My Valiant Story.....damned hurricanes.

SuprJoinT · Post by **SuprJoinT** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:38 pm

Well I have been here lurking a couple of years, but have never posted until now. I started collecting Valiant around 1992, IIRC, with my faves being Solar, Magnus, Archer and Armstrong and Harbinger. Then I stared getting into Eternal Warrior, Shadowman (being that I live in New Orleans), and H.A.R.D Corps. I bought everything that Valiant put out, as I loved the storylines, artwork and everything else about the Valiant line. When the merge (or whatever happened with Aklaim) took place I got a few of those books but really lost interest in them.

My collection was kept bagged and backed and in boxes, and read pretty frequently until August of 2005, when my home got 14 ft of water from Hurricane Katrina, and I lost EVERYTHING (including an Avengers #1, being my prized possession). Of course I was devastated, being that insurance was not sufficient to cover the losses (flood damage). I replaced about 90% of my valiant the last couple of years, and enjoyed reading them again, very much.

Fast forward to last week, Hurricane Gustave. My comics were stored in my 3rd floor office, just in case we had another levee breach, so man they were safe. Wrong! A small (haha that's what they said) tornado hits my street, basically lifting the roof of that section of the house off, and water intrusion destroys my collection. Now I guess it is back to square one again. I just love these books Solar being my fave, even had some Gold Key Solar's, as I love the cover art on all those old gold key books.

Anyhow, I guess I will be scanning the thrift stores, comic shops, and maybe ebay (they can be pricey). Hopefully I can get some of my books back. One thing good is I have 99% of the Valiant stuff in digital form, but it just is NOT as good as the real thing. I must admit, I LOVE New Orleans, but my family and I just can NOT take this anymore, and are seriously thinking of moving, when we can afford it. Now Ike is looking like it will come here next week sometime, hopefully we will be OK. That is my story and I am sticking to it!!!

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:13 pm

Hola compadre....

What a bummer of a story. But, I am glad you finally stated posting.

BTW, PM sent.

iggy101us · Post by **iggy101us** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:55 pm

Welcome

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:58 pm

Sorry to hear it man.

But the fun is in the chase, it's kind of sad to know that there are less Valiants in the world.

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:37 pm

Welcome. Bummer set of tales about the books. Good luck RE-collecting the set.

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:40 pm

Good luck all around!

-slym

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:28 pm

Sorry to hear about your collection. Losing it once is bad enough, let alone two times.

IanAlexavier · Post by **IanAlexavier** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:30 pm

Glad to see you posting.. sorry to hear about your books

I wonder if it would be any good to start collecting data on destroyed books? It might give us an idea on whats left of the initial prints...

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:23 pm

Welcome to the forum.

I totally feel for you with the collection. I’m also from the New Orleans area, Meraux Louisiana actually, but since relocated to Hammond.

Katrina was rough and Gustov was no picnic. Best of luck with everything.

SuprJoinT · Post by **SuprJoinT** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:31 pm

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I should have no problem getting my collection back as things become and are available. I am an independent insurance adjuster so I am going to be busy for the next 3-4 months, maybe more with IKE coming. I am just going to have to find the time to get things, the $$$ should not be a problem, hopefully.

Sanman, cool bro, I grew up in Buccaneer Villa, close to Meraux, and went to school past Meraux, and actually past Braithewaite. Nice to see as fellow Parish member here. Probably be moving from Lakeview (I'm right off of West End) to your neck of the woods, I can't afford to lose everything a 3rd time. Being from Meraux, you probably lost everything (in Katrina) as well bro, I feel ya.

Again guys, thanks for the kind words, and hopefully I will replace my collection sooner than later.

Rufusharley · Post by **Rufusharley** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:39 pm

welcome, and good luck.

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:13 pm

SuprJoinT wrote:Sanman, cool bro, I grew up in Buccaneer Villa, close to Meraux, and went to school past Meraux, and actually past Braithewaite. Nice to see as fellow Parish member here. Probably be moving from Lakeview (I'm right off of West End) to your neck of the woods, I can't afford to lose everything a 3rd time. Being from Meraux, you probably lost everything (in Katrina) as well bro, I feel ya.

Wow, small world!

I bought most of my early comics from Frank’s in the Schwegmann’s plaza—a bike’s distance from Buccaneer Villa. Sounds like you went to Lynn Oaks maybe? I graduated from Hannan.

My home had water to the ceiling thanks to MARGO, but I packed what I could when I evacuated. Fortunately I didn’t loose my better collectables including pre-Unity Valiants. I love(d) Lakeview by the way—graduated from UNO and spent many hours at Crescent City.

It’s too bad that you have to move but I do understand. Moving to the North Shore sounds like a good idea, but be careful about trees. Other than that I really like it out here—lots of new development and close to SLU—it’s great. Mandeville’s also close and that’s where I get my comics now—The School of Comics (the former North Shore BSI).

Sounds like you have a full plate for awhile but I’m glad that rebuilding will be manageable for you. Anyway, great to have you—keep in touch.

SuprJoinT · Post by **SuprJoinT** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:38 pm

Hey man, I actually went to Promised Land Academy, I graduated in 1987 so Hannan was not yet open, IIRC (yes, I am THAT old). My cousin actually was in the first graduating class of Hannan, and went to CCA before that.

