior, H.A.R.D. Corps, Harbinger, Ninjak, Quantum & Woody, Rai, Second Life of Dr. Mirage, Secret Weapons, Shadowman, Timewalker, Trinity Angels, Troublemakers and X-O Manowar. After a complicated and drawn out process that involved numerous parties, a company called Valiant Entertainment, Inc. was recognized as the new owners of the Valiant properties.
Universe
The Valiant Universe.
Valiant Universe (VH1)
Pre-Unity
In the beginning, the Valiant Universe was a reflection of Jim Shooter's vision for an ideal comic book universe: character-driven, strong continuity with emphasis on science fiction, long-reaching consequences and internal consistency. It was the first company to attempt to follow a real-world timeline, where events in the comics occurred at the pace similar to their publication schedule. The company writers adhered to real-world science as much as they possibly could. No matter how powerful its characters got, they were still affected by friction, Newton's Laws of Motion, Einstein's laws of relativity, etc. While Valiant Universe had its share of aliens, they never used popular sci-fi conventions such as universal translators and faster-than-light travel. All Valiant Universe superheroes had powers that were derived from psionic awareness (the "power of the mind"), energy manipulation and/or technology. Valiant Comics' writers tried to emphasize the human aspect of super-powers, as well as how the actions of various super-powered individuals affected average human beings. Most Valiant heroes were not superheroes in the strict sense of the word. Some had more in common with the old-style pulp adventurers than traditional superheroes. Finally, Valiant Comics had tight, carefully integrated continuity, where events in one title had indirect effects on other titles. In many cases, major characters debuted in previously established titles before their own titles premiered.
The Valiant Universe was created by Solar as the result of his attempt to recreate his universe after he accidentally destroyed it, as explained in the "Alpha & Omega" storyline of Solar 1-10. As the result, something similar, but not quite identical, emerged. Solar's psychological tendencies manifested themselves in his recreation of the universe. It was eventually discovered that several times during Valiant Universe's history, Earth was menaced by Spider Aliens, who sought to use the human race for slave labor and food. Their efforts were indirectly responsible for creation of several heroes (most notably X-O Manowar and Shadowman). The early 1990s saw the rise of psionically empowered humans: Harbingers. They were led by Toyo Harada, a powerful psionic businessman with a messiah complex. While on the surface, he operated in the manner similar to Professor Xavier of X-Men, he actually sought to use Harbingers to take over Earth, to "save the world from itself"- with himself as its leader, naturally. The history of the Valiant Universe's super-powered community was greatly influenced by Geomancers, human beings who had an ability to listen to psychic impressions left on most everyday objects.
From the beginning, all Valiant Comics titles could be divided into two groups - titles that were set in the late 1990s and titles that were set in the 41st century (beginning with 4000 A.D.)The heroes from the present weren't aware of the heroes of the future until the Unity conflict. It should be noted that four heroes from the present, Solar, Gilad the Eternal Warrior and his two brothers, Ivar ("Timewalker") and Aram (Armstrong from Archer and Armstrong), survived into the 41st century, but, in many respects, they were different from their more contemporary counterparts - the years had changed them as it would anyone.
Post-Unity
After Jim Shooter was ousted, the Valiant Universe experienced a few changes. At first, the changes were minor, but over time, they grew more and more significant. Writers began to experiment with the scientific aspects of Valiant Universe, moving from science fact and theory to science fiction. However, post-Unity sales were far higher than pre-Unity levels. In 1994 Valiant trimmed their comics line while moving to a two-issuse-per-month schedule for their more popular titles (X-O Manowar, Shadowman etc.). This was known as "Birthquake". Soon after Birthquake Acclaim Entertainment, who had bought Valiant months before restarted the comics line fresh with new versions of the heroes.
Acclaim Universe (VH2)
When Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant Comics, the universe was started completely from scratch. In 1996 , Fabian Nicieza, a former editor and writer from Marvel Comics, was hired as senior vice-president and editor-in-chief and was given the task of revamping the Valiant Comics properties. Nicieza as editor oversaw the new version, dubbed VH2 by the company, which re-imagined all of the Valiant characters such as Shadowman, X-O Manowar and Ninjak using the top comic book writers of the period including Warren Ellis, Mark Waid and Kurt Busiek, Garth Ennis. The line also introduced new titles such as Troublemakers and, the hit comedy, Quantum and Woody.
Perhaps most successful in this period were the re-imagined Turok and Shadowman (comics) titles. These sold well but perhaps more importantly the characters met with great success as a video game adaptations by Acclaim's parent company Acclaim Entertainment. This reflected the product synergy which the new company saw as its business model - this model essentially being that the comic line would foster and develop properties which could then be exploited as video games.
Originally, this new VH2 version appeared to have little to do with the original Valiant Universe. However, later crossovers revealed that the Acclaim Universe was the result of a time paradox caused by Solar.
