STRANGE TALES #112

Visible defects include moderate spine stress with a couple of ticks along the spine edge, some surface wear and light creasing near the top and bottom edges, mild corner blunting on the top right, and a small paper/tape residue mark near the top edge of the cover. Color appears bright with no major color breaks, but there is a slight waviness/staining pattern across the cover that could indicate minor moisture exposure. Interior and back cover were not assessed as only the front cover is shown.

Strange Tales #112 (September 1963) pairs a Human Torch adventure against the Wizard with one of the earliest guest appearances of Spider-Man outside his own title, as the wall-crawler tangles with the Torch in a story illustrated with Ditko's input on the Spider-Man figure. The issue also carries a Doctor Strange installment by Steve Ditko, part of the character's foundational run that began two issues earlier in Strange Tales #110. Stan Lee scripted both features, and Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers handled the Human Torch material and cover, placing this squarely within the earliest wave of the shared Marvel Universe Lee and Kirby were assembling in 1963.

The FMV curve shows a pronounced break above Fine condition, with values roughly tripling from Very Fine (8.0) into Very Fine/Near Mint and beyond, a pattern consistent with a book whose demand is driven less by raw print survival and more by crossover-character interest. Mid- and low-grade copies trade as affordable pieces of early Marvel history, while high-grade copies see competitive bidding tied to the Spider-Man content and Ditko's Doctor Strange work. Census population is substantial across the grading spectrum, but true Near Mint or better copies remain scarce relative to demand, which explains the sharp upward slope at the top of the curve.

This book draws a mixed buyer base: Silver Age Marvel generalists collecting the Lee/Kirby/Ditko run, Spider-Man crossover-appearance specialists building out early guest-appearance sets, and Doctor Strange completists tracking the character's 1963 backup stories. Lower and mid-grade copies move steadily as reading and study copies at accessible prices, while high-grade certified examples are chased more aggressively and can command outsized premiums once a copy clears the low 9-point range, reflecting the gap between available supply and the number of advanced collectors seeking a top-tier example.