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Green Lantern #59 front cover
~6.5 AI-Estimated
Approximate
Condition Profile
GREEN LANTERN #59
DC COMICS · 3/68
UNIT ECA-007760

GREEN LANTERN #59

First appearance of Guy Gardner

Key Issue SIG 8/10 Available

// Unit specification

PublisherCover dateEraVariantKey attributeStatus
DC Comics March 1968 Silver First appearance of Guy Gardner AVAILABLE

// Copies in archive

UnitGradeVariantStatus
ECA-007762 ~7.0 AVAILABLE
ECA-007760 ~6.5 AVAILABLE
ECA-007764 ~5.0 AVAILABLE

// Run position

// Condition analysis

⚠ AI-Estimated / Approximate Condition Profile

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a well-read Silver Age book: visible corner softness at the top left and bottom corners, light surface scuffing and a faint crease line through the lower right quadrant, and some minor edge wear along the left spine area. Colors remain bright and the book sits in a protective sleeve, which limits visibility of finer defects like spine ticks or stress lines. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, and the plastic sleeve introduces some glare that could obscure minor surface flaws.

// Valuation — market reference

⚠ AI-Estimated values — approximate, not an appraisal
BracketGradeEst. market valueMarker
LOW_RAW 0.5 – 1.5 $76
MID_RAW 4.0 – 6.0 $234
HIGH_CERT 9.8 SLAB $30,000

// Archive commentary

Green Lantern #59 (DC Comics, cover-dated March 1968) is written by John Broome with art by Gil Kane and inks by Sid Greene, closing out the celebrated Broome/Kane run that defined the Hal Jordan era. The issue's lasting significance rests on a single introduction: Guy Gardner, presented here as a Green Lantern candidate and eventual rival to Hal Jordan, a character who would go on to become one of DC's most recognizable Green Lantern Corps members and a founding-era fixture of Justice League International in the 1980s.

The FMV curve for this issue shows the classic profile of a mid-tier Silver Age key: raw grades from About Good through Fine hold modest, steady values reflecting a reasonably large surviving population, while the market accelerates sharply at the high end. The jump from 9.6 to 9.8 is disproportionate to the rest of the curve, driven by the extreme scarcity of pristine survivors — only a handful of copies occupy the top of the census against nearly two thousand graded overall. That imbalance signals demand concentrated among collectors chasing condition census copies of a recognized first appearance rather than casual readers of the underlying Hal Jordan storyline.

The book is a staple for Silver Age Green Lantern run collectors, key-issue investors building first-appearance sets, and the wider base of Guy Gardner and Justice League International fans who trace the character back to his debut. Lower and mid-grade raw copies move steadily as affordable entry points into the key, while high-grade certified copies, particularly those approaching or achieving 9.8, trade as centerpiece pieces commanding a premium far out of proportion to the rest of the grade scale.

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