I have decided to reread the VALIANT universe

A week-to-week plan is available for re-reading VALIANT from the beginning...
start anytime, go at your own pace.

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caxiotis
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I have decided to reread the VALIANT universe

Post by caxiotis »

So.............I guess I will just say it, I am getting bored of new comics. In 2008 I got back into comics after a ten-year hiatus and started reading anything I could get my hands on. At that time I was religiously reading approximately 30 titles a month. Today I only read 6 monthly titles (two of which are Solar and Magnus from Dark Horse).

Due to this boredom I have decided to go back and reread the VALIANT Universe, which are the comics that I love the most. My plan is to reread all of VH1 (some of the later issues I will be reading for the first time). Also, I plan on reading them in the order they were released with some slight modifications. I got the release order from greg’s website and the location is:

http://www.valiantfan.com/valiant/releaseorder.asp

The reading order for the first 20 books I am going to read is:

Solar Alpha and Omega
Magnus 0,1,2,3,4
Solar 1
Magnus 5
Solar 2
Magnus 6
Solar 3
Magnus 7
Solar 4
Magnus 8
Harbinger 0,1
Solar 5
Vintage Magnus 1
Magnus 9
Harbinger 2

Going forward I am going to write a post in this thread after every book I read. Please feel free to comment on anything I write. Also, I just saw that MOTA did this back before the first board change. I don’t plan on reading his posts, so I can write everything fresh as I read. Hopefully I add some new things about VH1.

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JonesyAZ
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Re: I have decided to reread the VALIANT universe

Post by JonesyAZ »

caxiotis wrote:So.............I guess I will just say it, I am getting bored of new comics. In 2008 I got back into comics after a ten-year hiatus and started reading anything I could get my hands on. At that time I was religiously reading approximately 30 titles a month. Today I only read 6 monthly titles (two of which are Solar and Magnus from Dark Horse).

Due to this boredom I have decided to go back and reread the VALIANT Universe, which are the comics that I love the most. My plan is to reread all of *VALIANT (1991-1996)* (some of the later issues I will be reading for the first time). Also, I plan on reading them in the order they were released with some slight modifications. I got the release order from greg’s website and the location is:

http://www.valiantfan.com/valiant/releaseorder.asp

The reading order for the first 20 books I am going to read is:

Solar Alpha and Omega
Magnus 0,1,2,3,4
Solar 1
Magnus 5
Solar 2
Magnus 6
Solar 3
Magnus 7
Solar 4
Magnus 8
Harbinger 0,1
Solar 5
Vintage Magnus 1
Magnus 9
Harbinger 2

Going forward I am going to write a post in this thread after every book I read. Please feel free to comment on anything I write. Also, I just saw that MOTA did this back before the first board change. I don’t plan on reading his posts, so I can write everything fresh as I read. Hopefully I add some new things about *VALIANT (1991-1996)*.
Sounds good! Looking forward to reading :)

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dave
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Post by dave »

Wow! That is impressive, seriously. We'll be here to spur you on!

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sanman
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Post by sanman »

Sounds like fun, good reading. :thumb:

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caxiotis
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Post by caxiotis »

I am going to start this off with Solar Alpha and Omega. I read the HC on Friday and personally feel this is the “true” first comic of the VALIANT universe. When I pulled out my HC I decided to look it over. I don’t remember where I bought the HC, but I remember when I got it was half wrapped in its original plastic. It looked like the previous owner had just opened it for reading. When I opened the book to read it on Friday I was surprised to find that it had been signed by Bob Layton and Jim Shooter!!! Apparently the previous owner opened not to read, but to get it signed and I never knew about it. This was a great bonus and made the read that much more enjoyable.

Part I
Just have to say that I love the BWS art. I also love Phil’s internal monologue. He goes from thinking about how he has killed everybody to tangents about stop sign graffiti. His monologue is very well written and it along with the art shows that he is disoriented/in shock. My favorite part of the first chapter is the art when Phil first walks into the power plant. BWS does a great job of showing everybody’s panic. People are running around, papers are on the floor, and the best is that there is a chair that is just sitting upside down on the floor. I never noticed that before.

Part II
I love that Phil is running around the hot power plant without shoes. When I was reading this chapter I looked at the art before I read Phil’s internal monologue and I thought, “why is this guy just running around without shoes.” Then when I went back and read the internal monologue I laughed because Phil explained how his feet were burning and he shouldn’t have taken off his slippers to run faster.

