"You're choking under dozens of pounds of Valiant..."

[Tannerman]

Over at BoardGameGeek.com, W. Eric Martin wrote up a game preview of "Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men". The author used to run a comic book store and was commenting about why this new game is experiencing shortages, using an analogy to the comic book industry decades ago. I found it humorous that he used a Valiant reference:

I managed a comic book store in the late 1980s, and we experienced this phenomenon all the time: A publisher announces a title or issue that you expect will be hot; distributors ask retailers for preorders 2-3 months ahead of when this title will be released; publishers set production quantities (with comic book production being far simpler than game production); news of this comic book event starts leaking into the public, and people who don't normally read that comic (or any comics) ask to reserve copies; retailers increase their orders with distributors; then, one week before its release, distributors let retailers know they're going to get x% of what they ordered due to high demand. Panic ensues. Eventually you get through the shortage thanks to additional printings, and when the next "hot" comic is solicited, you remember what happened previously, anticipate a shortage of x% and increase your order accordingly — then you're still shorted, so you increase your preorder on the next hot title by even more, and the cycle continues until eventually you're choking under dozens of pounds of Valiant comics that no one will buy because they weren't that good to begin with and everyone suddenly realized that all at the same time.

Source: Game Preview: Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men

[Keith]

What a *SQUEE*.

[bamaphilosopher]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time. IMHO.

[Phoenix8008]

However, none of that was in the late 80's. Valiant was only in the 90's, so his memory is already suspect or flawed to start with.

[bamaphilosopher]

However, none of that was in the late 80's. Valiant was only in the 90's, so his memory is already suspect or flawed to start with.

Good point!

[Tannerman]

I've got nothing against W. Eric Martin's comments. He covers the boardgame industry well. Just found it amusing to see the Valiant world colliding, especially when referencing a Marvel game

[bamaphilosopher]

I've got nothing against W. Eric Martin's comments. He covers the boardgame industry well. Just found it amusing to see the Valiant world colliding, especially when referencing a Marvel game

Agreed...especially since, well, the quality did get to where it sucked, honestly, so I'm not surprised many people have negative images of Valiant from those days.

That's probably something VEI has had to struggle to overcome. Though, they are doing that quite nicely by offering quality comics.

[Aram]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time Ever. IMHO.

fixed that for you.

[kjjohanson]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time Ever. IMHO.

fixed that for you.

Try re-reading VH1. A lot of it doesn't hold up so well, even the early stuff.

[Intrepidxc]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time Ever. IMHO.

fixed that for you.

Try re-reading VH1. A lot of it doesn't hold up so well, even the early stuff.

I am in the process of reading all the VH1 stuff. I've finished A&A , Armorines , Bloodshoot , Deathmate , EW , Geomancer , SLODM , HARD Corps , Harbinger , Ninjak , Psi-Lords , Secret Weapons , Shadowman to , Solar , Visitor , and XO to .

I am in the process of reading Rai and will then read Time-Walker, MRF, and Turok.

You can see where I stand on the original Valiant stuff.

[kjjohanson]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time Ever. IMHO.

fixed that for you.

Try re-reading VH1. A lot of it doesn't hold up so well, even the early stuff.

I am in the process of reading all the VH1 stuff. I've finished A&A , Armorines , Bloodshoot , Deathmate , EW , Geomancer , SLODM , HARD Corps , Harbinger , Ninjak , Psi-Lords , Secret Weapons , Shadowman to , Solar , Visitor , and XO to .

I am in the process of reading Rai and will then read Time-Walker, MRF, and Turok.

You can see where I stand on the original Valiant stuff.

Eventually I'm going to get around to a full re-read and blogging about VH1. But from my pre-Unity re-read, I can say that one thing that VEI did that VH1 should have done was make Aric more like the ignorant man out of time that he is, rather than a brainless ape. He comes off as far too cavemanish in VH1. Shoehorning the original Gold Key Solar comics into his VH1 origin was kinda weak too.

[ShadowTuga]

What a *SQUEE*.

Agree. However, he was kind of right, if he's talking about some of the later VH1 stuff. After the company stopped giving a darn. But I wish he'd acknowledge that the reason Valiant became hot enough to be in that position in the first place was that the original stuff was far better than any other comic company at the time Ever. IMHO.

fixed that for you.

Try re-reading VH1. A lot of it doesn't hold up so well, even the early stuff.

I am in the process of reading all the VH1 stuff. I've finished A&A , Armorines , Bloodshoot , Deathmate , EW , Geomancer , SLODM , HARD Corps , Harbinger , Ninjak , Psi-Lords , Secret Weapons , Shadowman to , Solar , Visitor , and XO to .

I am in the process of reading Rai and will then read Time-Walker, MRF, and Turok.

You can see where I stand on the original Valiant stuff.

Eventually I'm going to get around to a full re-read and blogging about VH1. But from my pre-Unity re-read, I can say that one thing that VEI did that VH1 should have done was make Aric more like the ignorant man out of time that he is, rather than a brainless ape. He comes off as far too cavemanish in VH1. Shoehorning the original Gold Key Solar comics into his VH1 origin was kinda weak too.

From what I've read from VH1 (and I only began reading it in 2012), I think Shadowman was the best. Rai and Magnus first trades are awesome. I also think Harbinger is a bit boring. A&A is good, but I don't see the magic that some people do- guess it's one of those "you had to be there" things.
I prefer VEI over VH1 any day, but that's me.

[KXXX]

The original Harbinger was bad news.

Disagree about Aric's character in VH1, his character was hysterical and more developed than the new one.

[paradise]

Over at BoardGameGeek.com, W. Eric Martin wrote up a game preview of "Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men". The author used to run a comic book store and was commenting about why this new game is experiencing shortages, using an analogy to the comic book industry decades ago. I found it humorous that he used a Valiant reference:

I managed a comic book store in the late 1980s, and we experienced this phenomenon all the time: A publisher announces a title or issue that you expect will be hot; distributors ask retailers for preorders 2-3 months ahead of when this title will be released; publishers set production quantities (with comic book production being far simpler than game production); news of this comic book event starts leaking into the public, and people who don't normally read that comic (or any comics) ask to reserve copies; retailers increase their orders with distributors; then, one week before its release, distributors let retailers know they're going to get x% of what they ordered due to high demand. Panic ensues. Eventually you get through the shortage thanks to additional printings, and when the next "hot" comic is solicited, you remember what happened previously, anticipate a shortage of x% and increase your order accordingly — then you're still shorted, so you increase your preorder on the next hot title by even more, and the cycle continues until eventually you're choking under dozens of pounds of Valiant comics that no one will buy because they weren't that good to begin with and everyone suddenly realized that all at the same time.

Source: Game Preview: Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men

Having been a retailer at the tail end of the Valiant's big orders and then rather quick decline, let me tell you, this is all pretty much true. Lots of manipulation by Distributors, Publisher, and even customers, who were SO hot one day, buying 10s of copies at a time, to next month, not showing up and moving on to other crap, like Lady Death and whatever else came out with a new gimmick. I still get brought in boxes with rows of Rai & Future Force #9 and a few others from that period.