Convince me: Project Black Sky or Valiant?

[cajun_duck]

The Valiant line has been my favorite brand of comics since the early 90s, and though I tried reading Marvel and DC in their absence, nothing ever really got me jazzed up till I saw that a new Valiant was going to publish again in 2012. I've tried dipping my toe into PBS (and DynaKey, too), but it just doesn't take for me. No offense to anyone who is a fan of PBS, but (IMO) they appear to just be trying to imitate Valiants success.

The beautiful thing about Valiant is that you would be jumping on at an ideal point - not too late so you have an impossible task of getting caught up, but not too early where material is scarce and they are trying to find their footing. They have been very deliberate in trying to keep things as noob-friendly as possible, including providing easy jumping on points all summer long and keeping the number of titles down to a manageable nine. And in the run-up to SDCC, Valiant has been dropping some pretty big announcements (the Archer & Armstrong movie, The Valiant mini-series, etc.) so it really is an exciting time to be a Valiant fan!

A couple of options for you to explore Valiant further... for the rest of July, all the first issues of their titles are free on Comixology, and would be a nice start. Also, Valiant has priced all initial trade paperbacks of their titles at an attractive $10.00, which is a very cheap way to check out the beginning arcs!

My question with this line is do you have to read all the titles to follow along? For instance, the armor hunters, do you have to read each character' s title to enjoy the arcs? I know they have like 2 or 3 harbinger lines.

[Dylan Davison]

I can't answer for Valiant, but with PBS you dont have to read everything to understand it. You could just read Ghost and enjoy that and never pick up anything else. And the same could be said for every title. They are in the same world and they have cross overs in there own titles (like 2 Past Midnight) and I think thats a great thing.

Sorry I can't answer about Valiant. I have wanted to read more of their stuff, but comics aren't cheap :P. I am not sure of there price, but PBS titles are all 2.99.

[Professor Moriarty]

read both.

they are both great, better than what DC or Marvel are doing right now.

[Dark-Flux]

My question with this line is do you have to read all the titles to follow along? For instance, the armor hunters, do you have to read each character' s title to enjoy the arcs? I know they have like 2 or 3 harbinger lines.

Nope. Armor Hunters is Valiants current summer event about a bunch of alien/robot dudes attacking earth and each tie-in is just a different characters reaction/view of the attack.
Its mainly an X-O Manowar story. So the only ones id recommend you read above all are the Armor Hunters and X-O Manowar issues. But even then its not a necessity.

Also, Harbinger is just the one book. It just has an Armor Hunters tie-in one-shot.

. I like the more super hero lines as she likes the more violent, gory, and "they didn't just go there, did they." So I am trying to find a middle ground.

Off topic, but for the love of all that is holy in comics read Invincible. Its exactly what youre describing.

[ksbord]

My question with this line is do you have to read all the titles to follow along? For instance, the armor hunters, do you have to read each character' s title to enjoy the arcs? I know they have like 2 or 3 harbinger lines.

For an event like Armor Hunters, I would say no to the having to read everything to appreciate the story. Taking a look at last year’s Harbinger Wars, you could just read the HW mini-series and you would get the main story and all its important beats. Reading the complimentary arcs in Harbinger and Bloodshot fleshed out the main story and made it more enjoyable, but weren't absolutely necessary.

On the flipside, Valiant did a great job of making sure that the ongoing Bloodshot and Harbinger series made sense to someone who might not be reading HW. Their ongoing story arcs dovetailed perfectly into HW, and you might see some of the important beats of the main HW story, but only from the context the characters of each series experienced them (i.e. you don't see Bloodshot in the Harbinger series till the Renegades confront him towards the end). It looks to be the same with Armor Hunters, though that is still ongoing.

Valiant also employs liberal use of the "The Story So Far..." summary at the beginning of all their comics. Someone starting a random issue with no knowledge of the series at all would be able to have some clue after reading those summaries.

