Should Valiant Have It's Own Sub-Forum?

[MajorHoy]

. . . However, I would agree that, if Hellboy gets his own board, it seems silly to limit the amount of subforums at all. Maybe Hellboy just has a big fanbase that chills here?

Sometimes, you need to know the history of this site . . . both the current and the pre-"Community" versions.

In the past, there were more sub-forums, but when they rebooted to the current version at the end of April 2014 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=52513), they did a little streamlining, combining some topic areas where they seemed to be too much overlap (like the Avengers section being folded into the General Marvel section) or not enough traffic (no more separate Vertigo section). So expanding Valiant into a separate section doesn't seem likely.

Also, among DC Comics, they've tried separating out the Green Lantern comics into a separate section, but each time it has resulted in eventually not having enough activity to support itself. And as much as there may be some people who like Valiant comics, do you think there are people who would create more activity for it than there are readers of Green Lantern and the other titles within that franchise?

As for "Well, if Hellboy / Mignola books rate their own section, . . . " arguments, I can't give you the history of that directly. But I have been told that among the DC titles, Wonder Woman still kept her own section even when she was featured just in her title and Justice League because that section began when Gail Simone was writing Wonder Woman regularly and she became very involved with promoting and participating in that separate section of the Forum boards. Even after Gail left Wonder Woman, it seemed there was enough support to maintain the separate Wonder Woman area. Don't know if that may also have been the case with the Mignola books as well or not.

[Inhuman X]

I am really enjoying my introduction to Valiant Comics and I am starting to look at other indie publishers as a result. They changed my mind about Marvel and DC being the prime places to go for good superhero action stories. I admit that it would be nice to have a spot to gather with other fans of the line to talk over the titles directly and easily. However, I would rather have an active group forum to visit rather than an idle specialty forum for the line that no one visits. At least this way their work gets exposure with a lot of people not otherwise interested directly but looking for something other than Marvel and DC. Its a chance to broaden the readership and a good thing as such. I don't know if there is enough of a readership purely for their line to justify it yet but if that time comes I am all for it.

[chaos X effect]

I'm just getting into Valiant, so I wouldn't mind going to a spot dedicated to it. I don't know if it's needed, of course, but I don't think it would hurt, either.

[MECHANO]

I agree there isn't enough traffic... But then I would struggle to explain the Ultimate Marvel forum?

[TheFerg714]

I agree there isn't enough traffic... But then I would struggle to explain the Ultimate Marvel forum?

Yea, I can't believe they brought that back. It might just be because a lot of people bitched about it (including me). Before I found Valiant, and before the Ultimate U imploded with Cataclysm, I was a fairly active member there. I think they keep the board open because there are quite a few extremely dedicated fans on that board like Wolverine12, Plawsky, and wyokid. I wish that I could sit here and type about how much I love that board and all the Ultimate comics coming out right now, but I just can't. The death of the UU is a huge factor in my posting in the Independent board now.

[Inhuman X]

Maybe I am underestimating Valiant's popularity a little bit. I just happened to see this site poll about the best comic publisher based on quality output for 2014 and Valiant has beaten everyone by a wide margin and a lot of votes including the big two.


http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ults&msg=voted

[MECHANO]

Maybe I am underestimating Valiant's popularity a little bit. I just happened to see this site poll about the best comic publisher based on quality output for 2014 and Valiant has beaten everyone by a wide margin and a lot of votes including the big two.


http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ults&msg=voted

it would be nice if people would put their posts where their mouth is... and POST IN VALIANT THREADS!!!

[TheFerg714]

Maybe I am underestimating Valiant's popularity a little bit. I just happened to see this site poll about the best comic publisher based on quality output for 2014 and Valiant has beaten everyone by a wide margin and a lot of votes including the big two.


http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ults&msg=voted

A lot of that is due to ValiantFans.com demolishing the poll, but there's no way it beat out Image, DC, and Marvel without help from other voters.

[Jim Purcell]

Image/Dark Horse/IDW should be one forum. IMO

Everything else (including Valiant) is fine here.


But it doesn't matter, because its my understanding that they way the Forum is connected to the news side of the site (and how comments get cross posted) prevents (or at least requires a bunch of work) the creation of new specific forums.

