MARVEL TEAM-UP #97

Cover shows strong gloss and bright, unfaded colors with sharp corners and no visible creases or spine stress lines. Slight softness may be present at the top corners but no whitening or color break is evident in this photo. The book is in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of edges; interior and back cover were not examined.

Marvel Team-Up paired its rotating cast of guest stars with Spider-Man (and occasionally other headliners) throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s, and issue #97 continues that formula by putting the Hulk and Spider-Woman together for a self-contained adventure. Steven Grant scripts the issue, with veteran artist Carmine Infantino contributing pencils and Frank Springer supplying additional art and the cover, working under the editorial oversight of Dennis O'Neil and Jim Shooter. The issue does not introduce any characters of lasting significance and features no origin, death, or other benchmark event; its interest lies chiefly in the creative team and its place within a long-running anthology series rather than in any landmark story content.

Market data shows a thin, sparsely-traded book typical of second-tier Bronze Age anthology issues. FMVs across most graded copies cluster tightly in the low-to-mid twenties regardless of grade from 6.0 up through 9.0, indicating minimal grade-driven demand outside the top of the census. Only at 9.8 does the book show a meaningful jump in value, with recorded sales activity establishing a modest but distinct premium for pristine certified copies. Overall demand is driven by series completists and Hulk or Spider-Woman guest-appearance collectors rather than broad key-issue speculation.

This is a book that trades as a common: raw copies in low and mid grades carry only nominal value and are bought mainly to fill runs, while high-grade certified copies attract a narrow but persistent pool of registry-set builders chasing census-top examples. With a relatively small total census and few 9.8s changing hands, pricing at the top end remains sensitive to individual sales rather than deep liquidity. Collectors approaching this issue should expect an easy, inexpensive acquisition in raw grades and a modest premium, but not dramatic appreciation, at the CGC 9.8 level.