FANTASTIC FOUR #273

Graded at 9.0 (VF/NM) on 2026-11-04, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. Top right tip very slightly soft. Bright with good gloss. No color-breaking spine ticks. Back clean.

Fantastic Four #273 arrived during John Byrne's celebrated run as writer, penciler, and inker on the title, a stretch widely regarded as one of the definitive creative periods for Marvel's First Family. By this point in the mid-1980s, Byrne had reshaped the book's storytelling rhythm and visual identity, and issues from this run are collected as a cohesive body of work rather than for isolated plot events. This particular issue does not carry a first appearance, origin, or landmark character moment, situating it as a solid contributor to the run rather than a standalone key.

Market activity reflects that status: sales data across the certified population is thin, with only a handful of transactions recorded at any given grade and pricing that stays modest until the top of the census. The jump to $140 at 9.8 against sub-$30 figures in the 9.0-9.6 range is typical of a mass-produced 1980s newsstand comic, where mid-grade and lower copies see little collector competition but pristine, well-centered examples become disproportionately scarce and desirable to Byrne-run completists.

Demand for this issue comes primarily from Fantastic Four and John Byrne run collectors assembling complete sets rather than from character-key speculators. Raw copies in low and mid grade trade as inexpensive run-fillers, while a true 9.8 commands a real premium reflecting the difficulty of finding Copper Age newsstand books in top condition. Buyers seeking exposure to this book are best served focusing on high-grade certified copies, where scarcity rather than storyline significance drives the price.