The Batman Adventures #12, cover-dated September 1993, is Harley Quinn's first appearance in a comic book. It is now one of the most sought-after books of the 1990s. It is also an unusual key, because Harley did not start in comics at all.
The Debate: Can a Comic Be a First Appearance If TV Came First?
Harley Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for Batman: The Animated Series. She first appeared on screen in the episode "Joker's Favor" in September 1992, a full year before this comic. That opens a real argument among collectors.
- The case against. Her true first appearance is on television. Batman Adventures #12 is her first comic, which is a smaller claim.
- The case for. Collectors buy comics, and this is the earliest comic with Harley in it. Many famous characters debuted elsewhere, and their first comic is still treated as the key.
- The continuity wrinkle. Batman Adventures is set in the animated series' world, not the main DC Universe. Harley did not join mainstream DC continuity until Batman: Harley Quinn #1 in 1999, so that book has its own claim.
The market sided firmly with #12. Harley's rise from a one-episode sidekick to a lead in her own movies, series and comics has made her first comic one of the defining keys of its era.
What It's Worth by Variant and Grade
These are Fair Market Values from ComicValuator's market data on November 6, 2026.
| Variant | Raw | CGC 9.4 | CGC 9.8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | $350 | $601 | $1,798 |
| Newsstand | $284 | $685 | $3,295 |
Look closely and the variants trade places. Raw, the Direct copy is worth more. At 9.8, the Newsstand copy is worth nearly twice as much. Newsstand copies were handled on store racks, so few survived in top condition, and a perfect one is the rarer book. A Newsstand copy has a barcode in the corner box; a Direct copy does not.
How ComicValuator Values This Comic
Every value on ComicValuator is a Fair Market Value: an average of recent sales, drawn from PriceCharting's market data and refreshed every day for comics people track. A few things happen on top of that, and they matter for a book like this one.
- Each variant is valued on its own. Direct and Newsstand copies sell for different prices, so the app matches your copy to its own variant instead of averaging them.
- Your grade sets your value. Market data lists prices at set grades (raw, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 and so on). For a grade in between, the app draws a straight line between the two nearest prices. Where no price exists for a grade, it projects one from the shape of the grades it does have and shows that value in orange, so you always know which numbers are sales and which are estimates.
- Your history is kept. Once a comic is in your collection, its value is recorded every day, so you can watch it move with the market and see when a new movie or announcement lifts it.
For Batman Adventures #12, that variant match changes the answer depending on condition: a worn Direct copy is worth more than a worn Newsstand copy, and a near-perfect Newsstand copy is worth far more than a near-perfect Direct.
The grading recommendation is deliberately cautious. It says yes only when grading beats selling raw after the grading fee (which the graders set by the comic's declared value), and when at least three of four checks pass: the graded value still covers the raw value plus the fee even if the grade comes back lower than you hoped; the graded value beats what you paid plus the fee; there is real upside above your grade; and the possible gain outweighs the possible loss.
This is a book where the recommendation often turns on the variant. The jump from 9.4 to 9.8 is much steeper for the Newsstand copy, so the same condition can be worth grading on a Newsstand copy and not worth it on a Direct.
Search for the issue on ComicValuator to see today's values for every variant, then add your copy to get a grading recommendation based on what you paid.