YMMV / Valiant Comics

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • The most well known version of Turok, that is the N64 game, was based on the Acclaim era reboot of the title.
  • Similarly, Shadow Man is better known for the Acclaim-created videogame duology than for the original comic character. To the extent that the actual Shadow Man article is devoted solely to the videogame and only mentions the concept's origin as a comic character as an almost throw-away bottom line.
• Audience-Alienating Era: Aside from a few enduring fan favorites like Quantum and Woody, the time when the company was owned by the now defunct video game developer Acclaim and rebooted as "Acclaim Comics", focusing on turning the characters into source material for video games, is not remembered fondly.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Cult Classic: Go to San Diego ComicCon and ask around about Valiant comics.
• Fandom Rivalry: Fans of Valiant HATE Image Comics with a passion, partly because of Deathmate, partly because they feel cheated that Image is still around and Valiant (which they view the the far superior company) isn't, or at least wasn't until recently. It should be noted that many of those that still despise Image seem to be unaware (or deliberately ignore) that the the Image that existed in the early 90s was a very different animal from the critically acclaimed, respected publisher that exists today. The few super-hero titles that remain are from the studios and creators that did not participate in the ill-fated Deathmate crossover. Ironically, some of them are big fans of The Walking Dead, Saga, and other fan-beloved series that are examples of what the modern Image is.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In the new version of X-O Manowar, Aric's invasion of Romania and the Russian response to it are kind of eerie now that there's a difficult situation unfolding in Crimea in the real world.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Original run: Toyo Harada of Harbingers is the brilliant Big Bad whose powers as a Harbinger awakened at an early age. Deciding to claim and remake the world, Harada recruits Harbingers to mold them with his ideals, performing brilliant gambits to continuously achieve his ends and staying a step ahead of the Harbinger rebellion led by Peter Stanchek. Rarely at a loss, Harada even plays off alien invaders without them being aware of his actions to defend 'his' earth and even manages to nearly conquer the world.
  • Valiant Entertainment: In the reboot, Toyo Harada is more brilliant and ruthless than ever. A survivor of Hiroshima whose powers awakened when the Atom Bomb was dropped, Harada believes he must conquer the world to save it from himself. Recruiting young Harbingers via ruthless methods, even murder Peter Stanchek's friend and faking an accidental overdose, Harada dominates the airwaves as a seeming philanthropist and humanitarian to manipulate people, and constantly stays a step ahead of villain and hero alike. A man of bold conviction, a glimpse to the future even reveals Harada manages to conquer the world and makes it a utopia at the cost of freedom, before leaving the world to his rival Peter when he knows his life is at its end, trusting Peter to uphold his legacy even if Peter does not realize it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • One thing Acclaim has shown us, is that it's a BAD IDEA to pull a full on Continuity Reboot after only 7 years. Some of the characters were rendered almost unrecognizable from their original:
    • X-O Manowar was changed from a barbarian in an alien power armor into a present day scientist using a U.S. flag-themed armor taken from the Nazis.
    • Ninjak was no longer a British ninja superspy, but a child who transformed into a character from a video game (ironically, Ninjak was one of the comic book properties that wasn't made into a video game).
    • Magnus, Robot Fighter became an insane brawler who traveled in time to the present and, in contrast to the original, his book took on a more self-parodying tone.
  • Mostly averted with the 2012 reboot. While some are pretty bummed about certain changes from the classic era, (the loss of the Gold Key properties being one of the biggest gripes), for the most part everyone seems glad just to have the company back in the first place.

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