I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

How did you become a VALIANT collector?

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grendeljd
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Favorite character: Aric
Favorite title: Harbinger
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I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by grendeljd »

***>sorry if this is a bit long, but it IS my first post!Yay, another nOOb!!<***

I consider the summer of 1986 to be the official year I started collecting comics because that was when I started buying them myself with my weekly allowance. Prior to that summer, I relied on others to give 'em to me [my dad was the primary supplier; rarely would he come out of a convenience store without grabbing a comic for me]… by 1987 I had discovered my first dedicated comic shop [it was also a great used book store] and by December of 1988 I had enough to fill my first long box [I wrote the date & drew fun stuff all over it].

Now, the precise details are getting a bit fuzzy, but I do know that I was there at the beginning of the Valiant Universe for Magnus #1 in 1991… I've always had a thing for sci-fi tech & robots in particular, and I thought Magnus was pretty cool at first. However, I think I only had up to #5 or possibly #6. The cover of #3 is still one of my all time favourites.

I had an issue or two of Dr. Solar but for some bizarre reason it must not have appealed to me at the time [I still shake my head at myself for this, because BWS is one of my all-time favourite artists, a passion which grew to enormous proportions sometime *after* he had finished his run on Solar]. I think the crazy values of the pre-unity books is what prevented me from going back and collecting all the BWS Solar issues - I was only making $20 a week at the time.

Then Harbinger came along… I was seriously hooked on that one. Loved it. STILL love it. Others followed, but due to my tiny budget, the higher cover prices for Valiants kept me from getting into too many - after all I was a major Marvel fan at the time, had a lot of those books to keep up with too. But this Valiant stuff was looking good, and collectors were going nuts over it!! I was ecstatic at the values my early Harbingers & Magnus were climbing to.

I got going with Archer & Armstrong around #7 [and aggressively backfilled that one - I still have an old $12 price tag on my #2 with '2nd appearance of Turok' written on it], I got into ShadowMan around #10 at the recommendation of a close friend but only ever managed to get #7 & 8 at the time, and started reading X-O with #13 [I could only get around a half-dozen of the first 12, but I did snag a #1 somewhere and was very proud of it]. I had the free Unity issue, but only ever had the Harbinger & A&A parts of the story, so I mostly missed out on that one too.

Around 1993 I got a job at that comic shop I had discovered years earlier, and with a slightly bigger budget [and employee discount] my range of titles grew too. I got into Bloodshot, H.A.R.D. Corps, Turok & Doctor Mirage later on, but then at some point my interest started to fade out… I dropped the newer titles like Turok & Doctor Mirage after 10 issues or so. I had up to #28 of Harbinger, #29 of X-O, and Shadowman held out the longest at #34. I can't really explain why it started to happen around then - was this the start of the turning point for Valiant? I didn't even make it to the terrible Acclaim years [with one exception, I tried out the new Bloodshot #1]. I still really liked all the stuff I had to that point, and re-read it often.

Here's a cool connection I DID have with Valiant though - Dave Ross' sister used to come into that comic shop I worked at regularly, just to buy anything he was currently working on. I got sent by my boss to a really cool retailer's convention in Toronto in 1994 - and there I actually met Dave Ross. I was also an aspiring artist at the time and asked him for advice, told him I knew his sister. He was a great guy and really friendly. One day some weeks later his sister came back into the comic shop and she handed me a package. In it was a signed copy of RAI #24 [I'll try to get a picture of it up here sometime] in which he wrote 'To Josh; Practice Practice Practice!'. He also included 8.5x11 photocopies of his pencils for the issue too! I've got them buried somewhere still :)

The sad part of all this is that not too long after that the bubble burst & values started to plummet, as many of you guys here are more than familiar with. I made an 'executive' decision to try and trade my early Harbingers [1-11], Magnus & the couple of Solars to get something that was more certain to retain value before they were completely bottomed out.

I managed to get a Conan #1 for them [it wasn't a mint copy, but I was still very pleased because I had finally grown into a major BWS fan by that time]. Honestly, that was one of the hardest decisions I've made in all my years of collecting comics. As much as I love seeing books appreciate in value that I have, I don't really ever want to sell them, because I have a very deep passion for the medium & love all the stories so very much. I felt the loss of the Harbinger issues in particular for years.

During the lowest point in the comics industry after that I was down to buying Preacher every month. It was a tenuous hold on my favourite hobby, I never gave up on comics, but I came awfully close. Thankfully things got a little better in the 2000's.

But lets fast forward to 2012… I've never been the kind of collector to look ahead at Diamond Previews or read much news about whats coming along - I still hear some things through various media but I actually like to go into the shop each week & get surprised where possible. Probably a bit of a dumb way to go about it.

Anyway, I must have heard something in late April of this year that tickled my ear. I cannot recall exactly what [I'm getting old], but I then decided to look up a few Valiant books on ebay. Seeing Harbinger #1 was going for around $70 got me to sit up straight in my bed with some degree of disbelief… then I discovered VALIANTfans.com, and had a long look at the price guide listings here. I was compelled to go and root through my collection to see what Valiant stuff I had kicking around, what I was still missing. Maybe it was time to go back & pick up those old Harbingers I had sold, maybe fill in the missing X-O's & Shadowman.

