by Valiant shipped on schedule, those produced by Image Comics did not, a problem that Image faced with many of its publications in its early years. The books were pre-ordered in heavy quantities by retailers, and when shipping dates were not met, distributors cancelled the original orders and required re-orders. By the time the last issues did arrive, some fans had lost interest, leaving retailers with unsold copies. As a cross-promotion, two trading card companies also did a cross-over, Upper Deck and Topps. Upper Deck produced the Valiant cards featuring only characters and art from their corresponding titles. The Topps set would be based on the Deathmate Red and Black issues and would include artwork from Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee. This set was to be 90 cards in total and would feature two types of chase cards: A prismatic laminate covering called "Deathmatrix" and a chromium covering entitled "Deathchrome". However, because of the deadline problems with Image Comics, Topps ended up backing out of the contract. Upper Deck’s Valiant Deathmate cards did not fare well on the market. In a retrospective interview on the rise and fall of Valiant, Bob Layton (former editor in chief) lambasted the whole affair, regarding it as an "unmitigated disaster." Layton says he had to fly to Los Angeles and literally sit on Liefeld's doorstep until Liefeld finished his penciled art for the Deathmate Prologue, and then Layton inked the artwork himself in an Anaheim hotel room. Layton stated, "What a pain in the ass that was! There I was, with my own company to manage, and I was in California, managing someone else's people. I look back at it and can't believe some of the shit I had to put up with as E.I.C. of Valiant. As far as failures, Deathmate and [Valiant promotion] Birthquake were unmitigated disasters. Not necessarily in the numbers, but in the consequences of their release...I think that Deathmate sounded the beginning of the problems, and when Image couldn't get their side of the cross-over out on time, it hurt everyone. I think [Valiant crossover] Chaos Effect the next summer was a decent idea, but there wasn't anything new to capture the audience's imagination. We made a specific mistake in choosing not to advertise during the summer of '93. Our books were almost too hot and we wanted to get more realistic numbers. Remember, we were the collectible company.