GGB NYC: Valiant X Special Edition Brunch

Our First Ever Co-Ed Brunch Party!

Conventions offer a great many things, but unless the food is the focus, that’s not one of them.  Fortunately, we set up shop at The Jolly Monk on Saturday–15 minutes from the convention center–and the lucky group who attended our Valiant X SENYC Brunch, was treated to a three course meal!

Convention-bound, well-fed, swagged- out. We had one excited group!

THE FOOD

We’ll definitely be going back to The Jolly Monk. The staff there is as great as all the food, and as bright and bubbly as the drinks they brought out to us. They even created gorgeous custom menus for us!

THE SPONSOR

We’ve had Marvel and DC brunches before, but our love of comics knows no bounds, so it was wonderful to showcase an independent publisher for brunch this time around. For anyone new to comics, or if you’re only familiar with a handful of titles, it’s important to know that there’s so much more to comics than just “the big 2.” Just because you can’t find what you’re looking for among their titles, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in comics at all! In fact, one look at our gorgeous custom invite alone, should tell you something about the incredibly diverse roster of characters–female characters especially–that Valiant possesses.

Art by Pere Perez and Colorist Andrew Dalhouse

Beyond the invite, guests were treated to an commemorative postcard featuring the invite image, as well as two Valiant one shots to help us all familiarize ourselves with the work, and other amazing Valiant goodness. They really took care of us, and it shows a genuine want of new fans. (And many new fans they shall soon have, as the publisher recently signed a major movie deal with Sony to produce five films based on their titles!)

We hope the intimidation of comics was taken away for anyone new to comics (and even existing comics fans new to Valiant) among our guests, because there’s a lot to love in the Valiant universe, as evidenced by the titles we showcased at the event!

Harbinger: Faith #0

Faith aka Zephyr, is not only a superhero, but–as witnessed on the cover we handed out at brunch– a total fan girl just like us! You can totally tell she’d love to brunch with us. (How many fandoms can you spot on this cover?!)

“Start reading here to discover how Harbinger’s high-spirited teenage fangirl went from the heart and soul of Peter Stanchek’s teenage Renegades to the newest member of the world’s most elite super-team – UNITY!”

-Valiant

Punk Mambo #0

Oi! This voodoo priestess is so punk, there’s even a special guest appearance by Sid Vicious in this comic. Talk about Anarchy in the UK!!

“From a posh girls’ boarding school…to the slimy gutter of the London punk scene…to sniffing voodoo glue in a Louisiana swamp, how did Shadowman’s black magic bon vivant haul herself from the upper crust to the backwater of the Big Easy’s voodoo underground? Punk Mambo is about to head back home to spread some much-needed anarchy in the UK…and confront the ghosts of her past head on!” -Valiant 

Alongside all the Valiant goodies were a bunch more from our friends at Special Edition!

THE RAFFLE

Then came the amazing raffle prizes. Among them, copies of the Death Defying Doctor Mirage TPB, which at it’s core, is a dark and beautiful love story. (Haunting imagery. Romance. We’re sold.) and Deluxe Hardcover Editions of Harbinger, a great young team story for fans of Teen Titans or Young Avengers. We were even honored to have been able to give away the famed Valiant gold books!

Special Edition NYC also generously donated some awesome swag, including lanyards in the swag bags, which really came in handy that weekend! And what may have been the most sought after prize: Passes to the convention itself!

We hope that from the moment guests purchased their tickets, to when they checked in, brunched out, and departed with arms full of gifts (co-founder Yissel’s arms were probably the most weighed down because #BirthdaySwag), that we were able to provide you all with another wonderful experience. It was our first time hosting gentlemen and we’d love to know what they thought. For many, the party kept going that day at the convention. For the rest, we’ll see you at the next one!

Brunch hard. Stay Valiant.