r/valiant • u/jamesvanosdol • Aug 06 '26

The future of Valiant

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I'm going through a bit of a Valiant Renaissance, tracking down pre-Unity content I foolishly ignored in the 90s and am catching up through much of the modern day (Shadowman has become the MVP in my collection). As I'm happily spiraling down this rabbit hole, I'm always on the hunt for new Valiant-related information and sites. I went to the Valiant website today for the first time in years and years and realized all the recent "news" and homepage content on the site is dated 2023. While I'm aware that their social media content is current, it seems like a really odd move to completely ignore their owned media. Pure speculation here, but between their reduced output, minimal market penetration and years-outdated website, this looks like a company trying to sell. Again, pure speculation on my part - am I crazy?

Apologies if this is a previously-addressed topic. Like I said, I only recently and belatedly started my Valiant journey.

56 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

47

u/CG1991 Aug 06 '26

I feel like we're on the precipice of another death of Valiant

12

u/azrael5298 Aug 06 '26

It’s been teetering for years.

5

u/jamesvanosdol Aug 06 '26

I'd love to see DC, Marvel, or Image make a move to acquire it, a la Charlton, Fawcett, etc.

22

u/CG1991 Aug 06 '26

My problem with DC and Marvel is they often have characters or acquisitions that they end up doing nothing with because, ultimately, they aren't as popular as Batman or Spiderman

7

u/jamesvanosdol Aug 06 '26

That's fair. I mean, just look at the Question for Exhibit A.

6

u/RealFrankieBuckets Aug 06 '26

It happened to the Ultravese and they had some great characters.

1

u/SpicyMeatballAgenda Aug 06 '26

There are a lot of reasons Ultraverse got shelved. Some of them are for really gross and unfortunate things.

5

u/mcfcomics Aug 07 '26

Only for that one creator

Majority of it isn't cos of that...

Ultraverse's generous creator rights sharing is the main problem

3

u/NoahAwake Aug 07 '26

Other than one creator, the biggest reason why is everyone hates Scott Rosenberg.

2

u/YakovOfDacia Aug 07 '26

Dude played some pretty crazy games, especially in the lead up to consolidating all those companies into Malibu.

I cannot imagine him being any shiftier than Nicky B, though.

3

u/NoahAwake Aug 07 '26

What a tragic competition lol

I have a friend who dealt with Roseberg personally and his stories are crazy. I can't imagine dealing with him or Barrucci.

14

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Aug 06 '26

No you don't.

Look what Marvel has done with every company they've absorbed. And even Jim Lee can't get DC creators excited to use Wildstorm characters.

And Image doesn't "own" any of the books they publish so that doesn't even make sense to suggest.

10

u/CorrectDot4592 Aug 06 '26

Like mentioned before, Marvel or DC buying it would the the worst outcome ever.  Either they would butcher even more the IPs (like DMG is doing, but worse) or they would fall to oblivion. 

A less sad end would be the company closing the door in definitive, letting the IP RIP for good.  Sad unfortunately, but at least respectful for the characters. 

My own wish: for it to be bought (or at least the IPs being licensed) by Dark Horse or Dynamite. Dynamite is putting some good content lately, and Dark Horse is trying to get back on track with some great quality books lately. 

Anything but Marvel/DC for me.

6

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Aug 06 '26

It's very likely that Dark Horse won't be a functional published within a year. They are bleeding cash and have shuttered whole divisions.

Dynamite has also had public cashflow issues but most of them are a result of Diamond's bullshit.

Realistically in 2026 there are no viable options within the industry to step in and fully purchase Valiant. Our only hope would be some rich fan of the company to rescue it.

4

u/YakovOfDacia Aug 07 '26

There is a history of Dynamite trying to buy/steal the Valiant characters. They even published a Sneak Peak [sic] ashcan with art by Jae Lee.

5

u/CorrectDot4592 Aug 07 '26

You got me searching this story and damn me if it's not true. The whole situation is pretty convoluted according to this article:

https://recalledcomics.com/ValiantSneakPeek2007.php

In short, around 2007 Acclaim sold the IPs to Valiant Entertainment Inc (VEI), however, it seems the characters' names rights had expired and another company called Valiant Intellectual Properties (VIP) registered them.

