Approximate
Condition Profile
HARVEY COMICS · 12/66
UNIT ECA-010016
TOP SECRET ADVENTURES SPYMAN #2
Harvey's short-lived Cold War superhero returns for his second and final-era outing
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvey Comics | December 1966 | Silver | — | — | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows notable wear including multiple diagonal creases across the upper right and center of the cover, a small crease/tear near the top edge, and visible spine stress with whitening along the spine. Corners show moderate blunting and there is some edge wear along the top and right border. The book is housed in a protective sleeve; interior and back cover were not assessed. Color remains bright with no major fading, but the surface creasing keeps this out of higher grade ranges.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $15 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $28 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $1,200 |
// Archive commentary
Top Secret Adventures Spyman #2 continues Harvey Comics' 1966 attempt to capitalize on the spy-fiction boom sweeping newsstands in the wake of James Bond and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The character, Johnny Chance, was conceived with input from Jack Kirby during his brief consulting stint at Harvey, with scripts credited to Otto Binder and interior art by Jack Sparling. Spyman folded after only two issues, making this book part of one of the shortest-lived superhero titles of the Silver Age, notable more for its place in Kirby's career timeline and the era's spy-craze publishing trend than for any lasting character legacy.
Market data reflects a low-population, low-demand title: total certified census sits at only 36 copies, and recorded sales across all grades number in the single digits per bracket. Pricing rises sharply toward the top of the curve, with a wide gap between mid-grade copies in the $100-$250 range and the handful of 9.2-9.4 examples that have traded near $250-$475, while raw copies in lower grades see little recorded activity, suggesting most transactions occur off the radar of certified sales tracking. There is no certified 9.8 on record, and no 9.6 sale has been logged, meaning any high-grade transaction would set a new benchmark for the title.
Spyman #2 draws a narrow but dedicated audience: Kirby completists chasing his lesser-known 1966 work, Harvey Comics specialists filling out a notoriously hard-to-complete title, and spy-genre collectors rounding out Cold War-era superhero ephemera. Because so few copies exist in any condition, pricing is driven more by scarcity and buyer patience than by broad demand, and grade jumps command outsized premiums relative to more heavily populated Silver Age books. Raw, low-grade copies remain accessible and inexpensive, while a top-graded slab would likely draw significant attention purely as a census-topping rarity.
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-010016 | ~4.5 | — | AVAILABLE |
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