Valiant Poster - UNITY #0

According to the Valiant marketing annual given to retailers at the Capital City Distributors conference explaining Valiant's upcoming releases and promotions, this is the first of two point of purchase posters supporting the UNITY crossover. It shipped with Valiant's March solicitations. The image is the same as the cover to UNITY #0 and is by legendary creator Barry Windsor-Smith.

The other poster is a Frank Miller UNITY poster that shipped with Valiant's April solicitations. That features the same art as the cover of Eternal Warrior #1.

Valiant Poster - UNITY Eternal Warrior #1

According to the Valiant marketing annual given to retailers at the Capital City Distributors conference explaining Valiant's upcoming releases and promotions, this is the second of two point of purchase posters supporting the UNITY crossover. It shipped with Valiant's April solicitations. The image is the same as the cover to Eternal Warrior #1 and is by famed creator Frank Miller.

The other poster is a Barry Windsor-Smith UNITY poster that shipped with Valiant's March solicitations. That features the same art as the cover of UNITY #0.

Valiant Production Error - Deathmate Red white error

We've already seen a few Deathmate white error editions - Deathmate Epilogue white error and Deathmate Blue white error - and now we have the Deathmate Red white error edition.

You often see production errors on books with large print runs so it's understandable that the Deathmate books which had print runs in the millions of copies would have production errors. What's interesting is that they all seem to have the same type of error - the White Variant error. This happens when the foil part of the cover runs out in the printing press and the glossy card-stock paper cover shows through. As part of the promotion for the Deathmate crossover series, Image and Valiant gave out card-stock covers (with no interiors) for Deathmate Prologue at conventions for fans to get signed. To differentiate this giveaway they purposely had the silver foil left out, creating the first white variant Deathmate book. Some collectors have attempted to complete a set of all six Deathmate white variants even though many dispute that white variants even exist for every issue.

And now, some proof of the existence of the white variant Deathmate Red:

Mags - Comic Buyers Guide Price Guide #28

After years of putting out Comic Buyers Guide the newsprint magazine, CBG launched a price guide to compete with Wizard Magazine. Check out this scan of Comic Buyers Guide Price Guide #28 which features a Chaos Effect cover by Bob Layton and several interesting Valiant articles.

The art is from one of the Chaos Effect promo cards. Characters on the cover include X-O Manowar, Armorines, Spider Aliens and the H.A.R.D. Corps.

Shadowman Tattoo 3

Now, I've got a third Shadowman tattoo for you. See my first two Shadow Man tattoo posts here and here. This time the tattoo is of the symbol from the original comics and it's on an ankle. According to the owner of the tattoo, the image is based on the cover of Shadowman #30. The owner explains:

I didn't know it was going to happen while I was there so I was unprepared. A couple doors down from the tattoo shop was a comic shop. The only Shadowman back issue they had was #30. So I grabbed that and took it back to the tattoo shop. He enlarged the symbol from the cover logo with a photocopier and that's what we went with.

In hindsight, I wish I had been more prepared. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets at all. It's still my only tattoo and I still love it after all these years. I just wish the light rays were going out to the sides at the bottom like the old version of the symbol instead of being more squared off like the later version.

Check it out:

And here is the cover of Shadowman #30 for reference:

A close up of the logo from Shadowman #30:

And a close up of the original logo (from Shadowman #10):

Shadow Man Tattoo 2

I've found another die hard Shadow Man video games with a chest tattoo! Click here to see the original Shadow Man tattoo post. I just posted about. Check it out the new one:

I almost thought that this was the same guy but there are several differences - the eyes, the bones etc. Also, here's a picture of what the chest mask looks like in the video game:

Shadow Man Tattoo

The Shadow Man video games have some very dedicated fans but this guy goes above and beyond with his massive chest tattoo. Check it out:

Here's a picture of what the chest mask looks like in the video game:

Ads - Topps Deathmate Trading Cards

Deathmate was the much hyped series in which characters from the two hottest comic publishers (Valiant and Image) would crossover, but it was also meant to be the first trading card crossover. Like the comics, where Valiant was responsible for creating and putting out half of the books and Image for the other half, Upper Deck and Topps were each going to put out a trading card set that covered one portion of the events from Deathmate. Upper Deck already had a relationship with Valiant Comics (producing the UNITY, Valiant Era I, Valiant Era II and proposed Valiant Files card sets) and was working with Valiant creators on their set, while Topps focused on the Deathmate Red and Deathmate Black books and worked with Image creators.

