ALPHA FLIGHT #24

Cover shows sharp corners and clean glossy surface with strong color and no visible fading. No spine stress lines or ticks are apparent, and edges appear free of chipping or tears. The Spider-Man head diamond logo in the lower left indicates a direct edition rather than a barcode newsstand copy. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, so grade is based solely on the visible front cover surface, which appears to be in high-grade near mint condition.

Alpha Flight #24, cover-dated July 1985, is written and drawn by series creator John Byrne and introduces Yuriko Oyama, the cybernetically enhanced adversary who would become Lady Deathstrike. Byrne had launched Alpha Flight the year before as a spin-off from his celebrated run on Uncanny X-Men, and this issue continues his exploration of the team's ties to Wolverine's past, with Oyama's debut tying directly into that mythology. The character went on to become a recurring X-Men villain and later a mainstream presence via the feature-film franchise, giving the issue lasting reference value beyond the immediate run.

Market data shows a book that trades thinly but with a pronounced premium at the top of the census: 9.6 copies have settled around the mid-teens over the past year, while the small handful of certified 9.8s command roughly six times that figure, reflecting the difficulty of finding a Copper Age direct-market title in top preservation alongside collector interest in the character's first appearance. Sales volume is low across every grade, consistent with a book that is more a target for X-Men and Alpha Flight completists than a headline investment vehicle, but the wide spread between mid-grade and 9.8 pricing signals real grade sensitivity for buyers chasing the appearance.

This is a book for X-Men-adjacent key-issue collectors, Alpha Flight run-builders, and Byrne completists rather than generalist speculators. Raw copies in lower grades remain inexpensive and are readily available, mid-grade raw copies see modest but steady demand, and the real value concentration sits in the tightly-held 9.8 population, where scarcity on the census supports outsized pricing relative to the rest of the grade curve.