So……Phil runs into the reactor to try to stop a nuclear meltdown and he can’t stop it, so out of desperation and rage he decides to jump into super hot plasma? I never really thought about this before, but was he trying to kill himself? He really couldn’t have helped fix anything by jumping into the hot plasma, and he probably knew that he wasn’t getting out of there alive, so suicide. An interesting to think of it that way because before I just thought he was caught in an accident.

When Phil jumps into the hot plasma we see another person near the reactor with him, who we later find out is Erica Pierce.

Part III
This chapter has my favorite BWS art of whole story. The first page of it has Phil burnt to a crisp is beautiful drawn. Also, at the end of the chapter BWS’ art where Phil is seeing everything in different colors is fantastic. BWS is amazing

Part IV
Phil is starting to begin to figure out this powers. Also, because he is lonely he starts talking to his pillow and calls it Mrs. Lumpfluff? I guess when we all get lonely we state talking to inanimate objects. Nothing crazy about that?

Part V-VII
Phil is starting to understand exactly what he can do and his outlook on the world starts to change. Then to top it off, Phil starts shutting down nuclear reactors across the globe because he thinks he should. Also, Dr. Dobson is becoming afraid of Phil not solely based his powers, but also due Phil’s new way of thinking of himself and the world. Phil is not discussing or taking advice, he is just doing. Also, Dobson finds a list that Phil made, which I call the “I” list. At the bottom of that list it says, “…I don’t wait for the Messiah, I don’t wait for the second coming, the real “I” is here now-within.”

I forgot about the “I” list. Just rereading the list freaked me out because in the Solar series I don’t remember there being any god complex issues (if there was I will definitely find out once I reread them). If I were Dobson I would be completely scared of Phil.

Part VIII – X
My favorite line comes from Chapter VIII when Phil takes Pierce on a tour of reality and Phil says, “We fail to imagine and we are punished with reality. We fail to imagine, and so there is matter, with edges and hardness, length, breadth, and depth. We fail to grasp our oneness with space-time, which is us, and so, the world is imposed upon us.”

The end art where Phil rips Gayle in half, starts the black hole, and turns into the super-large last panel of the story is amazing.

Overall love this story. Shooter writes Phil’s mindset through the entire story brilliantly. A lonely guy who blames himself for the nuclear accident and throws himself into nuclear fire. Become reborn, gets an ego, thinks he is god, does whatever he wants without regard to others, becomes very cocky and destroys the world. I really remember and know when I love the VALIANT Universe. Next Magnus #0

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slym2none
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Post by slym2none »

I figure Phil knew that he was irradiated enough that he wouldn't survive long anyway, and that's why he said (essentially) " :censored: it" and jumped in.



-slym

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sanman
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Post by sanman »

caxiotis wrote: When I opened the book to read it on Friday I was surprised to find that it had been signed by Bob Layton and Jim Shooter!!! Apparently the previous owner opened not to read, but to get it signed and I never knew about it. This was a great bonus and made the read that much more enjoyable.
Very cool! :thumb:

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dave
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Post by dave »

caxiotis wrote: We fail to imagine and we are punished with reality
I agree, one of the best lines in a terrific series of books!

How's your reading going?

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400yrs
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Re: I have decided to reread the VALIANT universe

Post by 400yrs »

caxiotis wrote: Today I only read 6 monthly titles (two of which are Solar and Magnus from Dark Horse).
What are the other 4?




I see you are reading A&O first and I notice your comments about it above. I guess that technically happens before #1-10, right? I've read it, but I can't remember anything from it. If so, I think I'll read it right after Magnus #4, before Solar #1.

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caxiotis
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Re: I have decided to reread the VALIANT universe

Post by caxiotis »

400yrs wrote:
caxiotis wrote: Today I only read 6 monthly titles (two of which are Solar and Magnus from Dark Horse).
What are the other 4?

I see you are reading A&O first and I notice your comments about it above. I guess that technically happens before #1-10, right? I've read it, but I can't remember anything from it. If so, I think I'll read it right after Magnus #4, before Solar #1.
I read

Solar
Magnus
TWD
Invincible
Locke & Key
Scalped


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