Marvel Comics? Some of you may not remember this one. It occurred at the beginning of the Valiant Era in X-O Manowar #3: X-O vs X-CALIBER (called "Sniper" in the X-O Trade Paperback reprinting issue #3) X-Caliber was a creation of Steve Englehart while he worked at Epic Comics (a Marvel Imprint) on Coyote. When he became a contributor to the X-O series he decided to have Aric battle his creation (actually a second X-Caliber named Gregor Latinev) last seen in the pages of Coyote #7 (Toyo Harada even recounted/alluded to events in Coyote #6 & 7). But after X-O #3 came out Marvel contacted Valiant and informed them that Marvel now held title to the character (somehow Steve's ownership lapsed/wasn't exercised/whatever). So X-Caliber, who might have returned as a worthy adversary to X-O, vanished into comics limbo after
this one appearance. Still, it became Valiant's first crossover and only one with Marvel to date. (Another "rumored" Acclaim/ Marvel crossover - "X-O Manowar/Iron Man" does not appear likely at this time but has been considered by both parties for some time as a way to get Bob Layton and John Romita Jr. back "together" on ol' Shellhead while teaming them for the first time on "Conan in a Can". We'll see, stranger things have happened!)[This cross-over finally happened in 1996. Notable is that in the end of part 2 (of 2) there is a homage to Seaborn Adamson, the creator of these pages]
The first of the Valiant Comics/Dark Horse Comics projects. This crossover was
originally conceived as a Magnus/Aliens Crossover (Dark Horse has the license to both
properties from Twentieth Century Fox) but certain licensing renewal issues came up as the project was being put together and it was switched to the Magnus/Predator premise. The Predator versus Magnus Crossover was a complicated project as Valiant, Dark Horse, Western Publishing (owners of the Magnus character) and Twentieth Century Fox all had to approve the story and art. Some time elapsed between the first and second book of this two issue mini-series but the wait was deemed well worth it and the series was a big success with both Magnus fans (who loved the characters brought back from the Gold Key series in this arc) and Predator fans (who enjoyed the battle between Magnus and the Predator as well as Lee Week's depiction of the popular alien). Dark Horse reprinted the mini-series as a Trade Paperback in 1994 with a painted cover by Dave Dorman (originally used as a pair of promotional posters), preliminary project drawings from Week's sketchbook and "pinup" pages of the trading cards issued with the original series. The continuity threads from this arc (including the X-O Control Ring) were later picked up during the Malev War in Rai #15.
The infamous Valiant Comics/Image Comics crossover. It's been chronicled elsewhere so I'm sure there's no need to state the obvious. (From my understanding Rob Liefeld proposed the idea as a "Bloodshot/Youngblood" team up). Deathmate had a great premise once the idea was fleshed out to include a collision of the two comic universes but, like building one railroad track from two different coasts, the project did not "meet" in the middle as planned. Valiant produced Prologue, Orange (or Pink depending on your source), Green, Yellow, Blue and Epilogue on schedule but Image appeared to underestimate what was required on their end. Black came out shortly before Epilogue and Red was resolicited and shipped somewhat later. Timeliness, while a factor in the less than stellar success, was not the worse thing to happen to Deathmate. Problems with the use of the characters, plot confusion and over ordering caused by the speculation boom resulted in some dissatisfaction with the crossover. Still, read in sequence, it's an interesting tale!
The second Valiant Comics/Dark Horse Comics project was a labor of love for all involved. Longtime Valiant Contributor and Nexus creator Mike Baron teamed up with most renown (some would say definitive) Nexus artist, Steve "The Dude" Rude, to produce the two part mini-series. Steve paid homage to Magnus creator and artist Russ Manning with his lavish depiction of North Am, it's inhabitants and the Robots. (Dark Horse became the publisher of Nexus following it's runs at Capital Comics and First Comics.) The Nexus/Magnus miniseries was a well executed crossover the way they were meant to be done!
This might be considered an Acclaim Comics/Caliber Comics crossover but in fact it is more of an Acclaim Comics/VanHook Studios crossover. Frost is a character created and owned by Kevin VanHook (former Executive Editor at Valiant) of VanHook Studios near SanDiego. Near the end of Kevin's long run on Bloodshot (some 40+ issues) he got the go-ahead from Editor In Chief Bob Layton and Publisher Steve Massarsky to "revive" Frost in an issue of Bloodshot (#33 to be precise). Bloodshot, Jack Frost and Vampires. That was Frost's last appearance to date but he survived unscathed and he's likely to pop up again somewhere before you know it."BLOODYHOT" (1993 - Parody Press) and "BLOODSKIRT" (1993 - Spoof Comics) which are both parodies of Bloodshot.
"HEADBANGER" (1993 - Parody Press) a parody of Harbinger and many other Valiant Superheroes with a backup parody of Mr. Magoo as Magnus Robot Fighter.
"S.O.F.T CORPS" (1993 - Parody Press) a parody of the H.A.R.D. Corps (the beginning of the "Bad Girl" trend?
Other parodies solicited in the catalogs (but perhaps never produced) include a "DEATHDATE" parody of Deathmate, "OX COW O' WAR" parody of X-O Manowar and "IMP-UNITY" a Unity Saga Parody.
While the quality of the art and writing in these black and white books leaves something to be desired they can, on occasion, be amusing.
If you have any questions, comments or corrections to the above run thru on Valiant's Inter-Company Crossovers please contact me via e-mail me at: VOSKRIVER@AOL.COM [This address is no longer available]
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Above Artwork Copyright 1995 by VALIANT, a division of Acclaim Comics Inc.
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