GREEN LANTERN #82

Cover shows a visible vertical crease/fold line running through the lower right quarter near the figures' legs, and overall soft corners with light wear at the tips. There is mild surface wear and slight discoloration/toning to the cover paper, consistent with age, but colors remain fairly bright with no major color breaks. Spine appears to have some stress but no major ticks visible in this image; edges show minor rubbing. Interior and back cover were not assessed in this evaluation.

Green Lantern #82 is the second chapter of Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams's celebrated run recasting Green Lantern and Green Arrow as a socially conscious duo confronting real-world issues. This issue delivers the storyline's most famous beat: the revelation that Roy Harper, Green Arrow's longtime sidekick Speedy, has become addicted to heroin. The story, drawn and inked with Adams's signature naturalistic style, is routinely cited in comics history as one of the medium's earliest and most direct examinations of drug abuse, predating the Comics Code Authority's later revision on the subject and drawing mainstream press attention at the time of publication.

Market data shows a large certified population with strong sales activity across the grading spectrum, reflecting the book's enduring collector base. Pricing is relatively modest through mid grades but accelerates sharply above 9.2, with the jump from 9.2 to 9.4 more than doubling value, a pattern consistent with a Bronze Age book whose surviving high-grade population is thin relative to demand. This is characteristic of socially significant, non-first-appearance keys: values remain accessible in circulated grades but escalate quickly once a copy approaches structural perfection.

The book draws interest from both Green Lantern/Green Arrow completists and collectors focused on comics history and social commentary, giving it demand beyond typical genre superhero collecting. Lower and mid-grade copies trade steadily as affordable entries into the storyline, while top-tier CGC 9.8 examples are scarce and command outsized premiums when they surface, reflecting the gap between the book's cultural importance and its comparatively small population of pristine survivors.