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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 a number of video game franchises that have sold over 10 million units. The Valiant characters have been called the most important of those created after the Marvel revolution in the 1960s (when Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc. were created) . The Valiant universe includes Archer and Armstrong, Armorines, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, H.A.R.D. Corps, Harbinger, Magnus Robot Fighter, Ninjak, Psi Lords, Quantum and Woody, Rai, Second Life of Dr. Mirage, Shadowman, Solar Man of the Atom, Turok Dinosaur Hunter, Unity and X-O Manowar, among others.
History 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 dormant properties from 1960s and 1970s publisher Gold Key Comics: Magnus Robot Fighter; Doctor Solar; and Turok Dinosaur Hunter. In 1990, Valiant launched its superhero line, mixing modified versions of the Gold Key characters with several original titles & characters - Archer and 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. By producing unique characters, and stories of a higher quality (they chose to differentiate their books by writing better stories than those seen in their competitors' books) Valiant quickly developed a passionate fanbase. 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 that established the new universes origins and featured the first appearances of its characters. 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 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 Dinosaur Hunter 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. However, Shooter used the high profile book as an opportunity to strike back at his former partners, creating a group of new villains who mimicked their looks and personalities. Additionally, Acclaim failed to market the books but, nevertheless, saw a good deal of interest on the issues that saw print. Acclaim was forced to stop the series after only 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 to focus on its faltering core business. 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 and Armstrong, Armorines, Bloodshot, Doctor Tomorrow, Eternal Warrior, H.A.R.D. Corps, Harbinger, Ninjak, Psi Lords, Quantum and 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, Valiant Entertainment, Inc. were recognized as the new owners of the Valiant library of properties. Valiant Entertainment, Inc. has expressed an interest in bringing the characters back to their popular pre-Acclaim state. Universe The Valiant Universe is the fictional shared universe where all of the comic stories published by Valiant Comics take place. 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 the 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 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 a race of spider-like 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 20th century (the present) 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. 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, their experiences throughout all those years had made them different from their more contemporary counterparts. 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 as the creative direction changed to fit those now in charge (Bob Layton and Kevin VanHook). 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-issues-per-month schedule for their more popular titles (Bloodshot, Harbinger, Ninjak, Shadowman, X-O Manowar etc.). Soon after, Acclaim Entertainment, who had bought Valiant several months before, restarted the comics line with new, video game friendly, 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, Kurt Busiek and Garth Ennis. The line also introduced new titles such as Troublemakers, Trinity Angels and, the hit comedy, Quantum and Woody. Perhaps most successful in this period were the re-imagined Turok and Shadowman 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 the 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 Shooters 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 the 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 while the series suffered a number of administrative problems (art return and payment issues) and were forced to cancel the series after only the third issue. In 2005, the rights to the Valiant and Acclaim original characters (such as Archer and Armstrong, Rai, Quantum and Woody etc,) were auctioned off. The rights to the three licensed characters (Solar, Magnus and Turok ) reverted to Random House, which currently owns Western Publishing and Gold Key Comics properties. The Valiant fans continue to celebrate the stories and characters of the Valiant Universe. Among the many activities held, they organize Valiant Conventions that are staged every year at the San Diego Comic Con and the New York Big Apple Show, and produce a variety of Valiant fan projects including signed books, posters, lithographs and toys (which have become highly sought after by collectors). Valiant Universe 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) Characters There are approximately 4000 characters in the Valiant universe. Main article: Valiant Comics Characters Trading Cards During the trading card boom of the early 90s, Valiant Comics, through licenses with the major trading card manufacturers, produced a number of trading card sets and promotional cards to highlight the comics and characters of the Valiant Universe. The major trading card sets include: Please see Valiant Comics trading cards, for more information. Cultural Impact The Valiant Universe has had a significant impact on modern global pop culture. Comic books, in particular, have been influenced by Valiant Comics. When Valiant Comics first started publishing in the early 1990s, comic books favored flashy art and name artists over quality writing and strong continuity. According to Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, Valiant Comics goal was to differentiate their books by out-writing the competition. Valiant pioneered a writing technique that has come to be termed as decompression. At a time when most comic book story arcs took place in a single issue, Valiant stories would encompass anywhere from four to eight issues. Valiant utilized a structure similar to films and novels - rich character development and a strong emphasis on mood - and the longer page count made the stories more easily transferable to collections and graphic novels. Valiant's success led the comic book industry to make a sea change from art-based comics to writing-based comics. Today, the top creators are largely writers and the top books are periodically collected into best selling graphic novels. Additionally, Valiant has influenced a number of science fiction films. Valiant's approach to science fiction ignored the cliche of a dystopic or apocalyptic, instead focusing on the idea that man would continue to make his world more habitable and thereby strive towards a Utopic future world complete with a robotic workforce. However, this world would come to pass with the willful disregard of civil liberties, and man was destined to be embroiled in a battle for control with its robots. A number of elements of successful Valiant storylines have been seen in successful films such as The Matrix trilogy and I, Robot. Valiant created a highly successful marketing campaign based on word of mouth sales by correctly betting that higher quality stories would inspire retailers and fans to recommend Valiant. Because fans were not targeted through traditional advertising, those who found Valiant felt that they were now part of a community of Valiant readers who were 'in the know'. The experience of the more engaging decompressed storytelling and the strong sense of community created an especially passionate fan base for Valiant Comics. Furthermore, Valiant encouraged its fans to show off their pride in public, rewarding the best efforts with gold logo variant versions of Valiant comics. Even though the gold logo program is no longer in effect, the Valiant fans continue to exhibit their passion by organizing Valiant Conventions that are staged annually at the San Diego Comic Con and the New York Big Apple Con, and produce a variety of Valiant fan projects, including signed books, posters, lithographs and toys, funded entirely by fans. These items have become highly sought after by collectors. Parodies Valiant Comics has been copied and parodied a number of times: Logo History Valiant's first logo appeared on its licensed products (Nintendo and Wrestling comics) before being seen on its superhero line. In May 1991, the logo first appeared on a superhero comic when it appeared on Magnus Robot Fighter In November 1992, Valiant updated its logo changing the typeface from a fancy script to a thick bold script. This change occurred only two months after the end of the successful Unity crossover and on the back of the departure of Jim Shooter. Immediately after the Chaos Effect crossover the logo was updated again. The type face was kept but the wording was changed to "Valiant Presents. The famous compass logo was diminished in size and moved from below the text. After the sale to Acclaim Entertainment Inc. for $65 million, the logo was completely revamped. The famous compass logo was replaced by a large letter "V" that appeared above the wording "Valiant", which appeared in a new type face. To coincide with the Acclaim Comics relaunch another completely revamped logo was created. This logo signified the synergy between Acclaim and Valiant, merging the letters "A" and "V" into one logo with the wording "Acclaim Comics Valiant Heroes". Most recently, the compass logo has reappeared along with a variation of the original type face. The only major change is the addition of the wording "Entertainment". Glossary There are a number of terms that are unique to either Valiant universe of the Valiant Comics fandom. Here are the definitions of a few. See also Comic-book cover gallery Image:Harbinger 01-00.jpg| Harbinger Image:Xomanowar0.jpg|X-O Manowar Image:Harbinger_02-00.jpg| Harbinger | |||||||||||||||||
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