ACTION COMICS #397

Graded at 6.5 (FN+) on 2026-10-20, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front, back, spine and interior page. Bright, glossy front with sharp corners. Staple rust spotting the centre pages. Tight spine with a few tiny stress ticks. Soft diagonal bend across the back's top corner. Cream pages.

Action Comics #397, published by DC Comics with a February 1971 cover date, arrived during the Bronze Age as part of the long-running Superman anthology series that had, by that point, been in continuous publication for over three decades. The issue is a standard entry in the title's regular Cary Bates/Curt Swan-era output, reflecting the house style of early-1970s Superman storytelling rather than any landmark event in the character's history. It carries no first appearance, origin story, or notable character death, and its cover has not achieved the recognition accorded to the handful of Neal Adams-illustrated Action Comics covers from the same period that collectors specifically chase.

Market data shows a book with modest but real demand concentrated almost entirely at the top of the grading scale: certified sales cluster around the 9.4 and 9.6 tiers in the $100-$110 range, while the sole 9.8 on record commands a substantial premium at $400 against only a handful of copies certified at that grade. This pattern is typical of a common, non-key Bronze Age issue — raw and lower-graded copies see little transactional activity because collector interest is driven almost exclusively by condition census chasing rather than character or story significance. Sales depth is thin across the board, with several grade points showing no recorded transactions at all, which limits precision below the certified upper grades.

This is a book for Superman completists and Bronze Age run-builders rather than a speculative or key-driven acquisition. Raw copies in low and mid grades trade cheaply and infrequently, generally moving only as part of larger Action Comics lots or long-run assemblages. The real action is at the CGC 9.8 tier, where scarcity of pristine survivors — rather than any inherent story importance — supports meaningful premiums; collectors pursuing a complete high-grade run of the title are the primary buyers at that level, while mid- and low-grade copies serve reading or filler-slot purposes for series collectors on a budget.