ALPHA FLIGHT #28

Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp corners and no visible creasing or spine stress in this photo. Edges appear clean with no chipping, and the direct-edition Spider-Man head logo box is crisp and undamaged. The book is currently housed in a protective sleeve, which limits full inspection of edges and spine; interior pages and back cover were not assessed.

Alpha Flight #28 (November 1985, Marvel Comics) closes out John Byrne's original run as writer, penciler, and cover artist on the title he had launched from his own X-Men supporting cast. Byrne had shepherded the Canadian super-team from their debut appearances through twenty-eight issues of a distinct creative vision, and this issue marks the end of that unbroken run before the series passed to new creative hands. For collectors of Byrne's body of work, it stands as a notable bookend alongside his better-known finales on Fantastic Four and Uncanny X-Men.

The issue's market profile reflects a typical mid-run Copper Age direct edition: certified sales cluster tightly around modest values through grades 8 to 9.6, with almost no price differentiation across that span. Demand only sharpens dramatically at the CGC 9.8 tier, where a small population and steady sales activity push values well above the rest of the curve, a pattern common to direct-market books from this era that were not preserved in bulk at the time of release. There is no indication of broader crossover demand beyond Alpha Flight completists and Byrne collectors.

This is a book primarily sought by Alpha Flight series runs and John Byrne specialists rather than general key-issue investors. Raw copies in low and mid grades trade as inexpensive filler for long-box collectors, while the real action is concentrated at the 9.8 census tier, where survivors are scarce enough to command a substantial premium over every grade beneath it. Expect steady, low-volume trading rather than speculative volatility.