LET'S TALK: Valiant

[the1captain]

I am scared why they had to do this to begin with. Was this a planned "merging" or were sales so low they had to blend the title? One thing that scares me about Valiant sticking around, is no-one seems to know if sales of ... say 9K will be good enough for this company to remain viable.

Especially now that they are starting to (possibly) expand with two more titles this summer. That will cause some buyers to drop certain titles and thus lessening sales further. For example, I will be stopping my "Valiant bundle" through DCBS as I am not interested in the ETERNAL WARRIOR title, if that will be a solo title (though I like Pak as the writer) and I have always been less than thrilled with ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (though the quality is superb).

Now while I will continue with the BLOODSHOT title, and they will be gaining me as a reader of the new NINJAK title (if that is another additional title, of course) they are losing me on A&A. If more buyers are like me, how far can sales drop before that title is gone? Is this why Bloodshot has this supporting cast now? (Yes, I do realize Bloodshot and H.A.R.D Corps do work well together and separate, they could be deemed too redundant)

With DC and Marvel, we know, for the most part, the magic "in jeopardy" number for sales, but for Valiant ... I have no idea. I hope their titles can be profitable at their current low sales numbers, and I certainly wish more people would jump on this fantastic company and increase these sales numbers, but as it stands I just don't know.

Listen to a recent interview with Dinish about how Valiant is doing. He said that overall they are right now 5-10 percent ahead of where they needed to be. Also, that they had in advance arranged their financing so they could float for at least 5 years to let the company grow. I found this extremely smart. Most new start ups only scrap enough money together to get them out the gate hoping sales will suddenly from the start cover them. Any business, especially comics, needs the time and space to find its customers.

[Perry]

Listen to a recent interview with Dinish about how Valiant is doing. He said that overall they are right now 5-10 percent ahead of where they needed to be.

That's great, and not to be a "negative Nelly", but I would feel a lot more comfortable had he said they were 5-10% ahead of where they "wanted" to be, instead of where they "needed" to be. A couple thousand less copies sold and suddenly that 5 to 10% cushion that they currently have is gone.

Again, I am not trying to bring the room down, and I want them to get into Image level sales eventually, but seeing the numbers the way they are and knowing how comic sales go, just a little ... nervous.

Would feel a lot better if someone could say - 9K is our mark. If our titles stay at or above that level, we are perfectly fine.

[SpideySavestheDay]

A few things...

Noticed that Bloodshot had a nice little jump on the last Mayo Report. Probably thanks to the Harbinger Wars crossover, but what it may mean is that people only reading a few of the Valiant books are testing the waters of others. I hope they like what they read and keep pulling it.

I'm finally going all in with Valiant in June not because of great stories but because of a cover gimic. For whatever reason the retro video game 8-bit covers appeals to me. Perhaps because I started collecting comics when I started playing Nintendo (great nostaglia). Also, I think it is a great move by Valiant to make those covers non-incentive.