X-Men #4

Name: X-Men #4
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jan 1992 · Marvel · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.65 GBP

📊 ~64,010 copies sold its debut month

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“The Resurrection and the Flesh”

★ 1st appearance — Omega Red★ 1st appearance — Arkady Rossovich

About this Issue

X-Men #4 (vol. 2, January 1992) marks the first full appearance of Omega Red — Arkady Rossovich, a Cold War-era Soviet super-soldier — instantly establishing him as one of the most distinctive antagonists introduced during the post-Claremont era of Marvel's mutant franchise. The issue frames Omega Red not as a simple bruiser but as a tragic figure: his Carbonadium-laced physiology slowly poisons him, and only a stolen device called the Carbonadium Synthesizer can stabilize him, binding him in permanent, personal conflict with Wolverine across decades of stories. It arrived just months after the record-setting X-Men #1 (1991), at the height of Jim Lee's cultural dominance over superhero comics, cementing the relaunch's ambition to build its own villain mythology from scratch. Omega Red subsequently crossed into the animated series, video games, and live-action film, making this issue the origin point of one of Marvel's most adapted X-Men villains.

In X-Men #4 (1992), the Hand resurrects Omega Red—once known as Arkady—in a move that sends shockwaves through the mutant underground. While the X-Men test their limits in a high-stakes, mutant-powered basketball game, Moira wrestles with guilt over her role in the Magneto incident and departs the team. Just as Gambit and Rogue set out on a chaperoned date, their quiet moment is shattered by the return of a deadly past and the sinister hand of the Brotherhood of the Hand. Written by Jim Lee and John Byrne, with art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams, and colored by Joe Rosas, this issue blends personal stakes with escalating tension—its cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams capturing the moment’s intensity.

writer, artist Jim Lee · writer John Byrne · inker Scott Williams · colorist Joe Rosas · letterer Tom Orzechowski · cover Jim Lee, Scott Williams

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $4

CGC 9.8 · 5213 in census $96*

CGC 9.6 · 3443 in census $52*

CGC 9.4 · 1810 in census $42

CGC 9.2 · 970 in census $38*

CGC 9.0 · 652 in census $28

CGC 8.5 · 462 in census $27*

Show all 20 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 272 in census $27*

CGC 7.5 · 155 in census $21*

CGC 7.0 · 101 in census $21*

CGC 6.5 · 52 in census $20

CGC 6.0 · 36 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 20 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 12 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 12 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 2.5 none in existence

CGC 2.0 none in existence

CGC 1.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

Raw — NM ▾ $5.98–$49.99 3 listings

NM $5.98 NM $17 NM $49.99

Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.99–$14.34 3 listings

Raw / ungraded $4.99 1:25 variant $13 Raw / ungraded $14.34

Verified matches for X-Men #4 · eBay asking prices, seen 31 days ago

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Variant $4.99 X-Men Mixed Comic Book Marvel Comics $19.99 X-Men Mixed Comic Book Marvel Comics $23.19

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History

X-Men vol. 2 launched in 1991 under the then-unprecedented creative arrangement of Jim Lee handling both plots and pencils while veteran writer Chris Claremont scripted — a pairing that produced the best-selling single comic issue in Marvel history with X-Men #1, but collapsed behind the scenes almost immediately. Claremont departed after issue #3, unhappy with Marvel's increasing tendency to grant superstar artists creative authority over writers, and John Byrne was brought in as scripter for issues #4–5, making his brief return to the X-Men franchise a turbulent one that also ended on uneasy terms. X-Men #4 therefore represents the first issue of the adjectiveless title in which neither the original Claremont nor the eventual long-running Fabian Nicieza was steering the script — it is a transitional artifact, with Lee plotting and Byrne scripting, produced under editor Bob Harras during one of the most commercially successful yet editorially unstable runs in X-Men history.

Trivia · 7 facts

First full appearance of Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich), created by Jim Lee (plot and pencils) and John Byrne (script).
Omega Red is also on the cover — making this simultaneously his first appearance and first cover appearance in Marvel Comics.
Story title: 'The Resurrection and the Flesh' — the Hand, led by Matsu'o Tsurayaba, resurrects Omega Red at the cost of twenty-five of their own operatives, specifically to capture Wolverine.
The issue is the fourth installment of the 1991 Jim Lee relaunch (X-Men vol. 2), distinct from the original 1963 X-Men series.
The X-Men Blue Team roster featured in the issue includes Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Cyclops, Beast, and Professor X.
Reprinted in X-Men: Mutant Genesis (1995), X-Men: Mutant Genesis 2.0 (2012, remastered and recolored), Marvel Tales: Wolverine (February 2020), and X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 20: Bishop's Crossing (2022).
Omega Red has appeared in four episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), made a live-action cameo in Deadpool 2 (2018, portrayed by Dakoda Shepley), appeared in X-Men '97 Season 1 (2024), and has been featured in numerous video games including X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.