Jan-Ken-Pon – Jim Shooter’s Gold Key (and ’90s Comic Book Validation)

There is this idea, or perhaps more apt, a stigma associated with the term ’90s comics. You can multiply that several times over if mentioning ’90s superhero comics. Regarding either, it’s a rather overstated stance if one considers what came out of the decade.

An indie dream realized in Jeff Smith’s Bone, the overwhelming bulk of Gaiman’s Sandman run, and both Marvel’s and DC’s modern benchmarks in the Busiek/Ross Marvels and the Waid/Ross Kingdom Come respectively. The rise of Vertigo as perhaps the publisher with the most enviable catalog of work since its inception. It was when we could open an issue of John Byrne’s Nextmen and find Mignola’s Hellboy–Legends indeed. We had Preacher, the rise of the post-Moore generation (which arguably hasn’t ended) which introduced to us to today’s comic geniuses–people like Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and James Robinson. It gave us the mainstream flash of the original Image founders, who love them or hate them were making so much paper that they –even if for just a moment– shook the Mighty Marvel tower. In stark contrast, it also brought us Chris Ware, and all but 4 issues of Eightball, and it was in the ’90s when we first read Creatures of the Id and Mike Allred’s Madman. We first visited the streets and skylines of Astro City in the ’90sm and we ended the decade with seminal works called Planetary and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Many people will point to that many of those works happened toward the end of the decade, or that many aren’t superhero books, but the beginning of that decade brought us what is the most well conceived and implemented superhero universe since Stan and Jack smacked us in the ’60s. While throwing a word like best around is rather useless when talking about any form of art, if asked for my opinion on the best (see: most fun) superhero universe the medium has ever seen, I’d argue that in its initial phases that the VALIANT Universe hold that crown. A common term used by Valiant fans is Pre-Unity, which signifies the entirety of the line starting in 1991 with Magnus: Robot Fighter up to the company-wide crossover Unity. The term is common because many fans use and point to it to signify and identify the “Golden Age” of the company. While I don’t dispute the quality of the books that fall in that timeline, I tend to be part of an off-shoot branch that extends that era of excellence through Unity—which I think is perhaps the finest massive crossover or ‘event’ ever in comics. While it’s tough to match the immediacy of single instances within DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths or the pure fun and nostalgia afford by Marvel’s Secret Wars (Dr Doom was pimp!), I’m not sure either match the ingenuity and ambition of Unity. The failure of VALIANT was not being able to pay-off post-Unity, a second chance I feel they earned with that crossover, after crossing its fans with the ousting of Jim Shooter from the company that he was the literal and figurative foundation of. The exodus would include more than Shooter, as we’d also soon see the departure of J.J. Jackson and David (Stray Bullets) Lapham. Afterwords, VALIANT would go on to set sales standards, but unfortunately would find a way to print even more, and find itself in the middle of a declining market in an inopportune time as they started overreaching with what seemed non-existent marketing information gathering. It does remain hard to argue with those in power as the remaining central figures left would soon bow (sell)out, get their large check from Acclaim and continue to distance themselves from their greatness like they were Marvel running away from Grant Morrison X-Men. While I won’t say what came after was complete rubbish (as if you look at the names associated with those books you will see many familiar and respected names—some I mentioned above when speaking of the virtues of the decade), I can say that it held none of the spirit of VALIANT. Even the legitimately quality material like Quantum and Woody were great but different.

So, when Dark Horse announced at this year’s SDCC that they would be publishing stories of their Gold Key acquisitions, Magnus, Turok and Solar it peaked my interest. These characters were once licensed to VALIANT and two of them–Magnus and Solar–were the keystones of the line. Turok would be introduced to VALIANT later, and while being a character whose relevance to the line is much more debated—I dug him, and find it hard to argue the concept of a Native American badass from the Lost Land hunting dinosaurs that had with intel-boosting implants put on them by a a reality traversing super-human. When it was announced that these books would be written by Jim Shooter himself, my body–without asking me–did a combination of a jump and fist pump, to which these around me kindly pretended they didn’t witness.

CBR reported this statement:

“We’re going to start from scratch and reinvent them,” Richardson said, meaning that continuity from Valiant and other publishers would be wiped clean – but Dark Horse has tapped former Valiant publisher Jim Shooter to oversee the line.

Shooter added:

“I have a long history with these characters”

“I’m gonna give it my best shot. I hope it works out well, and with Mike’s help, all things are possible.”

Before I get ahead of myself, let me note that Dark Horse has been the guardians of a great many other licensed projects: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Conan to name a few. It’s the home of Hellboy, BPRD and other Mike Mignolia projects, as well as Eric Powell’s Goon. While perhaps not granted the consistent reputation that Vertigo has with pushing medium boundaries, Darkhorse has been putting out quality, original work going back to even the wonderful Legend imprint (again, from the 90s!), to publishing work like Brian K. Vaughan’s Chabon inspired The Escapists. They are also a rather secure publisher who unlike a lot of comic publishers outside of the Big II, is ran by a real businessman with a proven track record.

Along with the above statement was this:

“The final announcement was the return of a paper version of “Dark Horse Presents.” Many new projects will premiere through that medium, including Classic Media characters Doctor Solar, Magnus: Robot Fighter, Turok and Mighty Samson.”

Dark Horse Presents was the rarest of comic book entities–a successful anthology series that was also the launching title of the company itself in 1986. This is a mind-boggling number, but it ran for over a 150 issues and introduced the world to the shadows of Sin City, Paul Chadwick’s Concrete, and Alien in comic book form.

One might assume that there would be conflict from a diehard VALIANT fan as the rest of the characters that used to populate the VALIANT universe (among my favorites: Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Archer and Armstrong, Rai, Shadowman) are now in the hands of people I think most fans would describe as owners who have the best of intentions. That said, Barring a licensing deal to offer time to Dark Horse, dream of the old days seems at the very least vastly diminished. While there are creative loopholes for the owners of VALIANT to implement Solar’s alter ego, and while Turok is admittedly not an essential cog, Magnus is a vital character. I don’t want to come off as all doom and gloom though, there are a lot of creative avenues for the company to take to relaunch—but that’s a very different (and perhaps forthcoming) post.

I’m just pleased that the man who played a substantial roles in creating universes I loved while being Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief in the ’80′s, and who launched VALIANT, DEFIANT and Broadway is going to get another chance with characters he brought back into the modern conscious. What the comics supplied, what we saw and experienced was wonder. Shooter is a figure who is the subject of rather extreme opinions, from both supporters and those who seem to despise the man, but as a fan I only care about what you put on the racks. For myself, the man created universes, and though showcasing the fantastic and elements of Science Fiction with characters possessing titles like Robot Fighter or Dinosaur Hunter, he’s always been able to ground them. Vintage VALIANT was sold to us as a place that resembled the world outside our own window.

I eagerly await exploring new ground with old friends or old ground with new friends. Or rather, perhaps capture a glimpse outside of something just not, something just out of frame that changes the mundane to adventure.

There I go wandering wondering again.