Are they just hanging out there in limbo?
Seems to me at least some of these would be profitable under the right banner.
Oh, you just missed your shot!
Valiant was bought by video game company Acclaim (a/k/a Akklaim) in order to turn the properties into games. (The Turok franchise was very successful, and there was at least one Shadowman game, maybe other stuff too.) The comics themselves were victims of the market crash and the original line ceased publication in dribs and drabs. Acclaim then relaunched Valiant with what is sometimes called the V2 line – most properties were revamped into totally different characters and a few new books were added (such as Troublemakers and Quantum & Woody). After a couple years this failed as well.
In 2000, Acclaim tried to relaunch yet again. The charge was to be lead by Unity 2000, a six-issue miniseries penned by Jim Shooter that would combine characters from both V1 and V2; other titles would then spin out of that event. AFAIK, only the first issue was published and I believe Shooter stopped delivering scripts because he hadn’t been paid. (That first issue was pretty good, though – I remember thinking that it sewed up all the long-term threads Shooter had sewn into the original Unity which he never got the chance to pay off.)
Valiant/Accaim Comics was dormant since then. About a month ago it was announced that Acclaim (the whole company, not just the comics division) was bankrupt. However, former Acclaim bigwig Rod Cousens apparently rounded up some financing and is hoping to get the company back on its feet. Presumably, if this deal passes the required formalities, Cousens and his financiers will get the comics. Also presumably, they won’t care.
Note that Magnus, Solar, and Turok (and associated characters) were actually licensed by Valiant; they were characters originally published in the '60’s by Western/Gold Key. I’m pretty sure those licenses have reverted (10 years, IIRC), and Dark Horse is putting out the original Russ Manning Magnus stories. (I think I heard a rumor about a Dr. Solar reprint too, but don’t quote me on that.) But other than those three comics, the rest of the Valiant IP (V1 and V2) should still be held by whoever emerges as the new owner of Acclaim.
–Cliffy