Valiant Comics Promotes Heather Antos To Senior Editor
John F. Trent
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Valiant Comics announced they promoted Heather Antos and Lysa Hawkins to Senior Editors despite massive losses in sales since 2018.
In the press release making the announcement, Valiant Comics details that “as Senior Editors, Heather and Lysa will play key roles in managing the Editorial Department, crafting the future of the Valiant Universe, overseeing relationships with comic book creators, and much more.”
The press release adds, “Lysa and Heather both have extensive and acclaimed careers in the comic book industry and have been influential in the return of many fan-favorite Valiant characters while also establishing completely original properties that explore new areas of the Valiant Universe.”
Antos praised Valiant Comics, “Valiant has allowed editorial to break tradition and the mold in some very exciting ways, and I could not be more thrilled to be taking on this new role alongside my friend and colleague Lysa.”
Related: Valiant Comics Editor Heather Antos Falsely Claims James Holmes Was Inspired by Joker
She added, “Together our goal is to push and lead Valiant creative further than ever before with new stories, new characters, and of course, new talent from the industry’s brightest and best. 2020 is the Year of Heroes, and this is only just the beginning.”
On Twitter she simply wrote, “Would ya look at that!”
Would ya look at that!https://t.co/i9D1LE6HgO
— Heather Antos (@HeatherAntos) March 11, 2020
Hawkins also stated, “I’m super excited about the opportunity to be part of the ever-expanding and amazing Valiant Universe. I am incredibly blessed to have Heather as my co-pilot, and between us, we know just about everyone in comics.”
She added, “We complement each other very well, and that is evident in the great comics we produce. I am very grateful to be able to help forge a bigger and brighter chapter in Valiant. So, keep reading and stay Valiant!”
Valiant Comics Publisher Fred Pierce added, “Lysa and Heather will continue to be excellent architects of the Valiant Universe. They’ve done terrific work bringing back our iconic characters and also creating new ones. It’ll be exciting for the Valiant fans to get their hands on these new comics.”
Valiant confirmed that Hawkins is currently editing Bloodshot, Rai and is “working on multiple titles that have yet to be revealed.”
Antos is working on Quantum & Woody, The Final Witness, X-O Manowar, Shadowman, and “another fan-favorite franchise that will be announced later this year.”
Related: Former Marvel Editor Heather Antos Returns to Comics with Valiant Entertainment
Antos joined Valiant Comics back in January 2019. While Hawkins joined in July 2018.
The year before Antos joined, Valiant’s January 2018 line-up included Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe #1, Quantum & Woody #2, X-O Manowar #11, Secret Weapons #0, Ninja-K #3, Bloodshot Salvation #5, and Eternity #4.
Here’s the shipping numbers for January 2018 for those titles according to Comichron:
Ninjak vs The Valiant Universe #1- 8,927 copies
Quantum & Woody #2 – 9,738 copies
X-O Manowar #11 – 9,670 copies
Secret Weapons #0 – 6,554 copies
Ninja-K #3 – 9,396 copies
Bloodshot Salvation #5 – 8,676 copies
Eternity #4 – 8,487 copies.
They shipped a total of 61,448 copies over 7 titles. They shipped an average of 8,778 copies per title.
In January 2019, Valiant’s line-up included Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3, Livewire #2, X-O Manowar #23, Faith: Dreamside #4, and Shadowman #11.
Here’s the shipping numbers for January 2019:
Bloodshot Rising Spirit #1 – 5,493 copies
Livewire #2 – 6,351 copies
X-O Manowar #23 – 7,024 copies
Faith: Dreamside #4 – 3,418 copies
Shadowman #11 – 5,165 copies
They shipped a total of 27,451 copies. They shipped an average of 5,490 copies per title.
In January 2020, Valiant’s line-up included Quantum & Woody #1, Visitor #2, Bloodshot #5, Psi-Lords #8, Rai #3, and Roku #4.
Here’s the shipped units for those titles:
Quantum & Woody #1 – 8,958 copies
Visitor #2 – 4,445 copies
Bloodshot #5 – 6,007 copies
Psi-Lords #8 – 3,477 copies
Rai #3 – 5,080 copies
Roku #4 – 4,057 copies
In total Valiant shipped 32,024 copies from six titles. They shipped an average of 5,337 copies per title.
Sales to retailers from January 2018 to January 2020 decreased by nearly 48%. The average number of copies shipped decreased by nearly 40%. Things at Valiant don’t look so good.
Comic creator Jon Del Arroz believes these decreases are a direct result of Valiant’s editorial team. He writes:
“You look at their editorial across the board and it’s people who are promoting political ideology over great content that the fans want, which is what happens when the core business gets replaced with a company that cares more about holding onto movie IPs than they do producing an excellent comic line. The higher-ups don’t understand comics, and aren’t interested, so they bring in names like Antos to direct without really checking on what made the books great in the first place.”
Nevertheless, despite this massive decrease, Valiant Comics promoted both Antos and Hawkins to Senior Editors.
What do you make of this promotion? Have you checked out any of Valiant Comics’ titles over the last couple of years? Have you noticed a decline in editorial?
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