Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 9/91 · NEWSSTAND
UNIT ECA-026804
CAPTAIN AMERICA #391
Captain America battles the Serpent Society-era villains during the Bloodstone Hunt storyline
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | September 1991 | Copper | Newsstand | — | AVAILABLE |
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-026804 | ~9.0 | Newsstand | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creasing or spine stress lines. Colors remain vibrant with no fading, and edges appear clean without chipping. Slight softness at bottom-left corner tip is visible under close inspection, and the book is housed in a protective sleeve which limits full surface assessment; interior and back cover were not evaluated.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $1 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $4 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $50 |
// Archive commentary
Captain America #391 arrives late in Mark Gruenwald's long, defining run on the title, during the multi-issue Bloodstone Hunt arc that pitted Cap against an assembled roster of costumed antagonists including Asp, Black Mamba, Anaconda, Battleaxe, and Arclight. Larry Alexander provides interior pencils with Danny Bulanadi and Dan Panosian inking, and Bulanadi supplies the cover art; Ralph Macchio edits. The issue is a solid example of Gruenwald's ensemble-villain storytelling but contains no first appearance, origin, or other event that collectors track as a key moment in the character's history.
Market activity is thin and concentrated at the top of the grading scale: certified population sits at just sixteen copies, with only a handful of recorded sales, and demand centers on the small pool of 9.8 and 9.6 slabs rather than mid- or low-grade raw copies. As a late newsstand Copper Age issue, it saw limited direct-market distribution relative to Marvel's flagship titles of the era, which helps explain the low overall census, but scarcity here has not translated into meaningful raw-copy demand since the issue lacks a key-driven collector base.
This is a book for Captain America run-completists and Bloodstone Hunt storyline collectors rather than speculative buyers. Raw copies in any grade remain inexpensive and readily available, while the handful of 9.8 slabs command a real premium purely on condition scarcity and population report visibility. Expect the book to continue trading as a modest supporting piece within full-run Captain America collections rather than as a standalone investment target.
INQUIRE_ABOUT_THIS_UNIT
Institutional buyers, auction houses, and private collectors — direct line to the archive.
