Valiant keeps killing It!

[Captain Craig]

^^^^
There was an adjustment period to be sure. I stay about 6mo-1yr behind, depending on the character, but when someone like Instocktrades.com offers 40-50% off on first week releases I can get, for example, nu52 Batman(first arc) and Detective(first arc) and it's almost like buy one get one free. Sometimes I feel I'm stealing entertainment. If one can adjust to "not needing to know right now" for some characters or crossovers you can save yourself some money. Heck get more bang for your buck.

Despite my efforts though Resurrection Man got cancelled and Frankenstein Agent of SHADE is as well. I mourn the loss of Rucka's Punisher and the current Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers book(love me some Man-Thing you know).

I get all VALIANT, Ghost @ Dark Horse, Aquaman, JLD, Swamp Thing, Sword of Sorcery, Animal Man, Red She-Hulk as an example. I will eventually be getting JiM starring Sif and Morbius as well. If that Savage book was Ka-Zar and Shanna then I'd be all over it but the inclusion of Wolverine means it's sells don't need my monthly dollar. I'll also be getting X from Dark Horse in December.

Just thought I'd expand on that thought for you. Hope it wasn't overkill.

[BugsySig]

^^^^
There was an adjustment period to be sure. I stay about 6mo-1yr behind, depending on the character, but when someone like Instocktrades.com offers 40-50% off on first week releases I can get, for example, nu52 Batman(first arc) and Detective(first arc) and it's almost like buy one get one free. Sometimes I feel I'm stealing entertainment. If one can adjust to "not needing to know right now" for some characters or crossovers you can save yourself some money. Heck get more bang for your buck.

Despite my efforts though Resurrection Man got cancelled and Frankenstein Agent of SHADE is as well. I mourn the loss of Rucka's Punisher and the current Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers book(love me some Man-Thing you know).

I get all VALIANT, Ghost @ Dark Horse, Aquaman, JLD, Swamp Thing, Sword of Sorcery, Animal Man, Red She-Hulk as an example. I will eventually be getting JiM starring Sif and Morbius as well. If that Savage book was Ka-Zar and Shanna then I'd be all over it but the inclusion of Wolverine means it's sells don't need my monthly dollar. I'll also be getting X from Dark Horse in December.

Just thought I'd expand on that thought for you. Hope it wasn't overkill.

No, makes sense to me. For a long time I was about 90% trades. I didn't mind being behind because I was sort of jumping back into the game after a few years away from reading. Unfortunately I probably should have been doing what you do because all the titles I was collecting in trade were eventually cancelled (Incredible Herculese, GotG, Agents of Atlas, Immortal Iron Fist, Avengers: The Initiative, Eternals, CB and MI:13).

Now I have gone digital and try to support books that way. I have also greatly decreased my readership to all VALIANT books, the occasional Dynamite or IDW series (gonna check out THUNDER Agents when that materializes), Demon Knights at DC (was gonna drop it but will give Venditti a shot), the new Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja, and I am going to give the NOW Young Avengers and maybe FF a try.

Those Marvel books, though, I may end up trade-waiting because: 1) The savings since Marvel doesnt reduce digital cover prices on everything after a month like DC, and 2) I want to make sure they are actually good before I start investing $$$. The way Marvel cancels titles left and right I also don't want to get too attached.

[mr_hyde2120]

I'm sure you will and once you try the other titles they will also hook you, the XO TPB is coming out soon it's $10 you can't go wrong.

Welcome future VALIANT fan

10 Bucks huh? Gonna have to try it.

[The Animal Man]

4 days until shadowman#1(though i will have to wait until the next week since I'm getting it shipped online)

[mr_hyde2120]

4 days until shadowman#1(though i will have to wait until the next week since I'm getting it shipped online)

Bloodshot too, gotta read that, Written by the dude that writes Birds Of Prey and the Cable series after messiah complex. Let me check his name, here it is:Dwayne Swierczynski. Really good!

[hunter_peterson]

Bloodshot too, gotta read that, Written by the dude that writes Birds Of Prey and the Cable series after messiah complex. Let me check his name, here it is:Dwayne Swierczynski. Really good!

If I recall correctly, Animal Man is unfortunately not a fan of Sweircynski. Which sucks, because Bloodshot reads a lot like the book Sweircynski WANTS Birds of Prey to be. And is awesome.

[The Animal Man]

the question is...Can Valiant survive in this day and age when their major competition comes in the form of Disney(Marvel)And Warner Brothers(DC)?

[BugsySig]

the question is...Can Valiant survive in this day and age when their major competition comes in the form of Disney(Marvel)And Warner Brothers(DC)?

There is a whole VALIANT sales thread here somewhere, but if they can level off their sales at 12-15k per book (avg is higher now but they haven't leveled off completely yet) even with new titles, then they should be fine.

Those numbers would be higher than the avg IDW, Dark Horse, Dynamite and Boom! sales, and higher than Image (if you exclude Walking Dead, Saga and the few titles that account for the majority of their sales).

