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Interview with...
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JMH: Where were you born and raised?
GH: All my prior homes have been within a 30 mile radius from where I live now: Alexander, Arkansas.
JMH: Tell CBI about yourself...
GH: I'm 34, married 13 years, no children. My day job is Director of Research and Development for a research center focused on long-term studies of education efforts in the state of Arkansas. I received my Ph.D. in May of 2010 from the Univ. of Ark. at Little Rock in Applied Science - Information Quality. My wife works at the university. I am the older of two children; my younger sister and both of my parents are educators at the local high school.
JMH: How long have you been collecting comics?
GH: I've been collecting over 20 years, though my collection really began to grow when I found eBay in 1997.
JMH: What was the first comic you ever read?
GH: I would guess that the first comic I ever read would have been Richie Rich or Casper the Friendly Ghost at the local barber shop when I was 4 or 5.
JMH: Do you read any of the new comic books that are being published today?
GH: This might sound odd for a comic book interview, but no, I don't read new comics. I like knowing the stories, but I don't need to know what happens every month. Let's face it: there are years when nothing significant happens. When a story builds enough support and word-of-mouth to become a 'classic' or fan-favorite, I'll check it out, but that may be years after the original publication.
JMH: Your collection of Valiant comics is quite large. Can you describe it to the readers...
GH: Because there were only about 800 different comics produced by VALIANT (originally typed in all-caps) from 1991-1996, a large Valiant collection is much smaller than a large collection of Marvel or D.C. That being said, I have somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 Valiant comics, and hundreds more which are CGC-graded. Included in my collection are dozens of pages of original art, inks, colors, production pages. I own most volumes of the original hardbound reference set of Valiant comics kept in the office of the Valiant Editor-in-Chief (Bob Layton) during the mid-1990s.
JMH: How difficult is it in today's market to collect a complete run of Valiant comics?
GH: Apart from a few of the more limited issue variants, a collection of Valiant comics (1991-1996) is not hard to complete. Many of the issues are very easy to find. Most issues printed in 1993 and 1994 can be found for pennies, literally. Because of this fact, many dealers and collectors consider Valiant comics worthless or unsellable. In reality, they're focused on the most common 1993-94 Valiant books while the earliest and latest Valiant issues are actually tougher to find. Not expensive, but certainly not worthless.
JMH: What are your thoughts on the current market conditions and the recession?
GH: For most comics, the current market allows collectors to obtain books cheaper than just a few years ago. As a buyer, this is a great opportunity. I'm sure that selling is tougher in a recession, but I've never enjoyed letting my books go. The recession is just one more reason to preserve (or continue to build) my collection.
JMH: Tell us a bit about www.ValiantFans.com. What are its origins?
GH: ValiantFans.com started as ValiantComics.com in 1999. At the time, there were no Valiant comics being printed. Acclaim had purchased Valiant in 1994 and Valiant comic production ended in 1996. I registered the ValiantComics.com domain in 1999 to provide a focal-point online for Valiant fans. Originally, my goal was to document Valiant's history and provide online references to other collectors like myself who were wondering about the back issue market conditions or looking to build their collections. After a few years, it was suggested that I add a message board, so I got one started on ValiantComics.com in 2002. Technical problems kept causing the board to crash, so I registered ValiantFans.com in 2004 and moved the message board to its own site.
JMH: What sets ValiantFans.com apart from all other message boards?
GH: ValiantFans.com is a nice little corner of the internet. Since visitors only find us by already having an interest in Valiant, the message board is a little quieter than other boards. While there are a few people who only join because they think ValiantFans.com is a good place to try to sell their unwanted comics, they quickly discover that most members of ValiantFans.com don't want their unwanted comics either. A shared interest in Valiant leads to other shared interests and discussions often move to other comics, movies, music, and even a little bit of politics, religion, and other potentially dangerous areas of internet discussion. Surprisingly, most conversations remain civil, and I believe it's the shared core interests that allow members to agree to disagree.
