MattBrady
02-22-2007, 05:24 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/quarterbin/HardCORPS1.jpg" border="0" align="right"><i>by Ryan McLelland</i>
<b>The H.A.R.D. Corps #1</b>
Valiant Comics
December 1992
Plots by: David Michelinie/Bob Layton
Pencils by: David Lapham
Inks by: Bob Lapham
For those who started collecting comics in the Y2K era, you missed the big boom of the 1990’s where collectors collected comics because they were going to be valuable. I, myself, bought enough comics to pay for not only my college education but for my eighteen children I was planning on having as well. A <b>Spider-Man #1</b> bagged with a silver cover was worth a whopping $25.00 so I had to own twelve of these. <b>X-Force #1</b> came bagged with five different trading cards so collectors had to own several copies of the same comic. Then there were comics that were worth money because a famous person drew the cover. A Liefeld <b>X-Factor</b> cover or a Stephen Platt Prophet cover were must owns because <i>they</I> drew them, so they must be worth a billion dollars in ten years. These were my thoughts when I bought <b>HARD Corps</b> the first time around. Who cares what the comic inside was about because at that time every Valiant comic had some kind of chromium cover or a first appearance by a character inside. For <b>HARD Corps</b> it had a beautiful gatefold cover drawn by grandmaster Jim Lee himself. I must have picked up seventy copies back then and when I saw this issue in a quarter bin, it made me think of those good ol’ days and how, for some odd reason, I’m not a self made multi-millionaire by selling off comics today.
An offshoot of the Valiant comic Harbinger, we first get introduced to our team as they raid a highly secured Harbinger bunker. They are on a mission to find…something and the team is moving forward all weapons blaring. Sure there are guards here in the highly secured Harbinger bunker but they are truly no match for HARD Corps who, along with their guns, seem to have some special powers of their own. Luckily for Harbinger CEO Toyo Harada (the ultimate bad guy, just say his name three times REAL slow. It’s EVIL!) he has one of his superpowered friends recuperating in the bunker. Codename BIG BOY suddenly breaks through a wall and grabs HARD Corps member Maniac, beating the man into a bloody pulp.
The rest of the team plans a rescue but those back at HARD Corps headquarters know that Maniac has ‘flat-lined’, so they blow up his head via an implant. Ewwww…brain matter EVERYWHERE! The HARD Corps team returns to base with their mission successful, though they now mourn the loss of their beloved teammate. Oh yeah, and the bunker turned out to be a very large tall building that HARD Corps decides to blow up the top portion of.
Back at the super secret HARD Corps base in a abandoned storage facility in the Nevada desert, we see that HARD Corps mission was to go in an retrieve a CD-ROM. Members Gunslinger, Hammerhead, and Shakespeare are in debrief, quite agitated that they lost one of their own. The upper brass doesn’t seem to care, all they want to know is what is on this precious CD-Rom.
In New York City we find a Mr. Kim confined to a wheelchair and just out of a coma. It seems that Mr. Kim was beat up near fatally a few months before during the L.A. riots and was brought to New York for special care. There he remained in a coma and HARD Corps decided to implant him without his knowledge. They tell him about the team which stands for ‘Harbinger Active Resistance Division Corps’ and that their mission is to take down Harbinger and evil Toyo Harada. Since they lost Maniac they need a new oprotive and Kim is it. Kim says what if he says no and the nice lady explaining it all to him tells Kim that they can take out the implants in his head and put him back in a coma. Suddenly ‘joining the fight’ doesn’t sound so bad.
The HARD Corps folks go suddenly into a panic. The CD-ROM they are accessing links right into Harbinger’s computers letting Harbinger know where exactly the secret Nevada base is. HARD Corps takes a moment to feel stupid then they suit up to fight whatever Harada will through their way. Upon exiting their building they are soon surrounded by Harada’s troops and superpowered folk, looking to take down the small HARD Corps team. Maybe Mr. Kim is much better in that coma of his.
<b>HARD Corps #1</b> was a fun issue and the most impressive feat was that for a first time reader you didn’t have to deal with an origin. The 5 W’s come very late in the comic and only over two pages, so the rest of the time you get to know the team and watch them in action. The comic is brought to you by the guys who have done some little comics like <b>Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man</b>, and <b>Stray Bullets</b>. During this time Michelinie, Layton, and Lapham were all Valiant staples, though Lapham would leave shortly after this to join Jim Shooter at Defiant Comics.
Sure the comic can get cheesy at times. We learn the names of the characters two seconds in because by page three they have shouted each other’s names fifty times at each other. Call it a pet-peeve but you have twenty-four pages to establish the names of the members, no need to yell them out constantly and consistently over a three page time frame. But other than that the comic sets up the team well for their first issue and makes you want to dig through the quarter boxes looking for more of their adventures against Toyo Harada. This comic might not have made me millions of dollars with its BEAUTIFUL Jim Lee cover, but the ad in the back of this book has the chromium covered <b>Bloodshot #1</b>. I think I bought ten of those. Sigh. Well at least fans can now find great buys like this for one shiny quarter. Or from me for $5,000. Just let me know.
