THE UNCANNY X-MEN #262

Cover shows strong gloss and vivid color with no visible fading; corners appear sharp with no whitening or blunting visible through the protective sleeve. Spine appears tight with no visible stress lines or ticks in this view, and there are no obvious creases, tears, or stains on the front cover. The book is in a plastic sleeve which limits close inspection of surface sheen; back cover and interior pages were not assessed, so grade is based solely on front cover appearance.

The Uncanny X-Men #262 (June 1990) arrives late in the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee run, as the team works through the aftermath of the Genosha storyline that had occupied the book across the preceding issues. Lee's pencils, inked by Scott Williams, give the issue the polished, dynamic house style that defined the title's late-Copper Age popularity, with a roster that includes Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Colossus, Dazzler, and Havok navigating the fallout of the mutate-slave arc. The issue is a solid representative of the Claremont/Lee collaboration rather than a landmark chapter — no first appearances, deaths, or origin material are attached to it.

Market data reflects a plentiful, well-preserved population: with 186 copies graded and 62 already at the 9.8 ceiling, the book behaves like typical late-1980s/early-1990s direct-market Marvel product, printed in high volume and heavily saved by speculators of the era. Values are essentially flat across the mid grades, only beginning to separate meaningfully at 9.6 and 9.8, where population thins and buyers pay a premium for pristine, unpressed examples. There is no meaningful scarcity story here; demand is driven almost entirely by completists building the Claremont/Lee Uncanny X-Men run rather than by any single defining moment in the issue itself.

This is a run-filler for X-Men collectors and Jim Lee art collectors rather than a speculative target. Lower and mid-grade raw copies trade for the price of a coffee and see little movement regardless of condition nuance, while the real activity sits at the CGC 9.8 tier, where high-grade specialists compete for the cleanest surviving examples. Expect steady, unspectacular demand tied to nostalgia for the Lee era and completion of the surrounding Genosha and Fall of the Mutants storylines rather than any breakout key-issue premium.