THE FLY #2

Cover shown in protective sleeve appears bright and glossy with sharp corners and no visible creases, spine stress, or color breaks. Slight reflective glare from the plastic sleeve obscures fine surface detail in a few areas. No stains, tears, or writing are visible on the front cover; interior and back cover were not assessed.

The Fly #2 is part of Red Circle Comics Group's 1983 attempt to relaunch Archie Comics' stable of Simon & Kirby-created Golden Age superheroes for a new decade. The Fly himself dates back to 1959, when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby introduced the character (via Archie's Radio Comics imprint) as a costumed adventurer empowered by a mystical fly-ring. This early-1980s Red Circle series was a fresh continuity restart rather than a continuation of the original numbering, aimed at capitalizing on renewed interest in the Mighty Crusaders line of characters, with Bill Mantlo credited as writer and Alex Saviuk contributing art on the title during its run.

The series was short-lived, lasting only a handful of issues before Red Circle's superhero experiment folded, and it never generated the sales or collector attention of Archie's contemporaneous Archie/Riverdale line or of Marvel and DC's flagship Bronze Age output. As a second issue in a minor, low-print-run revival of a licensed Golden Age character, it has no first-appearance significance of its own and was not a notable sales driver even during its original release. Copies surface occasionally in back-issue boxes and online lots, generally priced near cover value in the absence of any meaningful collector demand curve.

This is a book acquired by completists of the Red Circle/Mighty Crusaders line, students of the Simon-Kirby Fly character's full publishing history, or general Archie-superhero-imprint collectors rounding out a run. It is not pursued as an investment vehicle and shows little grade-sensitive price escalation until the top end of the certified population, where scarcity of graded examples (rather than demand) accounts for any premium. Most transactions occur in raw low-to-mid grade at modest prices, with slabbed high-grade copies remaining a niche interest for census-chasers rather than mainstream buyers.