So much of the first season of X-Men '97 was centered on Magneto and Cyclops, and their families. So it comes as no surprise that the second season will introduce Scott's brother, Havok, and Magneto's daughter, Polaris (who also happen to be a couple). Beau DeMayo recently confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that the mutant couple would appear in Season 2 of X-Men '97 (along with Warlock).
Let's take a closer look at the first appearances of Polaris and Havok in X-Men #50 and #58.
The market values the first cover appearance of Havok in X-Men #58 more than his first appearance and origin in X-Men #54.
The most important commonality between the first appearances of Havok and Polaris in X-Men is the great artwork from both Jim Steranko and Neal Adams. Adams' masterful artwork during his brief run on the series began in May 1969. When Adams began freelancing for Marvel, the X-Men series was on the verge of cancellation. While Adams wasn't ultimately able to save the series, he produced some of the most memorable work including X-Men #58 which includes the first appearance of Alex Summers as Havok in costume (and first cover appearance).
Alex Summers' first appearance and origin is actually in X-Men #54, but the market has placed a much higher value on his first appearance in costume in X-Men #58 (see, e.g., the FMV of a CGC 9.6 copy of X-Men #54 is roughly $1,100; the FMV of a 9.6 copy of X-Men #58 is $4,300). This is in large part due to Neal Adams' masterful cover which prominently features Havok and the signature white circles on his chest which expand as his powers charge.
If you take a closer look at the most common grade on the CGC Census (a 7.5), the value of this issue has dropped precipitously since reaching an all-time high of $550 in May 2022. Today, the FMV of a 7.5 is only $210 which is significantly less than its 90 day average of $255.
At the same time, the FMV of a 7.5 is still above its pre-pandemic value which fell in the $150 to $200 range. In my opinion, after a two-year long correction, this book's value is probably roughly where it should be today.
The 30-day sales average for X-Men #50 is the same as its one-year average.
Like X-Men #58, X-Men #50, which includes the first appearance of Polaris, also has a beautiful cover drawn by another famous artist, Jim Steranko. In my opinion, it is one of the most iconic covers during the Silver Age X-Men run.
The first appearance of Polaris has done a better job of holding onto its value than X-Men #58. These two issues in their most common grades on the CGC Census (a 7.0 and a 7.5) had roughly the same market value (i.e., $150 to $200 range) just prior to the pandemic. A 7.0 copy of X-Men #58 reached its all-time high of $600 in September 2021. Like most comic books, this issue then entered a long-running bear market reaching a three-year low of $233 in June 2024 during a one-bid auction on eBay (this buyer got a great price).
On the other hand, the $233 sale is an outlier as the one-year average sale for 7.0 is a $332. Importantly, the 30-day average is $333 indicating that this issue has held onto its value through Q4 of 2023 and throughout 2024. This is impressive considering that many comics have continued to lose value throughout 2024 thus far.