I remember Franks well, although I had a folder at the Bookworm in New Orleans East. Ms Pauline, who owned it, was a friend of my wife's (then girlfriends) family, and I had been dealing with her since around 1980.

Crescent City was also a cool place for back issues, sometimes he was crazy on his prices though. I traded a bunch of MtG Alpha and Beta cards to him for credit. I musta had like $1200 credit there with the cards he got from me.

I went and saw the house I grew up in in Buccaneer Villa, on Dominique St, and luckily I salvaged a few pieces of the tile from my swimming pool and surrounding area, will make something cool of it, my wife has it in the garden now. Other than that, there was like 1 or 2 houses left on the whole street!! People just do NOT realize that a lot of this area is STILL a ghost town. Out of sight, out of mind I guess, since it's not on the news anymore.

Anyways, it is a small world, and nice seeing you here, and I am sure we will speak in the future. IKE is on out path so hopefully we will make out OK. See ya.

robb77 · Post by **robb77** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:34 pm

welcome

JustCallMeAric · Post by **JustCallMeAric** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:43 pm

Sounds like you need some free comics. shoot me a PM

maraxusofkeld · Post by **maraxusofkeld** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:03 pm

Welcome to the boards, sorry to hear about the damage to your collection

!

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:17 pm

SuprJoinT wrote:Hey man, I actually went to Promised Land Academy, I graduated in 1987 so Hannan was not yet open, IIRC (yes, I am THAT old). My cousin actually was in the first graduating class of Hannan, and went to CCA before that.

Yeah, I’m a little younger but I graduated in ’93—the third graduating class. Who’s your cousin? Back then the school was really small. I pretty much knew who all the seniors were and hung out with many of them.

SuprJoinT wrote: I remember Franks well, although I had a folder at the Bookworm in New Orleans East. Ms Pauline, who owned it, was a friend of my wife's (then girlfriends) family, and I had been dealing with her since around 1980.

I was just reminiscing with my best friend about the Bookworm. We spent many Saturdays sifting through the shelves of bargain books. I nearly completed a full run of Marvel Doctor Who comics from there!

SuprJoinT wrote:Crescent City was also a cool place for back issues, sometimes he was crazy on his prices though. I traded a bunch of MtG Alpha and Beta cards to him for credit. I musta had like $1200 credit there with the cards he got from me.

Yeah, great store—I picked up many 70's and 80’s era Batman and Detective issues from there. I doubt that it came back which is too bad. Was not uncommon to eat at Vasques for lunch after hitting the shop.

SuprJoinT wrote: I went and saw the house I grew up in in Buccaneer Villa, on Dominique St, and luckily I salvaged a few pieces of the tile from my swimming pool and surrounding area, will make something cool of it, my wife has it in the garden now. Other than that, there was like 1 or 2 houses left on the whole street!! People just do NOT realize that a lot of this area is STILL a ghost town. Out of sight, out of mind I guess, since it's not on the news anymore.

My folks still own the house where I grew up and that neighborhood has comeback some. They're trying to unload it through the Road Home program though. I should go back before it’s too late for a souvenir—maybe a few bricks or something. Overall the Parish still looks rough. Most of the people that I knew either moved or regretted returning. I did manage to go back to Rocky and Carlo’s which was nice but definitely not the same.

SuprJoinT wrote: Anyways, it is a small world, and nice seeing you here, and I am sure we will speak in the future. IKE is on out path so hopefully we will make out OK. See ya.

Indeed, take care and best of luck.

*SQUEE* · Post by ***SQUEE*** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 4:56 am

I lost all my Valiants once. But to lose them twice would be devastating.
Hope everything works out.

Lightning Strike · Post by **Lightning Strike** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:37 pm

Welcome

Dr. Solar · Post by **Dr. Solar** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:54 pm

Welcome to the bored!

That sucks about losing all of those comics.

We should do somethign to stop the hurricanes. Maybe make them illegal, or have high penalties whenever one strikes.

Oh, and Solar is my favorite too.

SuprJoinT · Post by **SuprJoinT** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:44 am

Thanks again for the kind words guys, and thanks to Aric for the XO's.

I have just been put on retainer for one of the biggest insurance carriers in Texas (for Hurricane IKE), so I will prolly be busy for a few weeks at first but will be looking to buy the whole run again (sans what Aric sent me), very soon, so I will check the buy/trade areas.

Hope to replace this stuff soon, and prolly do some binding, been looking into the softcover route, looks amazing (especially designing your own covers!).

xodacia81 · Post by **xodacia81** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:06 pm

Don't forget, for some of the early issues, the hardcovers VEI is putting out are a sweet way of getting these things to read again. Plus, they help complete a set.

MoonChild · Post by **MoonChild** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:18 pm

welcome.

caxiotis · Post by **caxiotis** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:20 pm

welcome

dbostejano · Post by **dbostejano** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:50 pm

Welcome and hopefully you have better luck with your 3rd collection of valiants.

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My Valiant Story.....damned hurricanes.

My Valiant Story.....damned hurricanes.

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