Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 1/88 · DIRECT EDITION
UNIT ECA-007148
SOLO AVENGERS #2
Copper Age Hawkeye solo anthology title with a Sub-Mariner backup feature
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | January 1988 | Copper | Direct Edition | — | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and bright, unfaded colors with sharp corners and no visible creases or spine stress lines. There is minor edge wear visible along the top edge and a slight softness at the top right corner. The book is protected in a plastic sleeve which obscures fine surface detail, and the back cover and interior pages were not assessed. No barcode is visible as this appears to be the direct edition version common to 1987 Marvel titles, though a small starburst logo replaces the UPC box.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $1 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $4 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $55 |
// Archive commentary
Solo Avengers launched in 1987 as a Copper Age spotlight series pairing a lead Hawkeye story with a rotating backup feature starring a second Avenger, a format meant to give secondary team members room outside the flagship Avengers title. Issue #2 continues that structure, teaming a Hawkeye adventure with a Sub-Mariner backup, and reflects Marvel's late-1980s efforts to expand its bench of headliners into direct-market-only spinoff vehicles. The book carries no first appearance, origin, or landmark creative milestone, and its cover, while competently rendered in the house style of the period, is not cited among the era's classic images.
Market activity for the issue is thin across the board, consistent with a niche Copper Age title that was never a top seller and has limited crossover appeal beyond dedicated Hawkeye and Avengers-family completists. The certified population is small, with most grades represented by only one or two census copies, and recorded sales are scarce even at the high end. Demand is driven almost entirely by long-form Avengers team-run collectors and a modest niche of Hawkeye and Sub-Mariner character collectors filling out backup-appearance checklists, rather than by any speculative or key-issue interest.
This is a book that trades as a bulk or bargain-bin item in lower grades, picked up cheaply to round out long boxes or complete a Solo Avengers run, while mid-grade raw copies see only occasional turnover among series completists. High-grade certified copies, particularly 9.8, command a real premium relative to raw material simply due to census scarcity rather than any content-driven demand, making this a book collected primarily by Avengers-family run builders rather than speculators or character-first buyers.
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-007146 | ~9.2 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-007213 | ~9.2 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-007215 | ~9.0 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-007148 | ~8.5 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
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