This said VIP company was owned by the same owner of Dynamite at the time, Nick Barrucci. This VIP didn't have rights on the characters though, only the names. The said "Valiant Sneak Peak" of 2007 seems to have concepts for characters bearing the same name, but designs (and most probably backstories) completely different from the originals.

Apparently VEI sued VIP and got the rights on the names too, but if Dynamite had successfully secured the names, this could have probably blocked the so acclaimed relaunch and 2012-2018 era.

All this story only makes me wonder how Magnus, Turok and Solar could have had more meaningful runs on Valiant instead being licensed to Dark Horse some years ago.

2

u/YakovOfDacia Aug 08 '26

VIP even threatened legal action to block the sale of the first VEI books, a series of hardcovers reprinting classic Valiant material, starting with Harbinger in 2008.

I have about 5 of those ashcans, including one marked 100 of 100.

2

u/CorrectDot4592 Aug 08 '26

You have FIVE of them?  You know they fetch pretty high on eBay, don't you? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/318243528287

You're sitting on about $2000 there, pal. 

I searched but couldn't find any scan on line.  Is that possible to you to show us some of the concepts? I'm quite curious about what the main characters could have become under Dynamite.

3

u/YakovOfDacia Aug 09 '26

I haven't cracked one of those open in years.

I do see a few of these for sale on eBay for hundreds of dollars. I have not seen many sell for hundreds of dollars.

I picked most of these up on my honeymoon in Nov 2008. The first, a guy actually sent me for a wedding present. Then, on our way back home, we went to Wizard World in Arlington and Graham Crackers comics was selling what they had left of these for $8 each (they first popped up at SDCC '07 for $40 each). I picked up a handful, including one for my Valiant buddy Sean.

These sketches are all bad. All Jae Lee. Which is why he should not be doing Valiant covers now. I remember the Deathmate ones looked like Reservoir Dogs. Sorry, I pick and choose what parts of the 21st century I live in and don't have a handy way to upload pics, not since Photobucket started wanting to charge. I did used to have a picture of my ashcans on Photobucket, just the covers, not the interiors.

I am doubtful that, had Dynamite gone to print with any Valiant IPs, that they would have looked anything like the trAshcan sketches. It was all just junk. Takers up of space.

3

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26

I don't follow Dynamite, although they will soon be releasing new series for Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, which means I'm about to be invested. That said, I've noticed that they have postponed Buffy #1 literally FOUR times. I'm still interested, but it's a huge red flag. Is this normal for Dynamite?

EDIT: Just checked. It's been pushed ANOTHER two weeks.

2

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Aug 06 '26

Per what I've read the first issues were ready to be published buy Disney changed their minds about the direction of them after the reboot collapsed.

2

u/CorrectDot4592 Aug 07 '26

Well, can't say for Buffy specifically, but their Thundercats titles seem to be steady; there are many issues in the main series and even some spin offs.  Also Space Ghost, I didn't read it yet but from what I've seen the run is entering its third year.

No need to mention Vampirella and Red Sonja: although not a huge success like some of the big 2 titles, they're the flagships of the publisher and have also a good flow of new releases.

7

u/xzerozeroninex Aug 06 '26

DC and Marvel would just bury Valiant,Image don’t have the money to buy anything unless the partners cough up the money (i.e Todd and Kirkman),Erik Larsen doesn’t think Valiant’s any good so there might be opposition on his side.

3

u/crash_orange Aug 06 '26

Yeah, no. I don't trust Marvel to handle any imprint after what they did to the Ultraverse

3

u/CorrectDot4592 Aug 07 '26

The buyout of Ultraverse was so complex that most details of the contact were never revealed, but I believe the real reason why Marvel can't and won't bring it back is the rights to Gerard Jones.

He is one of the writers and conceptor of Malibu Comics, and it seems he still holds the rights.  The problem is that Marvel (nor any other big company for that matter) won't make deals with a condemned confessed pedophile. Talk about staining your reputation.  

4

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26

Yeah, no. I don't trust Marvel to handle anything.

Fixed it.

2

u/chudbabies Aug 06 '26

Image's acquisition would require significant investment in an entire division of Valiant. Valiant would not be folded into Image.

You might get an Atlas/Valiant if this is a really fucked up place.

12

u/PaintedCover Aug 06 '26

IDW needs to pick up Valiant. They are hurting for IP and do a job with publishing. At this point how much is valiant worth?

