Power Man #48, Marvel Comics, December 1977
Reading Dennis de Pues’ great post on the John Byrne FF run got me a bit nostalgic. I was consuming a lot of comics in the late 70s and early 80s and there was simply no escaping John Byrne. As I commented in Dennis’ post I loved Byrne’s FF run and like the rest of us I was deep into the Byrne X-Men run.
All this reminiscing about Byrne reminded me of a comic I’ve had in my “future spotlight” pile for a while.
This week I’d like to feature Power Man #48, the issue marks the 1st time Power Man and Iron Fist meet and launches a 3 issue arc that sees the title change to Power Man and Iron Fist by issue #50.
I think its important to note that Power Man #48 was written by Chris Claremont. The Claremont/Byrne tandem have been likened to the Lee/Kirby tandem of the 1960s and while a tad bit too generous their contributions to the Marvel cannon certainly merit at least a comparison.
Of course there is all the excitement about the Marvel/Netflix deal signed late last year. One of the projects announced in the deal is a Power Man and Iron Fist series.
All that aside Power Man #48 is still a book on the rise. I’ve noticed later Power Man/Iron Fist issues like #57 (New X-Men) and #66 (2nd Sabretooth) slowing down a bit on the back issue market. Power Man #48 should be passing these issues on the way up, a CGC 9.4 copy just went for $50 besting the most recent CGC 9.4 sales of both issues #57 and #66. Our issue has been climbing slowly over the last little while but it still has room to climb.
December 1977 puts Power Man #48 in the late Bronze Age, this era of books is a wellspring of new and hot must haves in comic collecting. The best part about this era is that there are a lot of great books to choose from and prices are more than reasonable (for now).
Power Man #48 is more than worthy of its new found luster. Power Man and Iron Fist have great chemistry on the comic book page, great stories have and will be written around them. The aforementioned Netflix project can only help.
I’m recommending you hunt down all 3 issues in the Byrne arc, all 3 issues are priced at $18 in the Guide but you’ll find that you can pick up #49 and 50 at about half the cost of a #48. CGC 9.6 is probably the standard for these or if you are like me you’ll settle for nice, clean, tight raw copies. You’ll then be able to boast about your high grade run of the second best #48-50 arc in Marvel history.
The 43rd edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide shows $10/$14/$18 as the 8.0/9.0/9.2 price split.
Strengths that make this comic book a good long-term investment are:
- Power Man and iron Fist meet for 1st time, go on to join forces for the rest of the run
- Very cheap Guide value as of this post
- Claremont/Byrne creative team
nice one walt. i’d say all 3 are worth collecting. 48/49/50
definitely cheap by any standard. definitely will see the characters
popularity rise with the netflix series
Real solid pick Walt. I have always liked both characters, and I think this run in general was missed by alot of readers and collecters during the X-mania of the late seventies.
Durajlija, you’re on to something! Namely, the Bronze Age! True UNDERVALUE exists ONLY in the Bronze Age! You know my suggestions, Walt – sling ’em!
I hear you Juan, I hear you loud and clear and yes you’ve sent me some strong strong picks which I’ll tap into shortly!
Life is good! But, it was better in the Bronze Age! The Marvel Bronze Age!