IRON MAN #289

Cover shows sharp corners and strong gloss with no visible spine stress or ticks. Slight bend/soft corner is not apparent but book is protected in a plastic sleeve which slightly obscures fine surface detail via glare. No creases, tears, or color breaks visible; edges appear clean. Interior and back cover were not assessed, and the protective sleeve limits full surface evaluation.

Iron Man #289 arrived in February 1993 as part of the ongoing Len Kaminski-scripted run, with artwork by Kevin Hopgood, during a period when the title was working through the aftermath of the Armor Wars storylines and refining Tony Stark's supporting cast and armor technology. The issue is a representative chapter of the era's Iron Man rather than a storyline with a first appearance, origin, or death attached to it, and it does not carry a cover treatment that has become a widely cited touchstone among collectors or price guides.

Market activity reflects that status: certified sales are sparse across nearly every grade tier, with single-copy transactions anchoring most of the curve and only the 9.8 population showing a meaningful sample size. Demand is driven almost entirely by Iron Man completists filling out run sets and by CGC registry participants chasing top-census slots, rather than by speculative or crossover interest tied to a key character debut. Pricing across raw grades remains modest and largely reflects paper and shipping economics rather than collector competition.

This book trades as a bulk long-box or run-filler title at the low and mid raw grades, where it holds little independent value beyond completing a collection, while the CGC 9.8 tier draws a narrow but persistent audience of registry-focused buyers willing to pay a premium for top-grade certification given the thin high-grade population. Collectors assembling a full Iron Man Volume 1 run are the primary market; standalone speculative interest is minimal, and the book's value trajectory is expected to track general modern-Marvel run-filler trends rather than any independent demand driver.