MARVEL TEAM-UP #72

Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp corners and no visible creases or tears. Spine appears tight with no stress lines visible in this view. Minor handling wear is possible but not evident at this resolution; slight softness at bottom right corner tip is noted. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, and the book is in a protective sleeve which may obscure minor surface flaws.

Marvel Team-Up #72 (August 1978) pits Spider-Man and Iron Man against the villain Whiplash, with a supporting appearance by Jean DeWolff, later a recurring supporting character in the Spider-Man titles. Bill Mantlo scripts, with interior art by Jim Mooney; the issue's chief point of collector interest is its cover and pencils by John Byrne, inked by Bob Layton, produced during Byrne's rapid ascent toward his defining run on The Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four later that same era. The book carries no first appearances, deaths, or origin material, and its historical footprint within the broader Marvel Team-Up run is modest.

Market data reflects a title that trades almost entirely on completist and Byrne-collector demand rather than any landmark status. Census figures show a reasonably large pool of graded copies (94 total, 87 Universal) with active but thin sales activity across the grade spectrum, and pricing that stays flat and low through the mid-grades before spiking sharply at the top of the census, a pattern typical of non-key Bronze Age back issues where 9.6 and 9.8 copies command a premium purely for eye-appeal and scarcity in top holder grades rather than narrative significance. Raw mid-grade copies remain inexpensive and readily available, consistent with a common newsstand print run.

This is a book for Byrne cover-art completists, Marvel Team-Up run-builders, and Spider-Man/Iron Man crossover collectors rather than key-issue investors. Raw copies in low and mid grade trade as inexpensive filler for long-box collections and rarely see individual attention, while CGC 9.8 examples draw outsized bidding relative to the rest of the grade curve, reflecting the difficulty of finding Bronze Age newsstand copies in true gem condition rather than any inherent scarcity or importance of the issue itself.