IRON MAN #284

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or color breaks; spine appears tight with no stress ticks visible in this photo. The Spider-Man 30th anniversary corner box (used in place of a barcode) confirms this as a direct edition. Book is housed in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of edge and surface wear; back cover and interior pages were not visible for grading.

Iron Man #284 arrived in September 1992 during Marvel's early-1990s output, a period when the Armored Avenger title was a steady mid-list seller supported by regular creative teams rather than any single landmark storyline. The issue is a standard chapter of the ongoing series, without a first appearance, death, or other event that price guides or collector consensus have elevated to key status. Its interest lies mainly in series completism for Iron Man readers rather than any singular historical importance.

The market data reflects this profile: a large certified population (187 Universal copies of 200 graded) with the bulk of copies clustered at 9.4 and above, and comparatively few sales recorded below 9.0. Values compress sharply as grade drops, with a wide spread between the 9.8 tier and everything beneath it, a pattern typical of high-print-run direct-market comics from this era where nice copies are common and low-grade raw copies attract almost no collector attention. Demand skews almost entirely toward top-census slabs rather than reading or mid-grade copies.

This book trades as a bulk/back-issue-bin item in low and mid grades, of interest mainly to Iron Man run-builders filling out long boxes, while the CGC 9.8 tier draws modest but persistent registry-set demand. Expect raw copies to move in dollar-bin territory regardless of stated grade below near-mint, with the real transactional activity concentrated at the top of the certified population.