The "Definitive" Valiant...

[BrettC]

Perhaps this question has been asked and answered before... I am a recent reader on these boards.

I want purchase a collection of reading copies of the Valiant books for my son, so that he can enjoy these comics when he's 13 the way I did in my late teens.

It's obvious to everyone that the story quality of the Valiant titles deteriorated over time. What are your opinons on when the quality change occured? Meaning, how far should I go in my re-collecting to make sure I get all the great Valiant tales? Up until Unity? A few issues post-Unity?

Thanks for your feedback.

Brett

[greg]

You'll get all kinds of answers, I'm sure...

But it sounds like you definitely need the books through Unity...
(Coupons and cards aren't required, and probably save costs...)
That's about 50 pre-Unity and 18 Unity books... not a lot of books.

For the most part, you can get books immediately after Unity
for $0.25 each if you find the right seller... so it's not expensive
to add another 50 or 100 books to the set.

I will be very surprised if the common books from 1993-1994 move
beyond $0.50 each in the next ten years... so you could wait on those
and not miss the boat on a good buy.

Whether to go for the final issues depends on whether your son
might enjoy those 1991-1994 books and want to keep reading...
It's hard to say... he'll possibly have a few favorite titles,
but unless you want to predict which ones... you might want to wait.

Then again, if you had everything, your bases would be covered.

[Ryan]

If it were me I would give him everything through Unity plus Rai #0, some of the early Bob Hall Shadowman (#10 and up), some early Bloodshot, and the BWS Archer & Armstrong. Then like Greg said let him decide if he has any favorite characters he wants to continue, or maybe continue the whole line if he really likes it, then he can decide for himself if it gets worse and he can stop when he wants.

[Todd Luck]

Every single one of the Unity and Pre-Unity issues with the all the issues published for the first two monthes after Unity (plus Magnus up till issue 20) is all of Jim Shooter's reign and in my opinion THE definitive Valiant.

Though not as good or consistant I also really enjoyed Bob Hall's Shadowman, Eternal Warrior up to 25 (and the first year book),and Rai and the Future Force. Plus Magnus/Nexus rocked.

[Daniel Jackson]

A good place to start would be the TPB's if you are just interested in the reading. That way you can get an idea of whether of not you like the series or the characters before investing a lot of time and money filling in the different runs.

[BrettC]

Thanks to all for your posts. I was an avid collector of Valiant Comics 12 years ago and had nearly all of the regular issues. When I got desperate for money in college, I sold nearly every comic book of value I had to pay for expenses.

The other day I found an issue or two that I had kept and was re-excited about these books. It made me sad that I had sold the issues, but finding this website gave me some excitement about getting them back.

At first, I thought I would just buy back what I needed to be able to read those early issues. But browsing around this website and reading the other posts has inspired me to buy some of those early issues in good condition for collecting, many of which I couldn't afford before. I forgot how much fun comic collecting can be.

Thanks for the website...

Brett

[justin]

Welcome Brett!

-A

[Ryan]

If it were me I would give him everything through Unity plus Rai #0, some of the early Bob Hall Shadowman (#10 and up), some early Bloodshot, and the BWS Archer & Armstrong. Then like Greg said let him decide if he has any favorite characters he wants to continue, or maybe continue the whole line if he really likes it, then he can decide for himself if it gets worse and he can stop when he wants.

Quoting myself from 20 years ago because I still stand by this

[ManofTheAtom]

If it were me I would give him everything through Unity plus Rai #0, some of the early Bob Hall Shadowman (#10 and up), some early Bloodshot, and the BWS Archer & Armstrong. Then like Greg said let him decide if he has any favorite characters he wants to continue, or maybe continue the whole line if he really likes it, then he can decide for himself if it gets worse and he can stop when he wants.

Quoting myself from 20 years ago because I still stand by this

[greg]

If it were me I would give him everything through Unity plus Rai #0, some of the early Bob Hall Shadowman (#10 and up), some early Bloodshot, and the BWS Archer & Armstrong. Then like Greg said let him decide if he has any favorite characters he wants to continue, or maybe continue the whole line if he really likes it, then he can decide for himself if it gets worse and he can stop when he wants.

Quoting myself from 20 years ago because I still stand by this

It's nice to hear that I was right 20 years ago and I'm still right today.

[Ryan]

If it were me I would give him everything through Unity plus Rai #0, some of the early Bob Hall Shadowman (#10 and up), some early Bloodshot, and the BWS Archer & Armstrong. Then like Greg said let him decide if he has any favorite characters he wants to continue, or maybe continue the whole line if he really likes it, then he can decide for himself if it gets worse and he can stop when he wants.

Quoting myself from 20 years ago because I still stand by this

It's nice to hear that I was right 20 years ago and I'm still right today.

I'm imagining younger versions of ourselves being right

[magnusr]

It's nice to hear that I was right 20 years ago and I'm still right today.

My first instinct is to think we were very young 20 years ago, but...

/Magnus

[greg]

It's nice to hear that I was right 20 years ago and I'm still right today.

My first instinct is to think we were very young 20 years ago, but...

/Magnus

Some of us drove (and gave driving directions) like we could benefit from more experience.

[magnusr]

Some of us drove (and gave driving directions) like we could benefit from more experience.

Slam dunk!

Yeah, that was close to 20 years ago. Memories.

For those who find the reference obscure - here's a slightly similar situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T5UG1GRe2A

/Magnus

[nycjadie]

It's nice to hear that I was right 20 years ago and I'm still right today.

My first instinct is to think we were very young 20 years ago, but...

/Magnus

Some of us drove (and gave driving directions) like we could benefit from more experience.

lol! That’s the quote of the day for me! Dying.