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Valiant Comics is the Comic Book Publishing company founded by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and renowned writer/artists Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1989. Valiant Comics was one of the largest players in the comic book market during the 1990s, selling more than 80 million comic books in its first five years. Its characters have seen print in numerous languages across the globe and have been featured in a number of video game franchises that have sold over 10 million units. The Valiant universe includes '' Archer And Armstrong '', '' Armorines '', '' Bloodshot '', '' Eternal Warrior '', '' H.A.R.D. Corps '', '' Harbinger '', '' Magnus Robot Fighter '', '' Ninjak '', '' Psi Lords '', '' Quantum And Woody '', '' Rai '', '' Second Life Of Dr. Mirage '', '' Shadowman '', '' Solar, Man Of The Atom '', '' Turok Dinosaur Hunter '', '' Unity '' and '' X-O Manowar '', among others. HISTORY In 1988, former Marvel Editor-In-Chief ; Doctor Solar ; and Turok Dinosaur Hunter . In 1990, Valiant launched its superhero line, mixing modified versions of the Gold Key characters with several original titles & characters - Archer And Armstrong , Eternal Warrior , Harbinger , Rai , Shadowman , and X-O Manowar - to establish a new shared universe. In mid-1992, the company published a line-wide crossover called Unity . By producing unique characters, and stories of a higher quality (they chose to differentiate their books by writing better stories than those seen in their competitors' books) Valiant quickly developed a passionate fanbase. Through word of mouth and savvy marketing - employing a coupon-driven promotion to drive sales, as well as offering retailers sales-driven incentives - the popularity of the company grew. Publications like the Overstreet Price Guide and Wizard Magazine took notice of Valiant's success, specifically the escalating demand for rarer pre-Unity books that established the new universes origins and featured the first appearances of its characters. Despite this burgeoning success, Shooter's security within the company was not ensured. His relationship with Triumph had been badly damaged and he reportedly resisted his partners' plans to position the company for a rapid sale. This dispute lead to Shooter's dismissal. Following his departure, Bob Layton took over the bulk of Shooter's duties in publishing operations and Kevin VanHook became Executive Editor. Valiant greatly expanded its comics line and soon became the #3 comic book publisher in terms of market share, behind only industry giants Marvel and DC. In 1993, the first issue of Turok Dinosaur Hunter sold 1.75 million copies. This was one of a series of highly successful books that cemented Valiant's place as an industry heavyweight - Bloodshot #1 sold 900,000 copies, X-O Manowar #0 sold 850,000, Rai #9 sold 800,000, Ninjak #1 sold 500,000, etc. A year later, Voyager Communications, Inc. was sold to the video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million in June 1994. Along with the rest of the comics industry, Valiant's sales soon slumped as the speculative boom collapsed, and Acclaim management took a more active role in publishing decisions. Acclaim renamed the Valiant Comics line as Acclaim Comics in 1996. Their primary motivation was to make the properties more suitable for use in video game development. This created runaway video game successes out of the Shadowman & Turok Dinosaur Hunter properties. The comic book industry's implosion from 1995 to 1997 hurt the entire comics industry and Valiant/Acclaim comics was no exception. In 1999, Acclaim began publishing Unity 2000 , a company-wide crossover written by none other than Jim Shooter that was supposed to integrate the old Valiant universe and new Acclaim Universe. However, Shooter used the high profile book as an opportunity to strike back at his former partners, creating a group of new villains who mimicked their looks and personalities. Additionally, Acclaim failed to market the books but, nevertheless, saw a good deal of interest on the issues that saw print. Acclaim was forced to stop the series after only three issues because of an art return fiasco with Jim Starlin (artist on the series) and a payment problem with Jim Shooter. The company ceased all publication two months later to focus on its faltering core business. In 2004, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy and shut down its offices. FUTURE In 2005, Acclaim auctioned off the rights for the original (non-Gold Key) Valiant characters as part of their bankruptcy proceedings. The characters auctioned included Archer & Armstrong , Armorines , Bloodshot , Doctor Tomorrow, Eternal Warrior , H.A.R.D. Corps , Harbinger , Ninjak , Psi Lords , Quantum And Woody , Rai , Second Life Of Dr. Mirage , Secret Weapons, Shadowman , Timewalker , Trinity Angels, Troublemakers and X-O Manowar . After a complicated and drawn out process that involved numerous parties, Valiant Entertainment, Inc. was recognized as the new owners of the Valiant library of properties. Valiant Entertainment, Inc. has expressed an interest in bringing the characters back to their popular pre-Acclaim state. Harbinger: The Beginning In May 2007, Valiant Entertainment announced that they would be releasing a deluxe hardcover collection of the complete Harbinger origin story (Harbinger #0-7) entitled ''Harbinger: The Beginning''. The collection would digitally recolor and remaster the original books and include a new "Origin of Harada" story by Jim Shooter , title's original writer. The press release from Valiantfans.com: "''This 192-page deluxe hardcover edition collects the full Harbinger origin story from Harbinger issues 0-7 