comic book publisher . for the hal foster comic strip see prince valiant . for the british adventure comic see valiant comics . this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . june 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message valiant comics valiant comics logo . designed by rian hughes . parent company voyager communications 1989 1994 acclaim entertainment 1994 2004 valiant entertainment 2005 present founded 1989 founder jim shooter steven massarsky country of origin united states headquarters location new york city key people peter cuneo chairman dinesh shamdasani ceo & chief creative officer gavin cuneo coo & cfo russ brown president consumer products promotions & ad sales fred pierce publisher warren simons editor in chief publication types comics official website www.valiantuniverse.com valiant comics is an american publisher of comic books and related media . the company was founded in 1989 by former marvel comics editor in chief jim shooter and lawyer and businessman steven massarsky . in 1994 the company was sold to acclaim entertainment . after acclaim declared bankruptcy in 2004 1 the company was restarted as part of valiant entertainment by entrepreneurs dinesh shamdasani and jason kothari in 2005 . 2 valiant entertainment officially launched its publishing division as part of an initiative dubbed the summer of valiant in 2012 to great critical and commercial success 3 4 including winning publisher of the year and being nominated for book of the year at the diamond gem awards . 5 valiant has continued to set records 6 and win critical acclaim including receiving the most nominations for a single title at the 2014 harvey awards 7 being the most nominated publisher in comics at the 2015 harvey awards 8 and releasing the biggest selling independent crossover event of the decade . 9 in 2015 valiant announced that they had partnered with sony pictures to produce five films based on both the bloodshot and harbinger comic books . the films will be produced by valiant s dinesh shamdasani along with original film s neal h. moritz and toby jaffe . 10 contents 1 publication history 1.1 voyager communications 1.2 acclaim comics 1.3 valiant entertainment 1.3.1 the summer of valiant 2012 1.3.2 the summer of valiant 2013 1.3.3 valiant first 1.3.4 valiant next and the book of death 1.3.5 2016 harvey awards 2 staff 3 awards and recognition 3.1 nominations 4 universes 5 titles 5.1 valiant universe 5.2 acclaim comics 5.3 valiant entertainment 6 characters 7 trading cards 8 in other media 9 see also 10 references 11 external links publication history edit voyager communications edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message in 1988 former editor in chief of marvel comics jim shooter steven j. massarsky and a group of investors attempted to purchase marvel entertainment . citation needed they submitted the second highest bid with financier ronald perelman submitting the highest bid and acquiring marvel . citation needed shooter and massarsky instead formed voyager communications in 1989 with significant venture capital financing from triumph capital . citation needed valiant an imprint of voyager communications recruited numerous writers and artists from marvel including barry windsor smith and bob layton . valiant launched an interconnected line of superhero comics featuring a mixture of characters licensed from western publishing and original creations . 11 in 1992 valiant released its first set of original titles including harbinger x o manowar rai and shadowman followed by a major crossover event called unity during which eternal warrior and archer & armstrong were launched . harbinger 1 was listed on the top ten list of wizard magazine for a record eight consecutive months and was eventually named collectible of the decade while rai 0 appeared on wizard s top ten list for a new record nine consecutive months . citation needed in 1992 valiant won the best publisher under 5 % market share from comic distributor diamond . citation needed the next year valiant won best publisher over 5 % market share becoming the only publisher outside of marvel and dc to do so . citation needed shooter valiant s editor in chief was given the lifetime achievement award for co creating the valiant universe in a 1992 ceremony that also honored stan lee for co creating the marvel universe . 12 however shooter left valiant by the end of 1992 . according to massarsky jim had a different idea as to the direction of the company and he was asked to leave . 11 valiant also engaged in several comic book marketing innovations common in the 1990s such as issue zero origin issues the gold logo program coupons redeemable for original comic books and chromium covers . 13 following the conclusion of the unity crossover in september 1992 valiant released bloodshot ninjak h.a.r.d. corps the second life of dr. mirage and timewalker among other titles . citation needed acclaim comics edit in 1994 voyager communications was purchased by video game developer and publisher acclaim entertainment . 14 acclaim created a number of valiant video games for various platforms such as shadowman turok dinosaur hunter armorines and iron man and x o manowar in heavy metal which featured valiant s x o manowar alongside marvel s iron man . 15 in 2003 acclaim entertainment s video game business took significant risks including limited diversification . citation needed after losing a major sports video game license acclaim became financially insolvent and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2004 . 1 valiant entertainment edit from left to right valiant chief creative officer dinesh shamdasani sales manager atom freeman marketing and communications manager hunter gorinson and publisher fred pierce at midtown comics in manhattan in 2005 a group of entrepreneurs led by dinesh shamdasani and jason kothari raised financing and acquired the rights to the valiant comics library from acclaim entertainment s estate forming valiant entertainment ve . 