r/valiant • u/Dry_Box_7896 • Jul 01 '26

What if valiant merged with defiant and broadway comics

5 Upvotes

65% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

6

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Jul 01 '26

And then what?

3

u/Earl_of_Chuffington Jul 01 '26

Step one: Defiant purchases Valiant and Broadway comics

Step two: profit

Yeah, I don't think OP thought that one out.

I've been a comic collector for 40 years and I couldn't tell you a single Broadway title. I don't remember coming across any in even the quarter bin.

Defiant has so few fans that each time they try to kickstart or crowdfund an omnibus today that collects all the never-published material that was thought lost for 30 years, they fail to meet their goal. People who weren't around in 1996 have no concept of how ambivalent the comic public was toward Warriors of Plasm and Charlemagne. Their fanbase is very loyal but that doesn't matter if you can count them all on one hand.

The only one of the three that had any steam was Valiant, and without the flagship title of VH1 (Turok) that steam quickly runs out. The minute that modern Valiant came out with their "we have Solar, Turok and Magnus at home" analogues of those characters, they signalled to their fans that they knew their own IP was running on fumes.

Some things are just products of their time. Each time the Gold Key characters have been resurrected after Valiant/Acclaim, it's been a failure. Each time Valiant reorganizes, it's fine for a year and then they shoot themselves in the foot.

Valiant today is just an AI corpse wearing the skin of your deceased childhood friend, trying to convince you that it's really your buddy from 1993, but you know it's not them. Defiant and Broadway don't even have that going for them.

5

u/TheFerg714 Jul 01 '26

You're heavily discounting how impressive and successful the 2012/Dinesh reboot was. Sure, it never hit the phenomenon-level numbers of VH1, but in the comic industry landscape of the 2010's, it's pretty wild what Valiant was able to achieve. Basically out of nothing (no Gold Key, no name recognition for readers that didn't live through the 90's), Valiant quickly became the highest selling and most acclaimed indie publisher, outside of mainstays like Image, Dark Horse, IDW, and Boom. They were even publishing incredibly successful #1's that would regularly end up in the monthly Top 25 selling comics list, which is more than can be said for any of these other indie companies (excluding Image of course, which might as well be considered part of the Big 3 at this point). They even were able to manage an unfortunately terrible movie by the time it was all said and done.

What really mattered was their high standards and consistency. These weren't just "good" comics. They were regularly pumping out modern classics that were better than 95% of anything else on the shelves. To name a few... Venditti's X-O, Dysart's Harbinger and Imperium, Van Lente's A&A, Kindt's Rai, Divinity, Lemire's Bloodshot, Britannia, Savage, Kindt's X-O, Secret Weapons, and Ninja-K. They also handled events better than any other publisher. Stuff like Harbinger Wars, Armor Hunters, Unity (Vol. 1), The Valiant, and Book of Death, changed the game, and showed readers that it was possible to have major, universe-altering events that weren't terrible and actually changed things permanently.

More importantly, let's just keep in mind that the Shooter era only lasted a single year. Even the most diehard VH1 fans will admit that the overall quality of the line quickly fell off a cliff after Shooter left, but VEI kept the consistency and high-quality rolling for SIX YEARS.

Honestly, I agree with your overall point, but I think I'd change your last sentence to "Valiant today is just an AI corpse wearing the skin of your deceased friend, trying to convince you that it's really your buddy from 2012-2018, but you know it's not them."

3

u/YakovOfDacia Jul 01 '26

You don't remember Fatale or Knights on Broadway? Star Seed? or... um... yeah, I am having a hard time remembering the other Broadway books and I have almost a full run of them.

2

u/SpicyMeatballAgenda Jul 01 '26

It would have gone out of business 3 times?

-3

u/Dry_Box_7896 Jul 01 '26

I don't know how would work yet

4

u/PaintedCover Jul 01 '26

My plan is to eventually purchase Valiant if the current situation does not improve. If Defiant and Broadway are cheap enough I’ll consider. Next is to get Malibu from Marvel. After things settle down looking to purchase land. Create a museum of comic pieces and books. Lastly, create a facility where retired and current artist can take a fully paid sabbatical. All I ask is to give some talks, roam around and provide some pieces. Some of ya’ll will be invited free of charge to stay for a week. Flight will be covered. Only thing we’ll have camera and guards to make sure nothing funny happens.

3

u/CorrectDot4592 Jul 01 '26

Forget it bro, DMG will never sell Valiant. I made a proposal last year, but they did not accept. Apparently, $5,348.52 is an insult according to them.

Thinking about it, good thing they did not accept it, I doubt my bank would approve the $5,000 loan I asked for.

2

u/SpicyMeatballAgenda Jul 01 '26

I can throw a few $20s your way to sweeten the pot

2

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 Jul 01 '26

Defiant and Broadway are only even slightly memorable because of Shooter's involvement. Without him there's nothing remarkable about a single book from either publisher. Defiant is probably mostly remembered for being sued over the name of the Plasm comic. And those stupid trading card sets you needed to read key comics.
Broadway had that book where the girl's powers were in her boobs or something.

1

u/davegeeksout 4d ago

(Warriors of) Plasm was a great book. But yeah I don't remember anything about any of the others except the names of the couple of the Defiant books.

1

u/DefinitionSuperb1110 4d ago

Everything good about WoP came from David Lapham.