*Marvel: Key issues don’t come much more key these days than Iron Man #55, wherein the cosmic arch-villain Thanos, nemesis of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, made his first appearance, the brainchild of fan favourite writer/artist Jim Starlin. Thanos has of course gone on to plague Marvel’s heroes in comics and movies ever since, but here is where it all started. This landmark issue also features the debuts of Drax the Destroyer, Mentor, Eros (later Starfox of the Avengers) and Kronos. This pence printed copy is rather nice, with brilliant colours and gloss, firmly attached staples, and supple white to off-white pages. Printed very slightly askew, with the base of the spine showing a slightly wider white edge than the top. It would grade significantly higher were it not for a faint coin-sized stain at the right edge between the logo and a Blood Brother’s head. Fortunately, this does not really detract from the cover image. There are also a couple of tiny biro letters in the price box below the ‘6p’.
PICTURED: IRON MAN #55 VG/FN p £365 SOLD