I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
-
- I'm just glad it was pretty good, long and drawn out. (that's what she said.)
- Posts: 3292
- Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 9:38:00 pm
- Valiant fan since: Unity
- Favorite character: Tie between Flo and Andy
- Favorite title: Archer and Armstrong
- Favorite writer: The ones that wrote 4 Valiant.
- Location: Here, there, at some point everywhere.
I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
My Epic Valiant Story;
Though things are a bit fuzzy in the beginning, I know I for sure that I began collecting comics in the beginning of the speculative craze about 1-2 months after Unity. It all started after seeing "The death of Superman" on the news. I immediately looked up my local comic shop's number and called to ask if they had any copies left. I bought 2 and promptly opened 1.
Within a few months I was reading Wizard Magazine and going to shows, though I was literally poor and 13 at the time and really couldn't afford to buy much of anything. I would go door to door asking to mow lawns and do anything I could to raise cash to feed my comic book addiction. What started as an interest in the entire industry narrowed within 2 years to solely valiant.
I sold/traded every one of my non-Valiant comics so that I could get more Valiant. In a time that other comics cost $1.25, Valiant was 2.25 to 2.50. Unity prices were $10-$40+ per issue and anything prior was a pipe dream to me. At an approximate income of $30 per month total from every source I could scrape up at the time... there was just no other way to continue but to sell off my few my non-Valiant comics. I remember vividly daydreaming about winning the "Every Valiant Comic" when Secret Weapons #1 came out.
Then I remember the decline.. the market beginning to crash.. My local comic shop began to toss Valiant comics in the $3.00 for 10 comic grab bags. I worked out a deal to let me pick out 10 Valiant's for $5.00. It was the high point of my collecting years. At that time I was only signed up for Second Life of Doctor Mirage in my "Comic Saver", because my second comic; Archer and Armstrong had been apparently been canceled. It was 1995, my income had dropped to about $15-$20 per month and I had got every cheap Valiant my local shop had at a discount. Then I went into the shop to get my one comic I was buying still...
The Second Life of Doctor Mirage #18. They didn't have it.
My collecting days were over. My Valiant days were over. I found out 2 months later that it Second Life of Doctor Mirage was cancelled, and I never did get that last issue. I was *SQUEE* at Acclaim and angry at Valiant for selling out.
Within a year I traded my small but still prized entire comic collection which consisted of 3/4ths of a SHORT box for a Turbo Grafx CD to a friend, which I regretfully sold at a yard sale within a year because my income had gone down to $0-$5 from all sources at the age of 16.
Fast forward half a decade or so...
I stop by my Local Comic Shop that I first went to when I was 7 years old... just for nostalgia sake.
I see the new (2001)Catwoman #2 with it's retro inspired cover and I'm hooked and pick up Issue 1 for $4 and start a new saver.
I am a young adult with a minimum wage paying job, no transportation but I at least have some small disposable income and I live within half a mile of my job.
Not long after I am driving down the street with a friend and we see a sign... "Comics Shop GOING OUT OF BUSINESS". As we both collected comics together in our youth we decide to stop by to check it out.
25 cents per comic or $40. per Long box. They had near complete runs of the common Valiants...
I left with 2 long boxes. one was 75% Valiant, no doubles. I had reclaimed 75% or more of my hard earned comic collection of my youth in one fell swoop for $80.
Within a week I had discovered Valiantcomics.com and was now on the road to "Recovery".
About 4 or 5 years pass, I obtain a vehicle and I slowly build up my collection where ever I can find the missing pieces for prices I could afford. I send in my email and post my collection on valiantfans... I'm at over 50%! Far more than I ever dreamed I would have.
Fast forward another Half a decade or so... I get married, have kids, get a decent lower-middle class job... discover the evils of eBay... and lo and behold! Valiant is coming back! And I have all regular issues and some of the variants! I then see an eBay listing for All the GOLDS... $420 shipped... OUCH...
Not in my budget... financially strapping to be blunt... but thankfully I have an understanding wife that has been with me for the last 1/2 a decade and knows how much I love me some Valiant.
Which brings me back here to the ValiantFans Forum... where I don't believe I ever stopped to post before.
I received the Golds in the mail Just this last week and with a few items picked up here and there, I am now down to 49 items in the VH1 Universe left to find!
For some perspective earlier this week, I did some serious soul-searching and then asked my wife; "What would you be willing to sell all the Valiant for right now if someone was at the door with CASH?" She asked me; "Well what did you pay for them?" I replied; "About $1300. and over 11 years tracking them down.", She said after a pause; "Well probably $2000 then."
I smile, turn to her and replied; "You know what someone would honestly have to offer me for me to actually even begin to think about selling them?"
"About Ten Thousand Dollars."
"Wow", she replied. "Are they worth that?", she asked. I said, "No, they are probably worth about $1300 to $2000 tops on the market and only then to someone that wants them as a complete set." "But, that's what they are honestly worth to me after 11 years of trying to find them."
