JOHN STEWART · LANTERNS (HBO)
Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #87
CGC 8.5 VF+ · Universal · DC Comics, 1971
A first appearance.
A long TV buildup.
A late-cycle price move.
Green Lantern #87 is John Stewart's first appearance. This study tracks CGC 8.5 Universal sales through the development, casting, marketing and launch of HBO's Lanterns, while treating other Green Lantern characters and unrelated films as outside the attribution scope.
01 / THE STUDY TIMELINE
The clearest lift arrived near launch.
55 recorded sales from 2022 through capture, eight Lanterns milestones, and quarterly medians chosen because individual months and event windows are sparse.
Dots retain recorded sale dates. Quarterly medians sit at the quarter midpoint; connecting lines do not estimate daily prices. Empty periods break the line. Bars show recorded transactions per period. Q3 2026 is partial through September 15; capture date September 16. Scroll horizontally on smaller screens.
Aug 2022–Jan 2023 median; includes Jan. 31 event day9 sales
Jul 1–Sep 15, 2026 partial-quarter median5 sales
Aug 17–Sep 15, 2026 median4 sales
12 sales through September 1512 sales
WHAT THE SALES SHOW
The announcement bump was visible.
The long buildup was not a straight climb.
Around the January 31, 2023 Lanterns announcement, the 90-day median rose from $725 across 7 sales to $900 across 3 sales, or +24.1%. The smaller after-sample makes that directional rather than conclusive. The broader August 2022–January 2023 baseline median was $733 across 9 sales.
Prices then softened during the production buildup. The 2024 annual average was $611 and the 2025 average was $604. Around the February 2025 production start and first image, the 90-day median moved from $525 (3 sales) to $617 (3). Around the March 2026 first teaser it moved from $512 (3) to $650 (3). Both comparisons are below the preferred sample size.
The strongest recent pattern appears in the launch quarter. Q1 2026 had a $581 median (4 sales), Q2 $625 (3), and partial Q3 $715 (5). The four recorded sales after the August 16 premiere have a $754 median. Those sales—$675, $715, $800 and $793—are higher as a group than the two sales in the preceding 90 days, whose median was $603.50.
02 / CATALYST BY CATALYST
What changed around each event?
Median prices and recorded volumes in the 90 calendar days before and after each date. Event-day sales are excluded. Overlapping windows are not independent effects.
| Milestone | Before median | After median | Price change | Volume change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 DC Studios announces Lanterns ↗2023-01-31 | $7257 sales | $9003 sales · very small sample | +24.1% | -57.1% |
2 | $5856 sales | N/A0 sales · very small sample | N/A | -100.0% |
3 Aaron Pierre cast as John Stewart ↗2024-10-09 | N/A0 sales · very small sample | $6754 sales · very small sample | N/A | N/A |
4 | $5253 sales · very small sample | $6173 sales · very small sample | +17.5% | 0.0% |
5 HBO Max releases first Lanterns teaser ↗2026-03-04 | $5123 sales · very small sample | $6503 sales · very small sample | +27.0% | 0.0% |
6 HBO Max releases second teaser ↗2026-05-18 | $6104 sales · very small sample | $603.502 sales · very small sample | -1.1% | -50.0% |
7 Official trailer released at SDCC ↗2026-07-24 | $603.502 sales · very small sample | $7544 sales · very small sample | +24.9% | +100.0% |
8 Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max ↗2026-08-16 | $603.502 sales · very small sample | $7544 sales · very small sample | +24.9% | +100.0% |
Samples below five transactions are flagged. Percentage changes are descriptive and do not establish causation. Trading is too sparse for reliable monthly medians or consistent 30-day event comparisons. From 2023 through capture, several months have no sale; the June 2024 greenlight and October 2024 casting have zero sales on one side even at 90 days. Quarterly medians and 90-day windows preserve available timing while explicitly flagging sparse comparisons. Thirty-day sensitivity is retained in the generated analysis.
03 / THE LONG VIEW
The TV cycle follows an earlier collectibles peak.
All 160 lifetime GPA transactions were captured and reconciled. The annual average reached $973 in 2021 before the 2023 Lanterns announcement, then fell to $800 in 2022, $758 in 2023, $611 in 2024 and $604 in 2025. Partial 2026 has recovered to $641. That earlier peak is important: the show did not create the book's all-time high price environment.
Annual averages reproduce GPA’s rounded summaries and differ from the medians above. The capture year is partial.
John Stewart has other catalysts.
