The first major motion picture from the Valiant Universe is Bloodshot, starring Vin Diesel, to be released March 13, 2020. Collectors first discovering Valiant as a result of the movie announcement may be looking for information about collecting the appearances of Bloodshot.
Bloodshot was created in 1992, first appearing on the final page of Eternal Warrior #4.
 |  Eternal Warrior #4, November 1992 About 100,000 copies |
Bloodshot appeared later the same month throughout the Rai #0 story about him, “The Blood of Heroes”, for his first full appearance in comics.
Rai #0, November 1992
About 150,000 copies
NOTE: Many copies of the Rai #0 cover “smeared” some of the black ink, causing Valiant to test a different type of cover to eliminate the “smearing” effect. As a result, about 130,000 copies have a Matte cover and about 20,000 have a Glossy cover. These types were not distributed as a variant of any kind. An unintentional difference shows that the Glossy cover is usually shorter on the front right edge, clearly showing the colors of the first page. Only a small amount of the first page can be seen on the Matte edition. Before about 2015, the market was essentially the same for all copies of Rai #0. Since that time, the Glossy edition has shown a premium in the market due to the lower number of copies, particularly when identified as “Glossy edition” on CGC professionally graded labels.
Matte, about 130,000 copies | Glossy, about 20,000 copies
Bloodshot’s first clear cover appearance occurred on Eternal Warrior #5 dated December 1992 around 100,000 copies. |
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 | The first comic book in history from any publisher to feature chromium was Bloodshot #1, dated February 1993 and released the same day as the Superman #75. The orders for Bloodshot #1 were very large, with almost a million (850,000 copies) produced, and it can usually be purchased for around the original cover price ($3.50) even more than 25 years later. While it is usually considered one of the most common books of the 1990s it was actually the 13th most ordered book for 1992, behind a dozen other books by Marvel, DC, and Image. |
Bloodshot #0 was released in early 1994 with a full chromium cover, available as a regular edition ($3.50 cover price) and a limited gold edition (no cover price).
 Bloodshot #0 Regular edition about 300,000 copies |
 Bloodshot #0 Gold edition 5,000 copies |
The most valuable Bloodshot comic books from the 1990s are copies of the Bloodshot #0 Platinum edition, which was not an official release from Valiant. Fewer than 30 copies have been identified. It is believed that this version was created by either purposefully omitting the gold layer, possibly as a test run, or by continuing to print copies of the gold edition when the material for the gold layer was empty. NOTE: The identification of a Bloodshot #0 Platinum edition, sometimes called a Platinum Printing Error, requires that there is no cover price on the book. There are many errors known for Bloodshot #0, such misaligned covers, missing color covers, and strange coloring, however, any error edition of Bloodshot #0 with a $3.50 cover price is a regular edition error. Special errors for Bloodshot #0 have a missing cover price.
Copies of CGC 9.8 Bloodshot #0 Platinum have sold as high as $5,500 in 2008 with more recent sales in 2016 and 2017 around $3,000 each.
One exception to the rule about $3.50 cover price is known. A single copy of Bloodshot #0 Gold edition with both a gold Bloodshot title on the cover and a $3.50 cover price has been identified. The price box in the upper left is pink and it is possible that the book is either a Gold edition printing error, or it was produced to test the gold Bloodshot title ink prior to the full production of Gold editions. The key difference for this book is the gold Bloodshot title on the cover. All other known errors have silver/platinum coloring for the word Bloodshot on the cover. Whether it is a Bloodshot #0 Gold edition prototype or a Gold edition printing error, the single known copy of the book is also referenced as “Bloodshot #0 Pink”.
This book sold in December 2016 for $5,150.
Comic books from any age or publisher which may be valued above $1,000 generally sell at higher prices when the authenticity and condition has been certified by a third party such as CGC (Comics Guaranty Company).
Many 1990s comic books were autographed at conventions or for sale by retailers with various types of certificates of authenticity, and few of these for Valiant comics are well-received in the back issue market. The exception is the Valiant Validated Signature Series for a few issues in 1994, which were official products from Valiant Comics.
Bloodshot #0 was included in the V.V.S.S. program, and 2,500 copies of the regular edition were signed and issued certificates of authenticity from Valiant.
The 1993-1996 Bloodshot series ran for 51 issues, with the #0 variants, a Yearbook, and a Last Stand Special ($5.95 cover price). The popularity of all comic books in 1993-1994 was followed by a fast decline in 1995-1996. Two collectible Bloodshot regular (non-variant) issues with low print estimates are the Bloodshot Last Stand and Bloodshot #51 final issue.
 Bloodshot Last Stand $5.95 Special, March 1996 About 10,000 to 12,000 copies |
 Bloodshot #51 final issue, August 1996 About 9,000 copies |
Valiant attempted a newsstand sales program in 1995-1996 for some titles, including Bloodshot. Some collectors have sought both the Direct Sales and the Newsstand Sales versions of Valiant comics. Comic book shops received the (common) Direct Sales editions while grocery stores, gas stations, or traditional bookstores received (uncommon) Newsstand Sales. Condition is usually a problem with Newsstand Sales since the books were often handled roughly or produced with lower quality paper. It is unclear which types of non-comic stores received Valiant titles, how well they sold, or how many Newsstand books were returned. Valiant comics with both types reflect Newsstand barcodes in less than 5% of books on the back issue market, perhaps much less.
1995-1996 Bloodshot issues #30, #31, and #32 have $2.50 price variants for Newsstand Sales and issues #33 through #48 also have Newsstand Sales.
