Shadowman v1 #7 page 19

While I never read them, I have vague memories of seeing Valiant comics on the stands in the early 90s, side-by-side with Marvel, DC, and the rest. I can half recall covers spotted on display in comic shops, or in amongst long boxes full of back issues, though I couldn't tell you anything about the stories or characters. That all changed this year after attending Baltimore Comic Con and meeting two Valiant super fans: Carl Choi and Jason 'Southern Comic Geek' Richardson. The enthusiasm these two have for Valiant is impressive and infectious and made me wonder what I had been missing out on all this time. I began asking them about the various titles and characters, curious to discover the appeal. We quickly went beyond that, though, as I learned about the complicated history of the ownership of the IP and the various iterations of the Valiant universe. I was intrigued and when I finally decided to dip my toe into the water, I found a few books free online and of those, Shadowman was the title that I found most interesting. From the first issue I was taken with the art, specifically the lush coloring that was very clearly done by hand. Despite some wonkiness in the story telling, I enjoyed what I had read. From there I moved on to X-O Manowar thanks to a suggestion from Carl. "He's popular!" and now I can see why. Upon completion of each new title I sit down to review the book with Carl and Jason; what I liked and disliked, how it fits into the greater narrative of the shared universe and, perhaps most importantly, the art. Ah, to be able to hang out and talk comics...

When I saw this page on Heritage, I decided I should try for it. There's SO many Valiant comics left to explore; I've barely scratched the surface of the original years, let alone the modern stuff, but I decided that I wanted to commemorate my newfound fandom. What better way than picking up a pretty cool page from book that started me down a Valiant path.