X-Force #1

From New Mutants to X-Force

Rob Liefeld was born on October 3, 1967, in Fullerton, California. He began penciling The New Mutants in 1989 with issue #86 and turned what had been the franchise's lowest-selling title into a financial success. Along the way he co-created Cable with writer Louise Simonson and Deadpool, who first appeared in New Mutants #98, with Fabian Nicieza.

New Mutants ended with issue #100 in April 1991, where the team that would become X-Force first appeared. Marvel relaunched it under the new name with Liefeld plotting and drawing and Nicieza writing the dialogue. The original line-up was Boom-Boom, Cable, Cannonball, Feral, Shatterstar, Warpath and a Domino who was later revealed to be the shapeshifter Copycat.

In the first issue the team raids the Mutant Liberation Front's base in Antarctica, where Stryfe escapes and sets off a self-destruct with the code "Nathan 0-0-0." The SHIELD commander G.W. Bridge, making his debut, resolves to bring Cable in; the team moves into Larry Trask's old Sentinel base in upstate New York; and Black Tom Cassidy takes hostages at the World Trade Center.

The bag and the card

X-Force #1 was sealed in a polybag with one of five trading cards: Cable, Deadpool, Shatterstar, Sunspot and Gideon, or the full X-Force team. The bag-and-card gimmick drove speculator buying, and it is credited as a major factor in the book's sales.

The Deadpool card is the one that matters now. When X-Force #1 came out, Deadpool had made only one appearance, yet he got his own card. For decades the book was so plentiful that copies were practically worthless on the back-issue market; by February 2021, renewed interest in the character had pushed some sealed Deadpool-card copies to $100, with others selling for $40 to $50.

Not every version is the same. Sellers advertise particular copies, such as those with a negative-image UPC code, separately from the standard first printing tracked here.

Peak speculator boom

X-Force #1 set an industry-wide sales record when it came out. Liefeld's biography gives the figure as four million copies; the main history of the series and other accounts say about five million. The record was later broken by X-Men (vol. 2) #1, leaving X-Force #1 as the second best-selling comic book in history.

Not everyone was impressed by the contents. A later review dismissed it as a generic good-guys-versus-terrorists story that moved from one fight scene to the next, and filed the book under gimmick rather than good. The sales numbers came from the packaging and the speculative frenzy of the early 1990s as much as from the story.

Liefeld stayed on as artist through issue #9 and as plotter through #11. In 1992 he left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, frustrated over character ownership and merchandising royalties, and his Youngblood #1 was Image's first title.

Buying a 9.8

This entry is the first printing in CGC 9.8. Because print runs were enormous, the price of a 9.8 stays modest: through mid-2026 most completed online sales of CGC 9.8 copies fell between about $70 and $150.

When comparing copies, check the label for the version. Listings for negative-UPC copies and for different cards run alongside the standard first printing, and some sellers list them at a premium.

Legacy

The first X-Force series kept its popularity after Liefeld left and ran 129 issues until August 2002, when it was relaunched as X-Statix.

Deadpool, the character who got a trading card in this bag after a single appearance, became a film franchise. Liefeld appeared in a cameo in the 2016 Deadpool film, and in February 2024 he announced he was retiring from drawing and writing the character after 33 years.

The numbers

Copies sold

4 million (Liefeld's biography) or about 5 million (series history and other accounts)

Rank

Second best-selling comic book in history, behind X-Men (vol. 2) #1

Trading cards

Five: Cable, Deadpool, Shatterstar, Sunspot and Gideon, X-Force team

Deadpool appearances before his card

One

Series length

129 issues, 1991 to 2002

Timeline

1. Oct 3, 1967

   Rob Liefeld is born in Fullerton, California.

2. 1989

   Liefeld begins penciling The New Mutants with issue #86.

3. Apr 1991

   New Mutants #100 introduces the team that becomes X-Force.

4. Aug 1991

   X-Force #1 is cover-dated August 1991, polybagged with one of five trading cards.

5. 1992

   Liefeld leaves Marvel to co-found Image Comics.

6. Aug 2002

   The first X-Force series ends with issue #129 and is relaunched as X-Statix.

7. 2016

   Liefeld makes a cameo in the film Deadpool.

8. Feb 16, 2021

   Renewed Deadpool interest pushes some sealed Deadpool-card copies to $100.

9. Feb 2024

   Liefeld announces his retirement from drawing and writing Deadpool after 33 years.

The world in 1991

• Jan 17, 1991

  The first air strikes on Iraq open Operation Desert Storm.

• Feb 27, 1991

  President Bush announces that Kuwait is liberated.

• Mar 3, 1991

  An amateur video captures Los Angeles police beating Rodney King.

• Sep 24, 1991

  Nirvana releases Nevermind, which goes on to sell 11 million copies in the United States.

• Oct 11, 1991

  The Senate Judiciary Committee hears from Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill.

• Oct 27, 1991

  The Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, X-Force #1 is number 96 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (81 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Deadpool got his own trading card in X-Force #1 after appearing in just one comic.
• The team's Domino was really the shapeshifter Copycat in disguise.
• Stryfe's self-destruct code in the first issue is "Nathan 0-0-0," a nod to Cable's identity.
• Part of the first issue's action takes place at the World Trade Center.
• A review later filed X-Force #1 under gimmick, not good.
• Sources disagree on sales by a full million copies: four million or five million.