Jeff Gomez interview from 2018 - VH1 and 2 talk

Discuss the VALIANT comics, characters, and collecting.
PLEASE DO NOT REVEAL SPOILER INFORMATION IN YOUR TOPIC TITLE.

Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg

Post Reply
User avatar
Ryan
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Posts: 2634
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 9:51:18 pm
Jeff Gomez interview from 2018 - VH1 and 2 talk

Post by Ryan »

https://wetalkpodcasts.com/wtc-special- ... aliant-v2/

Found this very podcast interview with Jeff Gomez from 2018. Lots of interesting Valiant talk.

Some points that I found interesting:

He started as an entry level assistant right after Shooter left so it's really interesting to hear his perspective of those days as an insider who wasn't actually involved creatively with the books. He talks about how they went from having some of the most experienced writers in comics (Shooter, Michelinie, Stern, etc.) to a bunch of guys in their 20s with little to no experience writing comics.

That was right when Valiant was in the midst of their boom in popularity, so you had these kids cutting their teeth on titles that were selling hundreds of thousands of copies a month and a ton of expectation. Crazy situation to be put in for sure. I think it was a major reason for the market backlash that occurred and still affects Valiant's perception today. It was a big time bait and switch. These comics became hugely popular due to word of mouth about the stories, then when people catch on and go to check them out en masse, they get mediocre reads by kids just starting out. Not saying they were all bad but I think that explains pretty well to people who weren't there why there's such a massive drop off post-Unity.

He also talks about how he was pushing to 'modernize' (aka Image-ize) the art to address the sales dropping off but Bob resisted and wanted to keep doing it the 'old-school' Valiant way. I agree with Bob on this point. Valiant's main distinction in the market was the story-driven, classical approach. To try and play Image's game at that point would be a losing game IMO. First you would lose the only thing that made you special and second you wouldn't be able to get the top Image guys anyway so you would end up being a pale imitation of the 'hot' style.

At that point (around Chaos Effect) the post-Unity sales slide was really starting to set in, and the entire industry was starting to buckle under the weight of the speculation fervor beginning its correction phase. Everyone was chasing the Image revolution and trying to make the art as flashy as possible because that's what sold, not story.

I think, in hindsight, Valiant should have double downed on story. Spend all that money they had on bringing in a stable of veteran solid writers and editors from 80's Marvel who were being discarded (Stern, Claremont, Nocenti, L. Simonson, Gruenwald etc.) and really craft a tight, interconnected epic story. Instead they spent the money on new houses for the Birthquake creators and here we are.

valiantdude
i was the one who posted this in 2013.omg wtf. i was smoking a lot of weed then. still do!!
i was the one who posted this in 2013.omg wtf. i was smoking a lot of weed then. still do!!
Posts: 784
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2004 7:14:42 pm
Contact:
Re: Jeff Gomez interview from 2018 - VH1 and 2 talk

Post by valiantdude »

in the end massarsky was a *SQUEE* face, and ruined everything for a quick sale, guess it worked for him, because he got the money, and he died.. he didnt give a flying *SQUEE* about the comics, just was a good money man networker

User avatar
Ryan
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Clinkin' bottles with Aram
Posts: 2634
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 9:51:18 pm
Re: Jeff Gomez interview from 2018 - VH1 and 2 talk

Post by Ryan »

valiantdude wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 12:36:34 am in the end massarsky was a *SQUEE* face, and ruined everything for a quick sale, guess it worked for him, because he got the money, and he died.. he didnt give a flying *SQUEE* about the comics, just was a good money man networker
Greed and ego every time *sigh*. The ironic thing is he didn't even realize the potential for a healthy comic book universe to be worth billions in the global multimedia market. It took the Marvel movies for most people to see that. But yeah he got his quick flip and made a handsome profit, I'm sure those margaritas at fancy resorts tasted great.


Post Reply