<b>The H.A.R.D. Corps #1</b>
Valiant Comics
December 1992
Plots by: David Michelinie/Bob Layton
Pencils by: David Lapham
Inks by: Bob Lapham
For those who started collecting comics in the Y2K era, you missed the big boom of the 1990’s where collectors collected comics because they were going to be valuable. I, myself, bought enough comics to pay for not only my college education but for my eighteen children I was planning on having as well. A <b>Spider-Man #1</b> bagged with a silver cover was worth a whopping $25.00 so I had to own twelve of these. <b>X-Force #1</b> came bagged with five different trading cards so collectors had to own several copies of the same comic. Then there were comics that were worth money because a famous person drew the cover. A Liefeld <b>X-Factor</b> cover or a Stephen Platt Prophet cover were must owns because <i>they</I> drew them, so they must be worth a billion dollars in ten years. These were my thoughts when I bought <b>HARD Corps</b> the first time around. Who cares what the comic inside was about because at that time every Valiant comic had some kind of chromium cover or a first appearance by a character inside. For <b>HARD Corps</b> it had a beautiful gatefold cover drawn by grandmaster Jim Lee himself. I must have picked up seventy copies back then and when I saw this issue in a quarter bin, it made me think of those good ol’ days and how, for some odd reason, I’m not a self made multi-millionaire by selling off comics today.
An offshoot of the Valiant comic Harbinger, we first get introduced to our team as they raid a highly secured Harbinger bunker. They are on a mission to find…something and the team is moving forward all weapons blaring. Sure there are guards here in the highly secured Harbinger bunker but they are truly no match for HARD Corps who, along with their guns, seem to have some special powers of their own. Luckily for Harbinger CEO Toyo Harada (the ultimate bad guy, just say his name three times REAL slow. It’s EVIL!) he has one of his superpowered friends recuperating in the bunker. Codename BIG BOY suddenly breaks through a wall and grabs HARD Corps member Maniac, beating the man into a bloody pulp.
The rest of the team plans a rescue but those back at HARD Corps headquarters know that Maniac has ‘flat-lined’, so they blow up his head via an implant. Ewwww…brain matter EVERYWHERE! The HARD Corps team returns to base with their mission successful, though they now mourn the loss of their beloved teammate. Oh yeah, and the bunker turned out to be a very large tall building that HARD Corps decides to blow up the top portion of.
Back at the super secret HARD Corps base in a abandoned storage facility in the Nevada desert, we see that HARD Corps mission was to go in an retrieve a CD-ROM. Members Gunslinger, Hammerhead, and Shakespeare are in debrief, quite agitated that they lost one of their own. The upper brass doesn’t seem to care, all they want to know is what is on this precious CD-Rom.
In New York City we find a Mr. Kim confined to a wheelchair and just out of a coma. It seems that Mr. Kim was beat up near fatally a few months before during the L.A. riots and was brought to New York for special care. There he remained in a coma and HARD Corps decided to implant him without his knowledge. They tell him about the team which stands for ‘Harbinger Active Resistance Division Corps’ and that their mission is to take down Harbinger and evil Toyo Harada. Since they lost Maniac they need a new oprotive and Kim is it. Kim says what if he says no and the nice lady explaining it all to him tells Kim that they can take out the implants in his head and put him back in a coma. Suddenly ‘joining the fight’ doesn’t sound so bad.
The HARD Corps folks go suddenly into a panic. The CD-ROM they are accessing links right into Harbinger’s computers letting Harbinger know where exactly the secret Nevada base is. HARD Corps takes a moment to feel stupid then they suit up to fight whatever Harada will through their way. Upon exiting their building they are soon surrounded by Harada’s troops and superpowered folk, looking to take down the small HARD Corps team. Maybe Mr. Kim is much better in that coma of his.
<b>HARD Corps #1</b> was a fun issue and the most impressive feat was that for a first time reader you didn’t have to deal with an origin. The 5 W’s come very late in the comic and only over two pages, so the rest of the time you get to know the team and watch them in action. The comic is brought to you by the guys who have done some little comics like <b>Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man</b>, and <b>Stray Bullets</b>. During this time Michelinie, Layton, and Lapham were all Valiant staples, though Lapham would leave shortly after this to join Jim Shooter at Defiant Comics.
Sure the comic can get cheesy at times. We learn the names of the characters two seconds in because by page three they have shouted each other’s names fifty times at each other. Call it a pet-peeve but you have twenty-four pages to establish the names of the members, no need to yell them out constantly and consistently over a three page time frame. But other than that the comic sets up the team well for their first issue and makes you want to dig through the quarter boxes looking for more of their adventures against Toyo Harada. This comic might not have made me millions of dollars with its BEAUTIFUL Jim Lee cover, but the ad in the back of this book has the chromium covered <b>Bloodshot #1</b>. I think I bought ten of those. Sigh. Well at least fans can now find great buys like this for one shiny quarter. Or from me for $5,000. Just let me know.