I think it was the very next week after that, that X-O #1 was sitting on the racks at the store. I was actually shocked to see it there, and *extremely* excited by the obvious high quality of illustration & graphic design. I snapped up the regular & pullbox copies at once. I read it several times. I wrote a fan letter. I am now obsessed with Valiant all over again, and glad of it. I'm dropping a bunch of other titles that I don't feel too strongly about to make room for Valiant in my budget. This is going to be a really awesome, memorable summer for me.

I currently have re-acquired Harbinger #1 & 2 [with coupons] & 7-11, and all the early X-O's & Shadowman I never had before. I've also been scouring through bargain bins and grabbing piles of issues of titles I never tried before, like Eternal Warrior & RAI [that signed issue from Dave Ross was the only one I had back in the day].

I even have all the Unity issues now except for Magnus 15 & 16 - what a treat to finally read it!!

Anyways, that's MY Valiant story, I hope its not too long and all full-of-itself… I'm very happy to join in here!!
I like to draw stuff... http://grendeljd.deviantart.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife likes to draw stuff too, and she is better than me! [I'm very proud of her]... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sara-Dec ... ref=stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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FormerReader
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by FormerReader »

Welcome! :thumb:

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caniac
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by caniac »

Welcome to the board and welcome back to Valiant. :thumb:
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BruceReville
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by BruceReville »

:clap:
Everybody Is Right Until Someone Else Disagrees.

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kevinbastos
I felt 'used car salesman' kind of dirty.
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by kevinbastos »

Welcome!
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.

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dbngaa
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by dbngaa »

Great story! Welcome.
This post has been carefully constructed so as to add absolutely nothing to any discussion or topic.

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etos45
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by etos45 »

Welcome to the boards! :thumb:

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caxiotis
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by caxiotis »

:thumb:
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Daniel Jackson
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Nice story. Welcome.

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betterthanezra
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by betterthanezra »

Like the story Welcome :thumb:

-Brian
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My Valiant story here

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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grendeljd
innerSPACE does whatever I tell them
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Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:51:43 am
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Favorite character: Aric
Favorite title: Harbinger
Location: On the 7.5th floor of LesterCorp, headed through the back door to John Malkovich's brain.
Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by grendeljd »

Thanks everybody - I'm really enjoying hangin' out around here so far...

Brian - I read your story the other day, thats just plain awesome!! A personal letter from Bob Hall :cloud9:

Incidentally, I just got my copy of Shadowman #1 & X-O #4 in the mail yesterday... which completes my runs of those two titles up to the issues I had originally quit at in the 90's [SM#34 & XO#29]. I'm super stoked!!

Now perhaps to try and complete the back end of each run... :D
I like to draw stuff... http://grendeljd.deviantart.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife likes to draw stuff too, and she is better than me! [I'm very proud of her]... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sara-Dec ... ref=stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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kevinbastos
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by kevinbastos »

grendeljd wrote:
Now perhaps to try and complete the back end of each run... :D
Especially with X-O, this is an accurate choice of words.
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.

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R Daneel
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I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by R Daneel »

Great story - thanks for taking the time to share it.

Posts like this are actually my favorite thing to read here. Going back and reading the original comic runs don't do it for me anymore ... I have tried. But a fanatic coming here and sharing their memories about them finding Valiant or how it unfolded for them ... it really recaptures the enjoyment that I once had for it too. Dunno if that makes much sense.

Eternal Warrior was one of my favorite comics for a while. I tend to flame out on comics ... love em at first but after a year or two I drift. I can't recall each title but I liked everything Valiant for a while. Even the Second Life of Dr Mirage. :)

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grendeljd
innerSPACE does whatever I tell them
innerSPACE does whatever I tell them
Posts: 8132
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:51:43 am
Valiant fan since: 1991
Favorite character: Aric
Favorite title: Harbinger
Location: On the 7.5th floor of LesterCorp, headed through the back door to John Malkovich's brain.
Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by grendeljd »

kevinbastos wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
Now perhaps to try and complete the back end of each run... :D
Especially with X-O, this is an accurate choice of words.
oh... that good, hunh?

I thought some of the issues in the 30's looked ok...
I like to draw stuff... http://grendeljd.deviantart.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife likes to draw stuff too, and she is better than me! [I'm very proud of her]... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sara-Dec ... ref=stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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FormerReader
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by FormerReader »

grendeljd wrote:
kevinbastos wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
Now perhaps to try and complete the back end of each run... :D
Especially with X-O, this is an accurate choice of words.
oh... that good, hunh?

I thought some of the issues in the 30's looked ok...

No. I believe he was being funny comparing the quality of the later issues to a rear end.

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kevinbastos
I felt 'used car salesman' kind of dirty.
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by kevinbastos »

Some of the X-O in the late fifties and sixties...

Painful.
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.

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comicsyte95
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by comicsyte95 »

Welcome! :thumb:
If I just can't be me ,and the Arrow isn't enough.. then maybe I should be Ra's al Ghul

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jmatt
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Re: I wish I could remember the early days more clearly…

Post by jmatt »

Great story! And as another poster mentioned, reading these rejuvenate my interest and bring me back to my early days.

Welcome!


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