Thunderbolts #38 for Sale - First Appearance of Helmut Gruler - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Thunderbolts (Marvel, 1997 series)
Issue: #38
Publication date: May 2000
Key date: 2000-05-00
On-sale date: 2000-03-22
Indicia publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $1.99; 2.99 CAD
Pages: 36
Barcode: 75960603566303811
Rating: Approved by the Comics Code Authority

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Helmut Gruler - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Isadora Martinez - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	At Last! Citizen V Unmasked!	cover	1	pencils: Mark Bagley; inks: Scott Hanna; colors: Tanya Horie, Richard Horie; letters: Comicraft	Citizen V, Dallas Riordan
1	Targeted for Death!	comic story	23	script: Fabian Nicieza; pencils: Mark Bagley; inks: Scott Hanna; colors: Joe Rosas; letters: RS, Comicraft, Troy P.	Atlas, Roger Aubrey, Baron Zemo, Elizabeth Barstow, Clint Barton, Charles Burlingame, Charcoal, Citizen V, Melissa Gold, Helmut Gruler First, Hawkeye, Abner Jenkins, Erik Josten, MACH-1
2	Back on Target [Fast Lane, Part 4 of 4]	comic story	8	script: Glenn Herdling; pencils: Gregg Schigiel; inks: Richard Case; colors: Paul Mounts; letters: Chris Dickey; editing: Michael Stewart, Steve Behling	Spider-Man; Mysterio; Iron Man; Storm; Sam Exmore; Toni Harris; Zane Whelan; Bob Lefferts

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts #2 ISBN 978-0-7851-9547-4	2016	On eBay ›
Thunderbolts Omnibus #2 ISBN 978-1-302-93189-6	2021	On eBay ›
Targeted for Death ISBN 978-1-302-96412-2	2025	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Confirm which printing is being sold; later printings usually carry changed cover marks or indicia lines.
For variant covers, match the listing photo against the variant list on this page before paying a ratio-variant price.
Pressable defects (spine stress, corner blunting) matter to graders; ask for photos at an angle.

Series context

‹ #3738 of 81#39 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com