In this part, I will focus on the content of:
Bloodshot #1 Oct 94 Hong Kong edition
For background history of this book, please read:
Rare Valiant Comics: 1994 VH-1 Hong Kong Edition - Pt. 0
Covers
The covers on this book feature the same wraparound cover art from the US edition. They are foil covers processed on top of thick cardstock instead of the chromium covers we generally known. The print quality feels more premium than on budget.
Some highlights worth noting are:
- The foil print layer is not 100% smooth on this book, it has certain brushed/scratched metal texture feel across the foil areas:
- The emboss design is also different from the US edition. Doesn’t seem to have any emboss on the characters but the emboss design was updated for the book title to incorporate both English and Chinese titles:
- Title in traditional Chinese reads: 再造戰士, can be literally translated as “Revived Soldier”. Interestingly, the book shares the same Chinese title as the Hollywood movie: Universal Soldier (1992).
- The front cover also has age guidelines in fine print:
“This article contains materials which may offend and may not be distributed, circulated, sold, hired, given, lent, shown, played or projected to a person under the age of 18 years.”
Personally I think the cover looks very cool and well-done. The only complaint I have is the placement of the publishers’ brand emblems, which partially covers the cover artist’s art signature.
Story
The story pages are identical to the US edition, provided all dialogues were translated to Chinese of course. The interior pages were also printed in great quality:
Below are some close-ups, so you can see the printing details:
Extras
As I mentioned in Part 0 of this story, the local Hong Kong editors also added materials on top of the original US edition, targeting local American comics collectors, or wanna-be collectors. Below are some advertising by the end of the book:
Trivia
Now you’ve seen the cover and story images, and yes, they are reprinted from Bloodshot (1993 series) #0. Then why the Hong Kong edition was published as #1, not #0 to be consistent?
In the US edition, #0 issue was published after #1 to feature an origin story prior to #1. By the time this book was being planned for Hong Kong market in 1994, both #0 and #1 issues were already published in US. My guess is, for the Hong Kong edition, they chose to start the series from the origin story and #1 was never published in Hong Kong, so might as well number the origin story issue as #1.
Personally I think this is confusing for nowadays comic book fans and collectors. However, thinking from a different perspective, the book was intended for local Hong Kong market only so the confusion should be minimal to its targeted market in 1994.
Update 2020.04 - Comparisons
As I recently acquired a decent copy of the original US edition, I think it would be great for me to do a comparison between the US and HK editions. I compared both editions by flipping through page by page and below are my observations:
Cover comparison:
The covers are identical except for the placement of certain elements. What caught my attention is the difference between HK edition’s foil cover versus US edition’s chromium cover:
- The HK edition foil cover is much thicker than the chromium counterpart due to its heavy card stock, feels much more solid.
- US edition has stronger colors and much more embossed details, color contrast is also better, especially when you look at the blasts.
- Also noticed the US edition is a tad smaller in size than the HK edition, you can see from the side-by-side picture below:
Page comparisons:
The paper stock used on inner pages between the two editions are also different. US edition uses newsprint, typical newspaper like comic book paper stock while the HK edition uses glossy white magazine like paper stock:
Some of the sound effect words were not being translated into Chinese and were just left blank:
On the last page, the HK edition shows slightly more of the original art on the right edge. (This could just happen to be the US edition copy I picked up was cut that way, cannot be confirmed until more copies are examined):
Print quality comparison:
After going through both editions, I also noticed difference in inner page print quality. The HK edition shows more details, has pure white and deep black, which makes the art looks more crisp and sharp; while the US edition feels less elevated but with better color tones. My guess is the different paper stocks used made the difference:
Update 2021.04 - CGC Grading
This book has now been authenticated and graded by CGC, more details in:
Pt. 7: The CGC Journey