Unfortunately, the Topps card set was never released as the books Image was responsible for missed deadline after deadline and interest dropped. I think the set would have been pretty cool and I remember being very excited to see the chase cards (especially the Deathmatrix cards) as well as the new art by Jim Lee. Little is known about what the cards would have contained but we do have some advertisements that tease with nuggets of information. Check out this advertisement from Comic Shop News #317:

Seeing this advertisement reminds me just how cool Deathmate could have / should have been...the best artists from Valiant and Image combined with the best writers from Valiant! Oh well, at least the creators got rich...

Mags - Previews Magazine vol. VI, no. 7

Check out this cover scan for Previews Magazine featuring the Acclaim Comics Valiant Heroes versions of Shadowman, X-O Manowar, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Ninjak and the new characters, Troublemakers.

Rai #0: The Rejected Version

UPDATE - Full write through.


Rai #0 is one of the most important, most talked about, most exciting Valiant books.

It is the "Bridge to the Future" of the Valiant Universe, depicting major events from the present through to the creation of the last Rai in the 42nd century. It showed us the ultimate fates of a number of key characters such as Toyo Harada, Aric of Dacia and Obadiah Archer. It was named one of the Most Important Comic Books of the 1990s and one of the 20 Coolest Comic Covers. There has been controversy over it's famous cover being a swipe and potential lost pages and expanded editions.

Now, I've got a new twist to present and this one is a revelation. It turns out that the original illustrator for Rai #0 was not David Lapham but instead Rai series illustrator Joe St. Pierre, and that he and Jim Shooter completed a cover and seven pages of interiors in June of 1992 (Rai #0 was eventually published in November of 1992) for a vastly different version. Jim Shooter than rewrote the script from scratch which Joe St. Pierre did at least one page of pencils for before the book was assigned to David Lapham. Very few knew this tale and even fewer had seen the unfinished pencil pages, until they turned up on eBay today thanks to the authorized dealer for Joe St. Pierre art. Below you can see the original cover, pages 1 through 7 with accompanying story notes from the eBay auctions, and page 1 of the rewritten and published script by Joe St. Pierre.

Cover

Page 1

Page depicts a scene from the near future, when the HARBINGER WARS are in full swing. The daughter of FLAMINGO and ARCHER (from Archer and Armstrong) is being attacked by the enemy!

Page 2

Page depicts a scene from the near future, when the HARBINGER WARS are in full swing. The daughter of FLAMINGO and ARCHER (from Archer and Armstrong) uses her flame/heat powers to destroy an enemy tank. That's the Geomancer, now a dying wizard, in the last panel.

Page 3

Page depicts a scene from a near future, when the HARBINGER WARS are in full swing. The daughter of FLAMINGO and ARCHER (from Archer and Armstrong) meets secretly with the GEOMANCER. Thruout history. the Geomancer was protected by a Harbinger like Gilad the ETERNAL WARRIOR. This alternate future, an apocalyptic hell on earth, is so dangerous that now the Geomancer him/herself must be gifted with Harbinger abilities in order to survive.

Page 4

Page depicts a scene from a near future, where an ancient ritual is enacted: the daughter of FLAMINGO and ARCHER (from Archer and Armstrong) becomes the world's first HARBINGER-GEOMANCER. Thruout history, the Geomancer was protected by a Harbinger like Gilad the ETERNAL WARRIOR. This alternate future, an apocalyptic hell on earth, is so dangerous that now the Geomancer him/herself must be gifted with Harbinger abilities in order to survive.

