Comic Reviews by Walt

I bought X-O Manowar #1 the day it came out back in May 2012. I’ve bought at least one copy of every single (story) issue that Valiant has published for nearly 40 months. I’ve paid their $3.99/issue. I’ve had expensive overall comic weeks because Valiant insists on “clustering” issues, often leaving me with weeks with NO Valiant, while those others might have 3 books apiece.

I’ve bought issues for friends, to just GIVE them. “Here, try this, it’s good, I promise!”

I’ve talked Valiant up. Friends, coworkers. Made sure to reference them whenever there was opportunity. Pointing out how UNLIKE Marvel or DC, I could follow an ENTIRE COMICS UNIVERSE, and had been, since its inception. How unlike Image, the disparate books still functioned together as a universe, though they fit different genres.

I even pointedly bought the various vol. 1 editions to “support” those.

Aside from special oversized issues, in all this time, the cover price has been a standard $3.99. Since I don’t collect variants, since I have pointedly stuck to the advertised/standard/”A” cover, I’ve never had to “chase” an issue. Maybe I don’t have the “talking Aric” QR-code variant of X-O Manowar #1. Maybe I don’t have some “gold edition” Whatever #1. Maybe I don’t have the Whoever variant of Bloodshot #6, or Harbinger #7. But darnit, for that $3.99 per basic unit/issue, for however many issues in a given month (7-9ish), I was happy. I was entertained. I was satisfied.

I was following the ENTIRE STORY, the WHOLE of the comics UNIVERSE being laid out by a gradually-growing, major-to-me publisher.

So color me surprised and dismayed when–in some apparent bid to get their books in front of MORE PEOPLE, Valiant now PUNISHES buyers (fans, readers, collectors) like me, interested in the whole STORY, but making an ENTIRE SERIES ratioed-incentive-ONLY.

For every TWENTY-FIVE COPIES of Book of Death #1, a retailer could order ONE COPY of Legends of the Geomancer #1. Not 25 of BoD and then however many LotG. Granted, there’s some sort of discount in place, and returnability…and maybe on some technical, considering-ONLY-Valiant level it would “make more sense TO order 25 copies than less.”

My comic shop’s been burned in the past on the various Valiant events and stunt covers and such. Very few people with any interest at all (and I’ve seen recent issue tossed in the 25-cent bins, usually non-“A” cover variants, as apparently there’s really no back-issue interest/market for the things around here, either). Suffice it to say, not one copy of Book of Death on the shelves. I had a copy because of my “Every single-issue edition Valiant publishes” pull list.

But no Legends of the Geomancer #1. Don’t EVEN try to tell me to blame my comic shop. Don’t try to insinuate that it’s on the owner to cater entirely to ME. Don’t try to say I should have talked the thing up, clarified and explained stuff to the owner, DONE VALIANT‘S JOB of “selling” the owner on stocking the book in huge, unsalable quantities, just because I wanted–for myself, for my collection, because I have one copy of every OTHER story-issue the company has published–a copy of a single issue.

As said, I’ve bought at least one copy of every single issue they’ve put out for nearly 40 months. A complete run, a complete collection, a complete universe, something that meant something to me, that mattered in context, that I was satisfied with, that I enjoyed, that I was content to spend $3.99 per issue on despite loathing the price point. But…that streak is broken.

I will not pay more than $10 for a single standard-sized comic (outside of perhaps a TMNT comic, the TMNT stuff long being a very special exception). Certainly not for something with a $3.99 cover price.

And on top of the (artificial/intentional) SCARCITY of the issue…Valiant‘s had the gall over the past few weeks of putting out previews for the issue, listing it amidst its other issues, as if Legends of the Geomancer were something just ANYONE could simply, reasonably, get.

Look–when I’m consistently told by my local retailer that I AM his #1 Valiant customer, such that he’s handed me promo books rather than sell or put them on eBay, held copies of classic issues so I get first shot at them, extends a sale price to encourage me to clean out some of his classic Valiant titles–and I can’t even get a copy of the issue? There’s a problem.