The Acclaim Universe was similar to other superhero-based universes. It wasn't as interconnected as Valiant Universe. While towards the end, Valiant Comic writers began to move away from real-world science and "realistic" superheroes, Acclaim Universe writers tended to ignore it altogether, sticking to the customary "wisdom" of the average comic world.
Acclaim Comics met with initial success but by early 1999 most of the line had been cancelled. Acclaim Entertainment suffered huge losses on a number of video game titles and were cutting costs on their non-core businesses. Nicieza eventually left and staff levels were cut. The next year Acclaim attempted to merge the two universes with Unity 2000.
Jim Shooter's Valiant Universe (VH-0)
In 2000, during Acclaim's Unity 2000 crossover, writer Jim Shooter introduced yet another alternate universe, called VH-0 by fans. In essence, it was his vision of what Valiant Universe would have been like if he had been allowed to stay with the company. According to Jim Shooter's plot, at the end of the crossover, VH-0 was destroyed and most of its characters were killed. VH-1 and VH-2 fused together into a new universe. However, Acclaim continued to suffer losses on their video games and were forced to cancel the series after the third issue.
In 2005, the rights to the Valiant and Acclaim original characters (such as X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Shadowman etc,) were auctioned off. The rights to the three licensced characters (from the Solar, Magnus and Turok properties) reverted to their original rights' holders Western Publishing and Gold Key Comics.
Titles
Valiant Universe
- Archer and Armstrong
- Armorines
- Bloodshot
- Eternal Warrior
- Geomancer
- H.A.R.D. Corps
- Harbinger
- Magnus, Robot Fighter
- Ninjak
- Outcast
- Psi Lords
- PunX
- Rai
- Second Life of Dr. Mirage
- Secret Weapons
- Shadowman
- Solar
- Timewalker
- Turok
- Unity
- Visitor
- X-O Manowar
Acclaim Universe
While most characters that appeared in Acclaim Comics were altered versions of previous characters, some were created specifically for Acclaim Universe (VH-2)
- Armed & Dangerous
- Armorines
- Bad Eggs
- Bloodshot
- Concrete Jungle
- Darque Passages
- Deadside
- Doctor Tomorrow
- Eternal Warriors
- Grackle
- Gravediggers
- Harbinger
- Magnus, Robot Fighter
- Solar
- N.I.O.
- Ninjak
- Quantum & Woody
- Shadowman
- Trinity Angels
- Troublemakers
- Turok
- Unity 2000
- X-O Manowar
Characters
There are approx. 4000 characters in the Valiant universe. This is not a complete list in any way.
- 1-A
- Alloy
- Angelo Mortalli aka Bloodshot
- Archer
- Aric of Dacia aka X-O Manowar
- Armstrong
- Ax
- Dr. Eclipse
- Doctor Mirage
- Dr. Silk
- Flamingo
- Flatline
- Gamin
- Geomancers
- Gilad, the Eternal Warrior
- Grandmother
- Gunslinger of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Hammerhead of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Harbingers
- Hotshot
- Ivar, the Timewalker
- Kris
- Livewire
- Magnus, Robot Fighter
- Maniac of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Master Darque
- Mothergod
- Mama Nettie
- Ninjak
- Perp of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Pete Stanchek
- Quantum
- Rai
- Sandria
- Screen
- Shatiqua
- Shakespeare of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Shadowman
- Stronghold
- Solar
- Superstar
- Tekla
- Torque
- Toyo Harada
- Trinity Angels
- Turok
- Wipeout of H.A.R.D. Corps
- Woody
- X-O Commando
- Zephyr
Comic-book cover gallery
Parodies
-->Valiant Comics have inspired millions of readers around the globe, they have entered the public consciousness to such a degree that they themselves have been copied and parodied countless times:
-Simpsons Comics: A mad scientist creates four superheroes from his henchmen, they are Simpsons' styled versions of Ninjak, Bloodshot, X-O Manowar & Rai (left to right). The henchmen are called Jim, Steve, Jon & Bob after the Valiant founders Jim Shooter, Steve Massarsky, Jon Hartz & Bob Layton.
-Defective Comics Parody Card Set: Featured 8 parody cards of Valiant comics including B-O Stench-o-war (parody of X-O Manowar), Shallowman (parody of Shadowman) & Buttshot (parody of Bloodshot).
-Misc Paraody Comics: A number of parody comic books inspired by Valiant comics have been published including "Headbanger" (a parody of Harbinger), X-O Cowowar (a parody of X-O Manowar) and Imp Unity (a parody of the UNITY crossover storyline)
External links
- [VALIANT Comics reference information]
- [VALIANT Comics fan message board]
- ["VALIANT Days, VALIANT Nights - A Look Back at the Rise and Fall of VALIANT], mirrored on [Sequart.com]
- [The Valiant Tangent] -- ongoing extensive guide to all Valiant stories
- [X-O Manowar Fan site]
- [Bob Layton's condensed account of Valiant's early history]
- [A Look Back at Valiant Comics article]
- [Valiant Fan Fiction]
- [Timewalker based Valiant Fan Fiction]
- [DC Comics Message Boards regarding VALIANT]
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