Fairly New, Already a Fan

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:25:41 am

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!

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:31:12 am

Welcome--great story!

iggy101us · Post by **iggy101us** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:32:56 am

Welcome

I think some of the early art was the best art at the time - BWS in Solar and Archer & Armstrong, Lapham Harbinger . . . Quality does drop off soon after Unity but I think it's still enjoyable for the most part.

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:34:31 am

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?

I think some of the early art was the best art at the time

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.

ian_house · Post by **ian_house** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:47:07 am

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?

Funny stuff.

Welcome to the board dude! Thanks for sharing your story.

This is an interesting point:

RJMooreII wrote:The 'camera work' is, so to speak, television and not movie.

I can see where you're coming from in a way.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:10:37 am

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).

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 · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:14:20 am

Daniel Jackson wrote:
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).

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.

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.

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:23:44 am

The Xyrkol trilogy is turning out to be killer. Very convincing supervillian. Looks like he appeared in the old Magnus books?

96Valiantfan · Post by **96Valiantfan** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:56:57 pm

Welcome

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:20:25 pm

Stick around and chat comics some more dude

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:31:36 pm

Welcome abroad!

-slym

comicsyte95 · Post by **comicsyte95** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:42:51 pm

Welcome!

dhudson1 · Post by **dhudson1** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:47:20 pm

Great tale....welcome

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:23:29 pm

slym2none wrote:Welcome abroad!
-slym

Over 30 thousand posts? Are you Jesus?

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:25:28 pm

*checks hands and feet*

Nope, just a guy.

-slym

RJMooreII · Post by **RJMooreII** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:28:34 pm

Nope, just a guy.

A guy with Valiant OCD, apparently

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:09:31 pm

Actually, ValiantOCD is a different member here.

profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=390

-slym

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:29:20 pm

RJMooreII wrote:The Xyrkol trilogy is turning out to be killer. Very convincing supervillian. Looks like he appeared in the old Magnus books?

Yes, and he is pretty consistent between his Gold Key and Valiant appearances.

Malev_Emperor · Post by **Malev_Emperor** » Sat Sep 18, 2010 12:15:41 pm

Welcome to Valiant. You have a lot of good stuff yet to discover!!!

Malev

robb77 · Post by **robb77** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:13:25 pm

welcome

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