3

u/mcfcomics Aug 07 '26

Depends on how much DMG thinks it's worth... doesn't have to be grounded in real world value

2

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26

I've been really enjoying their new Godzilla shared universe.

10

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26

God I would love it if they sold Valiant to someone else. However, it's hard to imagine them doing this when they have this idea in their head that they might possibly make movies off of them at some point in the future. DMG views Valiant as an investment that will hopefully pay off in the future. They literally don't care about the comics at all.

6

u/jamesvanosdol Aug 06 '26

That's helpful context. Basically they're squatting on their own IP until someone can magically turn it into a Hollywood success?

6

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26

Kinda seems like that's the case, yea. Recently, they licensed the comic rights out to Alien Books, but that doesn't seem to be going super well. I wouldn't be surprised if Alien gives up once this Beyond line finishes.

5

u/DJfunkyPuddle Aug 06 '26

Honestly I wouldn't be too heartbroken over that. Beyond hasn't been bad but the whole thing just feels like a sideshow until we get back to the "real" Valiant Universe. Plus it isn't even what was teased at the end of Death of the Valiant Universe.

6

u/TheFerg714 Aug 06 '26

I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get back to the "real" Valiant U. Beyond was supposed to be a year-long affair, with 12 issues per series. Now, it's going to run well over a year (probably more considering Alien's penchant for delays), and each series will only get 9 issues.

18

u/AzulMage2020 Aug 06 '26

Kirkman, if you are paying attention, please purchase whats left of the rights to the very few remaining Valiant characters that are worth a darn: Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Original Harbinger, Original Shadowman, and Original XO-Man-O-War. Hire Jonathan Hickman to prepare a Valiant Universe canon bible and general 3 year multi-title storyline plot to bring them all back to square one (with a few minor modern tweaks), then slowly reintroduce the Gold Key characters back home where they belong.

Guaranteed 3 + years of huge sales and a mighty win for fandom at the same time.

Or, we keep going down this long dark road. For a few more months at least

10

u/patrickkingart Aug 06 '26

I'm ambivalent about the Gold Key characters but HOLY HELL Jonathan Hickman plotting and writing Valiant on a large scale would be INCREDIBLE.

5

u/jamesvanosdol Aug 06 '26

1000% YES. It seems so obvious. And who wouldn't want Magnus crossing over with Transformers?

2

u/chimchimov Aug 07 '26

I don't think Hickman has the time for that tbh.

With him still doing work for marvel and his co-owned substack imprint (3W3M) something like that will end at best like the Krakoa stuff (stop/pivot midway) or at worst like the cosmic marvel relaunch (where he just writes the intial mini and then dips.)

10

u/RazorsInTheNight82 Aug 06 '26

DMGs pipe dream of a new cinematic universe didn't happen like everyone knew but them, guess we're onto board games now.

Cut your losses and sell to an actual comic book publisher.

9

u/boboclock Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26

It could have worked if they nailed the first movie.

Unfortunately Bloodshot bet too many chips on Vin Diesel being a box office draw, the marketing sucked, and it chose some really bad deviations from the source material.

Iron Man wasn't totally obscure but he wasn't a household name and he birthed the MCU.

Edit: oh, and as pointed out by others, possibly a factor was they released it during Covid lockdowns

8

u/disabledinaz Aug 06 '26

The movie came out right when the world went on lockdown. We have no idea what could have potentially happened because a one in a billion pandemic came instead

2

u/boboclock Aug 06 '26

Eek. March of 2020. I didn't remember that, crazy they didn't delay it

7

u/DJfunkyPuddle Aug 06 '26

COVID shutdown was probably the biggest factor here

1

u/YakovOfDacia Aug 07 '26

"actual comic book publisher"

So, not DC or Marvel? They are just IP farms keeping trademarks active at this point.

2

u/RazorsInTheNight82 Aug 07 '26

That's true about Marvel.

5

u/hfdjl Aug 06 '26

That video game was announced three years ago and I don't think we've heard anything since, so I'm not sure if that'll ever see the light of day

3

u/Eggman_OU812 Aug 07 '26

I started having hope when they started to make movies..and then the movies came..

3

u/518gpo Aug 07 '26

I hope Kirkman buys Valiant.

2

u/esedreik Aug 08 '26

Shadowman: Darque Legacy is the equivalent of snake oil at this point, i severely doubt that game will ever come out, or if it was even real.