[Cap10nate]

As much as I enjoy reading Valiant titles, I don't think it has enough to warrant it's own sub-forum as a lot of the previous posters have said. Other than the dedicated Valiant thread that is pinned to the top page, it is rare for Valiant threads to make it past 2 or 3 pages.

[ksbord]

A lot of that is due to ValiantFans.com demolishing the poll, but there's no way it beat out Image, DC, and Marvel without help from other voters.

That, and Valiant actually tweeted about it. They have a large number of followers there... I imagine some of those votes came from folks who just clicked over from Twitter.

[johnmahananda]

Sometimes, you need to know the history of this site . . . both the current and the pre-"Community" versions.

In the past, there were more sub-forums, but when they rebooted to the current version at the end of April 2014 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=52513), they did a little streamlining, combining some topic areas where they seemed to be too much overlap (like the Avengers section being folded into the General Marvel section) or not enough traffic (no more separate Vertigo section). So expanding Valiant into a separate section doesn't seem likely.

Also, among DC Comics, they've tried separating out the Green Lantern comics into a separate section, but each time it has resulted in eventually not having enough activity to support itself. And as much as there may be some people who like Valiant comics, do you think there are people who would create more activity for it than there are readers of Green Lantern and the other titles within that franchise?

As for "Well, if Hellboy / Mignola books rate their own section, . . . " arguments, I can't give you the history of that directly. But I have been told that among the DC titles, Wonder Woman still kept her own section even when she was featured just in her title and Justice League because that section began when Gail Simone was writing Wonder Woman regularly and she became very involved with promoting and participating in that separate section of the Forum boards. Even after Gail left Wonder Woman, it seemed there was enough support to maintain the separate Wonder Woman area. Don't know if that may also have been the case with the Mignola books as well or not.

This is a good reply.

With all that you wrote, it seems like the threads should simply be

DC
Marvel
Image
Other Publishers (to include Avatar, Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, Oni, Valiant, etc.)

The breakdown by character seems gratuitous to me. OK, Batman and the X-Men are huge, no question, but why split them off? Is it necessary? Superman, Hellboy, Wonder Woman and Marvel Ultimates? I can't see the need.

I've been reading comics for a long time, and I'm finding Valiant's titles to be some of the best superhero stuff I've ever read (and I've been fairly jaded about superhero comics for a while). The Hellboy franchise seems to be fading out, IMO. And Wonder Woman has never been anything but an occasionally successful solo franchise. And why would anyone ever think to split out GL? How is any version of GL more significant than other second-tier comics characters?

In the end, this is a minor quibble. I was mostly just curious about Valiant's fan base.

[MajorHoy]

. . . In the end, this is a minor quibble. I was mostly just curious about Valiant's fan base.

One other (possible) telling note:
This thread was created (by the time listed where I am) on 12/19. Seven days later, there are now a total of 28 postings, which is an average of four a day.

[johnmahananda]

One other (possible) telling note:
This thread was created (by the time listed where I am) on 12/19. Seven days later, there are now a total of 28 postings, which is an average of four a day.

Is that good or bad? I'm guessing your point is that's a pretty minimal number of replies to the thread...

[Lee Stone]

This is a good reply.

With all that you wrote, it seems like the threads should simply be

DC
Marvel
Image
Other Publishers (to include Avatar, Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, Oni, Valiant, etc.)

The breakdown by character seems gratuitous to me. OK, Batman and the X-Men are huge, no question, but why split them off? Is it necessary? Superman, Hellboy, Wonder Woman and Marvel Ultimates? I can't see the need.

I've been reading comics for a long time, and I'm finding Valiant's titles to be some of the best superhero stuff I've ever read (and I've been fairly jaded about superhero comics for a while). The Hellboy franchise seems to be fading out, IMO. And Wonder Woman has never been anything but an occasionally successful solo franchise. And why would anyone ever think to split out GL? How is any version of GL more significant than other second-tier comics characters?

In the end, this is a minor quibble. I was mostly just curious about Valiant's fan base.

I like your idea. However, I would do two forums for "Other Publishers".
One for the more established, non-indies: Dynamite, Dark Horse, Valiant, IDW, Boom, Archie.
And another for small press publishers, including Fantagraphics, SLG, Top Shelf, NBM, Antarctic Press and everything smaller.

I would also add a Manga/Anime forum since most people either like manga/anime but not traditional comics or vice versa. There's some overlap but they do seem to be exclusively fans of one or the other.