Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comiclink, drax, guardians of the galaxy, iron man, jim starlin, thanos, vintage comics

Thanos Is Still Rising: First Appearance In Iron Man 55 CGC 9.8 Hits New High With $13,025 Sale

How hot is Thanos?  When we posted about the $9000 sale of a CGC 9.8 Iron Man #55 earlier this month, I fully expected that record to stand through at least the end of 2013.

Nope.

A copy of Iron Man #55 CGC 9.8 white pages (and double cover) has just sold for $13025 at comic book auction site Comiclink.  This 1973 Marvel comic plotted byJim Starlin, scripted by Starlin and Mike Friedrich, and penciled by Starlin is the first appearance of Thanos and Drax the Destroyer.  There are 40 copies in CGC 9.8 and none higher.

It was well noted by Bronze Age marketwatchers after the $9000 copy sale that well-centered copies of this comic are particularly tough, and this $13,025 copy has that going for it too, plus a double cover — a printing "defect" (just what it sounds like, an additional cover was accidentally bound to  the comic at the printers) that many collectors find desirable.

As we mentioned last time, while Iron Man #55 has been considered an important Marvel key for quite some time, it's been a particularly good year for both Thanos and Drax — Thanos appears to be looming large over both the comic and cinematic universes, while Drax is part of a major franchise himself in Guardians of the Galaxy — and when we flagged this comic as one to watch in the Vintage Paper column of Bleeding Cool Magazine #1 last year, we noted that copies in 9.8 could be had in the $3000-3500 range at that time.

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