ADVENTURE COMICS #340

Image is upside down (rotate 180 to correct); this is a Silver Age book with no direct/newsstand distinction applicable. Visible defects include noticeable corner wear at multiple tips, some surface wear and light creasing across the cover, and general handling wear consistent with age. The cover appears complete with no major tears, but color and gloss appear diminished from age; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Adventure Comics #340 (January 1966) appeared during the period when the Legion of Super-Heroes had become the series' lead feature, displacing Superboy from the cover slot as DC leaned into the growing popularity of its 30th-century team book. The issue carries a Curt Swan cover and continues the Silver Age Legion continuity that was building a dedicated fan following through the mid-1960s, a run that would soon draw in a teenage Jim Shooter as writer within the same handful of issues. While #340 itself is not associated with a major first appearance, origin, or death, it is a representative artifact of the Legion's ascension within Adventure Comics and of Swan's defining work on the franchise's visual identity.

The FMV curve for this issue reflects a typical mid-tier Silver Age DC back issue: prices are flat and modest from grade 5 through 7.5, hovering in the $60-$70 range, with only incremental gains through 9.0-9.4. The market inflects sharply at the top of the grade scale, where 9.8 copies trade near $925, a multiple many times higher than the 9.4 tier just below it. That jump is driven by scarcity rather than raw demand — only eleven 9.8 copies exist on the certified census against 109 total graded copies, and Silver Age paper of this vintage rarely survives handling and time without flaws that block gem-mint grading.

This is a book bought primarily by Legion of Super-Heroes and Silver Age DC completists filling out a run rather than by speculators chasing a singular key moment. Raw copies in low and mid grades are affordable and plentiful, making the title accessible for readers assembling the Adventure Comics Legion era at low cost. Certified 9.8 copies, by contrast, are a scarcity play: collectors targeting census-top examples compete for a small, static pool of slabs, which sustains the outsized premium at the highest end of the grading spectrum.