The New Mutants #98, cover-dated February 1991, is the first appearance of Deadpool. Created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, the "Merc with a Mouth" began as a hired gun sent after Cable and grew into one of Marvel's biggest stars, with two hit films behind him. This issue is now one of the defining keys of the 1990s, an era better known for comics that lost their value.
The Debate: Whose First Appearance Is It?
Deadpool's claim is not in question. The argument is about who else is in it.
- Gideon. Also introduced here. A minor character, but a genuine first.
- "Domino." A woman calling herself Domino appears in this issue, and older price guides and listings often call #98 her first appearance. Later stories revealed she was an impostor: Copycat, the shapeshifter Vanessa Carlysle, posing as Domino.
- The real Domino. The actual Domino first appears in X-Force #8 (1992). So, strictly, #98 holds the first appearance of Copycat in disguise, not of Domino.
None of this changes what drives the book's value; that is Deadpool. But if a seller is charging extra for "first Domino," you now know why that's a stretch. The real Domino debut is an inexpensive book by comparison: X-Force #8 is worth about $5 raw.
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 | $250 | $363 | $979 |
| Newsstand | $282 | $449 | $2,125 |
The Newsstand copy is worth more at every grade, and more than twice as much at 9.8. By 1991 most comics were sold through comic shops, so a smaller share went to newsstands, and fewer of those copies survived in top condition. A Newsstand copy has a barcode in the corner box; a Direct copy shows artwork there instead.
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 New Mutants #98, that means telling the app which variant you own is worth the few seconds it takes: at the top grades the Newsstand value is more than double.
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 comic where grading only pays off at the top. The Direct copy rises slowly from raw to 9.4, so a mid-grade copy often isn't worth the fee. A copy that could reach 9.8 is a different story, especially a Newsstand one.
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.