IRON JAW #3

Cover shows strong gloss retention with vivid inks and a bright, mostly unblemished surface. Corners appear reasonably sharp with only minor blunting, and the spine shows a couple of faint stress lines near the top without significant ticks or color break. There is a slight waviness/rippling visible in the cover surface, possibly from humidity exposure, and light edge wear is present along the right border. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade could shift once fully examined.

Iron Jaw #3 is part of Atlas Comics' brief 1975 revival effort under Seaboard Periodicals, the Martin Goodman-backed line that challenged Marvel and DC for less than two years before folding. The title starred Iron Jaw, a scarred, metal-jawed mercenary antihero created by writer Michael Fleisher with art from Pat Broderick, reflecting the era's appetite for morally ambiguous, violence-forward protagonists in the wake of grim war and crime comics trends. The series ran only three issues, making the entire run scarce by nature of low print distribution and limited retailer buy-in rather than any landmark story content.

Market data reflects a low-population, low-liquidity book: census counts across all graded copies remain in the single digits per grade, with meaningful sales activity concentrated at the top end. The $140 result at 9.8 is driven almost entirely by census scarcity rather than narrative importance, as Atlas/Seaboard material in top grade is inherently hard to find given the imprint's short shelf life and lower survival rate for high-grade examples. Demand is niche, sourced mainly from Atlas/Seaboard completists and collectors chasing short-lived 1970s independent-adjacent lines rather than mainstream key-issue buyers.

This is a specialist's book: raw copies in low and mid grade trade quietly and cheaply, largely picked up as run-fillers by Atlas/Seaboard collectors, while the certified high-grade population commands outsized premiums purely due to scarcity of surviving unread copies. There is no first appearance, death, or storyline hook driving broader crossover interest, so pricing outside the top grades stays tied to general vintage-comic floor values rather than character-driven demand.