DC announced a John Stewart-focused publishing initiative before Lanterns, and Green Lantern: War Journal #1 went on sale September 19, 2023. In November 2024, DC also unveiled a John Stewart statue while explicitly mentioning his upcoming live-action debut. These can reinforce character awareness independently of a single HBO milestone.
Immediately before the series premiere, DC's August 13, 2026 official reading guide specifically identified Green Lantern #87 as John Stewart's first appearance and origin. That is unusually direct promotion of the exact collectible measured here, but it overlaps the premiere window and cannot be separated from it with four sales.
RESEARCH NOTES
Traceable data.
Defined comparisons.
Recorded transactions, documented exclusions, and sourced events.
Capture audit
GPAnalysis ↗ · 160 captured rows · 160 eligible rows · 58 plotted rows. Capture scope: lifetime. Individual transactions cover every annual summary displayed in the selected GPA category through the September 16, 2026 capture. GPA displayed no 2004 annual row.
Method selection
Trading is too sparse for reliable monthly medians or consistent 30-day event comparisons. From 2023 through capture, several months have no sale; the June 2024 greenlight and October 2024 casting have zero sales on one side even at 90 days. Quarterly medians and 90-day windows preserve available timing while explicitly flagging sparse comparisons. Thirty-day sensitivity is retained in the generated analysis.
Identity and scope
DC identifies Green Lantern #87 as John Stewart's first appearance. The selected GPA category is the standard CGC 8.5 Universal row supplied by the user. The capture contains every annual row displayed from 2002 through September 15, 2026; GPA displayed no 2004 annual summary. All 160 dated transactions reconcile to their annual counts, with no within-category exclusions. Repeated certificates remain separate transactions.
What this study measures
The media hypothesis is intentionally narrow: whether recorded values for John Stewart's first appearance changed during HBO's Lanterns cycle. Hal Jordan is a co-lead in the series, but this study does not treat his first appearance or other Lantern keys as the subject. It also does not attribute changes to Superman (2025) or the 2011 Green Lantern film. Those broader franchise effects cannot be fully removed from market behavior, so the analysis uses association language rather than isolated-effect claims.
Calculation
Quarterly medians pool individual GPA sales; empty quarters break the line. Event comparisons use 90 days before and after each date, excluding event-day sales. Thirty-day sensitivity is retained because the workflow requires it when 90 days are chosen. Many event sides remain below five sales and are flagged. The baseline pools August 1, 2022 through January 31, 2023, the six complete months immediately preceding announcement day. The after-premiere window begins August 17 and ends at the September 16 capture. Prices are nominal GPA-displayed dollars with no inflation, fee, currency or broad-market adjustment. Transaction counts are not unique-copy counts.
Confounders and incomplete follow-up
John Stewart publishing activity overlaps the screen cycle, including Green Lantern: War Journal. DC's pre-premiere reading guide directly promoted #87. Broader comics-market conditions are uncontrolled. The series premiered August 16, 2026 and the last captured sale is September 15, so the post-premiere period is only one month and cannot establish persistence.
Historical event sources
- DC: DC Studios announces Lanterns2023-01-31 · DC Studios announces the live-action HBO Max series as a John Stewart and Hal Jordan story. This study attributes relevance specifically to John Stewart, whose first appearance is the measured issue.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: HBO gives Lanterns an eight-episode order2024-06-25 · Straight-to-series order. HBO's logline identifies John Stewart as the new recruit alongside Hal Jordan. No recorded sale occurs in the following 90 days.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: Aaron Pierre cast as John Stewart2024-10-09 · John-specific casting milestone. No recorded sale occurs in the preceding 90 days, preventing a before/after percentage comparison.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: Production begins; first image released2025-02-27 · HBO announces production and releases the first image. The 90-day comparison remains sparse.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: HBO Max releases first Lanterns teaser2026-03-04 · First official teaser, featuring Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Only three recorded sales fall on each side of the 90-day comparison.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: HBO Max releases second teaser2026-05-18 · Second official teaser. Its 90-day window overlaps the March teaser and later trailer cycle.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: Official trailer released at SDCC2026-07-24 · Official trailer released during San Diego Comic-Con. The 90-day post-window is truncated by the September 16 data capture.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max2026-08-16 · Series premiere. DC promoted Green Lantern #87 as John Stewart's first appearance immediately before launch. The post-premiere sample contains four recorded sales through capture.
Prices are nominal GPA-displayed dollars, not inflation-adjusted. Fees, currency normalization, and individual listings have not been independently audited. Counts are recorded transactions, not unique physical copies or total-market volume. Timing alone does not establish cause; no broad-market control is applied. Certified Comic Shop Research · 2026-09-16.