IRON MAN #230

Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp corners and no visible creases or spine stress; the Spider-Man head replacing the barcode confirms direct edition. Minor handling wear may be present but not visible through the protective sleeve, and no color breaking or edge chipping is apparent. Book is in a plastic sleeve which may slightly obscure fine surface detail; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Iron Man #230 (Marvel Comics, cover-dated May 1988) is a middle chapter of the acclaimed "Armor Wars" arc, written by David Michelinie with art credited to Bob Layton and Mark D. Bright, in which Tony Stark discovers that his proprietary armor technology has been stolen and reverse-engineered by rival forces and foreign agents, prompting him to systematically hunt down and disable every unauthorized suit. The storyline, spanning roughly issues #225 through #232, is remembered as one of the more character-driven and consequential Iron Man sagas of the 1980s, exploring themes of intellectual property, personal responsibility, and Stark's escalating moral compromises, and it has influenced later Marvel comics and screen adaptations that borrowed the premise of stolen or duplicated armor technology.

Market activity for this issue reflects its status as a solid but non-key chapter within a well-regarded run rather than a book driven by first-appearance or milestone demand. The CGC population is modest, with only 66 total graded copies and a thin sales history concentrated in the higher grades, where a small pool of 9.6 and 9.8 copies command a meaningful premium over the handful of raw or mid-grade sales seen in the wider market. Demand is driven primarily by Iron Man run collectors and readers assembling the complete Armor Wars arc rather than by speculative key-issue buyers, keeping raw-copy prices modest across most grades.

This issue collects best as part of a run rather than as a standalone investment piece; low- and mid-grade raw copies are readily available and inexpensive, appealing mainly to reading collectors and Iron Man completists filling out the Armor Wars sequence. High-grade CGC 9.8 copies, by contrast, are scarce relative to typical Copper Age output and draw registry-focused buyers willing to pay a substantial premium for top-census condition, creating a pronounced value gap between raw and slabbed near-perfect copies that is common for well-regarded but non-key late-1980s Marvel issues.