EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT ’13 PART 1 WITH 8-BIT COVERS

We’re at a year into the relaunch of popular ’90s comic book publisher Valiant Comics and just in time for another Summer of Valiant. We’ll try not to get any water on these comics as we sit by the pool, drink in the sun and follow the adventures of Archer and Armstrong and Shadowman in our summer series that celebrates successes on our first birthday of our cherished Valiant Comics. Also, we take a look at their cool 8-bit variant covers and Harbinger Wars: Battle For Las Vegas free retro video game for iOS andAndroid.

A look through the Earth Prime Time Archives will show you what we have an affinity for, and that’s the story of an independent publisher rising from near obscurity. Valiant was fortunate enough to have a loyal fanbase to rebuild on their properties long thought lost to many die-hard comic fans. It is the underdog story that Bostonians write about ad nauseam and tend to wear on our sleeves. This column was only a few months old when X-O Manowar #1 hit the shelves, and naturally we have covered most major events in the universe since then.

What can we say a year in?

There is likely a better reaction to the Valiant books, on a whole, than after the first twelve months of DC’s New 52initiative.

Marvel NOW! reaction from fans seems to be split between both positive and negative, with a varied selection of titles appealing to different kinds of fans.

Valiant’s strength lies in not relying on a 75 or 50 year history to complicate matters.

Over at the new publisher, they can make the same kinds of superhero and supernatural books with the industry’s top talent and a completely clean slate. There certainly are nods to the previous continuity as fan service, but with low-numbered issues and trades, the appeal to a new audience without being intimidated by continuity allows for an easier entry point.

As far as the old characters go, Valiant has paced the introduction of new books, concepts, leading heroes and villains, and background information on the shared universe in a way that paints a lush tapestry but does not rely on throwing everything at you at once.

Let’s take a look at two books that are coming out today, Archer and Armstrong #10 and Shadowman #7.

Both books ship with an 8-bit variant cover that ties into their cool 8-bit side scroller Harbinger Wars: Battle for Las Vegas (Storm City Games).

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for September 5, 2012

COMICS

Aww Yeah, ape talk. Set eight years before Taylor and crew landed on the Planet, Doctor Zaius fights a mad monk hell bent on awakening the Alpha Omega bomb from the Dark Side of the Moon. It’s finally here, a simian jumping on point for Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm #1 written by Corinna Bechko. . … Moving trucks don’t mean it’s the end of summer! The Summer of Valiant continues, if even for a few more days! Last month EARTH PRIME TIME told you about Fred Van Lente & Clayton Henry’s Archer and Armstrong #1. Issue #2 is here as we follow Obadiah and Armstrong into decrypting the ugliest secrets on Earth like the Masonic crypt of Wall Street’s 1%. Occupy the LCS to support creator-driven comics! … It’s almost unfair for us to keep picking Chew but who said we needed to be fair? Chew is funny and bizarre and drawn well. What other comic has a secret agent cock-fighting chicken special agent? Chew #28 shows Tony getting kidnapped—again! Special furry-bait cover, natch. Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT – X-O MANOWAR

We continue our coverage of independent publisher Valiant Comics relaunching and rejuvenating it’s product line with another ’90s favorite superhero X-O Manowar for the last August installment of the “Summer of Valiant“. In issue 4 on stands today, a Visigoth years away from his time and encapsulated by an alien armor is thrust into modern day Italy!

X-O Manowar was the first book to be printed under the banner of the Valiant Universe in 2012. The update is written by New York Times-bestselling author Robert Venditti (The Surrogates) and drawn by Cary Nord (Conan). The book shipped with a creepy QR voice variant cover in May and stoked the fires for an upcoming relaunch of Archer & Armstrong, Harbinger, Bloodshot and coming soon in issue 5 is the return of Ninjak.

EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT – X-O MANOWAR by clay-fernald

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EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT – HARBINGER

Two weeks ago, we told you about Archer & Armstrong from the revived Valiant Comics company. Rebooting the story-lines of great characters in the “Summer of Valiant” in an industry downturn has caused quite a buzz and offered another avenue for creators to spread their wings with an independent publisher. Harbinger, which reaches Issue #3 today, is about a powerful psychic teen with destructive potential. New York Times bestselling author Joshua Dysart (BRPD) teams up with artists Khari Evans (Immortal Iron Fist) and Lewis LaRosa (Punisher MAX) to feed the constant voices in ‘psiot’ Peter Stanchek’s head.

Not unlike the original X-Men, the original Harbinger comic from 1992 was very much a team book, assembling teenage freaks with psychic abilities under the powerful Toyo Harada’s tutelage. Created by comic book legend and former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter as a flagship title for the original Valiant Comics, Harbinger was popular and (as is the case today) on the forefront of feeding the speculative comic market crowd with variant covers and rare comics.

Valiant in the ’90s had a shared universe in which psychic powers were paramount as opposed to the mutant or metahuman powers of Marvel and DC.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME-HARBINGER by clay-fernald 

Hey! Quoted on Joshua Dysart’s blog!

EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT - ARCHER & ARMSTRONG

Valiant Comics return to the shelves this summer with the launch of four great action books, with more on schedule for the fall. Returning to the industry with a renewed vigor and beloved strong characters, the company wants to fill your summer with the fun kind of summer reading. The relaunch, retelling and rebooting the stories of the likes of Bloodshot, X-O Manowar along with Fred Van Lente’s take on Archer & Armstrong close out your “Summer of Valiant”.

Let’s talk comic book history to introduce you to mainstays of the Valiant Universe, Archer & Armstrong. The company was originally founded in 1989 by former Marvel Editor-In Chief Jim Shooter. By 1992, the first versions of the books mentioned previously were launched. Issues numbered at #0 provided origin stories. Shooter paced the stories in real time and comic fans enjoyed a new interconnected universe that was brand new to fans.

Though not causing as big of a stir as The Image Revolution, The Valiant Universe was popular among fans and critics in the early nineties.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME - ARCHER & ARMSTRONG by clay-fernald

YESSS!