SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #134

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a mid-grade copy: visible spine stress lines and a couple of small ticks along the spine, mild corner blunting at top left, and a faint vertical crease running through the lower portion of the cover. Slight surface wear/rubbing is visible especially near the edges, with no major tears or color breaks evident. The book is in a protective sleeve, which limits close inspection of edges; interior pages and back cover were not assessed.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 marks Jack Kirby's arrival at DC after leaving Marvel, and with it the launch of his Fourth World mythology. This issue introduces Darkseid, lord of Apokolips, in what would become one of comics' most enduring supervillain concepts, alongside early appearances of the Project Cadmus setting and the Newsboy Legion characters Kirby had revived from his own Golden Age work. Kirby wrote, drew, and edited the issue, taking over an existing Superman family title and repurposing it as a vehicle for his new cosmic war between New Genesis and Apokolips.

Market data shows a book with broad census population at low-to-mid grades but a sharp value cliff at the top end: prices hold in the low hundreds through 9.0-9.4, then escalate rapidly at 9.6 and again at 9.8, where certified sales are comparatively scarce against the overall graded population of over 2,300 copies. This pattern is typical of a widely-owned Bronze Age key where most surviving copies show handling from being read and passed around, leaving true gem-mint examples disproportionately rare and contested among high-grade Kirby and Darkseid completists. Demand is driven less by Superman or Jimmy Olsen collectors and more by those building runs of Kirby's DC work or assembling first appearances of major DC villains.

Lower and mid-grade copies remain accessible entry points for readers and Fourth World completists, trading steadily in the double digits to low hundreds of dollars. The real premium sits at the CGC 9.8 tier, where the book competes with other landmark 1970s first appearances for investment-grade attention; buyers here are typically registry-focused collectors and Kirby specialists rather than casual Superman fans. Given the character's growing prominence in film and media, sustained or increasing demand at the top of the grade curve is a reasonable expectation, while mid- and low-grade pricing should stay comparatively stable and driven by reader demand.