For months now, since this was announced, I’ve had my feelings for Valiant shaken. There’ve been cracks in what was otherwise a great deal of good will and positivity toward the publisher. Whatever issues I had with them clustering titles, making use of variant covers to the point I had to SPECIFY that I only wanted “A” covers for my pull list, something being slightly “off” to their physical products compared to DC and Marvel and Image…I still had plenty of good to say about ’em.

I took to online resources–other shops, even eBay–to see what my chances were of getting a copy of the thing in the $10 range, and even half-flirted with the notion of going about $20 including shipping (in the heat of the ‘moment’). But I was met with asking prices of $30, $40, $50, even $80+.

Far beyond my budget and ability, let alone common sense willingness to pay. So, I don’t get the issue. I’m not able to get the issue in any reasonable fashion.

It’s not to be published digitally (through legal sources), nor is it to be reprinted in the inevitable Book of Death paperback collection.

I don’t have the issue.

I don’t have that story.

My collection as I see it, my having a copy of the entire STORY of the Valiant Universe…is incomplete.

Fine–the run is broken. So, no point in trying to keep up with everything, right? I don’t HAVE TO have every single Valiant issue ever published by this iteration of the company…I know that. I get that. I see that. I realize that.

But by being forced to face that, accept it in this manner, I just feel like I’m not the target audience for this publisher. As just some guy faithfully buying a copy of every single issue, pre-ordered sight unseen such that my local comic shop is at least ORDERING SOMETHING from Valiant off of everything they’re putting out as a single issue…

Why do I need ANY Valiant comics?

I’m being pushed away anyway, why not take a good, hard, long look…and hey! I don’t need to be buying Valiant.

I’m frustrated, angry, discouraged, upset….all these negatives…over A COMIC BOOK.

It’s not fun anymore.

And to me, continuing to support the publisher in the single issues format is to passively endorse their stunt. To say nothing of those negative feelings building up. Look at a Valiant issue, see anything about ’em and all the talk of that darned book that I couldn’t get?

No. No, thank you.

It’s a principle thing.

After stewing on it all afternoon and into the evening, I decided to hold to the principle.

I contacted my comic shop and asked to remove Valiant from my pull list.

I no longer want to have Valiant stuff waiting for me every week there’s something new from Valiant out. I’m no longer interested in paying $3.99 an issue for several issues at a time to keep up with ONLY “most of” a universe of story.

Does Valiant OWE me anything? No, they do not. NOR do I owe THEM anything. We had a good thing going, but they made their decision–whatever the motivations and expectations and intents…and I’ve made mine.

Am I SPITING myself? No–I can always track stuff down later in bargain bins or eBay lots, or some digital means (after all, by not KEEPING UP with everything, stuff’s gonna slip through the cracks, so no great “need” to get stuff in print). And I have loads of other stuff to read in the meantime. Shelves and shelves of collected volumes that have been neglected or languished lower in the queue. Stories I’ve “meant” to re-read for years. Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Actual prose novels. Life to live.

Sure, I’m angry right now. And that’s prompted this disjointed, lengthy post. It’s prompted a decision that will leave me with 3-4 TMNT books being pulled for me each month, and pretty much anything else will be in-the-moment off-the-rack purchasing, if it’s actually stocked.

Despite this…I have little doubt that I’ll continue to seek the oversized hardcover “deluxe” editions. And who knows? MAYBE Legends of the Geomancer will be reprinted in the Book of Death deluxe edition someday–getting around the “not digital, not in PAPERback” phrasing. I don’t know, and I suppose I have a few months to a year to wait to find that one out. Kinda moot for now.

Marvel and DC have long alienated me, and Valiant was a sort of refuge. Now they, too, have alienated me, and lost me as a buyer of single issues.

But I’m pretty sure that all things considered? Life most certainly goes on!

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: Book of Death, comics, Eternal Warrior, Geomancer, incentive, Legends of the Geomancer, Valiant, Valiant Entertainment, variants, VEI, X-O Manowar | 1 Comment »