New Mutants #98 is CGC’s Featured Comic of the Month for May

These copies of New Mutants #98 were sold for $1,493 in 2015 (left) and $262 in 2017. Click images to enlarge. (Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions)

Name of comic: New Mutants #98

Comic publisher: Marvel Comics

Date: February 1991

Variants: Australia (May 1991)

What makes it special? A spin-off of the X-Men franchise, the New Mutants series has had three incarnations: the first 100 issues ran from 1983 to 1991. (It was revived in 2003-2004, and again from 2009-2012.) The first appearance of Deadpool in comics was at center stage of the cover of New Mutants #98, in which he debuts as a supervillain. The character with super-regenerating abilities later appears as an anti-hero in the X-Force series, which picked up where the original run of the New Mutants left off in 1991.

Why is it interesting now? The movie “Deadpool 2” is being released in mid-May, a sequel to the 2016 film, which was a box office success. (It is the US’ second-highest grossing R-rated film of all-time, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.)

Did you know? Ryan Reynolds, who portrays Deadpool in the movies, had previously starred as the title character in the 2011 dud “Green Lantern.” Reynolds will get top billing again next in a decidedly different genre, as the voice of “Detective Pikachu” in that film adaptation.

Total graded by CGC: CGC has graded 14,488 copies of this book (including 9 of its Australia variant), as of April 10, 2018. Eighteen percent of them have Signature Series labels.

CGC median grade: The median grade for these books is Near Mint 9.4

CGC highest graded: CGC has graded 1 copy as Mint 10.0, and 12 (including one with a Signature Series label) as Mint 9.9.

Sales highlights: A CGC 9.8 (in a Signature Series label with the signatures of Stan Lee and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld) was sold by Heritage Auctions in February 2015 for $1,493. A CGC 9.2 sold in November 2017 for $262, while a CGC 9.6 sold in April 2018 for $442.

CGC Comics Registry Champion: A set named “Where X-Force Begins” by “kaholo1256” is the champion of the New Mutants #85-#100 Liefeld set, all in CGC 9.8, most of them with Signature Series labels and Liefeld signatures. This particular set has won Best in Set Type in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and also won a Best Set: Modern Age award in 2015. See this and other collections in the CGC Comics Registry.

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