Valiant effort

On a busy Sunday afternoon at the recent Long Beach Comic Con, a steady stream of people stopped to chat with the people manning the Valiant Entertainment booth, lingering to pick up crisp, glossy new comics. For an independent comic character-based company, the booth was attracting a surprising amount of attention. One fan was even begging to be allowed to work the booth, such was his love of the company.

"Other publishers want to know how we've done it," says Dinesh Shamdasani, Valiant's Los Angeles-based chief executive officer. "For us, it's all about the stories."

And the story of Valiant itself is a compelling one, culminating with its acquisition by two men who have been friends since attending school together in Hong Kong.

Shamdasani and Valiant's New York-based vice-chairman Jason Kothari, both 31, bonded over a love of comic books at Hong Kong's Island School. Kothari was already showing some of the business prowess that would lead to him and his friend, two decades later, taking over one of the most iconic comic book publishers in the history of the business.

At the time, comic books were hard to find in Hong Kong and Kothari's father, the head of Asian operations for a multinational firm who regularly travelled to the US, would bring them back for his son. He would share them with his school friends, but if they wanted more, they had to either buy or trade for them.

Kothari and Shamdasani were fans of Valiant characters Harbinger, Rai, Shadowman and Eternal Warrior. Years later, after graduating from university and armed with some work experience, when the opportunity arose to parlay their affinity with the comic book world into a business, they grabbed it.