Page 5

Page depicts a scene from a near future, where an ancient ritual has been enacted: the daughter of FLAMINGO and ARCHER (from Archer and Armstrong) has become the Earth's first HARBINGER-GEOMANCER. Thruout history, the Geomancer was protected by a Harbinger like Gilad the ETERNAL WARRIOR. This alternate future, an apocalyptic hell on earth, is so dangerous that now the Geomancer him/herself must be gifted with Harbinger abilities in order to survive. The last panel depicts an assault on Orb industries by a Harbinger battalion.

Page 6

Page depicts a scene from an apocalyptic future, where the HARBINGER WARS are in full swing. An aging X-O MANOWAR stages the last stand for humanity against an army of Toyo Harada's Harbinger warriors.

Page 7

Page 1 from the published script by Joe St. Pierre

This page features Geoff and Bloodshot, though Bloodshot is chained onto his bed unlike the published version.

The Valiant marketing annual given to retailers at the Capital City Distributors conference explaining Valiant's upcoming releases and promotions provides more information and further proof about the rejected Rai #0 story. Check out an excerpt below:

From the excerpt we can see that Joe St. Pierre was indeed scheduled to illustrate Rai #0. This is in keeping with several other #0 issues in which the titles regular artist also drew the #0 issue. We also see that the story was originally going to explain the origin of the Rai Power and show us the creation of the first Rai. Very little has been published about either. What we do know is that the Rai Power was created by Grandmother when she felt the Blood of Heroes was a threat to herself, is incredibly powerful and can harm energy beings like Mothergod.

Valiant Production Error - Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1

When you're as popular as Valiant is you print a lot of books (especially in the early 90s!), and when you print a lot of books a few production errors sneak out. A few even look pretty cool.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1 had a print run of almost 2 million (one of the largest in history) so you'd imagine a few errors would sneak by. Check out this copy with the red foil misprinted on the Valiant logo and title logo:

The weird lines on the chromium card are not an error, they appear on the scan only.

For comparison, here is the printed version.

Mags - Entertainment This Month Catalog #42

I just posted an Entertainment This Month (ETM) catalog with a Valiant cover (#40 featuring a Rai and The Future Force cover by Sean Chen), now here's another. Entertainment This Month #42 featuring a Turok: Dinosaur Hunter cover by Bart Sears.

The image used here is from the cover art to Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1, but what's really interesting is that there is more art here than on the chromium card cover. The right hand side shows the body of a dinosaur and a lamp post we don't see on the published comics. We see this in the Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1 ink art but have never seen it colored. Pretty cool! I'll try and get a better scan.

For comparison, here is the printed version.

Entertainment This Month was a comic book retailer who would publish a quarterly catalog of their in stock comics with prices.

Mags - Entertainment This Month Catalog #40

Earlier this month I posted my first Entertainment This Month (ETM) catalog with a Valiant cover (#49 featuring a Ninjak cover by Joe Quesada), now here's another. Entertainment This Month #40 featuring a Rai and The Future Force cover by Sean Chen.

The image used here is from the cover art to Rai and The Future Force #9.

Entertainment This Month was a comic book retailer who would publish a quarterly catalog of their in stock comics with prices.

Original Art - Shadowman #30 cover

Another post in my quest to find and post the black and white ink art to every great Valiant cover (and some not so greats. Check out the very cool cover to Shadowman #30 by Bob Hall and Tom Ryder.

For comparison, here is the printed version.

Mags - American Entertainment winter catalog 93

I've showcased an American Entertainment catalog in the past (#29 - Rai and the Future Force cover) and I have another today. This time it's not part of the numbered catalogs but the year end Winter Catalog, and it's got a Solar, Man of the Atom cover. What's really interesting is that I've never seen the art before and can't place the artist. Usually magazine covers recycle existing art. It seems that American Entertainment liked to commission new pieces for their covers (the Rai and the Future Force cover is also new art), perhaps they hoped the catalogs would become collectibles (as it stands only the Valiant issues of American Entertainment have become collectibles).

