June 22, 2009

Editorials

Are Valiant Comics Worth Anything?

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Valiant is a tricky beast. Some Valiant comics are the most valuable comics of their era, and some are the least valuable.

Here’s a guide to what’s what.

Pre-Unity Books

The only regular edition Valiant comics that are worth anything are the pre-Unity issues, and the last few issues of each series.

By “regular edition”, I mean the normal copy of the book that hit newsstands and comic racks. Not the gold logo books or the V.V.S.S.

The pre-Unity books are:

  • Magnus, Robot Fighter 0-14
  • Solar, Man of the Atom 1-11
  • Harbinger 0*-7
  • X-O Manowar 1-6
  • Rai 1-5
  • Shadowman 1-3
  • Archer & Armstrong 0
  • Vintage, Magnus Robot Fighter 1-4 (these were reprints of old Gold Key stories)

    [*A note about Harbinger 0: There were two versions of Harbinger 0 printed. The first was the version that people could get by mailing away the coupons in the first 6 issues of Harbinger. This version had a pink cover. The second print has a blue cover, and came sealed in a polybag with the trade paperback that reprinted Harbinger 1-4. The blue version is common, and not valuable.]

    Most of the above list of Pre-Unity books have at least some value. Most will sell for $3 to $5, with a few, like Magnus, Shadowman, Archer & Armstrong, and Vintage Magnus, possibly selling for less.

    There are a few standouts in the list, they are as follows, with the price range that they sell for:

    • Magnus 0 ($20 – $50)
    • Solar 10 ($10-$20)
    • Harbinger 0 pink ($20 to $50)
    • Harbinger 1 ($10 – $25)
    • Rai 3 ($10 – $20)
    • Rai 4 ($5 – $15)

    These values are approximate, and depend on how many folks are buying books on ebay, the condition of the books, and so on.

    Series Last Issues

    The last issues of any series tend to have some value, mostly because a comic book usually gets cancelled because sales are low. As a result, there is usually significantly fewer of the final issues of a series.

    Of the last-in-the-series Valiant issues, the real standouts, in terms of value, are:

    • X-O Manowar 68
    • Solar, Man of the Atom 60
    • Bloodshot 51
    • Bloodshot: Last Stand
    • Magnus, Robot Fighter 64
    • Turok 47

    These may sell from anywhere between $10 and $30. The couple of issues before the last may fetch a few dollars over cover price as well.

    The majority of Valiant Books

    All of the issues in between the pre-Unity issues and the final issues, well, not worth so much. The Unity issues and the issues that came out a month or two after Unity may sell for a dollar, but I have bought them for as little as 5 cents each.

    These issues that aren’t really valuable include most of the well known Valiant books and first issues, and the various chromium, or “shiny” issues. Bloodshot #1, Turok #1, H.A.R.D.Corps #1, X-O Manowar #0, Shadowman #0, Bloodshot #0, Ninjak #1, Magnus #25, Rai #9, and on and on. There is an overabundance of these issues, and they don’t have much resale value, if any.

    Some of them do have pretty cool stories though!

    The issues from the Acclaim years, pretty much everything that came out after the Birthquake crossover, may be worth a dollar or so each, because sales were down and few were printed.

    Everything in between is from the years when Valiant was incredibly popular and sales were high, partially due to so many people buying these comics as investments.

    We discussed the comic boom and speculator’s bubble that occurred in comics in this time in Only The Valiant episode 5.

    Gold and V.V.S.S. books

    The gold logo books were incentive books that Valiant gave to people for supporting or promoting Valiant.

    These are worth about $10 to $20 each. The stand outs are the first gold logo books printed, Archer & Armstrong 0 gold, and Eternal Warrior 1 gold, especially the flat version.

    When Eternal Warrior 1 gold was printed, many of them were shipped to west coast comic book shops accidentally. Many shops put these up for sale, thinking they were second printings.

