The second release from Jim Shooter's new company DEFIANT was DARK DOMINION, which seemed like it might prove to be something interesting. The series was co-created by Shooter and legendary creator Steve Ditko, and it's clear that Jim was intending to build a title that would allow Ditko to flex the same kind of visual … Continue reading Brand Echh: DARK DOMINION #1
As we've talked about here briefly in our sequence on the assorted early launches from VALIANT, Editor in Chief and primary creative voice Jim Shooter found himself ousted from that company shortly after completing work on that company's UNITY crossover. Different people have given different accounts of exactly what happened and how it all went … Continue reading Brand Echh: WARRIORS OF PLASM #1
Jim Shooter, who had been the Editor in Chief and main creative driver of the Valiant super hero universe didn't last for very long with the company following the UNITY crossover. Not to get into any of the specifics of his departure, about which assorted parties have very different recollections, the key factor germane to … Continue reading Brand Echh: RAI #0
When it was first launched, there was a veneer of respectability about the MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL line. Based on the format of European albums, these books were a place where creators could tell stories that were a bit more sophisticated and adult-oriented than the typical Comics Code-approved fare that filled the pages of the monthly … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #4
The next series that Valiant released was launched as a part of the UNITY crossover. Labeled as Chapter Two, it really wasn't such a thing, as the only connective tissue to the crossover storyline is a short epilogue at the end that repurposes panels from UNITY #0 to bring Gilad as well as Archer and … Continue reading Brand Echh: ETERNAL WARRIOR #1
Having been publishing super hero comic books for about a year, Valiant editor in chief Jim Shooter was about to unveil his master stroke. Jim had scored massive numbers writing MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS years before, the very first company-wide crossover series, and its success must have been top of mind as he and … Continue reading Brand Echh: UNITY #0
Valiant's next series was one of its more unique and distinctive. It was barely a super hero series at all, though its events took place in the same continuum as the other Valiant super hero titles. This was ARCHER & ARMSTRONG, and it debuted with a #0 issue for some reason. The story in this … Continue reading Brand Echh: ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #0
The next new character and series that Valiant introduced to its growing line of interconnected super hero titles was SHADOWMAN. As they'd started to do previously, the creators seeded lead character Jack Boniface into the background of another earlier title--in this case, X-O MANOWAR #4. In doing so, they gave readers a bit of an … Continue reading Brand Echh: SHADOWMAN #1
X-O MANOWAR #1 introduced another entirely new character to the burgeoning Valiant super hero universe, that being Aric of Dacia, a Visigoth from the 5th Century who was captured by aliens, and who escapes from them by stealing their greatest weapon, the X-O Manowar living armor. Due to the time dilation involved in faster-than-light travel, … Continue reading Brand Echh: X-O MANOWAR #1
A year or two ago, I was on a convention panel where I was able to tell former X-MEN editor Louise Simonson just how much she'd screwed all of those X-MEN editors who came after her with her performance in that role in 1982. An incredible number of high-quality releases came out of the X-Men … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL AND DC PRESENT THE UNCANNY X-MEN AND THE NEW TEEN TITANS #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 