Amorines armor design sheet

Today, I have a treat for you  (don't I always?) - the original pencil drawing by Jim Calafiore & Mike Leeke (signed as Leekafiore) of the Armorines armor with notations, approved by Bob Layton (see the little BL with a star). I'm not sure when this piece was produced but these are the designs that were used in the original version of the Armorines armor. The signatures (Dated 2006) were obtained later by a collector I believe. Check it out:

Very cool to see how much work and detail went into these designs. Every piece of equipment has a purpose.

Mags - Entertainment Retailing #1

Check out the cover a Entertainment Retailing #1 (published by Wizard Magazine Group) featuing Ninjak by Joe Quesada:

The magazine measures 11" x 16", is 16 pages long, pre-folded and is not stapled. It contains a number of Valiant Comics articles.

The image used on the cover comes from a promotional piece used in posters and advertisements for the launch of the Ninjak comic book series.

Page 1 - H.A.R.D. Corps #1

A lot of Valiant books will start with splash page (a full page of art instead of a series of panels). These are called page one splashes. I love them because they are so encompassing that it doesn't matter what is going on in your life, once you open the comic to that page one splash you are drawn into the story.

Today I've got the first page from H.A.R.D. Corps #1 by David Lapham. Lapham got his start at Valiant, he trained under Jim Shooter and helped create the seminal Harbinger series. He was nominated for the Russ Manning Newcomer of the Year award for his work at Valiant. And he really hit his stride and perfected his style (before he went all indie and changed it) with two Valiant books - Harbinger #9 and this one, H.A.R.D. Corps #1. Check out his skillz:

Great composition, very nice figures, clean and exciting lines. The best marriage between the image style and the Valiant house style.

As a bonus, and because I spent the whole post talking about the artist and the art, here is a scan of the ink art to H.A.R.D. Corps #1 page 1:

Valiant Poster - H.A.R.D. Corps #1 preview special edition

To support the launch of the H.A.R.D. Corps series, Valiant created a preview poster for H.A.R.D. Corps #1 that shipped with the solicitation for the first issue. It was the first of its kind - a 24" x 36" poster that featured the first 6 pages of the first issue plus the cover. They also created a special edition (black) poster that was sent free to retailers  for every 50 copies of H.A.R.D. Corps #1 they purchased in initial orders. Check out the black version below:

Valiant Poster - H.A.R.D. Corps #1 preview

Whenever I run across a nice picture of a Valiant poster I'm going to be making a post. For the first in this series let's look at the promotional support preview poster for H.A.R.D. Corps #1. Valiant shipped this out with the solicitation for H.A.R.D. Corps #1, it was the first of its kind - a 24" x 36" poster that featured the first 6 pages of the first issue plus the cover. A good attempt to give customers a chance to preview the book. Today, of course, we get our previews online.

In addition to the regular (blue) edition, Valiant also created a special edition (black) poster that was sent free to retailers  for every 50 copies of H.A.R.D. Corps #1 they purchased in initial orders! Very rare.

Original Art - H.A.R.D. Corps #1 cover

I've posted some great pieces of black and white cover art here and today I add another - the ink art to the gatefold cover for H.A.R.D. Corps #1 by one of the greats of all time, Jim Lee (inked by Bob Layton). Check it out:

For comparison, here is the published version.

And the digitally colored version.

Darque Passages full cover

Darque Passages is a four issue mini series published by Valiant Comics (under the Acclaim Comics Valiant Heroes banner). The mini explored the Master Darque character of the Acclaim universe (where he was called Alexander Darque). The series is a little confusing but has some interesting moments and great painted covers, all four of which connect to form a larger image. I recently found a picture of the issues combined. Check it out below:

UPDATE: Here is a larger and clearer look at the combined image without the logo and credits thanks to ValiantEntertainment.com

Valiant Comics & Watchmen - Harada / Ozymandias

Watchmen, the greatest comic book ever told, has influenced a host of writers and characters since its release. In this series of articles, I'm going to make the case that it also directly influenced Valiant Comics. And why not? What better place is their to take inspiration from then the best of the medium?

