The Alliance #1(B) cover

Short lived image series written and pencilled by Jim Valentino in 1995.

Going by memory- I believe The Alliance was a concept that Valentino had before working on the 1990 Guardians of the Galaxy series for Marvel. A number of the ideas for The Alliance were used in the GOTG book. Valentino left GOTG in 1992, and somewhere around 1994 he reread his GOTG series and had a desire to make a return of sorts. The original plan was to team up with Keith Giffen and publish "The Galactic Legion", as Valentino's GOTG and Giffen's Legion books were both going in a very similar direction. The idea for this series was scrapped as it would have been very difficult recreating those universes in the new book. I think some of the characters that were going to appear in The Galactic Legion made their way over into The Alliance, Valentino's older book idea and next plan for returning to a team book based in space.

The Alliance issues #1 through #3 were published (each issue having an "A" and a "B" cover) but Valentino cut the series short as I believe he felt it wasn't heading in the direction he planned. Issue #4 was fully pencilled and partially inked. Both covers (A and B) to issues #4 and #5 were completed (pencils and inks). The only thing published (that I know of) from issues #4 or #5 was an ad for the fourth issue, which showed a colored version of the "B" cover.

Since 1992 I was reading fewer and fewer new comics- this series from 1995 was the last book I was buying new off the stands. Looking through the series again, I can sort of see why the plug was pulled- but many of the covers to the series are well done, with Valentino doing fantastic work. I thought he employed some great inkers too. I also of course love the GOTG connection this series has. Too bad it didn't work out.

The additional images section on this page shows the overlay to the cover of #1(B), which has some additional artwork and notes on it.