    It didn’t help that Marvel comics used gold ink on their covers at the time on second printings.

    Valiant printed the remainder of the Eternal Warrior 1 gold books with an embossed cover to distinguish it from the regular version as a premium. Both of these are amongst the most valuable gold logo books, selling for $20 to $30, though the flat version tends to sell for a little more than the embossed.

    V.V.S.S. is a series of signed books that Valiant produced. They are differentiated from other signed books by a certificate of authenticity, and they are embossed with a Valiant V.V.S.S. seal.

    The earliest of these produced, like Turok 1, Rai 9, and Magnus 25, sell for about $10 – $15. The later few sell for significantly more, with the last couple, Eternal Warrior 27 and Geomancer 1 selling for as much as $100 or so.

    Red books, bluebirds, and all the rest

    There are two variant books that are worth quite a bit, these are Unity 0 red, and Chaos Effect Alpha Red. These differ from the regular versions because they have red where there is blue on the regular versions.

    Unity 0 red and Chaos Effect Alpha red both sell for between $40 and $80. The Chaos Effect Alpha Red (or CEAR, as it is affectionately known), tends to be worth a little more than Unity 0 red.

    In addition to these red variants, there are blue variants of a few of the trade paperbacks. On the Rai trade paperback variant, the background is blue instead of black, on the X-O Manowar trade paperback variant the logo is blue instead of black, and on the Harbinger trade paperback variant the blue Harbinger Foundation logo is blue instead of black, which is why this variant is often referred to as a “bluebird”. These variant trade paperbacks can sell anywhere from $5 to $15 or so.

    Last of all are the Diamond Unity trade paperbacks. These trade paperbacks collect Unity in two volumes, and are bound versions of the single issues. Of note is the fact that the first volume uses a gold logo version of Eternal Warrior 1 instead of the regular version.

    These trade paperbacks are quite rare, and usually sell for over $100 each. Note that these are different from the regular Unity trade paperbacks that Valiant released, which collects Unity in 4 volumes.

    True Value

    Of course, the real Value in Valiant Comics is in how much you enjoy them. The majority of Valiant Comics may have been printed in huge numbers, so that they aren’t worth much on the open market, but the stories are good.

    If you aren’t going to recycle those boxes of Valiant comics from 1993 and 1994, pick a few out and read them. Then recycle them.

    I am of course, biased. I am a huge fan of Valiant comics, and the Valiant characters. In my mind, I got a deal for the price I paid for the books in my collection.

    Value may be determined by how much someone else is willing to pay for something, but worth can only be determined by yourself. I love me some Valiant Comics, and to me, they are worth a lot.

24 Comments

  • bart comments:

    Thanks for this. I, like you, have a fond memory of reading all of the early valiant comics. I got rid of mine years ago, but I recently went back to shops and ebay and started picking up all the unity and pre-unity issues for nearly nothing. Who knows, Maybe many people will have a nostalgic twinge for good story telling and start buying them again.

  • Ludwig comments:

    I loved and still love Valiant, but I have have move around the county 4 times and to Germany once,,maybe going back to Europe and its time I stop dragging 6 boxes of Comics with me. It was sad about the management of Valiant. It was the only comic company that the chance to become part of our culture like Marvel and DC,,,,,,,if they could of keeped it together, we would of being having a X-O, shadow man, and Bloodshot movie.
    I am sad to have to get ride of the weight, but I will always have memories.

  • @Bart, that is the nice thing about valiant books right now, they are cheap. I’m hoping to sell some of mine too eventually..

    @Ludwig, that’s too bad you had to sell them all. One reason I dread ever moving is having to move my 15 long boxes.

  • Leslie Green comments:

    I am curious, why is it everywhere I search X-O manowar part 1 white kings and black knights (vol 1 #22) has a different cover then mine. I cant find my cover anywhere. Mine has the barbarian gutting a wild boar on the cover…PS its not glossy but old school paper.