2 a dispute arose over the rights to several valiant comic book trademarks as a rival group valiant intellectual properties llc announced that they had made a number of placeholder filings . 16 valiant entertainment won the dispute in 2007 and gained uncontested rights the to full valiant library . 17 that same year valiant hired former valiant editor in chief jim shooter to write new short stories that would accompany hardcover reprints of classic valiant universe stories . 18 two of the three collections were named among the the ten best collected editions of their respective years of publications . 19 not in citation given in august 2011 after hiring several executives from marvel comics and wizard entertainment including current valiant publisher fred pierce and current valiant editor in chief warren simons former marvel comics ceo and vice chairman peter cuneo was brought on board as valiant s chairman and an investor in valiant entertainment with gavin cuneo serving as cfo & coo . 20 dinesh shamdasani continued to serve as chief creative officer and jason kothari as ceo . in may of 2012 valiant entertainment began publishing new monthly comic books based on the valiant comics universe of characters . 21 the summer of valiant 2012 edit in an event the comic industry dubbed the summer of valiant valiant entertainment launched the valiant comics universe with four ongoing titles x o manowar harbinger bloodshot and archer & armstrong one launching each month for four months . x o manowar premiered may 2 2012 with the creative team of writer robert venditti and artist cary nord . 22 the first issue of x o manowar received over 42 000 preorders making valiant the largest new publisher launch in over a decade . 4 controversy initially arose over the size of the sales with some prominent creators suggesting that valiant may have incentivized comic book retailers to take a stronger position by offering returnability which at that point was only being offered by dc comics . this subsided when the first issue of x o manowar arrived at stores to strong consumer sell through velocity and pre order data was announced for subsequent issues of x o manowar which showed similarly strong orders . the first issue of x o manowar eventually sold through 4 full priced printings 23 and 3 additional reduced priced printings . the release of x o manowar was followed by harbinger launched in june 2012 by writer joshua dysart and artist khari evans ; bloodshot launched in july 2012 by writer duane swierczynski and artist manuel garcia ; and archer & armstrong launched in august 2012 by writer fred van lente and artist clayton henry . 24 to coincide with the launch of publishing valiant introduced a number of marketing initiatives . most prominent of these is the pullbox program and the qr voice variant or talking cover . the pullbox program encourages readers to start a pullbox subscription for the title being launched with their comics store in order to obtain an exclusive alternate cover version of the comic . 25 the pullbox program has become an industry standard marketing practice used by many publishers . citation needed the qr voice variant utilizes a qr code that is printed onto the comic book cover . the reader scans the qr code with their smart phone and places the phone over the mouth of the figure on the cover . citation needed the phone then plays a video of the figures mouth giving the impression that the figure has come to life and is talking to the reader . citation needed valiant entertainment extended the the summer of valiant 2012 and added a fifth ongoing title with shadowman in november 2012 by writer justin jordan and artist patrick zircher . 26 the comic debuted as the number 1 non marvel and or dc comic of the month . 27 again valiant garnered critical acclaim for the title . 28 at the end of 2012 valiant won a number of publisher of the year awards most prominently winning publisher of the year under 5 % market share and was nominated for book of the year for x o manowar 1 at the diamond gem awards . 5 in january 2013 valiant announced that chief creative officer and co founder dinesh shamdasani had been promoted to ceo & chief creative officer . 29 the summer of valiant 2013 edit in may 2013 shamdasani announced the summer of valiant 2013 30 during which the company would launch two new ongoing titles quantum & woody and eternal warrior change the story direction of x o manowar and bloodshot and reveal the origin of bloodshot in a special zero issue . quantum & woody written by james asmus and drawn by tom fowler launched in july 2013 31 and became the most nominated title at 2014 harvey awards . 32 valiant first edit several of valiant s launch titles reached their planned conclusions in 2014 with harbinger bloodshot and archer & armstrong all concluding . valiant celebrated the milestones by giving each title an oversized anniversary issue 25 and hinting at new directions for the characters . ongoing series such as x o manowar unity and rai continued and were coupled with limited series such as harbinger omegas eternal warrior days of steel the death defying dr. mirage and the delinquents and the armor hunters event story . 33 in 2014 valiant announced several new partnerships with digital distributors including visionbooks to distribute a form of animated valiant comic books for digital devices . 34 valiant next and the book of death edit following the conclusion of armor hunters valiant announced its next initiative valiant next . launching in december 2014 with the mini series the valiant it