The family and I get to do "Vegas Days." We live in Pahrump, a rural town about an hour and a half west of Las Vegas. We moved out here to get away from the big city. Little did we know how much we'd miss it. Well, parts of it. See below.Vegas has a great library system. The beautiful wife-unit saw that the Clark County Library District was holding a small comic-book fest at the spacious Flamingo and Maryland Parkway location.
So, we went. There was a small vendor area, and I happened upon a tent that had longboxes full of early-90's comics, all marked ".50 cents each."
I scored! The selection wasn't copious, but the price was right, and I managed to get my mitts on a few choice Solar, Man of the Atom, and X-O Man o'War titles. One X-O has a Frank Miller cover, another is by Bart Sears, and one even has the first appearance of the Armorines. I loved Armorines.
Now, don't get me wrong. I was an Image and X-comic fanboy during the raging days of the comic boom. Valiant was that "other label." I wasn't too interested, until I think I read some of the Unity titles, from their big crossover. I then started following Armorines and H.A.R.D. Corps until I went off to college for the first time.
Looking back, I can appreciate the clean art and semi-plausible story lines that Jim Shooter brought to the table with his Valiant universe.
Here's a few links I found on the history of the boom, bust, and hopeful return of Valiant Comics.
Valiant Efforts, A History Of Valiant Comics. Authored by a gent with the pseudonym of The Exile.
Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
A great blog called All Things Valiant.
And news that the Valiant properties will be returning in 2012. Speaking as a 90's Comics Geek, that's great news.
Well, back to sculpting.
Best,
JBR
