Notes from Diamond Comics Distributors Fall Fling, Nov. 4, 1993.
Compiled by Tim Stroup

Recently, our local Diamond Comics Distributor warehouse had a Fall
Fling.  Guests included Jon Hartz, Vice President of Direct Sales &
Marketing of Voyager Communications and Editor Mark Moretti.  I
was unable to attend, but persuaded a friend of mine to take along a
small tape recorder and record the Valiant presentation.  What
follows is some highlights from that tape.

Valiant is trying to put out a trade paperback (TPB) that reprints
early Valiant Universe stories about every 2-3 months so they can
build their reader base.  Everytime that they solicit for a new trade
paperback, they will resolicit for the old TPBs.  So all the old ones
should be accessible to the retailer.  The Valiant Reader is always
available for reorder too.  This summer they are going to revamp and
update it.

All the parts to the Valiant Vision Starter kit were ready on time, but
the manufacturer of the glasses weren't used to the fast turn around
times.  Solar#29 was held up because the kits weren't ready.  The
glasses were put into a separate kit because they didn't want to put
them in the comic.  They would have had to raise the price and they
"didn't want to make the Valiant readers buy two copies".  There are
lots of the starter kits available, because in February Solar#33-35
will be colored in Valiant Vision too.  This is the Solar the Destroyer 3
issues that they were going to make into a mini-series.

Joe Quesada has made a commitment to Valiant to do Ninjak on a
regular basis.  So as long as he can produce the book _on time_, he'll
stay on the book.  The orders on Ninjak#1 were about half of what
Bloodshot#1 was, but Valiant overprinted it some.  The print run was
about 400,000 copies.

Valiant is thrilled to have Dick Giradonno (sp?) on board.  They were
able to get him because he was Bob Layton's old teacher.  He's going
to do covers and an occasional special project.  He is also inking the
insides of Bloodshot#0 over Kevin VanHook's pencils.

The origins of the Magnus/Nexus crossover is an interesting story.
Mike Baron and Steve Rude called up Valiant and said "We want to
do a Nexus/Magnus crossover and we've already started it and the
art's already done, so you better call Dark Horse right now and get all
the business taken care of". So they thought it was a good idea and
Valiant called Mike Richardson who said "Yea, I guess since the
book's already done, so we better publish it".   In it Steve Rude pays
homage to Russ Manning.

In December the Valiant Era Special Edition Trade paperback comes
out.  With this book and previous TPBs they were trying to reprint
the books that are so expensive in the secondary market.  This book
will tie up the remaining loose ends.  It will reprint Eternal Warrior
#4 & 5, Magnus#12, Solar#10 & 11 (first appearance of the Eternal
Warrior), and Shadowman#8 (the first appearance of Master Darque).

Valiant decided last summer, in the midst of all the new universes
and new product coming out, to sit back a bit and concentrate more
on building their readership.  That's why there weren't any special
covers.  But now with the noise dying down, they are going to start
up again with Shadowman Month in January.  They think
Shadowman is the best book they publish.  Both Jon and Bob Layton
refuse to look at the script or pages of it until it is published because
they both enjoy it so much.  January will see a Shadowman TPB
(reprinting issues 1-3,6), Shadowman#0, and Shadowman will be in
Archer & Armstrong.  They will have two different versions of #0.
One with a chromium cover and one without at a lower price.  Both
with the same art work and interior.  About 50% of the retailers at
the meeting thought that was a good idea and the other half thought
it wasn't.  This will be an experiment.  If it goes over well, they will
do it in the future.  If not, we wont see it again.

Also In January they are going to improve and speed up the story
lines in Magnus and Rai.  They are going to take the book off into a
new direction. John Ostrander felt that, with all the other work he
was doing, he was giving Magnus and Rai a lessor effort.  So in May
or June, Ostrander will switch over to Eternal Warrior.  And Tony
Fidaro (sp?) will take over.  David Ross from Avengers West Coast
fame will take over the art chores on Rai and the Future Force.  Sean
Chen will be taking over Harbinger.

Also, Valiant gave out a booklet, titled "Valiant Fall Flings", which
announced upcoming highlights from Voyager Communications
Valiant comics.

February:

Timewalker#1 will debut, written by Jon Hartz (or maybe it will be
out in May - Jon said May and the booklet said Feb.) and X-O
Manowar#28 will be a "dramatic turning point for this title" - "Aric
can only standby helplessly as the Good Skin fights its toughest
battle...and loses."  New series artists are Ric Levins and Mike
DeCarlo.  Dr. Mirage#7 features the return of Doctor Eclipse.

Every regular title that ships this month will have a limited edition
Upper Deck Valiant Era II trading cards.  Valiant Era II (out in
March) will cover all Valiant comics from January 1993 thru
November 1993.  Trading cards with December 1993 books will be
only available in Valiant's February books.  There will be no increase
in cover price because of the cards.  They will not polybag the books
unless they can't make them theft proof.  Each title will have a
specific card as follows:

Title				Card

Timewalker?		Checklist?
Ninjak			Shadowman
Turok			Archer & Armstrong
Bloodshot			Eternal Warrior
X-O Manowar		Rai and the Future Force
Harbinger			H.A.R.D. Corps
Dr. Mirage			Solar
Secret Weapons		Magnus
Magnus			Secret Weapons
Solar				Dr. Mirage
H.A.R.D. Corps		Harbinger
Rai and Future Force	X-O Manowar
Eternal Warrior		Bloodshot
Archer & Armstrong	Turok
Shadowman			Ninjak


1994: March and Beyond

1) Magnus#36 - Third Anniversary Issue.  Special Issue a la
Magnus#12 - Turok, and Magnus#25 - the Silver Embossed Cover.
(I'm not sure what this means since Magnus#12 only introduced
Turok into the Valiant Universe.  There are other Gold Key characters
that Valiant supposedly has the rights to.)
2) Planned Yearbooks - Shadowman, Bloodshot, Ninjak, and Archer &
Armstrong.
3)  New Titles - Armorines and two new titles to be announced.
TimeWalker will be their 15th book.  Title number 16 (Armorines?)
will come out in the summer and #17 in the Fall.  (This continues
their new title a quarter schedule that we have seen in the past.)
4)  Zero Issues - Turok (stand alone), Harada (delivered like
Armorines), and two others to be announced.
5)  Another special combined Archer & Armstrong/Eternal Warrior,
issue#25.
6)  Valiant Reader#2.
7)  Upper Deck card sets planned for spring and late Summer.  (I
believe the spring set has been announced as Valiant Era II.)
8)  New line of Valiant Apparel will be released in April '94 based on
Valiant icons.
9)  March is the Third Anniversary of the Valiant Universe with a
month long celebration.  Events include (a) a Wizard magazine
Valiant Profile Edition with a bonus (available only with the Wizard),
"The Secrets of the Valiant Universe; (b) Valiant/Diamond Charity
Dinners - proceeds to be donated to the Literacy Volunteers of
America; (c) a Valiant/Diamond Trivia Contest including stores
around the country and culminating at the 1994 San Diego Con; and
(d) Valiant creator tours.
10)  1994 IS THE YEAR OF THE VISITOR - additional details to be
announced...  A book will be launched in December titled The Visitor.
That will be Valiant's 18th title and their "last planned Valiant book.
What I mean by that is that we are going to limit the number of
regular monthly titles in the Valiant Universe.  Now, I never say
never.  If we come up with a terrific idea in 1995, we might ad a
19th title.  We might even add a 20th.  But absolutely no more than
20 titles."  Quote from Jon Hartz.