The real key will be in expansion to other media. Movie announcements have already been made, and apparently a toy/collectible license is being worked on right now. I think they should try to take advantage of the Video Game market considering some of their characters have a history with that (Shadowman, Armorines). A Bloodshot game would be awesome, as would XO.

[The Animal Man]

the problem is going to be introducing people to the valiant relaunch line...most people are weary about stepping outside the safe zone of Marvel/DC and if they haven't heard of valiant then it's gonna be even harder trying to get them involved with this

[Captain Craig]

the question is...Can Valiant survive in this day and age when their major competition comes in the form of Disney(Marvel)And Warner Brothers(DC)?

Marvel's now parent company is irrelevant. The comic book market place is unchanged from the 90's where the major competition was still Marvel and DC. Valiant was holding it's own during that time. For whatever reason(s) when the bottom fell out of the market in the 90's Valiant and other Indies either collapsed or were drastically altered. If VALIANT is able to maintain the quality from the 90's and not over exapand or dilute their main books with sub-par talent they should be able to hold steady in the marketplace.

[The Animal Man]

Marvel's now parent company is irrelevant. The comic book market place is unchanged from the 90's where the major competition was still Marvel and DC. Valiant was holding it's own during that time. For whatever reason(s) when the bottom fell out of the market in the 90's Valiant and other Indies either collapsed or were drastically altered. If VALIANT is able to maintain the quality from the 90's and not over exapand or dilute their main books with sub-par talent they should be able to hold steady in the marketplace.

yeah but trying to compete with DC/Marvel is difficult for any publisher DC/Marvel can get anyone interested in anything Valiant however don't have the hype machines that DC And Marvel Do

[Blastermaster]

yeah but trying to compete with DC/Marvel is difficult for any publisher DC/Marvel can get anyone interested in anything Valiant however don't have the hype machines that DC And Marvel Do

Which is why they shouldn't do that, they should focus on making great comics. Trying to beat DC and Marvel at their own game isn't going to work. Just look at the difference in the market share between DC/Marvel and Image or IDW. They can't compete with DC/Marvel and somehow Valiant is going do it? I don't think so.

[BugsySig]

Which is why they shouldn't do that, they should focus on making great comics. Trying to beat DC and Marvel at their own game isn't going to work. Just look at the difference in the market share between DC/Marvel and Image or IDW. They can't compete with DC/Marvel and somehow Valiant is going do it? I don't think so.

I don't think they should, or are, trying to compete with Marvel and DC. What they do offer, however, is an alternative shared universe that most other publishers cannot.

Thus far, I think they have drawn more readers than anyone expected, even VALIANT themselves. And more importantly the word of mouth is spreading. VALIANT has also proven to be adept at social media marketing and fan interaction, another big alternative to the Big 2.

As far as movies/tv/video games, I think they have to take advantage of those cash streams if available. While they can survive if they maintain their current sales, their stability long term may depend on those non-publishing revenues.

[dornwolf]

I've rather enjoyed the Valiant comics they've been a lot of fun and in my eyes the best relaunch/reboot done yet. Having never read the original Valiant I am able to get immediately into these but that of course hasn't stopped me from tracking down the original X-O trade

[Sentinel Supreme]

I don't think they should, or are, trying to compete with Marvel and DC. What they do offer, however, is an alternative shared universe that most other publishers cannot.

Thus far, I think they have drawn more readers than anyone expected, even VALIANT themselves. And more importantly the word of mouth is spreading. VALIANT has also proven to be adept at social media marketing and fan interaction, another big alternative to the Big 2.

As far as movies/tv/video games, I think they have to take advantage of those cash streams if available. While they can survive if they maintain their current sales, their stability long term may depend on those non-publishing revenues.

THIS. Valiant in the 90s really wanted to see themselves as Marvel 2.0, but that was Shooter's deal. Today, Valiant positions itself as a shared comic book universe, but the scope of their ambition has been very much in check. They realize that in order to be successful you need to take advantage of licensing deals, movies, toys, video games, etc, but they have been very careful and deliberate in their announcements regarding these. They also have been taking full advantage of social media. Seriously. Just about every writer/artist is on social media, and even Warren and Dinesh will engage with fans.

It's also kind of misleading to suggest that Valiant is competing with Marvel/DC. At the present time, they simply aren't publishing enough books to be considered in the same league as those two companies. They are however, in direct competition with publishers like Boom and Dynamite, and judging from Valiant's success in the Diamond Top 100, it looks like they're doing a good job of it. X-O Manowar #5, I believe, made it into this month's Top 100, which is pretty good for a #5 in an ongoing series that isn't being published by Marvel/DC. If DC hadn't flooded the market with #0 issues, I don't doubt you'd also see Harbinger or Bloodshot in there as well.

I think if Valiant continues to stay on track and keeps putting out good, high quality books, as they have been, they could ultimately position themselves as a competitor to Dark Horse and Image. However, Image has done a good job of diversifying their line by focusing on creator-owned work, which Valiant does not have, so for the time being, those two companies are not really after the same market.