If I recall correctly (and there’s a good chance that I don’t), the launch of the original Valiant comics took me a little bit by surprise. I don’t know how that could have been, but I have a memory of seeing several new and unexpected titles all at once at the same time. In any case, I remember being in “cut-back mode” (as I usually am, but I decided to give them all a try, anyway. I stuck with them all through Unity, the first line-wide crossover, but dropped them all immediately after that.
Sometime later, my LCS opened up its fabled back room to customers for the first time ever. Admission was $10, but everything inside was only 25 cents apiece. I bought boxes and boxes of comics, not only all of the Valiant stuff, but entire runs of lots of Vertigo series as well. From that point on, I pretty much kept up with all of them until the company folded. I think I have every single Valiant every published except of Unity 2000 #3, although I admit I haven’t read them all and probably never will. When Acclaim re-launched the line toward the end of the decade, I gave them all a try but they failed to capture whatever it was that had made them so popular earlier in the decade.
Now they’re back for a third time, but without the former Gold Key properties Dr. Solar, Magnus and Turok, the cornerstones of the Valiant universe’s past, present and future. It will be interesting if reboots of Valiant’s original properties will be enough to sustain interest in the line.
Anyone else out there reading these? Share your thoughts!
Replies
X-O MANOWAR #1-2: So far, the story has been very similar to the original, but quite a bit more decompressed.
HARBINGER #1: The one thing readers always suspected about Peter Stanchek and his girlfriend Kris is brought front and center and confirmed in the very first issue. This comic made me feel dirty after I had read it.
It looks as if Stanchek and Harada are going to have a less adversarial relationship this go-round.
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #1: This is the one I was most curious about. Of all the Valiant characters and titles to choose from, the one strikes me as the most idiosyncratic. I couldn’t imagine anyone other than Barry Windsor-Smith handling these characters and doing them justice (and I am speaking as someone who has read stories of someone other than Barry Windsor-Smith handling them). But you will notice I used the past tense in the previous sentence. I came to this comic prepared to hate it, but I loved it! Fred Van Lente’s version may be as different from BWS’s as the Golden Age Green Lantern is from the Silver, but he has definitely taken these characters and made them his own.
Fans of the original Anni-Padda family as well as Van Lente’s Hercules may want to give this one a try.
I'd thought about this one. This is the one Valiant title that I had bought a few issues of when it first came out in the 90's. What I remember is discovering a cool new artist named Adam Pollina. I don't remember a thing about it other than that, but it made me want to grab this one just to see if I liked it.
I may go back and pick this one up. You know, just out of curiosity.
I've been very impressed with the new Valiant so far and I'm looking forward to A&A. It was one of my favorite Valiant titles back in the day and I'm interested to see how it will work this time around. However, I don't go to the store every week (that's why I have a pull list) so I'll have to wait a bit before I find out for myself.
BLOODSHOT #2: Dark.
HARBINGER #3: Disturbing.
I read Archer & Armstrong #1 yesterday, and I liked it better than I actually thought I would. It is my first dip in the new Valiant comics. Not too bad.
X-O MANOWAR #4: Issue #4? I thought it had been a long time since #2. Darn.
I caught myself up on all Valiant comics over the weekend, including X-O Manowar #3-5, and I re-read Archer & Armstrong #1-2. I liked the new A&A from the first issue, but the second was better. If you read the BWS incarnation of A&A and liked it, I think you’ll like this, too, because it’s very different; if you read the BWS version and didn’t like it, you might want to try this one, anyway, because it’s different as well.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Read the first issue of this over the weekend, right after reading stories about the Dazzler becoming the herald of Galactus and Adult Luthor inadvertently stopping Superboy from saving Abraham Lincoln.
I hadn't been aware that these characters existed previously, so I had no preconceptions going in. It was interesting. Some of the characterization was heavy-handed - I know alot of people who won't swear, and none of them says anything as ridiculous as "flipping bullcorn". Also, I cringed a little at the depiction of the obnoxious, ignorant fat people at the start of the book. "Fat people" jokes are not so funny to me as they were thirty years ago.
Overall, it's an interesting story, enough that I'll probably try another issue to see where this goes, especially since Marvel and DC seem to be largely uninteresting to me these days, apart from one or two books. The artwork is real good, too.
I always feel a bit apprehensive when someone else buys a comic book based on my recommendation. The characterization is admittedly a bit over-the-top; that's one of the similarities to the earlier incarnation. I'm glad you're going to give it another issue or two. As I indicated, the second issue is already out and I liked it better than the first.
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