Though things are a bit fuzzy in the beginning, I know I for sure that I began collecting comics in the beginning of the speculative craze about 1-2 months after Unity. It all started after seeing "The death of Superman" on the news. I immediately looked up my local comic shop's number and called to ask if they had any copies left. I bought 2 and promptly opened 1.
Within a few months I was reading Wizard Magazine and going to shows, though I was literally poor and 13 at the time and really couldn't afford to buy much of anything. I would go door to door asking to mow lawns and do anything I could to raise cash to feed my comic book addiction. What started as an interest in the entire industry narrowed within 2 years to solely valiant.
I sold/traded every one of my non-Valiant comics so that I could get more Valiant. In a time that other comics cost $1.25, Valiant was 2.25 to 2.50. Unity prices were $10-$40+ per issue and anything prior was a pipe dream to me. At an approximate income of $30 per month total from every source I could scrape up at the time... there was just no other way to continue but to sell off my few my non-Valiant comics. I remember vividly daydreaming about winning the "Every Valiant Comic" when Secret Weapons #1 came out.
Then I remember the decline.. the market beginning to crash.. My local comic shop began to toss Valiant comics in the $3.00 for 10 comic grab bags. I worked out a deal to let me pick out 10 Valiant's for $5.00. It was the high point of my collecting years. At that time I was only signed up for Second Life of Doctor Mirage in my "Comic Saver", because my second comic; Archer and Armstrong had been apparently been canceled. It was 1995, my income had dropped to about $15-$20 per month and I had got every cheap Valiant my local shop had at a discount. Then I went into the shop to get my one comic I was buying still...
The Second Life of Doctor Mirage #18. They didn't have it.
My collecting days were over. My Valiant days were over. I found out 2 months later that it Second Life of Doctor Mirage was cancelled, and I never did get that last issue. I was *SQUEE* at Acclaim and angry at Valiant for selling out.
Within a year I traded my small but still prized entire comic collection which consisted of 3/4ths of a SHORT box for a Turbo Grafx CD to a friend, which I regretfully sold at a yard sale within a year because my income had gone down to $0-$5 from all sources at the age of 16.
Fast forward half a decade or so...
I stop by my Local Comic Shop that I first went to when I was 7 years old... just for nostalgia sake.
I see the new (2001)Catwoman #2 with it's retro inspired cover and I'm hooked and pick up Issue 1 for $4 and start a new saver.
I am a young adult with a minimum wage paying job, no transportation but I at least have some small disposable income and I live within half a mile of my job.
Not long after I am driving down the street with a friend and we see a sign... "Comics Shop GOING OUT OF BUSINESS". As we both collected comics together in our youth we decide to stop by to check it out.
25 cents per comic or $40. per Long box. They had near complete runs of the common Valiants...
I left with 2 long boxes. one was 75% Valiant, no doubles. I had reclaimed 75% or more of my hard earned comic collection of my youth in one fell swoop for $80.
Within a week I had discovered Valiantcomics.com and was now on the road to "Recovery".
About 4 or 5 years pass, I obtain a vehicle and I slowly build up my collection where ever I can find the missing pieces for prices I could afford. I send in my email and post my collection on valiantfans... I'm at over 50%! Far more than I ever dreamed I would have.
Fast forward another Half a decade or so... I get married, have kids, get a decent lower-middle class job... discover the evils of eBay... and lo and behold! Valiant is coming back! And I have all regular issues and some of the variants! I then see an eBay listing for All the GOLDS... $420 shipped... OUCH...
Not in my budget... financially strapping to be blunt... but thankfully I have an understanding wife that has been with me for the last 1/2 a decade and knows how much I love me some Valiant.
Which brings me back here to the ValiantFans Forum... where I don't believe I ever stopped to post before.
I received the Golds in the mail Just this last week and with a few items picked up here and there, I am now down to 49 items in the VH1 Universe left to find!
For some perspective earlier this week, I did some serious soul-searching and then asked my wife; "What would you be willing to sell all the Valiant for right now if someone was at the door with CASH?" She asked me; "Well what did you pay for them?" I replied; "About $1300. and over 11 years tracking them down.", She said after a pause; "Well probably $2000 then."
I smile, turn to her and replied; "You know what someone would honestly have to offer me for me to actually even begin to think about selling them?"
"About Ten Thousand Dollars."
"Wow", she replied. "Are they worth that?", she asked. I said, "No, they are probably worth about $1300 to $2000 tops on the market and only then to someone that wants them as a complete set." "But, that's what they are honestly worth to me after 11 years of trying to find them."
It's not that I don't have an avatar... I've just been working on it for the last few hundred years.
- greg
- The admin around here must be getting old and soft.
- Posts: 22861
- Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:39:27 am
- Valiant fan since: Rai #0
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- Favorite title: Depends on writer
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- Favorite artist: Depends on character
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- Contact:
- myron
- I do embrace my inner geekdom
- Posts: 16277
- Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 10:37:59 am
- Valiant fan since: 1991
- Favorite character: Gilad
- Favorite title: Pre-Unity Harbinger
- Location: watertown, wi
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Nice!
now keep posting...
now keep posting...
Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?
- caniac
- the hole just keeps getting deeper
- Posts: 3688
- Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:41:24 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: XO Manowar
- Favorite title: XO Manowar
- Favorite writer: Robert Venditti
- Location: the beach
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Nice story...welcome!
- MoonChild
- I HAVE NO INTENT ON BEING PATIENT!
- Posts: 4351
- Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:14:53 am
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: BloodShot
- Favorite title: Harbinger
- Favorite writer: Dysart
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Great read! Looks like You got onboard literally right after me and we were around the same age! I got onboard the day of the Death Of Superman came out with BloodShot #1. That same day I got a few others too A&A, EW, RAI. Didn't get hooked on all things Valiant till 2007 though! I was only into BloodShot as a kid, was my Fav along with Wolvie n Punshier.
I left with 2 long boxes. one was 75% Valiant, no doubles. I had reclaimed 75% or more of my hard earned comic collection of my youth in one fell swoop for $80.
Oh, and welcome! Your package is on my table, should go out tomorrow or monday the latest
I left with 2 long boxes. one was 75% Valiant, no doubles. I had reclaimed 75% or more of my hard earned comic collection of my youth in one fell swoop for $80.
Oh, and welcome! Your package is on my table, should go out tomorrow or monday the latest
Click the Sig, Hear Something Different!
http://www.reverbnation.com/lexmoon
Also, Check my reverbnation page^
- iggy101us
- I bought my first comics at Kwik-E-Mart
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- Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:12:20 am
- Location: Calizona Sector, North Am
- Contact:
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Welcome . . . the evils of eBay . . .
- kevinbastos
- I felt 'used car salesman' kind of dirty.
- Posts: 3868
- Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:34:06 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Rai
- Favorite title: Quantum & Woody
- Location: Pittsburgh, PA
- Contact:
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
No kidding. Welcome!iggy101us wrote:Welcome . . . the evils of eBay . . .
Hey, look! I have a podcast!
And a Website!
http://www.valiantnewuniverse.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If I win an argument, it doesn't mean I'm right. It means I'm a better arguer.
In addition, I'm right.
And a Website!
http://www.valiantnewuniverse.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If I win an argument, it doesn't mean I'm right. It means I'm a better arguer.
In addition, I'm right.
- MrBigFeathas
- My posts can all fit in a short box
- Posts: 193
- Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:41:26 pm
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- Favorite character: Gilad/Rai
- Favorite title: X-O Manowar
- Location: Bay Area, CA
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Welcome, it is awesome to have a wife that supports your habit.
My Collection: http://comicbookdb.com/collection.php?ID=50094" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- caxiotis
- Wang, Wang, Wang, I want all of your books.
- Posts: 3314
- Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 3:28:45 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1991
- Location: Des Moines, IA
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Welcome
Pull List: I only buy TPB's, HC's and Hellboy comics
-
- I'm just glad it was pretty good, long and drawn out. (that's what she said.)
- Posts: 3292
- Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 9:38:00 pm
- Valiant fan since: Unity
- Favorite character: Tie between Flo and Andy
- Favorite title: Archer and Armstrong
- Favorite writer: The ones that wrote 4 Valiant.
- Location: Here, there, at some point everywhere.
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
She may not support it anymore once she finds out how much I paid today for my QR Variant... lol...MrBigFeathas wrote:Welcome, it is awesome to have a wife that supports your habit.
It's not that I don't have an avatar... I've just been working on it for the last few hundred years.
- MrBigFeathas
- My posts can all fit in a short box
- Posts: 193
- Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:41:26 pm
- Valiant fan since: 1992
- Favorite character: Gilad/Rai
- Favorite title: X-O Manowar
- Location: Bay Area, CA
Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Lol, nice. My wife supported me through finishing my Spidey collection. The Valiant stuff not so much.Aram wrote:She may not support it anymore once she finds out how much I paid today for my QR Variant... lol...MrBigFeathas wrote:Welcome, it is awesome to have a wife that supports your habit.
My Collection: http://comicbookdb.com/collection.php?ID=50094" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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- jmatt
- Mmm, I was drooling over Cooshie tonight.
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Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Weird. Those are the exact words I was planning on having carved on my tombstone.Aram wrote:I was *SQUEE* at Acclaim and angry at Valiant for selling out.
Welcome!
- betterthanezra
- Wanna see an unpublished Shadowman page?
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Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Welcome
-Brian
-Brian
I'm on Twitter follow me
https://twitter.com/#!/shadowsip" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My Valiant story here
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://twitter.com/#!/shadowsip" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My Valiant story here
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- comicsyte95
- It's Porktastic!!!
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Re: I once was lost, but now am found... *Epic Story*
Welcome!
If I just can't be me ,and the Arrow isn't enough.. then maybe I should be Ra's al Ghul