WAR MACHINE #10

Cover shows strong color and gloss with sharp corners and no visible spine ticks or stress lines. Edges appear clean with no chipping, and there are no visible creases, tears, or stains on the front cover. The book is in a protective sleeve which limits ability to fully assess surface texture, and interior/back cover were not examined.

War Machine #10 closes out the title's participation in "Hands of the Mandarin," the six-part crossover that ran through Iron Man, Force Works and War Machine in late 1994 and early 1995. Scripted by Scott Benson and Len Kaminski with pencils by Geoff Senior and Kevin Hopgood, inks by Pam Eklund and color by Ariane Lenshoek, the issue puts James Rhodes alongside Force Works against the Mandarin's Avatars in Hong Kong, with the storyline continuing directly into the double-sized Iron Man conclusion. Hopgood, the artist most associated with the original War Machine armor design in Iron Man, supplies the cover. The issue contains no first appearance, origin or death, and its interest is chiefly as a component of a complete crossover run.

Market behavior matches the period: a 1994-1996 Marvel ongoing published deep into the speculation boom, printed in quantity and widely preserved. Copies circulate steadily through dealer back-issue stock and online marketplaces at or near cover, and the series as a whole draws demand almost entirely at its first issue and at the Eidolon Warwear stretch later in the run. Certified examples are scarce not because the book is rare but because grading economics rarely justify submission, so the high-grade slab market is thin and driven by registry and set builders rather than by broad demand. The Rhodes character's screen profile has lifted Iron Man #282 and War Machine #1 without meaningfully carrying mid-run issues along.

Buyers are principally crossover completists assembling "Hands of the Mandarin" in floppies, War Machine run collectors, and 1990s Marvel set builders. Low-grade copies function as reading stock and trade accordingly; mid-grade raw copies are effectively interchangeable and clear fastest bundled with adjacent issues rather than sold individually. At the top end, the practical question is submission cost against a small buyer pool, so a certified 9.8 should be priced as a convenience purchase for a collector who wants the slot filled rather than as a speculative position. Newsstand copies are the one variable worth checking, as they are materially scarcer in high grade than the direct edition.