Fairly New, Already a Fan
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- RJMooreII
- My posts can all fit in a short box
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- Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:08:47 am
- Location: Vancouver, WA USA
Fairly New, Already a Fan
When I was quite a bit younger, probably 12 or 13, I got a couple random issues of Solar, Man of the Atom at the dollar store. I liked his powers but I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Nonetheless Solar stuck in my brain.
A few months ago I went out and bought a complete set of the Solar comics. Wow! Great plotting, realistic dialog - and what an absurdly powerful superhero.
This sparked my interest and led me to go around online and to a hobby shop here that has a lot of older 'independent' comics (which is kind of a strange thing to call Valiant, given that it was nearly as big a company as DC in its heyday). So far I have read about eight issues of Magnus, Robot Fighter and briefly glanced at the Rai, Bloodshot and X-O Manowar books I picked up.
All the characters look interesting, and although I hear the quality declines a while after Shooter leaves that nonetheless leaves a lot of books for me to get through (afterwards, back to Strontium Dog and Thanos Imperative).
There is one area I felt the books were less than spectacular in so far, and that is the art. The coloring is kind of flat, and the pencil/ink work - while certainly competent - seems to be fairly straightforward. The 'camera work' is, so to speak, television and not movie. The panel layout is usually pretty predictable, evenly sized boxes running down the page. I suppose I am a bit spoiled by megabucks art and photoshop ala Marveland DC, but it's just what I've come to expect in comic books. However, it is certainly adequate, I just don't feel compelled by the art.
Oh, and in the Rai #4/MRF flip book where Magnus cracks open an X-O Commando suit with his fist - holy crap!
A few months ago I went out and bought a complete set of the Solar comics. Wow! Great plotting, realistic dialog - and what an absurdly powerful superhero.
This sparked my interest and led me to go around online and to a hobby shop here that has a lot of older 'independent' comics (which is kind of a strange thing to call Valiant, given that it was nearly as big a company as DC in its heyday). So far I have read about eight issues of Magnus, Robot Fighter and briefly glanced at the Rai, Bloodshot and X-O Manowar books I picked up.
All the characters look interesting, and although I hear the quality declines a while after Shooter leaves that nonetheless leaves a lot of books for me to get through (afterwards, back to Strontium Dog and Thanos Imperative).
There is one area I felt the books were less than spectacular in so far, and that is the art. The coloring is kind of flat, and the pencil/ink work - while certainly competent - seems to be fairly straightforward. The 'camera work' is, so to speak, television and not movie. The panel layout is usually pretty predictable, evenly sized boxes running down the page. I suppose I am a bit spoiled by megabucks art and photoshop ala Marveland DC, but it's just what I've come to expect in comic books. However, it is certainly adequate, I just don't feel compelled by the art.
Oh, and in the Rai #4/MRF flip book where Magnus cracks open an X-O Commando suit with his fist - holy crap!
- RJMooreII
- My posts can all fit in a short box
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:08:47 am
- Location: Vancouver, WA USA
I was just talking to a buddy of mine on GTalk, and comics came up:
Me: In the issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter I'm reading Japan turns into a giant robot komodo dragon and fights aliens in space.
Him: so its a historical novel?
Me: In the issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter I'm reading Japan turns into a giant robot komodo dragon and fights aliens in space.
Him: so its a historical novel?
I have tons of Silver/Bronze Age comics, and the Valiant art is certainly better than the majority of that. It's also better than some DC books from the same era I have. On the other hand I don't care for it as much as, for example, X-Men #1 (though it is better scripted in many parts). Then again, I always have been a huge Jim Lee fan so I could really say I didn't like any book's art as much as Lee's run on X-Men.I think some of the early art was the best art at the time
- ian_house
- using a Welsh to American translator
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Funny stuff.RJMooreII wrote:I was just talking to a buddy of mine on GTalk, and comics came up:
Me: In the issue of Magnus, Robot Fighter I'm reading Japan turns into a giant robot komodo dragon and fights aliens in space.
Him: so its a historical novel?
Welcome to the board dude! Thanks for sharing your story.
This is an interesting point:
I can see where you're coming from in a way.RJMooreII wrote:The 'camera work' is, so to speak, television and not movie.
- Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
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Re: Fairly New, Already a Fan
Welcome to the board. Yeah, the quality really takes a nosedive after Shooter was fired. There are a few decent stories here and there, but nothing like the magic that happened early on. At least you won't have to spend a ton to complete a run though, most books can be picked up fairly cheap right now.RJMooreII wrote:
All the characters look interesting, and although I hear the quality declines a while after Shooter leaves that nonetheless leaves a lot of books for me to get through (afterwards, back to Strontium Dog and Thanos Imperative).
- RJMooreII
- My posts can all fit in a short box
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:08:47 am
- Location: Vancouver, WA USA
Re: Fairly New, Already a Fan
That's what I've discovered. I've got all of Solar, most of Magnus and Rai and 12 issues of X-O for less than I spent on 4 issues of Thanos Imperative.Daniel Jackson wrote:Welcome to the board. Yeah, the quality really takes a nosedive after Shooter was fired. There are a few decent stories here and there, but nothing like the magic that happened early on. At least you won't have to spend a ton to complete a run though, most books can be picked up fairly cheap right now.RJMooreII wrote:
All the characters look interesting, and although I hear the quality declines a while after Shooter leaves that nonetheless leaves a lot of books for me to get through (afterwards, back to Strontium Dog and Thanos Imperative).
- 96Valiantfan
- You gotta have Faith!
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- Draco
- Well I think I talked enough poop...
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- Valiant fan since: preordered vh1 from start
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- comicsyte95
- It's Porktastic!!!
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- Malev_Emperor
- Ninjak and Ninjil went up a hill
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- Valiant fan since: 1992
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