Never understood this... please help

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Oxmyx
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Never understood this... please help

Post by Oxmyx »

The Dinesh Valiant didn't have rights to Gold Key 3...I never yet have seen any of the hardback reprints of the classic comics...were the Gold Key 3 seen in the reprinted issues? How'd that work? Am I correct there was no Solar reprint or Magnus reprint? Was there a Rai reprint?
I've been looking everywhere for the ultra-rare Turok vs Blister issue. Anybody able to help me out?

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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Aram »

Oxmyx wrote:The Dinesh Valiant didn't have rights to Gold Key 3...I never yet have seen any of the hardback reprints of the classic comics...were the Gold Key 3 seen in the reprinted issues? How'd that work? Am I correct there was no Solar reprint or Magnus reprint? Was there a Rai reprint?
Are you referring to the dell/goldkey/Whitman runs or the vh1?
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Chiclo
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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Chiclo »

Oxmyx wrote:The Dinesh Valiant didn't have rights to Gold Key 3...I never yet have seen any of the hardback reprints of the classic comics...were the Gold Key 3 seen in the reprinted issues? How'd that work? Am I correct there was no Solar reprint or Magnus reprint? Was there a Rai reprint?
You are correct that the current iteration of Valiant - the common shorthand is VEI but your description as the Dinesh Valiant is valid as well - did not have the licensing rights to the Gold Key 3 - which we commonly use the abbreviation GK3. The generally accepted view was that VEI could not legally reprint the Valiant titles that bore the names of the GK3 and that VEI was allowed to reprint issues of the Valiant-original properties (Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Eternal Warrior et al) in which the GK3 characters appeared. My understanding about whether they could advertise the appearance of these characters in these reprints is somewhat weak - either they were discouraged from doing so legally or decided on their own that it would have been unwise to poke that bear.

Before the current iteration of Valiant began publication in 2012, Dinesh and co. released three hardcover collections of Valiant original titles, X-O, Harbinger and Archer and Armstrong. GK3 characters did appear in these reprints. Funny story - there actually was a lawsuit over the publication but none of them came from the GK3 owners or license holders at the time - it was part of the VIP/Dynamite fiasco.

In 2010, Dark Horse licensed the Gold Key characters and printed "new" stories for the GK3 characters written by Jim Shooter. Dark Horse also reprinted the original Gold Key stories but not any of the Valiant stuff. I say they were "new" stories because Solar was basically a rehash of the Valiant Solar from the early 90s. Some might say it was a Double Doctor Solar story.

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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Chiclo »

It is also worth pointing out that a character who had originally appeared in Marvel comics appeared in the X-O Manowar HC as well. X-Calibre, recruited by someone (Harada?) to take on X-O Manowar had originally appeared in a creator-owned limited series from Marvel's Epic imprint called Coyote. The guy hiring X-Calibre (which I still think was Harada) refers back to events depicted in Coyote, which I guess makes Coyote in-continuity with the original Valiant Universe, or VH1.

Behind the scenes, there were rumblings about Marvel suing Valiant over using the letter X because Marvel owns the letter X or some such nonsense, so Shooter got the creator that owned the character X-Calibre (Steve Engelhart, I think?) to let Valiant use that character in X-O Manowar. Marvel had tried to buy the name X-Calibre, presumably to use for their Excalibur title to bring the name in line with the other X-books. When these early X-O Manowar issues were collected in a TPB, the character's name was changed to Sniper and if I remember right, they call him Sniper in the early VEI HC as well.

Oxmyx
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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Oxmyx »

Thanks, Chiclo.

Two follow-ups...

Is there a VE2 now that DMG is doing damage?

And VH1 Unity...I guess the reason there wasn't and can't be a Unity hardcover is the inclusion of Solar issues and Magnus issues, correct?
I've been looking everywhere for the ultra-rare Turok vs Blister issue. Anybody able to help me out?

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Chiclo
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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Chiclo »

Oxmyx wrote:Thanks, Chiclo.

Two follow-ups...

Is there a VE2 now that DMG is doing damage?

And VH1 Unity...I guess the reason there wasn't and can't be a Unity hardcover is the inclusion of Solar issues and Magnus issues, correct?
I would not think the VE2 label would be appropriate. The VH1 and VH2 (and debated VH3 and VH0) labels denoted two separate continuities. The Iron Man/X-O Manowar crossover handled the crossover in the comics and the VH2 stories that followed it had no connection, story-wise, to the VH1 comics that came before it. The DMG era Valiant comics are still in continuity - Harbinger 1 and Punk Mambo 1 both happened in the same continuity and, at least in theory, there is some degree of connectedness of those stories. A better comparison would be to the Akklaim buyout which roughly corresponded to Chaos Effect in the continuity. Post-Chaos Effect is still considered VH1 and is still in continuity with pre-Unity VH1 comics.

That is a good question about the Unity hardcover, I had not considered it. I won't guess as to the business decisions of the good folks in the Valiant office but I would imagine it would be possible to reprint Unity without the Solar and Magnus issues. The way Unity was laid out was a bit unusual and it was possible to get entire stories from it even when omitting entire titles from the crossover - full entertainmos, to borrow from the original purpose of the measurement. Honestly, the backissues are cheap enough that all 18 standard issues (not including Unity 0 Red, 1 Gold, 1 Platinum, Eternal Warrior 1 gold variants...) would probably cost more to ship than the comics themselves cost, so an interested reader need not wait for the official HC. Even a full set of the 4 Unity TPBs with slip case would probably be cheaper than the cover price of a Unity HC. I haven't looked in a while - are the Diamond Unity trades still pretty expensive? But, I suppose that Valiant could publish an incomplete, 14-issue Unity HC, without the Magnus and Solar issues. They could go 15 issues and include the Lost Chapter.

Oxmyx
H.A.R.D.E.R. Corps, with Extra Resistance
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Favorite character: Blister
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Favorite artist: Barry Wind-Smith
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA
Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Oxmyx »

Hmm...I've never read the XO/Ironman crossover but I am aware of it. Was that VH1 XO I that or VH2 or just a kinda VH1.

Was that crossover event used the explain the rise of VH2 continuity via a multiverse sort of explanation?
I've been looking everywhere for the ultra-rare Turok vs Blister issue. Anybody able to help me out?

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Chiclo
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Re: Never understood this... please help

Post by Chiclo »

Oxmyx wrote:Hmm...I've never read the XO/Ironman crossover but I am aware of it. Was that VH1 XO I that or VH2 or just a kinda VH1.

Was that crossover event used the explain the rise of VH2 continuity via a multiverse sort of explanation?
VH1 XO. As I recall, he did something with a cosmic cube at the end of the second issue that reset his world. A multiverse explanation was avoided at first, but one could argue that the Anywhen Fold and the misadventures of Vincent the Goat in Quantum and Woody could have been a multiverse, where a goat was on first name basis with the Legion of Superheroes.


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