THE FLASH #4

Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp, well-defined corners and no visible creases or tears. There is faint spine stress near the top of the logo area and very minor rubbing at the bottom left corner tip. No fading, staining, or writing is visible on the front cover. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, and the barcode/newsstand-vs-direct indicator is obscured by the protective sleeve.

The Flash #4 (vol. 2, 1987) arrived early in DC's relaunch of the title starring Wally West, the former Kid Flash who had assumed the mantle of the Scarlet Speedster following Barry Allen's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Writer Mike Baron and artist Jackson Guice, who helmed the opening arc of this volume, used the series to explore Wally's uneasy transition into a hero less physically gifted than his predecessor, a characterization angle that distinguished the run from prior Flash stories. Issue #4 is a standard installment of that early arc rather than a first appearance or landmark storyline, and it carries no origin, death, or debut significant enough to register as a recognized key in mainstream price guides.

Market data reflects a typical late Copper Age DC title: certified population is thin, with only twelve 9.8 copies and eight at 9.6 recorded, and sales activity is sparse even at the top of the grade scale. The 9.8 fair market value sits in the $55 range with a one-year average essentially matching that figure, indicating a small but stable collector base pursuing pristine copies rather than active flipping. Below 9.6, there is effectively no meaningful raw or mid-grade sales record, which is consistent with a book that was heavily preserved in quantity at release and holds little scarcity premium outside the top census tiers.

This issue appeals mainly to Flash run completists and Wally West-era collectors assembling the Baron/Guice arc, rather than to speculative buyers chasing a key. Raw copies in low and mid grade trade for a few dollars and are readily available, while the value curve steepens sharply only at the 9.6-9.8 tier, where population is genuinely scarce and buyers are willing to pay a real premium for a top census slot. As with much of this era's output, the book functions best as an affordable series-completion piece with modest upside tied strictly to gem-mint certification.