DARKHAWK #48

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creasing, spine stress, or color breaking along the spine. Edges appear clean with no chipping, and the image is bright and well-registered. The book is in a protective sleeve which may mask minor wear; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Darkhawk #48 is a late-series issue from Marvel's early-1990s street-level hero title starring Chris Powell, a teenager who transforms into the armored vigilante Darkhawk. Launched in 1991 amid the era's boom in original superhero concepts, the series ran fifty issues before cancellation in 1995, with writer Danny Fingeroth shepherding much of the run through its final chapters. Issue #48, released as a Direct Edition in February 1995, falls within the wind-down stretch of the title and carries no first appearance, origin, or landmark creative milestone; it is a standard installment of a niche but collected Marvel property.

Market data reflects a book with negligible raw-copy demand but a surprisingly resilient certified market at the top of the grade scale. The CGC 9.8 census sits at only seven copies with six recorded sales, commanding a strong premium near $180, though recent 90-day and 30-day averages have cooled to roughly a third of the one-year average, suggesting the top-grade price spike has moderated. Once grade drops below 9.8, values fall off steeply, with 9.6 copies trading around $28 and 9.2-9.4 copies in the $16-$20 range, a pattern typical of low-print, low-key-status modern comics where only near-perfect, registry-grade copies attract meaningful competition.

This is a book for Darkhawk completionists, CGC registry builders chasing full 1-50 sets, and value-oriented flippers targeting well-centered raw copies for cheap grading submissions. Mid- and low-grade raw copies move slowly and command little beyond bulk-bin pricing, since the character and issue lack crossover appeal outside the dedicated fanbase. The real action, such as it is, occurs at the 9.8 tier, where scarcity of pristine surviving copies from a low-demand direct-market print run sustains a modest but real premium over every lower grade.