|
CELEBRITIES In the pages of a few Valiant comics, you can find some familiar faces from the world of music. Most everyone knows about the issue of Shadowman devoted to Aerosmith...  Shadowman #19
...but did you also see Jimi Hendrix in Archer & Armstrong #10 and #11? 
 ...these scans are from #11... There's even evidence in the Valiant Universe that Elvis Presley didn't die. Instead, he was taken into a Spider Alien spaceship back in 1977. Years later, he met a barbarian named Aric on that ship... ...and the rest, is Valiant history. (see X-O Manowar #0) 
 And from the world of movies...Turok #23 had a few characters you might recognize from PULP FICTION, with the best likeness belonging to a guy who looks a little too much like John Travolta for it to be a coincidence. PREMONITIONS In the Unity crossover, the theme "Time Is Not Absolute" was everywhere. Did you know that theme was written on a sheet of paper in Solar #7? That's almost six months before Unity began! 
Just before the Unity crossover in the summer of 1992... Months before Valiant Comics became the most sought-after comics in the world.... A couple years before Valiant was sold to Acclaim Entertainment for $65Million... And several years before the Valiant Universe was ended... Valiant villain Toyo Harada was supposed to be talking about himself in the pages of X-O Manowar #3 when he said, "I NEED NO MORE ACCLAIM."  Eerie, huh? CAMEO SECRETS So, Harbinger #10 is the first appearance of HARDCorps and Harbinger #11 is the second appearance, right? Not exactly. In addition to all the other important events in Rai #0, it is also the second appearance of HARDCorps... Its cover date is November 1992, the same as Harbinger #10, and one month before Harbinger #11. See for yourself in this scan from Rai #0... 
And the first thing we know about Master Darque is from his first appearance in Shadowman #8, right? Or did you know that he's the guy inside the limosine at the end of Shadowman #7? It looks like the first thing we know about Master Darque is that he's trying to kill Shadowman...what a surprise. 
Did you ever notice that Vintage Magnus #1 is even older than Harbinger #1? Even though both Vintage Magnus #1 and Harbinger #1 have January 1992 as their cover dates, Vintage #1 has a page devoted to Harbinger #1 with "Coming in October" above an alternate artwork for the cover of Harbinger #1. 
 Where's Kris? WORLD TRADE CENTER CAMEO Harbinger #2 contains an "actual photo" of the World Trade Center, overlayed with artwork of the Harbinger kids flying toward the towers in Dr. Heyward's borrowed car. The kids find the Harbinger Foundation world headquarters on the 47th floor of an unnamed NYC building. Makes you wonder if they visited the WTC! The story timeline indicates the kids visited NYC on June 9, 1991, and the cover date for Harbinger #2 is February 1992.  FOREIGN OBJECTS Avete saputo che i caratteri valiant possono parlare italiano? (Did you know that Valiant characters can speak Italian?) In Italy and also in Norway, a few authorized translations were made for Valiant comics in the mid-1990's. These printings retold Valiant stories in the local language for those non-English speaking audiences.  Take a look at these Valiant rarities... BLOODSHOT #0 PLATINUM? What is the deal with that Platinum version of Bloodshot #0? ...read more... UNOFFICIAL SIGHTINGS The VALIANT Universe has made unofficial cameos in "other comics". The Shattered Image limited series (Image Comics, 1996) explained why some of the Image heroes were no longer part of the Image Universe. In issue 4 on page 12 Spawn looks down on a long line of comic book earths. He shows the reader four of them: the first one is breaking apart and reclaiming some of the old part: the Image Universe; the second is constantly being rebuilt: the Marvel Universe; the third one is the one with the cities, and there's only one comic book universe with special cities like Metropolis, Gotham City, Keystone City ... this must be the DC Universe; and the fourth one, a dead world, its inhabitants being evacuated to a new world, "--trying VALIANTLY to rebuild, to survive by any means possible--": the Valiant Universe.   
Shattered Image #4 has a coverdate of December 1996. It was published somewhere around the start of VH-2. How did the writer of this book know anything about it, why did he even care? Simply: it was Kurt Busiek (with Barbara Kesel), who was also involved in VH-2 by writing the new Ninjak series. Pencils by Tony Daniel, Inks by Kevin Konrad, Colors by Steve Oliff, Letters by Chris Eliopoulos. Another "unofficial sighting" occurs in "Wyrd the Reluctant Warrior" #5 from November 1999, a black and white comic book written and drawn by Jim Starlin and published by Slave Labor Graphics. In this issue the hero is tortured by the villain Lord Dreadnought in some kind of limbo, where all kinds of comic book characters (and more) float through the panels, some Marvel, some DC heroes, space-ships and space-stations, submarines and planes from movies ... and two Valiant Heroes: on page 18 we see X-O Manowar and Solar next to Thor in one panel.    
At the end of the last issue, "Wyrd the Reluctant Warrior" #6, Wyrd announces his own guest appearance in Unity 2000 #4.  But since that Unity 2000 was cancelled after issue #3, That comic won't be made...so I guess we'll miss it. Most people recognize the Simpson's comic book character, RADIOACTIVE MAN as a parody of Solar...and taking that parody a little further in 2003, Radioactive Man Volume 2 #6 shows four more VALIANT characters...  Let me know if you've got other "little known facts" for this page and as always...I appreciate your feedback! |