Taddeo article on IGN

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:27:02 am

Taddeo Gets Shadow Man, X-O Manowar
Acclaim's old Valiant license has an owner again.
by Jeremy Dunham

April 20, 2005 - Former marketing manager and Tekno Comics guy John Taddeo successfully won an auction last week that granted him the comic book assets belonging to the now-defunct Acclaim Entertainment. Originally purchased from Voyager Communications in 1994, the Valiant Comics license was absorbed into Acclaim for use in videogames and future funny books.

As for which characters were successfully acquired by Taddeo, they include all the original Valiant Comics properties -- Archer and Armstrong, Armorines, Bad Eggs, Bloodshot, Dr. Mirage, Eternal Warrior, Harbinger, Ninjak, Quantum, Rai, Shadow Man, Woody, and X-O Manowar. Popular characters such as Magnus, Turok, and Solar, on the other hand, were not a part of the deal since they were under license by Western Publishing Company.

There is one problem for Taddeo regarding his new purchases, however, and it revolves around twelve outstanding Valiant trademarks that have been applied for by a New Jersey company calling itself Valiant Intellectual Properties. Apparently, the company took advantage of a trademark expiration allowed by Acclaim in August of 2004 by applying for the TM rights to guys like Harbinger, Eternal Warrior, and Bloodshot a few weeks ago. The group's request has not yet been approved, and it's possible that if it's granted that Taddeo would not be able to publish or control any of the titles in question.

Before the auction Taddeo was quoted as saying "If I am the high bidder on Valiant, I will ask Jim Shooter and Bob Layton to work together again on a one shot or Limited Series." Taddeo's plans in the videogame arena (if any) were not discussed.

We'll keep you updated on any further comic or videogame-related developments.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/606/606202p1.html

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Sounds like they actually got everything right, pretty surprising for a big time site like IGN. Good stuff

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:18:30 am

So is this other group trying to pinch off a piece of the pie for cheap, or are they actually interested in doing some comics?

I want to see what JT plans for this stuff. I hate to see someone jabbing sticks into the spokes.

hillmanthe2nd · Post by **hillmanthe2nd** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:01:57 am

As I understand it, Valiant Intellectual Properties had a bid in for the character catalog at the Acclaim auction. Is that correct? If so, it looks to me like they are a smart group of people to have applied for the TM rights before the auction. I wonder who they are...hmmm..

Did JT always have interest in Valiant characters or did it just start after he lost out on his Crossgen bid? JT is a marketing guy so he knows how to generate a buzz with Valiant die hards but is he the guy who can run a comic company? I read some of the chat transcripts and sounded like he was telling people what they wanted to hear. I want Valiant comics to be brought back as much as anyone, especially my favs EW, A&A, and X-O, but am a bit skeptical of what will actually be done.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:02:50 am

Thanks for posting the article.

Hmmm. I notice there's not a smidgen of information in there that WASN"T in the Newsrama articles and no sources are cited for the information. Me thinks the author read the stuff on Newsrama and used it in his article.

I'm still wondering if this legal "threat" from the Valiant Intellectual Properties is something real or just assumed on the part of the reporters. It's hard to tell if you haven't actually talked to anyone involved in the story

.

I'm going to wait till the people involved in this start singing like jay birds to the press before I start stresing over VIP's legal "threat" to the character rights.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:09:04 am

I wonder how long this ordeal with the Valiant trademarks will go on?

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:17:06 pm

Does anyone know who the principles of this VALIANT Intellectual Properties group are? I thought I heard a rumor or statement on the board that it was headed by a former VALIANT employee or creator.

Could it be another group formed by Massarsky?

What do you guys think?

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:19:35 pm

I suppose anything is possible.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:27:04 pm

wrunow wrote:Does anyone know who the principles of this VALIANT Intellectual Properties group are? I thought I heard a rumor or statement on the board that it was headed by a former VALIANT employee or creator.

Could it be another group formed by Massarsky?

What do you guys think?

Not Massarsky. Not enough profit in it for him. Someone posted elsewhere that Christopher Preist said it was guys he knew. I'm at a loss too

.

davidb · Post by **davidb** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:48:31 pm

Hmm... Guys that Christopher Priest knows, and I believe that he hinted that he'd worked with them. Could Fabian Nicieza be involved? He was the Acclaim EIC.

David B.

Unblessed · Post by **Unblessed** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:53:28 pm

Knightt_333 wrote:I am assembling a strike team as we speak... :x

Red Team, GO! RED TEAM GO!

~The Unblessed Soul

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:15:03 pm

davidb wrote:Hmm... Guys that Christopher Priest knows, and I believe that he hinted that he'd worked with them. Could Fabian Nicieza be involved? He was the Acclaim EIC.

David B.

Yeah for 15 minutes

. He would be a prime suspect as far as creators go (never heard of him having an attachment to the characters though). I have no idea what he's done in years. Of course for all we know it could be editors, marketing guys, managers, etc; not the sort of people we would hear a lot about.