THE ILLUSTRATED WARRIOR #1

The cover, viewed through a protective sleeve, shows sharp, well-defined corners and clean edges with no visible chipping or fraying. No creases, spine stress lines, or color breaks are apparent along the visible spine edge, and the glossy surface shows no fading, staining, or writing. Small handling marks may be obscured by sleeve glare; the back cover and interior pages were not assessed, so the grade is capped conservatively.

The Illustrated Warrior #1 is the 1997 launch issue from Ultimate Creations, a small independent publisher operating in the crowded self-published boom of the mid-1990s black-and-white and creator-owned comics scene. The issue introduces the character Ultimate Warrior, whose name and visual conception place the book within the era's frequent crossover between professional wrestling personas and comic book heroics, a trend that produced numerous short-lived licensed and quasi-licensed titles during the decade. Credited work includes inking by Jim Callahan and coloring by Jonathan D. Smith, with additional contribution from letterer Richard Starkings, whose credit here reflects the widespread freelance lettering work he performed across many independent titles of the period through his Comicraft studio.

The book carries no published fair-market value in standard pricing references, a designation reserved for comics that see negligible resale demand and trade informally at or near their original cover price. This is typical of the era's glut of independent superhero launches, many of which were printed in modest quantities, sold primarily through direct-market specialty shops, and never developed a lasting collector base once the character failed to sustain an ongoing series or crossover into other media. Ultimate Warrior did not go on to appear in later Ultimate Creations output in any notable way, and the character has no meaningful presence in secondary-market wrestling-comic collecting circles, which tend to favor licensed WWF/WWE tie-ins over independent pastiches.

Collecting interest in this issue is limited to completists of 1990s independent comics, wrestling-adjacent comic ephemera collectors, and those assembling a broad survey of the era's self-published launch titles. Raw copies in any condition remain inexpensive and are usually found in dollar bins or bulk lots rather than individually listed. A certified high-grade example carries a modest premium over raw copies, driven mainly by the rarity of submission rather than any character or creator demand, and would appeal chiefly to registry-completion hobbyists rather than mainstream buyers.