DARKHAWK #40

Cover shows sharp corners, strong glossy surface, and no visible spine ticks or stress lines in this photo; color break is minimal at the spine fold. The book is in a protective sleeve which limits full assessment of edges and back cover. No creases, stains, or writing are visible on the front cover. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is capped conservatively.

Darkhawk #40 lands deep in the original 1991-1995 run, with Danny Fingeroth scripting and Tod Smith on interiors and cover, inked by Ian Akin. The issue is the third chapter of the "Amulet Quest" storyline, which pushed Chris Powell's amulet mythology toward its cosmic origins and brought back the series antagonist Evilhawk. Nothing debuts here: the character's first appearance and origin belong to Darkhawk #1, and this issue functions as a continuity building block for readers following the amulet arc to its conclusion in the final ten issues.

Market behavior follows the pattern of most post-boom Marvel mid-run material. The title was printed in large quantities, high-grade unread copies remain plentiful in dealer stock and long boxes, and demand concentrates almost entirely on the first issue and a few early appearances rather than on the back half of the run. Certification is rare because grading costs exceed the value of the book, which leaves the census shallow and makes the top of the market volatile: a slab can bring an outsized result simply because no competing copy is listed. Renewed attention to the character following his return to publication and Marvel's 30th-anniversary treatment has firmed the floor slightly without changing the fundamentals.

Buyers for this issue are run collectors completing the fifty-issue series, Fingeroth and Tod Smith completists, and 1990s Marvel specialists filling gaps ahead of the arc's finale. In lower and mid grades it trades as commodity back-issue stock, usually moving in bundles rather than individually, and grade differences below the near-mint threshold have little practical effect on price. Only at the certified high end does the book command a real premium, and that premium rests on scarcity of graded copies rather than on collector consensus, so patient acquisition raw and selective submission is the sensible approach.