SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #22

Cover shown in protective sleeve appears glossy with strong color and sharp corners; no visible creases, tears, or spine stress from this angle. A faint vertical crease/wave is visible in the upper midsection of the cover under the logo, likely a minor handling wave rather than a true crease. Edges appear clean with no visible chipping. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is capped conservatively.

Superman: The Man of Steel #22 (June 1993) arrived from the ongoing creative team of writer Louise Simonson and penciler/cover artist Jon Bogdanove, during the storyline that quietly seeded one of the era's more enduring supporting characters. The issue marks the first appearance of John Henry Irons, an engineer entangled with a black-market weapons operation, months before he reforged himself as the armored hero Steel in the wake of Superman's death. Arriving in the same publishing week as Adventures of Superman #500 and amid the lead-up to "Reign of the Supermen," the book sits at the edge of one of comics' most commercially significant crossover events of the 1990s, even though its own cover makes no overt reference to that saga.

Market data for this issue is sparse, reflecting both its status as a high-print-run direct and newsstand-era book and the character's second-tier (rather than top-tier) key status relative to Superman #75 or Adventures of Superman #500. Certified sales are limited to a handful of transactions, with pristine 9.8 copies commanding a real premium over anything in the mid-9 range, a pattern consistent with a book that survives in quantity at lower grades but becomes scarce in true gem condition. Demand is driven almost entirely by completists building out Steel's origin story and by Superman