I worked for VALIANT Comics in 1990. Jim Shooter started the company after he was fired from Marvel. I was working in the Marvel bullpen when the news came down about Shooter, and I wondered what he would do next. I was also inking backgrounds for Bob Layton at the time and he was in the office that afternoon. I really did not surprise me that Layton would join Shooter in his Valiant venture.
The first books for Valiant were Nintendo Comics. Books that featured Zelda, Captain N and The Mario Bros. I worked on that stuff and I was there to see the prepartion for the super-hero books. Jim had some great plans for the next line of books! Trading cards, zero issues, retail promotions and T-shirts. I worked with Art Nichols, the Art Director at the time. He had previously worked at Continuity Studios and he knew how to get the most out of every pencil line! Art penciled and inked the first two drawings, but I think Paris Cullins and Bob Layton did the art revisons on the final drawing. The color was by Janet Jackson.
I left Valiant in late 1990 and never had a chance to work on the Super-Hero stuff. It must have been fun...at least until Shooter was edged out and Layton took over. That's another story.
4 comments:
Looking at the three stages, I'm struck by the changes. Except for maybe the arm, I don't think any of the changes were necessarily an improvement. I think that's the thing with SOME ADs and Editors, something I struggle to remain aware of. Sometimes subtle changes make a huge difference overall. But I think sometimes we have to stand back and ask how much they're changing to make something better, and how much they're changing just to have changed something, justifying their own input. Just becasue you have a vision and control doesn't necessarily mean you have the best control of the vision. Collaboration and working with talented people means letting them have a part of the expression. The larger their talent, the larger their part should be. And where it strays too far is the time for the AD, or Director, or Editor to step in. Instead, I think they stepped on the final.
I get the impression that Shooter wanted Cullins involved with the T-shirt and had him do the revision. I like some of the changes, like the BG Girls and their reactions. As for talent, Shooter was into Paris Cullins at that time.
Say, whatever happened to Jim Shooter? I haven't seen his name on a comic in a while...
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