THE THING #35

Cover shows sharp corners, strong color and gloss with no visible spine ticks or stress lines in this photo. There is a faint horizontal crease/press line visible across the upper title area (through 'THING') that may be a printing artifact or minor handling crease. The book is in a protective sleeve which limits full edge inspection; interior and back cover were not assessed.

The Thing #35 arrives late in Marvel's mid-1980s Copper Age expansion of its street-level and cosmic rosters, scripted by Mike Carlin with art by Paul Neary and Sam De La Rosa. The issue is chiefly remembered for introducing Sharon Ventura, who debuts here as the second Ms. Marvel before her later transformation into She-Thing, a lasting supporting cast member in the Fantastic Four corner of the Marvel Universe. The same issue marks the first appearance of Curtiss Jackson as the Power Broker, a name that would recur across multiple Marvel strength-augmentation storylines, and features an early outing for Dennis Dunphy, later known as D-Man, rounding out a issue dense with character-building firsts for a solo title that rarely commanded spotlight attention on its own.

Market activity reflects a book whose demand is concentrated almost entirely at the top of the census. Grades from 4 through 7.5 trade in a narrow, largely flat band around $12, indicating that raw and lower-graded copies are plentiful and carry little grade premium below near-mint. The curve steepens sharply only above 9.4, with 9.6 copies roughly tripling in value and 9.8s reaching $100 on the strength of sustained sales volume and tight recent averages, a pattern typical of a Copper Age character-first book whose long-term interest is driven by high-grade specialists and completists of the Fantastic Four/She-Thing corner rather than broad key-issue demand.

This is a collectible worth stocking primarily in top-census condition, where certified 9.8 copies see consistent turnover and price support from collectors assembling Power Broker or She-Thing origin runs. Raw and mid-grade copies remain inexpensive and easy to source, making them reasonable inventory for reading copies or budget key-issue sets, but they are unlikely to appreciate meaningfully given the depth of the census at those grades. Long-term value concentration will likely remain at the 9.6-9.8 tier, where population scarcity and steady demand from character-first collectors continue to separate this issue from ordinary mid-run Copper Age filler.