Monday, April 17, 2023

90s Comic Boom and why did Valiant Comics fail to expand into other media

 Oh we all remember the 90s comic boom. From 90 until 96 or 97 comic books were hot. Some of the best selling comics of all time are from that era. That Death of Superman comic that everybody bought  thinking it would be worth big bucks...it is from this era.


What also happened is for the first time really since the 70s companies besides Marvel and DC managed to created shared superhero universes that not only succeeded but almost all of them got chances to put out movies/tv shows/cartoons/video games and/or toys. 

For years I have wondered why stuff like Ultraverse,Comics Greatest World and Image managed to get other media,but Valiant(who were huge for a good chunk of this era) got no other media to many years after the comic boom era.

Now sure most remember that for Image you had that 1 season CBS aired Saturday Morning WildCats cartoon. Which isn't bad. And quite a few remember that MTV aired The Maxx cartoon,that got what 2 seasons? Savage Dragon even had a 2 season long cartoon on USA Network. Then the big one Spawn... Spawn had the HBO cartoon that was 3 seasons. Then the live action movie. Then after 97 Image had blown up. From hits that everyone knows like The Walking Dead and Invincible. To the forgotten stuff like the live action Witchblade tv show.

Plus Image had action figures,Not just the stuff from Todd. There was Cyberforce mini metal figures and IIRC Youngblood had those plus some bendies.

Ultraverse had the UltraForce cartoon,that I think aired on USA Network. Which also had a toyline. Plus there was a Prime Sega CD game. But how many remember that Nightman got a 2 season live action syndicated drama show? Yea Nightman had a tv show. That supposedly did well in ratings but was cancelled cause Marvel bought Malibu,parent corp of Ultraverse,and canned the show ot save money.

Now I am sure a few of yall are going ok asshat what is Comic's Greatest World's other media? Hell a few are trying to remember Comic's Greatest World. 

It was a Dark Horse imprint. Started off with a weekly mini series. Each issue was a buck. 12 issues total. With each month focuses on one city in this world. 

CGW was kind of a bust. Sure a few of the heroes introduced in that first mini series went on to have their own series. X and Ghost are two that did that and are even still used off and on by Dark Horse. But who remembers Barb Wire? Blonde bounty hunter lady that rides a motorcycle. Lives in Steel Harbor,a run down industrial town now full of street gangs with super powers. Ok yea a few of yall remember her. 

How many remember there was a big budget Barb Wire movie? One that was expected to be a huge hit.  Costing 9 million to make the film made a tiny bit under 4 million.

Why was this expected to be a big hit? Coming out almost 3 years after Barb Wire first appeared. Coming out when the Barb Wire solo comic was already cancelled. Cause as Barb Wire Pamela Anderson was cast. And in 96 she was a huge star.

So Valiant. Odd they never went outside of comics until after they were sold to a video game company. As far as I can find there is no Valiant cartoons,toys,movies,pretty much anything that aint trading cards,posters,comics and the Armstrong Ale.

No real idea why. Valiant was ran ,after booting Jim Shooter,by a guy with ties to the music industry. And at their peak a Valiant cartoon or toy line would have sold pretty good. A X-O Manowar video game would have been a hit. 

But nothing. Nothing at all until Acclaim took over. And there is piles of people that only know of Turok cause of the N64 games.


Well hope yall enjoyed that. Was just something going thru my head for months now.