In this first post, I'm going to discuss the similarities between Toyo Harada of Harbinger and Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt), and how Harada is in fact furthers the movement away from 'comic booky' writing that Alan Moore started with Ozymandias .

1. Real world characters

Both Toyo Harada and Ozymandias are attempts by their writers to take comic book characters further into reality and away from comic book conventions. Both characters are realistic, grounded characters that are depicted in a believable way and in surroundings we see in our daily lives. They act and talk like wealthy, intelligent, business men we know from the real world. They both spend more time in offices, conference rooms and building lobbies than they do in secret lairs and volcano hideouts (a direct evolution from what the creators of the characters are reacting to - Lex Luthor and Magneto). Neither has flashy or outright visual super powers that break the suspension of disbelief their real world depiction creates. Harada's powers are intelligence and mind related capabilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, mind control etc. Ozymandias powers are incredible intellect and strength. Certainly, these are exciting but don't run contrary to science. Physically, neither has the stereotype muscular comic book physique, though Ozymandias is certainly straddling the line. I would further argue that Harada is an evolved version of what Alan Moore did with Ozymandias; Harada avoids other comic book stereotypes such as code names and costumes.

2. Charisma

Partly to compensate for the lack of a visually flashy power (there is something inherently translated to the reader through a visual such as adamantium claws, blue fur or feathered wings) both men are very charismatic (both in manner and speech) and there is a seduction involved in their exploits. Ozymandias seduces other characters and the reader with his keen intellect. Because the characters in the story (and the reader) believe he is thinking about things at a deeper level and with more skill than they are, the characters are quick to believe him and therefore easily manipulated by him. Harada's seduction is similar, he uses his intellect but also his powers of mental persuasion. Additionally, he uses an emotional ploy. His targets are usually children and he plays the good father to them. Teaching them, loving them, providing for them. The tour he gives of his facilities - his show and tell - is a great example of his manipulation.  Lastly, he plays into the stereotype of the successful Asian businessman whose success is a product of his deep work ethic and attaining knowledge others don't have (this stereotype was recently used very effectively in the movie Inception with the character of Saito)

3. Moral Ambiguity

Harada and Ozymandias are the villains of their story. But their motivations, point of view and actions make it very difficult to so cleanly define them as 'bad guys'. They are certainly morally ambiguous
like magneto
wants pete to make him have a change of heart but he is our villian that we believe in. evil prof x or prof x gone too far or prof x realistically what woul dhappen

1. Both are morally ambiguious characters
2. Both are 'villians' whose pov we are drawn to
3. Both are grounded, real world types ie. charasmatic, rich, business men.
4. Both use thier powers to outwit, out smart their opponets
5. Both would appear corrupted and evil at first glance but once we get into their mindset we understand that they, like all great men in positions of power are forced to make tough choices. They bought chose to do horrible things for the greater good

Quantum & Woody Lithograph

Check out this cool Quantum & Woody lithograph that was put out by collectibles emporium, Dynamic Forces. The print measures 18" x 24", is printed on textured paper and is said to be limited to only 500!

If anyone has a better scan, send it over.

Marvel Comics acquires Acclaim!

Talk about sensationalizing a story! Warning: The title of the post is completely out of context. Here's what really happened.

1. The Acclaim video game trademark was purchased and put to use by a MMORPG start up as Acclaim Games.

2. Acclaim Games was purchased by MMORPG game developer Playdom in May of 2010

3. Playdom (along with Acclaim Games) was acquired by Disney (who own Marvel Comics) in July of 2010

4. Ergo Marvel Comics acquires Acclaim!

PS: 5. Disney cancels all Acclaim Games projects in August of 2010

So once again Acclaim video games dies a horrible but much deserved death.

