Comic Cavalcade 1993 Valiant Catalog

Back in 1993, when the speculator market was at its height, I mailed away for the Comic Cavalcade back issue catalog. Now back then these guys, along with Kingpin Comics, were the back issue experts (it even says so right on the catalog!). I recently found that I still had the catalog and was interested to see the kinds of prices key Valiant books were bringing. Below is a scan of the Valiant section of the catalog (click to enlarge).

Now, 1993 was smack dab in the middle of the Valiant Era. Had Acclaim not come along and revamped all the great Valiant characters for video games a few years later, I think Valiant had a real shot at becoming the third major universe along with Marvel and DC for good. In 1993, everyone was looking at Valiant and seeing similarities to what Marvel had done in the 1960s. Valiant had the same quality of storytelling, uniqueness of characters and strength of fan excitement. It made sense then to believe that the key Valiant books would in time be as valuable and and sought after as the key Marvel books had become. They certainly were and still are the most valuable and sought after new books created in the 1990s.

Let's take a look at some interesting specifics.

• All the gold books are priced at around $75-$100+
• Eternal Warrior #1 gold flat is the most expensive one at $125
• The Deathmate golds are the cheapest at $40 each
• Armorines #0 gold is split into gold flat and gold foil. The foil being more expensive. I am not aware of two versions of Armorines #0 gold
• The first issue of Eternal Warrior and of Archer & Armstrong are $12. This despite the higher print runs they have compared to the first issues of other characters that debuted earlier. Goes to show just how popular the immortal brothers were
• Eternal Warrior #4 (the joint first appearance of Bloodshot along with Rai #0) is $30
• Eternal Warrior #5 & #6 (the two part Barry Windsor-Smith story) are $15 a piece!
• Harbinger #0 send away (pink variant) is priced at $175 and #1 is $160!!
• Even the later Harbinger issues are crazy expensive. #2-5 are $75 each, #10 (first H.A.R.D. Corps) is $20, #7, 11 and 14 (random issues) are $15 which is more than the first issues of Eternal Warrior or Archer & Armstrong. Hell even the limited blue TPB is $65!
• Magnus Robot Fighter #1 without card is cheaper than I would have expected at $75. #12 (first apperance of Turok) is $100 though
• There is a Ninjak chromium card listed at $35
• Rai is pricey. #0 is the same price as #1 ($40) and the famously rare #3 & 4 are $80 each
• Shadowman #1 is $50
• Solar: Man of the Atom is cheaper than expected. Solar #1 (the first ever Valiant book) runs $35 (less than first issues of X-O Manowar, Shadowman, Harbinger and Magnus Robot Fighter)
• Solar: Man of the Atom (first appearance of Eternal Warrior) is $80 though
• Turok was worthless even in 1993
• UNITY #0 red variant is $150. And there is a signed by all (drool...) variant for $200.
• X-O Manowar #4 (first appearance of Shadowman) is $45 and #14 (Bart Sears art) is $10
• There is a Ninjak #1 VVSS?
• Bloodshot #6 is listed as a VVSS not as a seperate Valiant signed project.
• Overall the prices are about right for 1993, maybe even a tad cheaper than expected.

Did I miss anything interesting?

Magnus Robot Fighter #3 - The Cover

In honor of my very first post I'm going to talk a little about the cover of Magnus Robot Fighter #3, how I became a Valiant fan and how I began reading my Valiant comics. Now, I'm a comic book child of the 1990s. I got into comics because of the excitement they were generating. I remember the Death of Superman, the hologram covers celebrating Spider-Man's 30th anniversary and the launch of Image Comics. But the event that people seemed the most excited about back then was the birth and rise of Valiant Comics. My friends and I would read in Wizard Magazine about this new company whose books were rare but also in demand because they were telling great stories and we would dream of owning them. I managed to get my hands on some early X-O Manowar issues and we all bought our copies of Bloodshot #1 but none of us could afford or find the A-grade Valiant back issues (save for one friend who managed to snag a copy of Magnus Robot Fighter #12, and I still hate him for it). So we were left no choice but to oogle the cover images published in magazines and dream of what could be.

About a decade later. Acclaim Entertainment has bought Valiant and completely mismanaged it. The size of the comic book industry has nose dived. Valiant back issues are cheaper than they have been since the day the books were released. And I am feeling the urge to take a trip down memory lane. I hop on eBay and find a set of Magnus Robot Fighter #1-4 with the Magnus Robot Fighter #0 coupons and trading cards still intact for less than $15 shipped. Lucky day! When the package arrives, I pull out the books and proudly look them over. Finally, I own my first A-grade Valiant back issues. It's sad, I had dreamed of owning books like these so many times when I was younger that some part of me still doesn't believe it's happening. The feeling is somewhat surreal. Like I am in one of those dreams now. In typical 90s comic book collector mentality, I flick through the books but don't read them. Instead, they are bagged, boarded and stored carefully. But not forgotten. Like a little boy and his treasure, I think about them all the time. Everyday, I pull them out and look them over again. Extracting every ounce of pleasure from their physicality. These are no longer just pictures in a magazine. They are real and they are mine.

The turning point came when I had to fly home for Christmas. I wasn't going to leave without the books. Frankly, I didn't want to be away from them for two weeks. But what if I damage them? They may not be as expensive as they once were but they're still rare I think. I have a duty to ensure these copies are preserved. I better pack them in my carry on to be safe.

The flight is delayed and I have three hours to kill at the airport. I start looking over the bagged and boarded books again. Should I get some food? Nah, I'm not hungry. I really starting to focus on the cover art of the books now. Maybe I should buy a magazine to read while I wait for the flight. I'm looking at the cover to Magnus Robot Fighter #3 now and for the first time I'm starting to think about the characters on the cover. Who they are and what they are doing. What am I going to do for three hours? Wait a minute. What have I been thinking? I should just read these! The breakthrough has been made. I have taken my first step towards a richer though less practiced comic book hobby - reading.


So what was it about the cover that helped me make the breakthrough? Well, I've always loved sci-fi. And I've had this fantasy about reading a great obscure sci-fi novel. In my mind its been in the form of some beat up paperback from the 70s and it has this great sci-fi painted cover (the sci-fi equivalent of Frazetta). I've bought tons of beat up paperbacks with great covers and never found one that quenched the thirst. Here I think I was trying again. The cover tells a story through the actions and emotions of the characters on it. It's very Philip K. Dick? Or maybe something about the colors and lighting remind of Ridley Scott. There's something sexy about it too. The way she holds out her wrist, it's very graceful. And the mirror excentuates the sex appeal. It plays into the objectification of the female body. She is female right? I mean, shes a cyborg? Or is she a robot? And who is that guy spying on her? A rapist? A villain? Or someone stumbling onto something new and exciting? I had to know who this woman was and what she was doing. So I dived in. I started reading issue #3 and quickly found I was in the middle of a larger story. These were not individual stories told one per comic. I had no choice I would have to read all my issues and resign my copies of Magnus Robot Fighter #1-4 to reader grade. But wow was it worth it. Steel Nation (the story contained in Magnus Robot Fighter #1-4) was my gateway into Valiant. It's the single greatest story I've ever read in any medium. It's a masterpiece...but that's a story for another time.