An Introduction to Valiant Entertainment

Alright class, settle down. Today, I’m going to learn you a lesson. A lesson about one of the smaller publishers in comics: Valiant Entertainment.

History

Valiant Comics was started in 1989 by comics legend Jim Shooter, after an attempt to buy Marvel Comics in 1988. They recruited numerous writers and artists from Marvel and released a superhero universe based on characters from the old Gold Key comics. Doctor Solar, Magnus Robot Fighter, and Turok Dinosaur Hunter. In 1992 they released their first original titles, Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Rai and Shadowman. They shortly followed the introduction of these original character was a company wide crossover called Unity. Soon after more original characters like Bloodshot, Doctor Mirage and Ninjak were introduced.

In 1994, Valiant was purchased by Acclaim Entertainment, a video game developer. They turned a number of their comics into video games, Shadowman and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter in particular. They also made a game about Iron Man and X-O Manowar. In 2004 Acclaim folded.

From 2005 to 2011 was a forming period for the new Valiant Entertainment with purchasing the Acclaim Library and hiring new publishers and editors. In 2012 they began publishing new monthly titles. That’s all for the history lesson, now to the fun stuff.

Current Era Valiant

Valiant has the third largest comic universe. They don’t have Magnus, Solar, or Turok anymore but that hasn’t stopped them from being rated one of the best publishers consistently. In fact, by not having those legacy characters from Western Publishing has given them the opportunity to create more original characters. But they started their universe with popular characters from the old library. X-O Manowar, the Visigoth warrior with advanced alien armour in the modern day. Shadowman, the New Orleans man bonded to a voodoo spirit. Archer and Armstrong, the zealot assassin and his immortal, drunk friend. Quantum and Woody, the world’s worst superteam. Bloodshot, the super-soldier infused with nanites healing his body. Rai, the samurai android in the year 4001, and many more. These are just what they started with. They soon introduced more characters. Some of them from the classic library. Some of them brand new. Some of them started out in team book and soon jumped into their own series.

Faith is one of those heroes. A plus-sized geek who took to pop-culture to deal with hard times. All she wanted was to become a superhero. She appeared in Harbinger as part of the Renegades that fought against the Harbinger Foundation. She made appearances in Unity, the team book featuring Livewire, Ninjak, X-O Manowar, and the Eternal Warrior. Then she got her own limited series, and finally her own ongoing series. Last summer she even starred in an event with her as the main character.

Divinity is an original character created by Matt Kindt about a Russian cosmonaut that went out into deep space during the height of the Cold War. He came back to Earth with reality altering powers. He fought against one of the cosmonauts that went out into the Unknown with him. He had to return the world back to normal after reality had been manipulated so the Soviet Union won the Cold War. He returned to the Unknown and met the strange people that lived there.

Valiant is great. They have stories for everyone. Want a comedy? Read Quantum and Woody. Want a globe trotting, clandestine organization busting book? Archer and Armstrong. Spies? Ninjak. Supernatural horror with a female lead? The Death Defying Dr. Mirage. It’s diverse too! Males and females, LGBTQ characters, and people of colour, and none of them feel forced or like stock characters. Each one is unique.

When I started reading Valiant, I read that their focus was on quality stories and on character development. Valiant also keeps their books independent from one another. If an event happens, where multiple characters meet, they will launch that event under a new title and pause the ongoing series until the event has finished.

Other Media

Valiant has been working on some live-action properties to get their characters more out into the spotlight. A film series about the Harbinger Renegades and Bloodshot are in development, which will hopefully lead into Harbinger Wars as their crossover film. Vin Diesel is rumoured to be playing Bloodshot. The Russo Brothers who have directed several films for Marvel are reportedly interested in producing a Quantum and Woody tv series. Youtube Channel Bat in the Sun was making a live-action series called Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe. It was filmed starring Jason David Frank of the Power Rangers, and Micheal Rowe who starred as Deadshot on Arrow. No news on when that might be released. Recently DMG Entertainment purchased Valiant Entertainment to get those film and TV deals rolling. No pun intended. (But pun always appreciated.)

Josh’s Recommended Reading

These are not all of my favorite titles, but some that explain key things that will appear throughout the Valiant Universe. Luckily this universe is only a few years old,

The Valiant
It explains a lot about the Valiant universe, but has you asking enough questions to make you want to find out more. It focuses on the Eternal Warrior, the Geomancer, and Bloodshot. An evil entity is coming to kill the Geomancer, which is a line of mystics that speak for the Earth. The Eternal Warrior has fought this entity a few times over the millennia and calls in help to defeat this thing. Each time a Geomancer has died before its time, a dark ages of sorts occurred.

Shadowman Volume 2: Darque Reckoning
This explains how magic works in the Valiant Universe. Introduces their version of Hell which is called the Deadside. Volume 2 focuses on Jack Boniface, who is bonded to an extremely powerful voodoo spirit or Loa, and Master Darque, the most powerful voodoo magic user in the world who is also very evil.

X-O Manowar Volume 1: By the Sword
We have aliens called the Vine who are sprinkled throughout the Valiant universe. They kidnapped Aric of Dacia from Ancient Rome and made him a slave. He stole their god, a powerful suit of armour to escape and ended up in modern day Italy. The Vine appear plenty in X-O Manowar, but have also made appearances in other titles like Faith. X-O Manowar is the most powerful hero on Earth, like Superman is to DC Comics. Its written by Robert Venditti, the writer for Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corp and drawn by Cory Nord of Conan the Barbarian.

Harbinger Volume 1: Omega Rising
This book is about Valiant’s answer to Marvel’s Mutants: Psiots. It introduced Toyo Harada, who has a ton of superpowers, from telepathy to telekinesis. He is head of a major conglomerate whose goal it is to change the world for the better by clandestine means. Peter Stanchek is the only psiot who has powers on the same level as Harada, and he isn’t buying what Harada is selling.

Honourable Mentions: 

• Archer and Armstrong Vol. 2: Introduces the Immortal Anni-Padda Brothers: Armstrong, Gilad the Eternal Warrior, and Ivar the Timewalker.
• Unity Vol. 1: The creation of Valiant’s premier superteam.
• Harbinger Wars: Valiant’s first crossover event. Sees Bloodshot, the Harbinger Renegades, and Toyo Harada in a fight for a group of child soldiers with psiot abilities.