WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #142

Cover shows a diagonal crease running through the central figure and a couple of shorter vertical creases near the upper right corner; there is also visible spine stress with slight color break at the top and bottom of the spine. Corners show mild blunting, especially bottom left and right, with light edge wear along the borders. Book is housed in a protective sleeve which limits assessment; the back cover and interior were not visible for grading. Colors remain bright and inks are unfaded, with no major stains or tears observed.

World's Finest Comics #142 (DC Comics, June 1964) is best known among Superman and Batman collectors as the first appearance of Composite Superman, a villain assembled from the combined powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and pitted against the title's heroic duo. Scripted in the era's typical Edmond Hamilton house style with art credited to the World's Finest team of the period, the issue reflects the title's long-running formula of pairing Superman and Batman (with Robin) in single book-length adventures, a format that made the series a steady mid-list seller through the early-to-mid 1960s.

Market data shows the book trading as a modestly demanded Silver Age title rather than a blue-chip key: certified sales cluster in the $75-$300 range through the bulk of the grading spectrum, with a pronounced jump only at the top of the census, where 9.6 copies have sold near $850. That gap reflects both genuine scarcity at the highest grades and the collector premium attached to a recognized first appearance, even one of a secondary villain rather than a lead hero. The absence of any 9.8 or higher certified copy adds a rarity dimension that supports further appreciation at the extreme high end whenever a copy of that grade surfaces.

This issue draws a mixed buyer base: Superman and Batman completists chasing team-up runs, Legion of Super-Heroes historians tracking the character's derivative villains, and grade-chasers targeting the thin top of the census. Lower and mid-grade copies remain accessible and trade steadily as reading and reference copies within long World's Finest runs, while high-grade and top-census examples command outsized premiums reflecting both condition rarity and the book's status as a recognized, if second-tier, key.