Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 5/89 · NEWSSTAND
UNIT ECA-008737
THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #1
Debut issue of John Byrne's metafictional She-Hulk ongoing, newsstand edition
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | May 1989 | Copper | Newsstand | Not a first appearance of She-Hulk; first issue of her second ongoing series (The Sensational She-Hulk); start of John Byrne's celebrated fourth-wall-breaking writer/artist run; retells her origin; newsstand printing | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp corners and no visible creases or spine stress; slight softness at top right corner and minor edge wear near the barcode area. No color breaks or tears are visible, and the book appears to be in a protective sleeve which may slightly affect glare assessment. Interior and back cover were not assessed.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $5 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $17 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $120 |
// Archive commentary
The Sensational She-Hulk #1 launched She-Hulk's second ongoing series in May 1989, written and drawn by John Byrne, who used the book to retell her origin while breaking the fourth wall throughout the run — the character regularly addresses the reader and comments on her own comic book existence, a device that became the title's defining hook. Bob Wiacek inked, Glynis Oliver Wein colored, and the issue arrived amid Marvel's late-1980s push toward more self-aware, humor-inflected superhero storytelling. While not a first appearance, the issue is widely cited among collectors as the starting point of one of Byrne's most distinctive creator-driven runs.
Market data reflects a book produced in very large quantity, with well over 2,800 CGC Universal copies on census and more than 1,300 recorded sales across the grading spectrum. Values stay compressed and flat through the mid grades — raw and low-grade copies command only nominal prices — before rising sharply at the top of the census, where 9.8 copies trade in a consistent, well-supported range near $120 with hundreds of recorded sales and stable short- and long-term averages. This is a classic Copper Age curve: abundant supply keeps mid-grade demand modest, while pristine, page-quality copies command a real premium driven by registry and census competition rather than character or story significance.
This is a book collected primarily by She-Hulk completists, Byrne run readers, and registry-set builders chasing top-census 9.8s rather than speculators betting on character milestones. Raw and mid-grade copies remain inexpensive and plentiful, making the book an accessible read or filler piece for Copper Age Marvel collections, while the gap to a clean 9.8 slab is substantial and likely to persist given the issue's print run and the difficulty of finding surviving copies with strong page quality and centering.
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-008741 | ~9.2 | Newsstand | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-008737 | ~9.0 | Newsstand | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-008739 | ~9.0 | Newsstand | AVAILABLE |
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