And just to clarify, there aren't multiple ongoing Harbinger titles like some of the brands at Marvel or DC (i.e. no Harbingers/New Harbingers/Mighty Harbingers/Secret Harbingers/Double Secret Probation Harbingers). The main Harbinger title has ended as of issue #25 and effectively completes the first chapter/season of the story. The Harbinger: Omegas mini begins next month, and officially kicks off Chapter Two. Valiant has promised there is much more Harbinger to come, but that remains to be spelled out. Meanwhile, the AH: Harbinger mini starts next week, and details some of the characters getting involved in the destruction the Hunters have caused.

Whew.. sorry if that was a lot. Think I'm just as passionate about Valiant as Power Torch is for PBS!

[cajun_duck]

No need to be sorry. That was an excellent explanation. Especially the double probation jab at marvel. Very informative indeed.

[RLAAMJR.]

For an event like Armor Hunters, I would say no to the having to read everything to appreciate the story. Taking a look at last year’s Harbinger Wars, you could just read the HW mini-series and you would get the main story and all its important beats. Reading the complimentary arcs in Harbinger and Bloodshot fleshed out the main story and made it more enjoyable, but weren't absolutely necessary.

On the flipside, Valiant did a great job of making sure that the ongoing Bloodshot and Harbinger series made sense to someone who might not be reading HW. Their ongoing story arcs dovetailed perfectly into HW, and you might see some of the important beats of the main HW story, but only from the context the characters of each series experienced them (i.e. you don't see Bloodshot in the Harbinger series till the Renegades confront him towards the end). It looks to be the same with Armor Hunters, though that is still ongoing.

Valiant also employs liberal use of the "The Story So Far..." summary at the beginning of all their comics. Someone starting a random issue with no knowledge of the series at all would be able to have some clue after reading those summaries.

And just to clarify, there aren't multiple ongoing Harbinger titles like some of the brands at Marvel or DC (i.e. no Harbingers/New Harbingers/Mighty Harbingers/Secret Harbingers/Double Secret Probation Harbingers). The main Harbinger title has ended as of issue #25 and effectively completes the first chapter/season of the story. The Harbinger: Omegas mini begins next month, and officially kicks off Chapter Two. Valiant has promised there is much more Harbinger to come, but that remains to be spelled out. Meanwhile, the AH: Harbinger mini starts next week, and details some of the characters getting involved in the destruction the Hunters have caused.

Whew.. sorry if that was a lot. Think I'm just as passionate about Valiant as Power Torch is for PBS!

You don't need to say sorry. This thread actually sounds like Valiant fans vs PBS fans in a friendly competition in convincing the creator of the thread.

By the way, which Valiant comic do you think is the best?

[Dylan Davison]

Is this a contest? I am not sure! I think they both win :P.

[Bslythegamerguy]

I enjoyed Valiant early on and felt that they were off to a fantastic start but somewhere around the early teen's for Harbinger and X-O I kind of felt like the entire series really took a dip, especially the disappointing Planet Death storyline and the way they weaved Hard Corps in with Bloodspot. It just wasn't my thing. Shadowman was okay, though many consider it the worst in the line, I enjoyed it and felt it was a solid book but it appears as if it's changing to a mini or something, same with Harbinger.

The Project Black Sky books (X & Midnight) are approaching the same number that I felt Valiant started to slip at and are actually getting better as they go, which is quite a feat IMO. X and Captain Midnight have really knocked my socks off and while I found Ghost to be underwhelming and Brain Boy to be merely okay, Blackout and The Occultist have been fun and refreshing to pick up and read.

For more on Project Black Sky checks out some coverage I've done on it's behalf....

http://bslydarksky.blogspot.com/2014...from-dark.html
http://bslydarksky.blogspot.com/2014...10-issues.html
http://bslydarksky.blogspot.com/2014...omic-book.html

[ksbord]

You don't need to say sorry. This thread actually sounds like Valiant fans vs PBS fans in a friendly competition in convincing the creator of the thread.

By the way, which Valiant comic do you think is the best?

