Cyclops First Appearance: X-Men #1 (1963) Value by Grade

Cyclops first appeared in The X-Men #1, cover-dated September 1963, created by writer Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby (Wikipedia). He was one of the five original X-Men, and PriceCharting lists the same issue as the first appearance of the whole team, Professor X, Magneto, Jean Grey (as Marvel Girl), Angel, Beast and Iceman. That is why X-Men #1 is priced as a team key, not as a Cyclops key alone.

Wikipedia gives the origin: Scott Summers was orphaned when a Shi'ar spacecraft attacked his family's plane over Alaska. He hit his head during the parachute landing and fell into a coma, which left him with limited control over his mutant power. Later stories explained the lack of control as a psychological problem caused by that childhood trauma. His eyes fire energy beams all the time, so he wears a visor or glasses with ruby-quartz lenses to hold them back.

So the answer to "what disability does Cyclops have?" is that he cannot switch his power off. The head injury is the in-story cause.

Wikipedia lists these turning points:

• X-Factor #1 (1986): the original five X-Men reunite.
• The Uncanny X-Men #201 (January 1986): Cyclops hands leadership of the X-Men to Storm.
• X-Men vol. 2 #30 (March 1994): he marries Jean Grey.

None of these comes close to X-Men #1 in price, but they are the issues people ask about next.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $3,385.57 (about one sale a week)
• 4.0: $8,235.00 (about two sales a month)
• 6.0: $15,045.50 (about one sale a month)
• 8.0: $38,130.00 (about four sales a year)
• 9.2: $137,583.28 (about one sale a year)
• 9.8: $489,202.18 (rare)

Each step up in grade multiplies the price by roughly two to four, and the 9.8 figure rests on very few sales. PriceCharting figures are estimates built from recorded sales of CGC-graded copies; when a grade trades only about once a year, one sale can push it above the next grade up.

Wikipedia lists James Marsden as Cyclops in X-Men (2000), the character's first film, and in sequels through 2014. Tim Pocock played a younger version in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and Tye Sheridan took the role in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and later films. Wikipedia also reports that Kit Connor is set to play the Marvel Cinematic Universe version in 2028.

Photograph the front cover straight on, then the indicia (the small print on the first page or inside cover with the title, issue number and date). ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover from the photo, matches the likely issue with a confidence indicator you can correct by hand, and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick. For The X-Men #1, photograph the indicia as well as the cover, because a book this valuable is often sold as a facsimile or reprint; read how to spot printings and variants before you trust any price. There are free scans every day; the range is a reference estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market. Pages we tried to open but could not read (Key Collector Comics, Reddit, Facebook, eBay and Fandom returned errors) are not used as sources.