digitally recolored and remastered, and also features an all-new "Origin of Harada" story written by comics legend JIM SHOOTER and illustrated by BOB HALL (Shadowman). This "Origin of Harada" story includes its own original cover and features the first appearance of a new character in the Valiant Universe! Valiant's goal is to make this deluxe hardcover edition something special for Valiant fans and a great introduction to the Harbinger saga for new Valiant fans. The book retails for $24.95 and will be available in comic book stores in August 2007. Diamond Previews orders from comic book retailers are due July 5th, 2007.''" UNIVERSE , inked by Bob Layton , Tom Ryder and various.]] The Valiant Universe is the Fictional Shared Universe where all of the Comic stories published by Valiant Comics take place. Valiant Universe (VH1) Pre-Unity In the beginning, the Valiant Universe was a reflection of Jim Shooter's vision for an ideal comic book universe: character-driven, strong Continuity with emphasis on science fiction, long-reaching consequences and internal consistency. It was the first company to attempt to follow a real-world timeline, where events in the comics occurred at the pace similar to their publication schedule. The company writers adhered to real-world science as much as they possibly could. No matter how powerful its characters got, they were still affected by Friction , Newton's Laws Of Motion , Einstein's laws of relativity, etc. While the Valiant Universe had its share of aliens, they never used popular sci-fi conventions such as universal translators and faster-than-light travel. All Valiant Universe superheroes had powers that were derived from psionic awareness (the "power of the mind"), energy manipulation and/or technology. Valiant Comics' writers tried to emphasize the human aspect of superpowers, as well as how the actions of various superpowered individuals affected average human beings. Most Valiant heroes were not superheroes in the strict sense of the word. Some had more in common with the old-style pulp adventurers than traditional superheroes. Finally, Valiant Comics had tight, carefully integrated Continuity , where events in one title had indirect effects on other titles. In many cases, major characters debuted in established titles before their own titles premiered. The Valiant Universe was created by . They were led by Toyo Harada , a powerful psionic businessman with a Messiah Complex . While on the surface, he operated in the manner similar to Professor Xavier of X-Men, he actually sought to use Harbingers to take over Earth, to "save the world from itself"- with himself as its leader, naturally. The history of the Valiant Universe's super-powered community was greatly influenced by Geomancers , human beings who had an ability to listen to psychic impressions left on most everyday objects. From the beginning, all Valiant Comics titles could be divided into two groups - titles that were set in the 20th century (the present) and titles that were set in the 41st century (beginning with 4000 A.D.) The heroes from the present weren't aware of the heroes of the future until the Unity conflict. Four heroes from the present— Solar , Gilad the Eternal Warrior and his two brothers, Ivar (" Timewalker ") and Aram (Armstrong from Archer & Armstrong )—survived into the 41st century, but, in many respects, their experiences throughout all those years had made them different from their more contemporary counterparts. Post-Unity After Jim Shooter was ousted, the Valiant Universe experienced a few changes. At first, the changes were minor, but over time, they grew more and more significant as the creative direction changed to fit those now in charge ( Bob Layton and Kevin VanHook ). Writers began to experiment with the scientific aspects of Valiant Universe, moving from science fact and theory to science fiction. However, post-Unity sales were far higher than pre-Unity levels. In 1994 Valiant trimmed their comics line while moving to a two-issues-per-month schedule for their more popular titles ('' Bloodshot '', '' Harbinger '', '' Ninjak '', '' Shadowman '', '' X-O Manowar '' etc.). Soon after, Acclaim Entertainment , who had bought Valiant several months before, restarted the comics line with new, video game friendly, versions of the heroes. Acclaim Universe (VH2) When Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant Comics, the universe was started completely from scratch. In 1996 , Fabian Nicieza , a former editor and writer from Marvel Comics , was hired as senior vice-president and editor-in-chief and was given the task of revamping the Valiant Comics properties. Nicieza as editor oversaw the new version, dubbed ''VH2'' by the company, which re-imagined all of the Valiant characters such as '' Shadowman '', '' X-O Manowar '' and '' Ninjak '' using the top comic book writers of the period including Warren Ellis , Mark Waid , Kurt Busiek and Garth Ennis . The line also introduced new titles such as ''Troublemakers'', ''Trinity Angels'' and the hit comedy '' Quantum And Woody ''. Perhaps most successful in this period were the re-imagined Turok and Shadowman titles. These sold well but perhaps more importantly the characters met with great success as a Video Game adaptations by Acclaim's parent company Acclaim Entertainment . This reflected the product synergy which the new company saw as its business model - this model essentially being that the comic line would foster and develop properties which could then be exploited as video games. Originally, this new ''VH2'' version appeared to have little to do with the original Valiant Universe. However, later crossovers revealed that the Acclaim Universe was the result of a Time Paradox caused by Solar. The Acclaim