New York City comic book publisher Valiant launched a few years ago and has quickly become one of the most prominent companies in the industry, with a diverse line that takes superhero comics into diverse genres, from comedy to adventure to horror.
The company will debut a new vinyl figure of one of its iconic characters, X-O Manowar, Thursday at New York Comic Con, as well as release a zero issue of his comic, which explores the character’s roots. The company also announced a handful of new series, with promises of more to come at the convention.
amNewYork spoke with Valiant CEO and chief creative officer Dinesh Shamdasani.
How did the vinyl figure come about?
The vinyl figures come from the great team at CKRTLAB Toys. Tim Ellis, their CEO, is a big Valiant comics fan and proposed partnering for their next big product. We joined forces for a series of new Valiant figures, the first of which is X-O Manowar. We’re very excited to be debuting the line at New York Comic Con.
Why was X-O Manowar chosen to be the first figure?
The blessing and curse of the size of the Valiant universe is that we have so many great characters to choose from. It was not an easy decision. Ultimately, the idea of a tiny, lightning sword-wielding X-O Manowar vinyl figure was too much fun to resist. CKRTLAB TOYS did a magnificent job translating the intricate character design — the pictures don’t do the metallic paint justice.
What is the significance of ‘X-O Manowar 0’?
‘X-O Manowar 0’ returns Aric of Dacia to his roots in the fifth century, before he became X-O Manowar, to show us how he grew into the feared warrior and leader of the modern-day Visigoth people. Robert Venditti has crafted an epic saga, and this time he is joined by Valiant’s newest superstar artist, Clay Mann.
What else can you tease about Valiant for New York Comic Con?
We’ve just announced a wave of six new titles in an initiative called Valiant Next. The rollout kicks off with the highly anticipated prestige format miniseries ‘The Valiant,’ written by superstars Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt and illustrated by Paolo Rivera. We’ve got at least one more major surprise we’re saving for New York Comic Con, as well as plenty of new art, plot details and even the release of the first video trailer to ‘The Valiant.’ If you want to catch all the news, be sure to join us at the ‘Valiant Comics: The Valiant, Rai, X-O Manowar and Beyond’ panel presentation on Friday at 12:15 p.m. … You’re going to be blown away.
The New York Comic Con runs tomorrow through Sunday at the Javits Center, 655 W. 34th St. Go to newyorkcomiccon.com for a full schedule of events, times and ticket information.
