A one-of-a-kind, PSA-graded 7.0 copy of Flash Comics #86 — the 1947 issue that introduced Black Canary — is heading to the auction block at Goldin, turning an already legendary Golden Age key into a true unicorn for DC diehards. As first reported by ComicBook.com, this is currently the only PSA 7.0 of the book on record, making it a singular prize in a market where most collectors will never even see a copy in person, let alone one in solid mid-grade condition.
Black Canary’s first appearance sits in an unusual spot in DC history: she debuts quietly in a six-page backup feature in Flash Comics #86, rather than in the headliner story or even on the cover, which instead spotlights the Flash battling a “Stone Age Menace” T. rex. Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino, the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake, entered the DC Universe in August 1947 as part of the long-running Johnny Thunder strip, not as a marquee star. That low-key launch is part of the book’s mystique: an unheralded backup character who would go on to become one of DC’s most enduring heroines, from the Justice Society to the Justice League and later the Birds of Prey.
The story that introduced her is far from a straightforward superhero debut. In her first outing, Black Canary arrives as a mysterious masked woman who appears to be a thief, manipulating Johnny Thunder into helping her pull off a heist before it’s revealed that she steals exclusively from criminals. She wears a noir-inflected ensemble — mask, blonde wig, black jacket and fishnets — and fights using agility and martial-arts prowess rather than superpowers, years before the famous Canary Cry became part of her arsenal. That morally gray, street-level angle made her feel more like a pulp femme fatale than a costumed do-gooder, which likely contributed to her immediate popularity and quick elevation from guest star to recurring headliner.
Within a year of that debut, Black Canary muscled Johnny Thunder out of his own strip, effectively taking over his feature in Flash Comics as readers gravitated toward her sharper, more stylish brand of heroism. She soon joined the Justice Society of America in the late 1940s, one of the few women to sit on the roster of comics’ first superhero team during the Golden Age. Decades of retcons and legacy twists would follow — including the introduction of her daughter/successor, Dinah Laurel Lance, in the late 1960s — but the throughline from that 1947 backup to her modern status as a core DC icon has remained remarkably intact.
All of that narrative weight rests on a comic that is brutally scarce. Golden Age issues like Flash Comics #86 were printed on fragile newsprint, circulated to kids, and rarely preserved, and far fewer copies survived than Silver Age keys such as Amazing Fantasy #15. GoCollect’s market analysis notes that there are only 66 copies of Flash Comics #86 on the CGC census, underlining how rarely the book surfaces in any graded condition, let alone in the mid-to-high grades coveted by investment-minded collectors. Bleeding Cool has likewise described Flash Comics #86 and #92 (her first solo feature) as “rare and elusive,” pointing out that Black Canary’s unassuming arrival in a Johnny Thunder story helped keep the books under the radar for decades, even as her profile skyrocketed.
That context is what makes this PSA 7.0 example so intriguing. While CGC has long dominated comic grading and census tracking, PSA is best known in the trading-card world and has a much smaller comic register, so a single copy at 7.0 effectively defines the top of the PSA population for this key. For collectors who build competitive registries, owning the lone copy at that grade is the kind of bragging right that can push bidding well beyond typical market comparisons for the same numerical grade in a more crowded census. Coupled with growing interest in Golden Age heroines and the character’s ongoing presence across comics and screen adaptations, the Goldin sale positions this lone PSA 7.0 Flash Comics #86 as the kind of DC grail that not only changes one collection, but could reset how the market values Black Canary’s criminally underappreciated first flight.