Sources:
Playdom Acquires MMORPG Publisher Acclaim Games
Playdom Acquired By Disney For Up To $763.2 Million
Acclaim games down and out

Photoshop Fun - Solar #10 white variant

Three posts in a row related to the color white! Solar, Man of the Atom #10 is a seminal issue in Valiant comics history. It was the first Valiant book to really break out and gain the attention of the masses. The all black cover was striking and perfectly apt considering the story (no spoilers here, I'm saving that for a post all its own), the first appearances of the Eternal Warrior and the Geomancers made the issue a back market collectors item (it reached prices well over $100), and it was the first Valiant comic to have a second printing published. Valiant very successfully marketed gold, platinum and even red editions of its comics to collectors but for some reason there has always been a rumor that a white edition exists of Solar, Man of the Atom #10. Let me clear this up now...IT DOES NOT! This rumor may have to do with the mystic surrounding Valiant in its early days. The company succesfully used hidden first appearances of its new characters to create a back issue feeding frenzy, had very low print runs when it was just getting started leading many readers to not be entirely clear what existed (See the Rai #0 glossy edition), was famed for creating and marketing additional material that was available through unique channels (Harbinger #0, Magnus Robot Fighter #0, UNITY #0), and was simply just a company that was doing some many new and exciting things that people didn't know what to expect them to do next.

All is not lost though, despite the fact that a white edition of Solar, Man of the Atom #10 does not exist we can marvel at what it would have looked like via the wonder of Photoshop:

This image is guaranteed to be sent around the internet without the accompanying text from this post and eventually provide 'proof' to those that insist a white edition exists. To try and avoid this I have attempted to name the file appropriately!

UPDATE: Looks like I'm not the only one with Photoshop:

Valiant Production Error - Deathmate Epilogue white error

Less than 24 hours after posting about the Deathmate Blue white error and how rare the white Deathmate books are, a CGC 9.8 copy of Deathmate Epilogue white error pops up on eBay! Well, to reiterate you often see production errors on books with large print runs so it's understandable that the Deathmate books which had print runs in the millions of copies would have production errors. What's interesting is that they all seem to have the same type of error - the White Variant error. This happens when the foil part of the cover runs out in the printing press and the glossy card-stock paper cover shows through. As part of the promotion for the Deathmate crossover series, Image and Valiant gave out card-stock covers (with no interiors) for Deathmate Prologue at conventions for fans to get signed. To differentiate this giveaway they purposely had the silver foil left out, creating the first white variant Deathmate book. Some collectors have attempted to complete a set of all six Deathmate white variants even though many dispute that white variants even exist for every issue.

And now, some proof of the existence of the white variant Deathmate Epilogue:

CGC, the most widely accepted grading authority in the industry, graded this book with a green "qualified" label. The green label is used when there is writing on the comic, parts are missing (such as coupons that have been cut out), or collectible production errors are present. Here they remarked on the green label that the book was "Manufactured without silver foil on the cover".

UPDATE: I hate talking about eBay but I thought it would be interesting to some to know that this bad boy ended up selling for a cool $100 plus shipping.

Valiant Production Error - Deathmate Blue white error

Here's the second in my series of cool Valiant production errors (The first was Archer & Armstrong #0). You often see production errors on books with large print runs so it's understandable that the Deathmate books which had print runs in the millions of copies would have production errors. What's interesting is that they all seem to have the same type of error - the White Variant error. This happens when the foil part of the cover runs out in the printing press and the glossy card-stock paper cover shows through. Check out this scan of the rare Deathmate Blue white error edition next to a regular copy of Deathmate Blue :

As part of the promotion for the Deathmate crossover series, Image and Valiant gave out card-stock covers (with no interiors) for Deathmate Prologue at conventions for fans to get signed. To differentiate this giveaway they purposely had the silver foil left out, creating the first white variant Deathmate book. Some collectors have attempted to complete a set of all six Deathmate white variants even though many dispute that white variants even exist for every issue. At least we now have proof of a white variant Deathmate Blue.

Ads - Bloodshot #2 (Previews)

Got a scan of a cool black and white advertisement for Bloodshot issue #2 from Previews Magazine. Check it out:

Interesting tag line - "He's the hunter and the hunted."

Credit to SonicDan's Valiant site for the source image.