Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 8/79 · NEWSSTAND
UNIT ECA-009274
JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS #15
Bronze Age Marvel adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom saga
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | August 1979 | Bronze | Newsstand | — | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or color breaks. Spine appears tight with no stress lines visible in this image. Minor handling wear may be present but not detectable at photo resolution; interior and back cover were not assessed.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $2 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $8 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $25 |
// Archive commentary
John Carter, Warlord of Mars #15 (Marvel, cover-dated August 1979) is a mid-run installment of Marvel's licensed comic adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels, a series that launched in 1977 as part of Marvel's push into licensed prose-derived properties during the Bronze Age. The issue continues the ongoing adventures of Earthman John Carter on Mars, with a plot centered on a Martian inventor's scheme against Carter; it carries no first appearance, death, or other landmark event, and is not cited as a key issue in standard price guides.
Demand for the series is driven almost entirely by Edgar Rice Burroughs completists, Barsoom fans, and Bronze Age sci-fi/adventure collectors assembling the full 28-issue run plus annuals, rather than by speculators chasing a specific character debut. Sales data for the title consistently show it trading in the low single digits raw and in the twenties for top-graded CGC 9.8 copies, a pattern that holds steady across the surrounding issues in this run; the series' only real value outlier is issue #1, which benefits from being the origin/first-appearance issue for Marvel's John Carter. Single copies of mid-run issues like #15 rarely appear as standalone auction lots, more often surfacing bundled into complete-run offerings.
This is a book bought to complete a run rather than to chase a key, so it moves steadily but modestly: low-grade reading copies are inexpensive filler for want lists, mid-grade raw copies satisfy display-run collectors at a small premium, and CGC 9.8 slabs appeal to registry-minded Bronze Age or ERB specialists willing to pay up for census-top condition on an otherwise unassuming issue. Expect thin, infrequent single-copy sales data and pricing that tracks the rest of the series closely rather than moving independently.
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-009274 | ~9.0 | Newsstand | AVAILABLE |
INQUIRE_ABOUT_THIS_UNIT
Institutional buyers, auction houses, and private collectors — direct line to the archive.
