Worldsbestcomics Gallery
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
Worldsbestcomics Gallery
Last edited by worldsbestcomics on Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:38:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
Thanks, Squee. Your reply will probably get deleted but I appreciate the thought because you know first-hand how difficult it is to complete a pre-Unity run in CGC 9.8 condition.*SQUEE* wrote:
My passion for Valiant comics began shortly after they first began publishing. A friend of mine (the artist Cat Kenney) who worked at a comics store told me about the books and suggested that I get extra copies because they would probably become valuable. Boy was she right about that. I started buying/reading Valiants around the release of Magnus 5 with the Rai flipcover and I was hooked.
I have always been very picky about the condition of my comics. My LCS would frequently let me "cherry pick" my copies from the distributor's boxes and when I couldn't do that, Cat chose "perfect" copies for my file and handled them carefully.
I was planning on selling my books during the "boom" in the mid-90s but life intervened and my comic collection sat neglected (but meticulously stored) in a closet for many years. I started collecting again in 2004 and my Valiant collection really came to life again in 2006 when I sent a PM to "ValiantMan" on the CGC Boards for some advice on selling "mint" pre-Unity Valiants. Greg convinced me that the best way to get true value for the books if they were as nice as I said, would be to get them graded. So I did.
I also joined the Boards here and reread the books. That was it, I was hooked all over. And when I saw that nobody had yet completed a CGC 9.8 run of pre-Unity books, the collector in me rose to the challenge.
Most of the books in this run came from my original owner collection. I used some extra 9.8 copies to trade for some of the books that I didn't have so Greg and Rico and Shin all deserve some credit for helping me complete the first CGC 9.8 pre-Unity Valiant set.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
Valiant really gave birth to the variant craze back in the 90s. But, I thought that they went about it in the right way for the most part. The gold issues were initially giveaways for promoting Valiant comics in some way, not just a gimmick to get completist collectors to buy multiple copies of the same book. My LCS ordered enough Valiants that they always got a gold book to use as a promo and they knew that they could count on me to come up with something.
I created a giant Rai 0 poster with art only (no logo) because I thought that cover was the most beautiful comic I had ever seen. Anybody who saw that poster, asked the LCS owner about it if they weren't already familiar with Valiant books. I made a Rai 0 sweatshirt and a "ValiantVision" Ninjak 1 sweatshirt that looked like Ninjak was jumping out of my chest if you were wearing the goggles. Those were fun times.
Valiant was also the first to publish the "zero" issues. I wish I hadn't needed to cut coupons or cards out of my Magnus and Harbinger books in order to get the zero issues. But at least Valiant later did a wide re-release of both zero issues so that everybody could get an affordable copy to read.
I created a giant Rai 0 poster with art only (no logo) because I thought that cover was the most beautiful comic I had ever seen. Anybody who saw that poster, asked the LCS owner about it if they weren't already familiar with Valiant books. I made a Rai 0 sweatshirt and a "ValiantVision" Ninjak 1 sweatshirt that looked like Ninjak was jumping out of my chest if you were wearing the goggles. Those were fun times.
Valiant was also the first to publish the "zero" issues. I wish I hadn't needed to cut coupons or cards out of my Magnus and Harbinger books in order to get the zero issues. But at least Valiant later did a wide re-release of both zero issues so that everybody could get an affordable copy to read.
Last edited by worldsbestcomics on Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:39:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
I always admired the Valiant "style" of art and how they maintained a consistent look and feel throughout all their books - at least all the pre-Unity stuff. The cover to Rai 0 is one of my favorite comic covers of all time.
I originally had some cover art posted in the spot but I sold it to finance the shipping for a project I was working on. Eventually, I would love to have a cover from each of the core Valiant titles.
I originally had some cover art posted in the spot but I sold it to finance the shipping for a project I was working on. Eventually, I would love to have a cover from each of the core Valiant titles.
Last edited by worldsbestcomics on Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:24:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
I loved the way Unity brought continuity to the Valiant Universe when it was released. The use of free comics to get readers to try something new was a brilliant marketing move and I have to admit I was amazed at the number of new Valiant readers that seemed to pop up overnight at my LCS.
George was the first to complete a CGC 9.8 collection of Unity books. My run is the second.
George was the first to complete a CGC 9.8 collection of Unity books. My run is the second.
Last edited by worldsbestcomics on Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:59:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
Deathmate was a series that I had mixed feelings about when it was first published. I liked the idea of a crossover with Image because I wanted to see some of my favorite Valiant characters drawn by some of my favorite comic artists. But, the story failed to hold my interest, particularly when there was such a delay in getting the Red issue published.
The 9.9 copy of the Comic Defense Preview is the first (and currently only) comic that I have submitted to CGC myself and received a mint grade. There is not currently a spot on the CGC Registry for the Epilogue white printing error variant.
I named this set "Deathmate: Opinions vary. RQB liked it." on the CGC Registry and dedicated it to Rubik's Q-Bert.
The 9.9 copy of the Comic Defense Preview is the first (and currently only) comic that I have submitted to CGC myself and received a mint grade. There is not currently a spot on the CGC Registry for the Epilogue white printing error variant.
I named this set "Deathmate: Opinions vary. RQB liked it." on the CGC Registry and dedicated it to Rubik's Q-Bert.
Last edited by worldsbestcomics on Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:51:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington
- worldsbestcomics
- A CGC 9.8 pre-Unity complete set? Done.
- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:39:39 pm
- Location: Olympia, Washington