Universe was similar to other superhero-based universes. It wasn't as interconnected as the Valiant Universe. While towards the end, Valiant Comic writers began to move away from real-world science and "realistic" superheroes, Acclaim Universe writers tended to ignore it altogether, sticking to the customary "wisdom" of the average comic world. Acclaim Comics met with initial success but by early 1999 most of the line had been cancelled. Acclaim Entertainment suffered huge losses on a number of video game titles and were cutting costs on their non-core businesses. Nicieza eventually left and staff levels were cut. The next year Acclaim attempted to merge the two universes with '' Unity 2000 ''. Jim Shooter's Valiant Universe (VH-0) In 2000, during Acclaim's ' Unity 2000 ' crossover, writer Jim Shooter introduced yet another alternate universe, called ''VH-0'' by fans. In essence, it was his vision of what the Valiant Universe would have been like if he had been allowed to stay with the company. According to Jim Shooter's plot, at the end of the crossover, VH-0 was destroyed and most of its characters were killed. VH-1 and VH-2 fused together into a new universe. However, Acclaim continued to suffer losses on their video games while the series suffered a number of administrative problems (art return and payment issues) and were forced to cancel the series after only the third issue. In 2005, the rights to the Valiant and Acclaim original characters (such as '' Archer And Armstrong '', '' Rai '', '' Quantum And Woody '' etc) were auctioned off. The rights to the three licensed characters (''Solar'', ''Magnus'' and ''Turok'') reverted to Random House , which currently owns Western Publishing and Gold Key Comics properties. TITLES Valiant Universe
Acclaim Universe While most characters that appeared in Acclaim Comics were altered versions of previous characters, some were created specifically for Acclaim Universe (VH-2)
CHARACTERS There are approximately 4000 characters in the Valiant universe. Main article: Valiant Comics Characters TRADING CARDS During the trading card boom of the early 90s, Valiant Comics, through licenses with the major trading card manufacturers, produced a number of trading card sets and promotional cards to highlight the comics and characters of the Valiant Universe. The major trading card sets include: Please see Valiant Comics Trading Cards , for more information. CULTURAL IMPACT The Valiant Universe had a significant impact on modern Comic Books . When Valiant Comics first started publishing in the early 1990s, comic books favored flashy art and name artists over quality writing and strong Continuity . According to Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter , Valiant Comics goal was to differentiate their books by out-writing the competition; however, in practice they have become notoriously linked to the "variant issue" craze of the 1990s and are often credited alongside Image Comics in contributing to the speculator's market of the 1990's, which ultimately led to the "Comic Book crash" and ultimately Valiant's demise. Valiant created a highly successful yet controversial marketing campaign based on word of mouth sales by correctly betting that higher quality stories would inspire retailers and fans to recommend Valiant. Valiant encouraged its fans to show off their pride in public, rewarding the best efforts with gold logo variant versions of Valiant comics. Even though the gold logo program is no longer in effect, the Valiant fans continue to exhibit their passion by organizing Valiant Conventions that are staged annually at the San Diego Comic Con and the New York Big Apple Con, and produce a variety of Valiant Fan Projects , including signed books, posters, lithographs and toys, funded entirely by fans. These items have become highly sought after by some collectors. Parodies in 2002.]] Valiant Comics has been copied and parodied a number of times:
LOGO HISTORY Valiant's first logo appeared on its licensed products (Nintendo and Wrestling comics) before being seen on its superhero line. In May 1991, the logo first appeared on a superhero comic when it appeared on Magnus Robot Fighter #1 but without a comic box. In January 1992, the logo first appeared in a comic box on Solar #5 and Magnus #8. In November 1992, Valiant updated its logo changing the typeface from a fancy script to a thick bold script. This change occurred only two months after the end of the successful Unity crossover and on the back of the departure of Jim Shooter. Immediately after the Chaos Effect crossover the logo was updated again. The type face was kept but the wording was changed to "Valiant Presents". The compass logo was diminished in size and moved from below the text. After the sale to Acclaim Entertainment Inc. for $65 million, the logo was completely revamped. The compass logo was replaced by a large letter "V" that appeared above the wording "Valiant", which appeared in a new type face. To coincide with the Acclaim Comics relaunch in 1996, another completely revamped logo was created. This logo signified the synergy between Acclaim and Valiant, merging the letters "A" and "V" into one logo with the wording "Acclaim Comics Valiant Heroes". More recently and following the formation of Valiant Entertainment, the compass logo has reappeared along with a variation of the original type face. The only major change is the addition of the wording "Entertainment". On August 15, 2007 Valiant Entertainment unveiled the new Valiant logo. Designed by world famous corporate identity consultant Henry Steiner , the new logo will be used in all media and will make its debut on the Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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