CAPTAIN AMERICA #276

Cover shows strong gloss and vibrant color with sharp corners and no visible creases or spine stress. Slight edge wear is possible near the top right corner but hard to confirm through the protective sleeve, which also introduces some glare. Book is in a plastic sleeve, and interior/back cover were not assessed.

Captain America #276, cover-dated December 1982, arrived during Marvel's early-1980s creative stretch on the title, with J.M. DeMatteis scripting and Mike Zeck providing artwork that helped define the look of the series in this period. The issue continues the ongoing Baron Blood storyline that ran through the surrounding numbers, placing Captain America against one of his more enduring vampiric adversaries. It is a solid representative example of the era's action-adventure superhero storytelling rather than a landmark issue in its own right.

Market activity for this issue is thin, with only a handful of certified sales recorded across the grade spectrum. Pricing rises sharply at the top of the census, from single-digit and low-double-digit prices in the 8.5 to 9.2 range up to a notably higher figure at 9.6 and a steep premium at 9.8, a pattern consistent with a common, mass-printed newsstand comic where high-grade survivors are scarce relative to demand from Bronze Age Captain America completists. There is no meaningful demand driver beyond the character's ongoing popularity and the Zeck art; there is no first appearance, death, or other landmark event tied to this specific issue.

This book primarily appeals to Captain America run-builders and Bronze Age completists rather than character-key investors. Raw copies in low and mid grades trade cheaply and are readily available, functioning as filler material in longer runs. High-grade certified copies, particularly a 9.8, command a disproportionate premium driven by census scarcity rather than narrative importance, making this a book where grade condition — not content — is the primary value determinant.