Valiant & Valiant
A few years back when the folks who eventually started up ComicMix were figuring out what we were going to be doing in comics next, we were debating on bidding for the rights to the Valiant characters at a bankruptcy auction. Now, thanks to a heavy analysis at Newsarama, I’m really glad we didn’t, as there seems to be a major battle shaping up between two entities, Valiant Entertainment and Valiant Intellectual Properties, LLC. as to who owns what trademarks, characters, and so on. And it looks messy enough to make the battles over First and Eclipse look sane.
There’s no easy excerpt, just read the whole thing — but be warned, this way lies madness. And legal minutae induced tedium. Meanwhile, I’m wondering if we’re going to have to get us a legal correspondent over here…
The end result is somewhat similar to the current Superboy situation. One party holds the copyrights, the other holds the trademarks, and neither are going to be able to make nearly as much money as they could if they come to an accord. Both are doing a lot of chest thumping to make their case, and in the end, I don't think we'll see a thing as legal fees render the eventual profitability of a true relaunch all the more unlikely
I have to question how successful any relaunch would be at this time. Valiant was relaunched / reimagined / rebooted four or five times, each one less successful than the last. Why should a comics shop owner roll the non-returnable dice this time around?I have a lot of fondness for the characters, but at this late point, even if Jim Shooter reassembled all the original teams and picked up right where they left off it's been too long for people to care.