BLACK PANTHER #4

Cover shows strong gloss and vivid color with sharp corners and a mostly tight spine; no visible spine ticks or color breaks. There is a faint diagonal crease/scuff in the red field above the Panther's head and minor surface handling wear near the top edge. The book is in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of edges; interior and back cover were not examined.

Black Panther #4 (July 1977) arrives during the celebrated stretch of Jack Kirby's return to Marvel in which he wrote, drew, and edited the character's first ongoing solo title. This issue continues the King Solomon's Frog storyline, pitting T'Challa against the scheming Princess Zanda, the grotesque Abner Little, and the mercenary Silas Mourner, with Frank Giacoia inking Kirby's pencils over a cover the two co-created. The book is representative of Kirby's idiosyncratic late-1970s style — pulpy adventure plotting, unconventional villains, and dense visual invention — rather than a landmark origin or first-appearance issue.

Market data shows a large certified population (369 Universal copies across 378 total graded) with sales concentrated in the low-to-mid grades and a long tail of high-grade copies commanding a sharp premium. FMV is essentially flat across 7.0–9.4 in the $30–$60 range, reflecting ready raw and mid-grade supply, before jumping meaningfully at 9.6 and again at 9.8, where scarcity of true Gemint-quality survivors and steady collector demand for Kirby's Black Panther work push value well above the mid-grade plateau. Demand is driven primarily by Kirby completists and Black Panther character collectors rather than speculative key-issue buying.

This is a book that trades as a solid supporting piece in a Kirby or Black Panther Bronze Age run rather than a headline acquisition. Low- and mid-grade raw copies remain inexpensive and plentiful, suited to readers and set-builders, while high-grade 9.6–9.8 slabs draw a smaller but committed pool of grade-focused collectors willing to pay a real premium for census-topping examples. Expect steady, unspectacular movement across most grades with occasional spikes at the top of the census.