INTERVIEW: Valiant characters head to high school
Valiant Entertainment is one of the most important publishers in the comic book world. They have a wide array of successful titles, such as Bloodshot and Quantum and Woody!, and they command a lot of attention on the convention floor of many comic cons. If readers can’t get enough Valiant, they should check out Valiant High, a new series that places the heroes and villains of the company in a high school setting.
Valiant High, which first premiered last year on Comixology, comes to readers thanks to Daniel Kibblesmith, writer on Quantum and Woody! and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and artist Derek Charm (Jughead). The new series is an all-ages publication that serves as an excellent entry point for new fans.
Right now, Valiant High #1 and #2 are available for fans, with the promise of two more issues on the horizon. Here’s how the company is plugging #3, which hits in July: “All schools have their secrets … but at Valiant High, the truth is ETERNAL! Enigmatic foreign exchange student Colin ‘Ninjak’ King and his new bestie, wallflower Peter Stanchek, have made it their mission to find out what’s really going on behind the scenes at their superpowered prep school … and the fallout is going to take EVERYONE — from Coach Bloodshot to Principal Harada — by surprise!”
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Kibblesmith about this trip back to high school. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Did you have to be a big fan of Valiant comics to write all of these characters?
It definitely helps. I mean, it helps to be enthusiastic and passionate about anything I’m writing, but Valiant High in particular, since so much of the fun is figuring out how everyone in the Valiant U would map on to different archetypes of the high school genre.
Were you restricted in any way by the characters’ future lives?
Not at all! That was one of the best things about writing a parallel continuity. I could bring back characters from the dead, like Charlene/Flamingo, and shrink and expand characters’ roles based on who my favorites were. I also got to set up romances and friendships that seem logical to our world, but that you wouldn’t see in the prime, Valiant U, namely Faith and Livewire, and Ninjak and Peter Stanchek.
What was it like to imagine a high school setting?
Fun, stressful, cathartic, all in one. I had to dredge up a lot of high school angst to confront their concerns in a believable way. In some ways the stakes in high school are incredibly low, despite never feeling higher. So, in a superhero high school, we get the actual giant stakes of some kind of villainous conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes of Valiant High alongside the emotional stakes of Livewire passing her driving test and getting a date to homecoming.
Do you have fond memories of your own high school experience?
Probably! Next question!
Is writing for a late-night comedy show worlds away from writing for a comic book? Any similarities?
There’s definitely similarities – you’re still writing set-ups and punch lines. The biggest differences are the structure, and the voice you’re writing for. At The Late Show, you’re telling the story of the day’s news, and the ‘characters’ are the voice of the host, and us as people experiencing the day’s events together.
In Valiant High, the story is a more traditional story, and I get to bounce between different character voices. It’s much more subjective than The Late Show, where the voice has to be somewhat objective to speak to and for the whole audience. I compare it to playing two different video games a lot; they might look similar to someone watching the player instead of the screen, but there’s a lot of subtle differences and everything has its own rhythm.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Valiant High #1 and #2 are now available from Valiant Entertainment. Click here for more information.
