THE SAVAGE SHE-HULK #9

Cover is bright and glossy with strong color and no visible fading; the barcode/newsstand box is intact confirming newsstand edition. There is a noticeable vertical crease/line running through the upper-mid cover through the logo area, along with a couple of minor surface scuffs near the top staple line. Corners appear sharp with only slight blunting, and edges show minimal wear. The comic is in a protective sleeve, which obscures fine surface texture; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Cover-dated October 1980, the ninth issue of Marvel's first She-Hulk title carries "The Power of the Word," written by David Anthony Kraft with interior pencils by Mike Vosburg and a cover by Michael Golden. The story opens the two-part arc concluded the following month, pitting Jennifer Walters against a cult leader called the Word and his strength-augmenting daughter Ultima, both making their first appearance here. The series itself was created to secure Marvel's trademark on a female Hulk analogue, and its early run has drawn steady attention since Jennifer Walters became a fixture of the Avengers and Fantastic Four in the decade that followed.

Market-wise this is a run book rather than a key. Ultima and the Word never developed a following, so demand rests on set builders completing the twenty-five-issue series, on Michael Golden cover collectors, and on the broader She-Hulk readership that expanded around the character's 2022 television appearance. Nearly all attention within the title concentrates on the first issue, and mid-run issues change hands quietly through dealer back-issue bins and bulk lots rather than through auction houses. Certified copies are uncommon simply because few submitters find the economics worthwhile, which keeps the top of the census thin and makes high-grade slabs trade unevenly when they do surface.

Buyers divide cleanly. Raw copies move to run collectors and to readers assembling the original series, where presentation matters more than precise grade and where the spread between a well-worn copy and a solid mid-grade one is narrow. Certified 9.8 examples appeal to a different and much smaller group: registry-minded She-Hulk specialists and Golden cover completists, who pay a substantial multiple over raw largely because supply at that tier is limited rather than because of story content. Between those poles the market is soft, and copies in the 7.0 to 9.2 range are best sold raw. As a newsstand copy, this is the standard 1980 distribution format for the title and commands no premium over the direct edition.