MARVEL TEAM-UP #48

Cover shows good gloss overall with bright colors and a fairly square spine, but there is a visible crease/bend near the upper left edge and some minor whitening along the top edge and corners. Slight waviness to the cover suggests light handling wear rather than major stress lines. Barcode box is intact with UPC present, confirming newsstand edition. Interior and back cover were not visible in this photo and were not assessed.

Marvel Team-Up #48 (August 1976) continues the anthology-style pairing format that made the title a reliable showcase for Spider-Man crossovers throughout the 1970s. This issue teams Peter Parker with John Jameson's lycanthropic alter ego, Man-Wolf, in a story scripted by Bill Mantlo with art by Sal Buscema, both mainstays of the series during its mid-run stretch. The book reflects the era's fondness for horror-adjacent guest stars within the superhero framework, but it carries no first appearance, origin story, or other landmark distinction that would elevate it beyond a solid supporting entry in the Spider-Man team-up catalog.

Market data bears out its status as a common, collected-run book rather than a speculative target. Certified sales cluster heavily in the near-mint range, with 9.6 and 9.4 copies trading in the double digits and only the rare 9.8 pulling meaningful money, driven by a thin population of just 17 census copies at that grade against a total pool of over 100 graded examples. Demand is steady but modest, sustained mainly by Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up completists rather than character-specific key-issue buyers.

This is a book that trades on completeness of a run rather than individual desirability: raw copies in low and mid grade move cheaply and are readily available, while the market only tightens meaningfully at the top of the census. Collectors building full Marvel Team-Up sets or Sal Buscema Spider-Man runs are the primary audience, and a 9.8 slab represents a genuine census rarity worth a real premium, but buyers should not expect the cross-collector demand seen in books with an actual first appearance or origin attached.