TARZAN OF THE APES #163

Cover shows overall tanning/toning typical of the era, a horizontal crease near the top edge above the logo, and minor edge wear at the corners. The spine appears intact with no major splits, though slight stress lines are visible. Front cover gloss is diminished with some surface wear; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Tarzan of the Apes #163 arrived from Gold Key in June 1966, part of the publisher's long licensed run adapting Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle hero. By the mid-1960s Gold Key's Tarzan line was firmly under the stewardship of artist Russ Manning, whose clean, dynamic linework became closely associated with the character during this stretch of the series and helped distinguish Gold Key's version from earlier Dell issues. This issue is a standard entry in that run rather than a first appearance or origin story, but it represents the era's well-regarded art team at a point when Manning's Tarzan was drawing favorable notice among adventure comic readers.

Market data reflects a book with modest but steady collector interest concentrated at the high end of the grading scale. Sales at 9.4 and 9.0 show clear separation between near-mint and mint-adjacent copies, while the rarity of the two known 9.8 copies drives a sharp premium at the top of the census. Demand for Gold Key adventure titles from this period is generally driven by Tarzan and Burroughs completists and by admirers of Manning's art rather than by keyissue speculation, keeping raw-copy values modest across the lower grades.

This issue suits collectors building a complete Gold Key Tarzan run or focused Russ Manning art collections rather than buyers chasing a marquee key. Lower and mid-grade raw copies remain affordable and trade infrequently outside bulk lots or dealer boxes, while properly graded high-end slabs, especially the scarce 9.8s, command outsized prices relative to the rest of the run given how few have been certified at that level.