TARZAN LORD OF THE JUNGLE #9

Visible defects include noticeable surface creasing and waviness across the cover (particularly through the upper right and central logo/snake area), a soft crease line running diagonally through the artwork, and slight corner wear at the bottom corners. Colors remain bright with no major fading or staining, and there is no significant spine roll visible, though the cover surface shows a somewhat rippled texture suggesting past moisture exposure or pressure. The book is in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of edges; interior pages and back cover were not visible for grading.

Tarzan Lord of the Jungle #9 is part of Marvel's late-1970s licensed adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's jungle lord, produced under writer Roy Thomas with pencils by John Buscema, the creative team responsible for the bulk of the series' 1977-1979 run. The book arrived at a moment when Marvel was expanding its stable of licensed properties alongside Star Wars and Conan, positioning Tarzan as a prestige adaptation drawing on Burroughs's original prose rather than introducing new company-owned characters, which places its historical interest in the Thomas/Buscema creative pairing and Marvel's ERB license rather than in any first appearance, origin, or death within the issue.

Market demand for this title tracks the broader secondary tier of Bronze Age Marvel licensed comics: steady interest from Edgar Rice Burroughs completists, Buscema art collectors, and Tarzan media fans, but without the crossover pull that drives prices for mainstream superhero keys of the same period. Newsstand copies of the series turn up regularly in the raw market, and grade for grade they trade close to cover price at the low end, with modest premiums for well-preserved mid-grade examples carrying Buscema's clean figure work. High-grade certified copies are comparatively scarce, since newsstand distribution of the era produced fewer pristine survivors, giving a floor of support for 9.8 examples even though transaction volume at that grade is thin.

This issue suits dealer inventory as a value-priced Bronze Age filler for ERB and jungle-adventure collectors rather than a headline lot; raw copies move steadily at modest prices to complete-run buyers, while a certified 9.8 would appeal to registry-minded Buscema or Tarzan specialists willing to pay a premium for census scarcity rather than for any recognized key status.