THE FLASH #130

This 1962 pre-direct/newsstand-split issue shows heavy wear typical of a well-read Silver Age book: extensive spine roll and stress with multiple color-breaking ticks along the entire spine length, a distinct tear/split at the lower spine area with visible fraying, and rounded/worn corners on the top right and bottom edges. There is significant surface creasing across the cover, granular soiling along the edges, and a piece of tape or adhesive residue visible in the mid-spine region. The cover gloss is largely lost and there's noticeable edge chipping along the right border. Interior and back cover were not assessed from this photo.

The Flash #130 arrived during the height of John Broome and Carmine Infantino's defining run on the Silver Age Flash, the title that had relaunched the character and helped ignite the era's superhero revival. Infantino's clean, kinetic linework and Broome's science-forward plotting were the house style for Barry Allen's adventures throughout this period, and this issue is a representative example of that creative partnership rather than a landmark first appearance or origin story. It sits comfortably within a run collectors pursue as a complete body of work rather than for a single spotlighted event.

Market data shows a typical Silver Age back-issue curve: values stay flat and modest across the low-to-mid grades, with the bulk of certified copies clustering in the 4.0 to 8.5 range at prices under $200, before spiking sharply once a copy crosses into the low 9s and especially at 9.4, where scarcity on the census (only a handful of copies) drives a substantial premium. That steep grade-to-price jump reflects how few high-grade survivors exist for a fifty-plus-year-old newsstand comic, and it is consistent with demand patterns seen across the wider Flash Silver Age run, where condition scarcity rather than character or story rarity is the primary value driver.

This issue trades as a fill-in for Flash Silver Age run collectors and Infantino/Broome completists rather than as a marquee investment piece. Raw copies in low and mid grades are affordable and readily available, making the book accessible to entry-level Silver Age buyers, while high-grade certified examples command outsized prices purely on condition census scarcity. Absent any 9.6 or 9.8 certified copies to date, a top-graded example would likely set a new benchmark price if one were ever submitted, but current demand is driven by grade completists rather than character-specific key-issue buyers.