JMH: You have a relationship with the owners of the Valiant characters. Describe your relationship with VEI.
GH: Valiant was purchased by Acclaim in 1994 and in the early 2000s, Acclaim went bankrupt. In 2005, the Valiant assets were auctioned and the new ownership included an existing member of the ValiantFans.com message board. I was able to attend the San Diego Comic-Con that summer and meet both of the primary owners of Valiant. In the years since, we've had some discussions about Valiant's future but I know they've got far more experienced advisors than I could be.
JMH: What made you create a board focused on Valiant characters as opposed to any of the other characters on the market?
GH: Valiant was like lightning in a bottle. Looking back, the comic industry was at an all-time high during the Valiant years. Valiant was third behind Marvel and D.C. for a brief time, and it was the only publisher of the three that didn't survive into the internet age. I felt like Valiant deserved more, and I know that others felt the same way. Starting a message board for Valiant fans was an easy choice.
JMH: Why is Jim Shooter so important to the Valiant mythos?
GH: That's a little like asking why the captain is so important for a ship. Valiant's first captain was Jim Shooter. The plan, the direction, the speed, and the crew of Valiant all relied upon Jim Shooter's vision and guidance. Valiant was born with Jim Shooter in charge. You can change the captain of a ship without changing the name of the ship, but you end up with a different plan, direction, speed, and crew. VALIANT wasn't the same without him.
JMH: What do you think of the Dark Horse versions of Solar, Magnus, and Turok?
GH: Dark Horse has a part of the Solar, Magnus, and Turok that I loved with Valiant, but they don't have the whole package. Each of those characters existed before Valiant and each is now existing separate from Valiant, but it was only within the Valiant universe that those characters were really "at home". I'm happy that the characters are still going, but it's hard for this Valiant fan to see them living elsewhere.
JMH: Pitch ValiantFans.com! In 10 words, tell us why ValiantFans.com is the place to go...
GH: If you like VALIANT, you're not alone. Come join us!
Discovery Greg Holland's website here:
www.valiantfans.com/forum/
GH: All my prior homes have been within a 30 mile radius from where I live now: Alexander, Arkansas.
JMH: Tell CBI about yourself...
GH: I'm 34, married 13 years, no children. My day job is Director of Research and Development for a research center focused on long-term studies of education efforts in the state of Arkansas. I received my Ph.D. in May of 2010 from the Univ. of Ark. at Little Rock in Applied Science - Information Quality. My wife works at the university. I am the older of two children; my younger sister and both of my parents are educators at the local high school.
JMH: How long have you been collecting comics?
GH: I've been collecting over 20 years, though my collection really began to grow when I found eBay in 1997.
JMH: What was the first comic you ever read?
GH: I would guess that the first comic I ever read would have been Richie Rich or Casper the Friendly Ghost at the local barber shop when I was 4 or 5.
JMH: Do you read any of the new comic books that are being published today?
GH: This might sound odd for a comic book interview, but no, I don't read new comics. I like knowing the stories, but I don't need to know what happens every month. Let's face it: there are years when nothing significant happens. When a story builds enough support and word-of-mouth to become a 'classic' or fan-favorite, I'll check it out, but that may be years after the original publication.
JMH: Your collection of Valiant comics is quite large. Can you describe it to the readers...
GH: Because there were only about 800 different comics produced by VALIANT (originally typed in all-caps) from 1991-1996, a large Valiant collection is much smaller than a large collection of Marvel or D.C. That being said, I have somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 Valiant comics, and hundreds more which are CGC-graded. Included in my collection are dozens of pages of original art, inks, colors, production pages. I own most volumes of the original hardbound reference set of Valiant comics kept in the office of the Valiant Editor-in-Chief (Bob Layton) during the mid-1990s.
JMH: How difficult is it in today's market to collect a complete run of Valiant comics?