  • TOM HAWKINS comments:

    I HAVE BOXES OF THGES COMICS ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #1 ISSUS! X-O MANOWAR #12 ROBOT FIGHTER #16 RIOT GEAR UNLEASHED LIMITED ED OF 25,000 MADE #4 SECRET WEAPONS 1ST ISSUE LEGACY 1ST ISSUE SECRET WEAPONS 1ST ISSUE CHAOS #4 LIMITED EDITION OF 25,000 MADE AND OTHERS IN MONT CONDITION STILL IN PLASTIC 19 YEARS OLD! THEY ARE $1.00 EACH IF ANYBODY WANT SOME!!! I HAVE 200-300 OF EACH COMIC LISTED ABOVE CALL XXXXXXXXXX IF INTERESTED1

  • OTV comments:

    @Tom, Whoa, buddy, no need to yell 😉 Might want to try ebay or craigslist.

  • @Tom Hawkins. I might like to buy a few issues that you have on hand. I’m still missing some early issues of Magnus Robot Fighter and Rai. I’m not sure if it’s OK to include an email address in these comments but you can find me through my website http://www.sat-essay.net. Just fill out the contact form and I’ll respond to you right away.

  • Randy comments:

    I bought a gold logo flat Eternal Warrior #1 and found inside the bag behind the gold logo issue, another issue but it was a silver colored logo eternal warrior #1. I went back and asked the guy at the comic store what it was. He said it was a Platinum logo version. Do these exist? Are they worth anything?

  • @Randy,

    Send pics!
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  • James Cole comments:

    I am interested in buying the whole Bloodshot series (1993-96) I found my copy of #0 and remembered the days of my youth and want to replace all my issues I once had.

  • jordan morin comments:

    I got a gold shiny #0 valient shadowman comic book and was really wondering how much its worth? And also want to know how much my sabretooth death hunt comic book is worth with the signature and certificate to go with it. How much would these be worth?

  • OTV comments:

    The gold logo Shadowman zero book is probably worth about $20 to $30 these days. You have to be careful not to confuse this book with the regular-version of the book, which is also chromium, but has a white logo in the top left corner.

    As for the Sabretooth book, I have no idea! You’re on your own with that one.

  • scott comments:

    awesome site….i was a old skool pre accailm valiant guy loved them still got most of the first issues un til the glut where people were buying like 10 copies of magnus 12 stuff like that…i kept the early pre unity and a few after for the stories…i didnt get into much after that BUT now the new V stuff is out and dam the stories are hitting again!!! only probelm..nobody cares to notice becasue all the past trouble,,,hahah but now come those long awaited tv shows and movies!!! save your valiants!!!pologies for spellinbg using these small cell phones are crappy for web writing!!!

  • David comments:

    An item I did not see a comment on is ninjas #0 signed with certificate. Is it worth anything?

  • Elliot Yudenfriend comments:

    Hi,

    I hope I can get just a little help from someone here. It looks to me as if I made a mistake the other day when I bought 28 Valiant Comic Books for 50 cents apiece. I see that some Valiant comic books are selling for 9 cents on eBay, and that many others are not being bought at all. I see that things are very complicated when it comes to valuing Valiant comic books. I’d be thankful for any advice. I have some Ninjaks, some H.A.R.D. Corps, X.O. Manowar. Mostly Ninjak. At one point, I thought I’d found that one of the Ninjaks was selling for 48.75, but it turned out to be a card, not a book. Thanks!

  • Denise Peterson comments:

    I probably have over a thousand of these Valiant cards I am wondering if anybody’s interested in them they are all in order and I believe their 91 through 96 very very excellent condition to it somebody could let me know what I have if it’s valuable or not thank you Diane

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  • Excellent writing. Concise and informative. A great help to me as I sell off my dad’s collection. Thanks!

  • Large number of Valian and Valiant/Acclaim comics to sell

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