That's a tough call... I'm inclined to say Archer & Armstrong, but Harbinger has been extremely strong during this last arc, which looks to have long lasting effects on the whole Valiant Universe post-Armor Hunters. A little background on both:

A&A is a madcap, buddy comedy/adventure comic that has been weaving it's way in and out of the history (and future!) of the Valiant Universe. The entire series has been penned by Fred Van Lente thus far, and carries his trademark humor and snark. Obadiah Archer has been raised his entire life in his parents Creationist theme park with one goal in mind - to ultimately hunt down and kill an anti-Christ like "He Who Must Not Be Named." Of course, it's more complicated than that, as this evil figure is actually a fun loving, wine/women/song in equal measures, 10,000 year old immortal named Armstrong. Together, they form extremely unlikely duos that are thrust into adventure and conspiracies while they struggle to get along.

Harbinger is about a group of psionic powered teams resisting the ambitions of a ruthless businessman, also a psionic and who runs an organization to find and train psionics for his own purposes. Think if Charles Xavier was a little more Magneto, and some of the X-Men rebelled against him. Tremendous world-building going on here, including some of the best psionic/mutant power sets I've ever read. And like I mentioned, the past arc (issues 21 - 25) have been absolute insanity, and some of the best comics I've ever read.

I should mention the recently started Rai. Three issues in, but Matt Kindt has been killing it!

[RLAAMJR.]

That's a tough call... I'm inclined to say Archer & Armstrong, but Harbinger has been extremely strong during this last arc, which looks to have long lasting effects on the whole Valiant Universe post-Armor Hunters. A little background on both:

A&A is a madcap, buddy comedy/adventure comic that has been weaving it's way in and out of the history (and future!) of the Valiant Universe. The entire series has been penned by Fred Van Lente thus far, and carries his trademark humor and snark. Obadiah Archer has been raised his entire life in his parents Creationist theme park with one goal in mind - to ultimately hunt down and kill an anti-Christ like "He Who Must Not Be Named." Of course, it's more complicated than that, as this evil figure is actually a fun loving, wine/women/song in equal measures, 10,000 year old immortal named Armstrong. Together, they form extremely unlikely duos that are thrust into adventure and conspiracies while they struggle to get along.

Harbinger is about a group of psionic powered teams resisting the ambitions of a ruthless businessman, also a psionic and who runs an organization to find and train psionics for his own purposes. Think if Charles Xavier was a little more Magneto, and some of the X-Men rebelled against him. Tremendous world-building going on here, including some of the best psionic/mutant power sets I've ever read. And like I mentioned, the past arc (issues 21 - 25) have been absolute insanity, and some of the best comics I've ever read.

I should mention the recently started Rai. Three issues in, but Matt Kindt has been killing it!

I see. Thanks a lot. I'm going to check more about them.

[wwise03]

I was in the same boat as you two months ago...I decided to go with Valiant. I purchased all back issues of all series going back to the beginning of the relaunch (in 2012). The books were not that expensive (check out mycomicshop.com or ebay lots). You could also pick up the trades. In less than 2 months, I am up to date with the current publishing schedule. The books are amazing! I am hard-pressed to say what book I like best, but most will say X-O Manowar, Harbinger, or Archer and Armstrong.

I really hope you choose Valiant!

[BugsySig]

I see. Thanks a lot. I'm going to check more about them.

Harbinger and A&A are absolutely two of my favorite books. Ever. That's right, I said it.

[cajun_duck]

So far I read the #1's for Bloodshot (they screwed with that dude's head pretty bad) and xo. Both were good and refreshingly new. I will finish the valiants then try dark horse. If i enjoy those as much i may do both. This has turned out to be a great and entertaining thread. Very informative as well.

[RLAAMJR.]

I was in the same boat as you two months ago...I decided to go with Valiant. I purchased all back issues of all series going back to the beginning of the relaunch (in 2012). The books were not that expensive (check out mycomicshop.com or ebay lots). You could also pick up the trades. In less than 2 months, I am up to date with the current publishing schedule. The books are amazing! I am hard-pressed to say what book I like best, but most will say X-O Manowar, Harbinger, or Archer and Armstrong.

I really hope you choose Valiant!

No. Please choose Project Black Sky. Hahaha.

So far I read the #1's for Bloodshot (they screwed with that dude's head pretty bad) and xo. Both were good and refreshingly new. I will finish the valiants then try dark horse. If i enjoy those as much i may do both. This has turned out to be a great and entertaining thread. Very informative as well.

THat's cool. Please let us know in the future which book/s are you going to stick with.