Jim Valentino

Yeah.

Jim Valentino, normal man, Image Comics, Shadowhawk, wrote and drew it.

And it was a really fun read, but his art was so me in ninth grade.

You know, and so I would get I would get jealous reading this book.

It's like pretty much everybody's a super powered person or an alien at some point.

all right well wrapping up wizard news uh we have a story called image holds out for new hero line and announces that jim valentino was spearheading a new superheroes line of comics at image which included forgotten titles forgotten these days i'm saying like the clock maker by jim kruger matt smith jim kruger i worked with the marvel as well oh really yeah he was there he's

a

cool

Because it was public property.

And then image publisher Jim Valentino encouraged him to use an original name so that he could own the entire property.

That's when he came up with The Walking Dead.

Kirkman later says that Valentino's suggestion was some of the best advice he had ever received.

was Diane Valentino,

Jim Valentino's wife.

That's why you can't believe everything you see on Wikipedia.

Yeah.

And at that point, it was just the three of us, right, that were sort of having these sort of silly conversations.

And then Jim Valentino came on through Rob.

So we were happy to have him.

And that was it.

Uh, yeah, I already said Mark.

[clears throat] The only guy who wasn't there was Jim Valentino.

People always ask, "Where's Jim Lee?" People, can I just open this by telling you, uh, Jim Lee has been working at Marvel...

at, at, at DC Comics, at DC Comics exclusively.

Rob Liefeld's out of there.

Jim Valentino was in the office.

He wasn't making comics anymore.

So it was just Larsen, Silvestri, and McFarlane, 'cause yeah, Whilce Portacio was out as well.

And I am specifically talking of, I'll name them by people who released their book.

Rob Liefeld, Youngblood; Todd McFarlane, Spawn; Erik Larsen, Dragon; Jim Lee, Wildcats; Jim Valentino, Shadowhawk; Mark Silvestri, Cyberforce.

Those are the six books, the launch books from the founders that blew off the stands into people's hearts, minds, who, that, that, that are, that...

And, and the, the fumes from those books continue to, uh, run all manner of vehicles in this business.

Uh, it is the first time that I have been at an event since 2017 with that many of my fellow Image founders, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Mark Silvestri.

Then you've got current partners, uh, Robert Kirkman, Erik Stevenson.

All that was missing was Jim Valentino from the partner set, uh, from the founder set.

Obviously, Jim Lee now runs and is fully engaged in DC Comics, and Whilce Portacio, uh, i- is a freelancer who is, uh, obviously knocking it out of the park, whatever he does, whenever he does it, whether it's Marvel, whether it's DC.

So every 10 years, people get reminded that I did the layouts for that issue.

So Jim Valentino had done layouts for me on What If.

I did layouts for him on a Wolverine story for Marvel Comics Presents.

Layouts are very fun because they're a very distinct, uh, stylistic reveal.

The studio that was recreated in the Spike Lee Levi's ad is the Fullerton studio where I was working alongside, uh, Richard Ori, and I was working alongside Murat.

Now, the last piece of this is I had known Brian Murray since before breaking into comics.

I had met him through Jim Valentino.

Jim Valentino and I had split up, uh, w- after sharing a couple, uh, years together, again, in the interest of time.