In 1988, former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics Jim Shooter, former manager of the Allman Brothers Band Steve Massarsky, and a group of investors attempted to purchase Marvel Comics. Ultimately, they submitted the second highest bid, with corporate raider Ron Perelman submitting the highest bid and acquiring Marvel.

Jim Shooter and Steve Massarsky instead formed Voyager Communications in 1989 with significant venture capital financing from Truimph Capital. After attempting licensed comics with Nintendo and the World Wrestling Federation, Voyager repositioned itself to focus on its initial plan – publishing original superhero comic books under the Valiant Comics imprint.

Valiant recruited from Marvel legendary creators Barry Windsor-Smith, creator of Wolverine's acclaimed origin story Weapon X, and Bob Layton, creator of Iron Man's seminal stories. Jim Shooter himself was a creative legend having led a renaissance at Marvel as its Editor-In-Chief during the previous decade. During his tenure, Jim Shooter oversaw Marvel's most influential creations and storylines, such as Spiderman's black costume and the creation of Venom (basis for the Sony Pictures film Spiderman 3), X-Men's Dark Phoenix Saga (basis for the Twentieth Century Fox film X-Men 3: The Last Stand), Frank Miller's work on Wolverine and Daredevil (basis for the Twentieth Century Fox film Daredevil ), and the creation of the storyline and characters for Hasbro's Transformers toys (basis for the Paramount film Transformers).

Three legendary creators Jim Shooter, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Bob Layton would serve at the creative helm of Valiant, and they recruited a diverse group of veteran creators and young creators to complete their team. With a passionate team of veteran and young creators working side-by-side, Valiant launched an interconnected line of superhero comics with more realistic characters, tighter continuity, and a greater focus on storytelling than any of its competitors. Valiant initially launched its line of superhero comics with Western Publishing licensed characters and then turned to creating an original universe of characters, the popularity of which would grow at a rate unprecedented in the industry.

In 1992, Valiant released original titles, including Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Rai, and Shadowman, followed by a major crossover event called Unity, during which Eternal Warrior and Archer & Armstrong were introduced to a tremendous reception. Harbinger issue one was listed on the Top Ten List of Wizard Magazine, the industry's leading trade magazine, for a record eight consecutive months and was eventually named "Collectible of the Decade", while Rai issue zero appeared on the Top Ten List of Wizard Magazine for a new record nine consecutive months. In 1992, Valiant's Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for co-creating the Valiant Universe, while Marvel Universe’s co-creator Stan Lee was given the same Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony.

Valiant also pioneered a number of marketing innovations, such as the zero “origin” issues, the gold logo program, coupons redeemable for original comic books, and chromium covers. Following the popular Unity crossover, Valiant released Bloodshot, Ninjak, H.A.R.D. Corps, Second Life of Dr. Mirage, and Timewalker, among others. Valiant's innovative marketing techniques resulted in attracting many new Valiant readers, and Valiant's powerful stories turned them into passionate long-term Valiant supporters. Valiant's market share reached a level almost identical with DC Comics, a company whose characters were created 50 years earlier, and in 1993 Valiant was named Publisher of the Year ahead of Marvel Comics (Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.) and DC Comics (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc). At this point, Valiant characters had sold more than 50 million comic books.

In 1994, Truimph Capital decided to exit their investment in Valiant and hired investment bank Allen & Co. to sell the company. Allen & Co. originally looked to sell Valiant for $250 million to Paramount Pictures, but the comic book market sharply contracted. Valiant was eventually sold during the industry downturn to video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment (NASDAQ: AKLM), responsible for the Mortal Kombat and the NBA Jam franchises, for $65 million.

Acclaim later discontinued publishing Valiant comic books and focused on developing Valiant action adventure video games targeting a younger demographic than Valiant comic book readers. From 1996 to 2002, Acclaim created a number of successful multi-platform released Valiant video games, such as the Shadowman franchise and Iron Man X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal (which featured Valiant's X-O Manowar alongside Marvel's Iron Man), with Valiant video game sales totaling over 8 million units and grossing $300 million.

In 2003, Acclaim Entertainment's video game business was taking significant risks, including limited diversification. After losing a major sports video game license and without any new hits, Acclaim suddenly became financially insolvent and was forced to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2004.

In 2005, a group of investment professionals and media executives acquired all the rights to the Valiant Comics library from Acclaim Entertainment's estate and formed Valiant Entertainment.

Many Valiant alumni who got their start at the company have gone on to successful careers in the media and entertainment industry, such as the Director of Production and Development for Dimension Films, a multiple award-winning Disney Imagineer, Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, a partner at a major Hollywood talent management company, a multiple Eisner award-winning creator, a creator of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean universe, among many others.