Valiant for Life

[jkingman]

a friend had stashed his Harbinger comics with coupons in what he thought was a safe, safe place. Then a water pipe broke right above the stash spot, so this friend decided he would let me read the now damaged comics. I was hooked instantly, even though it was totally different than the costume heroes of Marvel and DC I was so used to. There was something serious about these books, an element of "real." I branched out into the other books at Unity and was insanely in love with Valiant. Rai, XO Manowar, Archer and Armstrong, Shadowman, and of course my favorite Harbinger and the amazing Zephyr. Sadly, this love for Valiant quickly faded, as more titles sprang up and story quality weakened. Birthquake came and flashy artists replaced the serious tone and I lost my love for Valiant. I skipped all the Acclaim stuff, except the first few issues of Quantum and Woody, which I really enjoyed but that was the time in my life I thought I was quitting comics for good.

Then in 2007 I found a near complete collection for an incredible cheap price...all those early issues I was missing or only had in trades, plus all the later issues I never read. It was awesome. I felt there was still so much potential for these characters and concepts, that it was the mid 90s mindset that ruined the titles. Ideas started flowing. I knew the audience today was mature and sophisticated enough to handle Valiant quality stories. I plotted out a lot of ideas, I dreamed, but knew I'd never have a shot at writing these characters....

And then...
VEI relaunch!! I contacted the company a few times to see if they were accepting submissions, never heard back, but the tone of the stories Valiant is publishing today matches what I dreamed of in my visions for the company. I LOVE this company, these stories, the characters...there are some places I see could be improved, but man oh man, Harbinger is a dream come true. I <3 Faith! Kris is so smart, Torque and Flamingo are interesting, and Peter is as terrifying as he should be. The only "real" complaint I have so far...WHERE IS RAI?!?!
I'm still hoping to write for Valiant, or at least get a chance to pitch someday, but I am very happy with what they are doing. Plus, thanks to Kindle Worlds, I do have a published Harbinger story (Faith in Love) and I've earned TWO gold comics for promoting the company, so it has been an amazing relaunch. In fact, over 20 years collecting comics, mostly Marvel, then DC, then a few others...Valiant's relaunch has opened my eyes and I dropped ALL my Marvel titles (about 30 books) and all my DC titles! Marvel has been a huge part of my life, but I feel abused by their publishing techniques and high cover prices and endless cross over events and a universe that no longer makes any sense, continuity gone...and I sent a letter to nearly every title as I dropped it from my hold box, and zero response from Marvel over losing a fan of over 20 years...not one. so Valiant is my number one company by far, I'm telling all my friends, giving out comics, doing everything I can to help them grow.

I have to thank Valiant fans on the Canadian Valiant Fan Club on FB for introducing me to this awesome site! thanks hawkeye!!

[hawkeyeps]

Welcome to the boards Jake

[lorddunlow]

Oh no. Another Canadian

Welcome to the boards. It's fun here. Too bad you are Canadian.

[BugsySig]

Welcome

Sorry, let me translate: Welcome, eh!

[bobby97801]

Welcome aboard

[hawkeyeps]

Jake is one of yours, he's just cool enough to hang out with us Canadians, Eh?

[kevinbastos]

Welcome.

Remember jmatt = dunlow

[MarkRoseHFX]

Welcome to the board Jake

[jkingman]

hey y'all
thanks for the welcome. and sorry to disappoint that I am not Canadian, but American born...however...I was born and raised in Alaska, and Canada has always been a good neighbor, our fishing boat sold to Canada, and their fishermen were amazing workers, great attitude, and I've never met a Canadian I didn't like.
I am not too familiar with message boards, so my first question is why "paulsmith56 is my hero"?

Unity this week, eh? pretty exciting!

[BugsySig]

hey y'all
thanks for the welcome. and sorry to disappoint that I am not Canadian, but American born...however...I was born and raised in Alaska, and Canada has always been a good neighbor, our fishing boat sold to Canada, and their fishermen were amazing workers, great attitude, and I've never met a Canadian I didn't like.
I am not too familiar with message boards, so my first question is why "paulsmith56 is my hero"?

Unity this week, eh? pretty exciting!

So not a Canadian, but likes Canadians....we'll need to confer on this one...

That's your quote...they change and update based on the number of posts you make. When/if you reach 3000 posts, you receive a "custom" quote.

Said custom is something you said at some point in time that our wonderful admin Greg takes note of and assigns to you. Most are pretty funny. Some are inside jokes, others are so old none of us even know what they mean

[grendeljd]

Welcome to the board, Jake!

I much prefer hanging out with fellow Valiant Fans here rather than on the FB fan groups (no offence to the fellows running them, especially my Canadian brethren) - it's a ton of fun.

[nonplayer]

Jake bud welcome to the original valiant fan club. And guys Jake is a masively exuberant fan. He took
Pumpkin carving to new levels during haloween and won the pumpkin carving contest and made a wonderful project out of it and won him self a gold from Valiant I can't speak highly enough about Jake.
Im so glad I made Canadian valiant fan club it has been so much fun and has brought alot of Valiant fans together.

[Daniel Jackson]

The only "real" complaint I have so far...WHERE IS RAI?!?!

I lot of us have been wondering the same thing. Hopefully it will be worth the wait and we will see Rai, Dragon City and Grandmother return sometime soon.

Welcome to the board, BTW.

[nonplayer]

[pixierosa]

Welcome!

[comicsyte95]

Welcome!

[betterthanezra]

Welcome

-Brian

[jkingman]

I can't wait to discuss Unity tomorrow!

[jkingman]

could anyone give me tips on how to load a picture for an avatar? I have rarely been on message boards before, so any and all advice would be appreciated.

[Peter]

Hello Jake, I hope you enjoy your stay

[Daniel Jackson]

could anyone give me tips on how to load a picture for an avatar? I have rarely been on message boards before, so any and all advice would be appreciated.

Get a free account with a photo hosting site (like photobucket). Upload your pic from your computer to their site and copy the link they give you for your pic. Click user control panel at the top right of this page. Click profile. followed by edit avatar (you'll see them to the left of this box. In the Link off-site space. paste your link, click submit and you should be set.

[hawkeyeps]

You can also click on "User Control panel" (top right) then "Edit Avatar" from the menu on the left. At the bottom of the box that opens it says- "view local gallery". You can go there and just select a pre-made avatar, there are many to choose from.

[jkingman]

tried the photobucket thing...couldn't get it to work. http://s982.photobucket.com/user/jkingm ... f.jpg.html

[Daniel Jackson]

tried the photobucket thing...couldn't get it to work. http://s982.photobucket.com/user/jkingm ... f.jpg.html

At the link you just posted, look over to the right at the box that says "Links to share this photo" and try clicking the one called direct and put that in the "Link off-site space" back over here and don't forget to click submit. If that doesn't work, send a PM to Greg and see if he can't sort out why it's not working. The only other thing I think of off hand is that it might need to be resized, if the image is too big.

[jkingman]

thanks Daniel for the help, still says it is invalid... but will look awesome if I ever get it to work!