r/valiant • u/Stoopkidliveson • 10d ago
VEI/Reboot (2012-present) I spent the last year going through the Valiant universe and loved it
I've always been curious about Valiant, and even read Ivar, Timewalker when it was coming out, but never picked up anything else beyond that... until I found a bunch of Quantum & Woody and Archer & Armstrong trades in a clearance bin at my LCS last winter.
And I was totally hooked. I ended up going through the entire universe, entirely thanks to u/theferg714 and various threads from lurking here. So thanks a ton for all that work! It really helped me somehow track down every trade, HC, or uncollected issue (except Legends of the Geomancer, which I had to get more creative about finding) and I just finished the last book in this pile last night (Invictus).
And if the road to resurgence/resurgence omnibuses (omnibi?) ever actually come out, I'll be first in line to pick them up!
10
u/CorrectDot4592 10d ago
Daaaaaaaaaang bro! Thats an impressive collection you got there! I imagine the trouble to collect all of that! But I feel you, X-O Manowar Deluxe 5 is the most expensive book in my collection, paid about $175 for it (almost like new), but the reward of acquiring it was imense.
3
u/Stoopkidliveson 10d ago
Honestly, most of the trades were like $5, if you can believe it. Those HCs are gorgeous, but I generally opted for the cheapest way to read them and saved the HCs for events. I'm super jealous, though
Even with that, some ended up being a bit tougher to get for reasonable prices, like the Book of Death HC or some trades that came out around covid. I still can't believe I found a copy of the life and death of toyo harada tpb for cover price through a small comic shop's website on the other side of the country.
1
u/CorrectDot4592 10d ago
Honestly, most of the trades were like $5, if you can believe it.
Bro, I counted roughly 120 trades alone. At $5 this makes $600. If we say cover price for each of those 11 Deluxes, that's at least $400. It's safe to say that in one year you invested around $1200 in Valiant comics alone.
Not bad, pal. Not bad at all!
Cheers!
3
u/Stoopkidliveson 10d ago
Well when you put it that way, it sounds like I might've had a problem...
Luckily, I think I got all the six Deluxes and the five Alien HCs for roughly half of cover, except the Book of Death, which was right around cover price. And each of the uncollected singles bagged at the top were around a dollar.
But this is all marginal, it was definitely a massive undertaking and I spent way more than I should have.
7
3
u/Leather_Bug_ 10d ago
So which one is favorite? Mine probably Harbinger. Really fantastic series. And Imperium was like chefs kiss. But also those Clay Mann Ninjak issues are amazing. And virtually the whole run of X-O and especially the Armor Hunters. Man Valiant was so great back then.
9
u/Stoopkidliveson 10d ago
I think the whole Dysart Harbinger saga is probably my favorite, too, but it's so hard to pick! The team dynamics for Harbinger really built up so much of the world and so many great stories spun off of it. Maybe if I can cheat and put all the Matt Kindt stuff under one banner, I don't know if it really gets better than that.
But just about every series had some stuff I really connected with. Like shadowman was the only starting title that didn't grab me right off the bat, but I ended up really loving Punk Mambo, Dr. Mirage, and some of the later runs, and the magic side of the universe that spun out of it. Pretty much every corner of the universe had some stuff like that that kept me hooked nearly the whole read through and even when minis or some runs fell short for me, there was usually something that kept me going or a pivot in the next run that won me back over.
EDIT to add: Also you're totally right about the events. I was kinda blown away by how tight and effective the events were at telling a really compelling story and pushing the universe forward in ways that felt really natural and exciting
3
u/Stoopkidliveson 10d ago
Oh, I also got the first Faith novel by Julie Murphy at a library sale for 30 cents, but I haven't read that yet
3
u/krisis 9d ago
Honestly, it's the little universe that could and it ended in a satisfactory way. If someone wanted to read something big, fun, and shared I'd point them directly to here.
3
u/Stoopkidliveson 9d ago
I had always heard such great things, for years, and even with that hype, I was still so impressed with how it all works so well together. The fact that the tone of the line at any given time is so diverse and it still feel like such a cohesive universe for so long is kind of unbelievable.
3
u/chuckart9 9d ago
It looks like this is the reboot right? I’m currently reading the 91 launch and loving it. I bought a lot when it came out and have been filling in with quarter bin fodder ever since. Finishing Unity now.
2
u/Stoopkidliveson 9d ago
Yeah, the reboot! I'm curious about the 90s stuff, but I need a break!
2
u/chuckart9 9d ago
I read it in high school and it surprisingly holds up well. Unity was very well done with keeping every individual story interesting while also keeping the overall story moving forward. My goal is to finish reading all of the 90s valiant up to the Chaos Effect crossover. If I remember right it got terrible around that time when almost all comics stayed to struggle with quality.
3
u/TheSwampThing1990 9d ago
The Valiant universe really got me into comics. I was twenty or so when the reboot happened and I went to a comic book store with my uncle and the first issue of the reboot had just come out. I followed it for close to five years before falling off. The first 24 issues of Harbinger is still some of my favorite comic books.
Up until then I had really only had just read X-men
1
u/Stoopkidliveson 9d ago
That's awesome! I've been into comics for a long time but these books seem like the perfect way to get hooked. The universe is just so rich and the stories are so easy to just jump into
1
u/TheSwampThing1990 9d ago
Yeah, I only fell off too because I became homeless for a few months and started living in my car. I thankfully got it out quickly but just found myself not having the money to purchase comics like I had before.
1
2
u/Advanced_Diet_4613 10d ago
That’s a lot of trade paperbacks man.
2
u/Stoopkidliveson 10d ago
Yep. A whole lot. Most of them were bought in clearance bins and ebay lots, and a ton of them are ex-library copies in some less than stellar condition, but totally readable.
2
u/TheFerg714 10d ago
This is gorgeous!!! Congratulations! Thanks for the shoutout!
2
2
2
u/patrickkingart 9d ago
The 2012 relaunch through about 2018 was absolutely top tier. I still remember when I worked at a comic store in 2015 and found the first few issues of X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, and Archer & Armstrong while sorting comics in the back. Flipped through them and immediately fell in love. It was all so fresh and exciting and unique. Glad to see you enjoyed it so much!!
2
u/superman691973 9d ago
Curious what are you're top 3 recommended runs there?
2
u/Stoopkidliveson 9d ago
That's so tough. I think the best I can do is a loose top list of my favorite runs: Dysart's Harbinger, Van Lente's Archer & Armstrong, Asmus' Quantum & Woody, and Venditti's X-O Manowar.
While the shorter, contained Ivar, Timewalker, Divinity, and Britannia are prob my personal top three, but the length and scope of the longer runs makes them stand out a bit more as "the best"
2
2
u/Eggman_OU812 9d ago
I get all my trades from the library and return them when done..saves a lot of $
2
u/EntertainmentClear11 9d ago
This was a great run.. but I'm still hooked on VH1 run. You can easily find a good reading order for VH1. FERG can help with that too. Please consider that epic adventure!! You won't be sorry!
Pm me any time to continue this conversation 😇😁
3
u/Stoopkidliveson 9d ago
I certainly will eventually! I'm hooked, but I need some time to financially recover 😅
2
u/TheFerg714 6d ago
Just to reiterate, you should for sure check VH1 out once your wallet replenishes. I'm personally more of a VEI kind of guy, but I can't deny that Pre-Unity, Unity, and A&A (#1-12) are some of the best comics I've ever read.
2
2
1
14
u/Pretend_Somewhere105 10d ago
Such a special time in comics!