GH: Apart from a few of the more limited issue variants, a collection of Valiant comics (1991-1996) is not hard to complete. Many of the issues are very easy to find. Most issues printed in 1993 and 1994 can be found for pennies, literally. Because of this fact, many dealers and collectors consider Valiant comics worthless or unsellable. In reality, they're focused on the most common 1993-94 Valiant books while the earliest and latest Valiant issues are actually tougher to find. Not expensive, but certainly not worthless.
JMH: What are your thoughts on the current market conditions and the recession?
GH: For most comics, the current market allows collectors to obtain books cheaper than just a few years ago. As a buyer, this is a great opportunity. I'm sure that selling is tougher in a recession, but I've never enjoyed letting my books go. The recession is just one more reason to preserve (or continue to build) my collection.
JMH: Tell us a bit about www.ValiantFans.com. What are its origins?
GH: ValiantFans.com started as ValiantComics.com in 1999. At the time, there were no Valiant comics being printed. Acclaim had purchased Valiant in 1994 and Valiant comic production ended in 1996. I registered the ValiantComics.com domain in 1999 to provide a focal-point online for Valiant fans. Originally, my goal was to document Valiant's history and provide online references to other collectors like myself who were wondering about the back issue market conditions or looking to build their collections. After a few years, it was suggested that I add a message board, so I got one started on ValiantComics.com in 2002. Technical problems kept causing the board to crash, so I registered ValiantFans.com in 2004 and moved the message board to its own site.
JMH: What sets ValiantFans.com apart from all other message boards?
GH: ValiantFans.com is a nice little corner of the internet. Since visitors only find us by already having an interest in Valiant, the message board is a little quieter than other boards. While there are a few people who only join because they think ValiantFans.com is a good place to try to sell their unwanted comics, they quickly discover that most members of ValiantFans.com don't want their unwanted comics either. A shared interest in Valiant leads to other shared interests and discussions often move to other comics, movies, music, and even a little bit of politics, religion, and other potentially dangerous areas of internet discussion. Surprisingly, most conversations remain civil, and I believe it's the shared core interests that allow members to agree to disagree.
JMH: You have a relationship with the owners of the Valiant characters. Describe your relationship with VEI.
GH: Valiant was purchased by Acclaim in 1994 and in the early 2000s, Acclaim went bankrupt. In 2005, the Valiant assets were auctioned and the new ownership included an existing member of the ValiantFans.com message board. I was able to attend the San Diego Comic-Con that summer and meet both of the primary owners of Valiant. In the years since, we've had some discussions about Valiant's future but I know they've got far more experienced advisors than I could be.
JMH: What made you create a board focused on Valiant characters as opposed to any of the other characters on the market?
GH: Valiant was like lightning in a bottle. Looking back, the comic industry was at an all-time high during the Valiant years. Valiant was third behind Marvel and D.C. for a brief time, and it was the only publisher of the three that didn't survive into the internet age. I felt like Valiant deserved more, and I know that others felt the same way. Starting a message board for Valiant fans was an easy choice.
JMH: Why is Jim Shooter so important to the Valiant mythos?
GH: That's a little like asking why the captain is so important for a ship. Valiant's first captain was Jim Shooter. The plan, the direction, the speed, and the crew of Valiant all relied upon Jim Shooter's vision and guidance. Valiant was born with Jim Shooter in charge. You can change the captain of a ship without changing the name of the ship, but you end up with a different plan, direction, speed, and crew. VALIANT wasn't the same without him.
JMH: What do you think of the Dark Horse versions of Solar, Magnus, and Turok?
GH: Dark Horse has a part of the Solar, Magnus, and Turok that I loved with Valiant, but they don't have the whole package. Each of those characters existed before Valiant and each is now existing separate from Valiant, but it was only within the Valiant universe that those characters were really "at home". I'm happy that the characters are still going, but it's hard for this Valiant fan to see them living elsewhere.
JMH: Pitch ValiantFans.com! In 10 words, tell us why ValiantFans.com is the place to go...
GH: If you like VALIANT, you're not alone. Come join us!
Discovery Greg Holland's website here:
www.valiantfans.com/forum/
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