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Valiant Comics was a comic book publishing company founded by former Marvel Comics editor Jim Shooter and writer/artist Bob Layton in 1989.
History
In 1988, Jim Shooter attempted to purchase Marvel Comics. He managed to raise enough money to place a substantial bet. Ultimately, investor/entrepreneur Ronald Perelman wound up purchasing the company. Jim Shooter decided that since he already had the available funds, he might as well use it to found his own comic book company. With the help of Bob Layton, he founded Voyager Communications Inc. and its comic-book publishing imprint, Valiant Comics. The two made licensing deals with Nintendo and World Wrestling Federation, hoping that comic books that featured those popular properties would earn them enough money to get the company off the ground. The result was a huge flop. To compensate Jim Shooter and Bob Layton searched for comic book properties that other companies were not using. After considering MLJ's superhero properties and Harvey Comics characters, they finally settled on Gold Key Comics properties. They obtained the rights to three of its classic characters: Magnus the Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar, and Turok. Jim Shooter used slightly modified versions of those characters plus several original characters to launch a new shared universe. Originally, only some titles shared a tight continuity. Titles such as Magnus the Robot Fighter and Turok, Dinosaur Hunter were virtually unaffected by the events in other titles. In mid-1992, the company published a line-wide crossover called Unity. It altered many elements of Valiant Universe, effectively integrating all titles into a more tightly interconnected shared universe. The crossover also sparked an interest in the company among comic book buyers and speculators. Within months, it became one of the leading North American comic book publishers.
Shortly after Unity crossover was completed, Jim Shooter was fired from the company due to an internal power struggle. Following his departure, the new heads of Valiant Comics decided to take full advantage of the speculator boom that was going on in the comics industry at the time. While this initially earned Valiant Comics millions of dollars, it ultimately proved to be the company's undoing. After the speculator bubble burst, Valiant Comics found itself buried in debt.
Shortly afterwards, Voyager Communications Inc., Valiant's parent company, was sold to the video game company Acclaim Entertainment. The line was renamed Acclaim Comics. The new owners attempted to completely reboot the Valiant properties. Their primary motivation was to make them more suitable for use in video game development. Most characters and concepts were started from scratch. While Turok went on to become a fairly successful video game franchise, most of the new concepts flopped. The comic book industry's implosion from 1995 to 1997 took a significant chunk out of the company's sales. The company plummeted into decline as a result.
In 1999, Acclaim attempted to remedy the situation. It began publishing Unity 2000, a company-wide crossover that was supposed to integrate the old Valiant universe and new Acclaim Universe. However, the crossover failed to generate enough interest, forcing the company to cease all publication two months later, before Unity 2000 could be completed.
In 2004, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy and shut down its offices. The company has been defunct since then.
Universe
Valiant Universe (VH-1)
In the beginning, Valiant Universe was largely similar to the real world in the early 1990's. Unlike most comic book universes, it followed a real-world timeline. While Jim Shooter was the editor, the company writers tried to adhere to real-world science. No matter how powerful it's characters got, they were still affected by friction, Newton's Laws of Motion, Einstein's laws of relativity, etc. While Valiant Universe had its share of aliens, they never used popular sci-fi conventions such as universal translators and faster-then-light travel. In addition, there was a conscious effort to make ensure that heroes act like "real people". They didn't sprout one-liners, strike heroic poses or wear impractical costumes. As a matter a fact, some didn't wear costumes at all. After Jim Shooter was fired from the company, those rules began to slide.
Like other superhero universes, Valiant Universe shared certain common elements. Several times during its history, Earth was menaced by Spider-Aliens, who sought to use the human race for slave labor and food. Their efforts were indirectly responsible for creation of several superheroes (Most notably X-O Manowar and Shadowman). The early 1990s saw the rise of Valiant Universe's version of mutants: Harbingers. They were led by Toyo Harada, a powerful psionic businessman. While on the surface, he operated in the manner similar to Professor Xavier of X-Men, he actually sought to use Harbingers "save the world from itself". The history of Valiant Universe's super-powered community was greatly influenced by Geomancers, human beings who had an ability to listen to psychic impressions left on most everyday objects. Another notable feature in Valiant Universe is the existence of several characters whose adventures took place in 4000 A.D (Most notably Magnus the Robot Fighter, Rai and future incarnation of Gilad the Eternal Warrior) The heroes from the future occasionally traveled to the present, teaming up with heroes of the late 20th century.
Acclaim Universe (VH-2)
When Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant Comics, the universe was started completely from scratch. Originally, it appeared to have little to do with original Valiant Universe. Later crossovers revealed, though, that Acclaim Universe was the result of a time paradox caused by Solar, one of Valiant Universe's premier heroes.
Acclaim Universe was similar to other superhero-based universes. It wasn't nearly as interconnected as Valiant Universe. While towards the end, Valiant Comic writers began to move away from real-world science and "realistic" superheroes, Acclaim Universe writers tended to ignore it altogether.
Jim Shooter's Valiant Universe (VH-0)
During the Unity 2000 crossover, Jim Shooter introduced yet another alternate universe. In essence, it was his vision of what Valiant Universe would have been like if he had been allowed to stay with the company. VH-0 was left unfinished with the cancellation of Unity 2000.
Characters
Valiant Universe
AIs and Robots
- 1-A
- Alloy
- Grandmother
- Tekla
Technologically Empowered Humans
- Bloodshot
- H.A.R.D. Corps
- Flatline
- Gunslinger
- Hammerhead
- Hotshot
- Maniac
- Perp
- Shakespeare
- Superstar
- Wipeout
- Mothergod
- Rai
- Solar
- X-O Commando
- X-O Manowar
Mystics
Harbingers
- Archer
- Ax
- Flamingo
- Livewire
- Magnus, Robot Fighter
- Pete Stanchek
- Screen
- Shatiqua
- Stronghold
- Torque
- Toyo Harada
Immortals
- Armstrong
- Gilad, the Eternal Warrior
- Ivar, the Timewalker
Non-Powered Humans
Acclaim Comics
While most characters that appeared in Acclaim Comics were altered versions of previous characters, some were created specifically for Acclaim Universe (VH-2)
Technologically Enhanced Humans:
Magic Users
- Mamma Hettie
- Sandria
- Trinity Angels
External links
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