ACTION COMICS #382

Graded at 3.0 (GD/VG) on 2026-10-20, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front, back, spine and interior page. Heavy wear along the spine, frayed with many colour-breaking stress lines. Small chip at the top-left corner. Rubbed, soiled cover. Creases on the back. Cream to light tan pages.

Action Comics #382 arrived in November 1969, near the tail end of the Silver Age, as part of DC's long-running Superman anthology title. Like most issues from this stretch of the series, it delivered a self-contained Superman adventure typical of the period's house style, with Curt Swan's clean, expressive pencils defining the visual identity of the character for a generation of readers. The book does not carry a first appearance, an origin story, or any other landmark distinction that price guides or collector consensus have elevated into key status; it is representative Silver Age Superman material rather than a milestone issue.

Market data reflects that reality. Certified population is modest at 22-24 Universal copies, and sales activity across grades is sparse, with most recorded transactions clustering in the $60-$170 range from mid grade through near-mint. The absence of any 9.6 or 9.8 sale on record, despite a small handful of copies at those grades existing in census, points to a thin but persistent high-grade demand rather than active trading — buyers at the top end are rare, but the ones who exist are willing to pay a real premium once a pristine copy surfaces.

This is a book for completists building a full run of Action Comics or Superman-title collectors filling Silver Age gaps rather than a target for key-issue speculators. Low- and mid-grade raw copies move steadily and cheaply through dealer bins and online lots, priced for volume rather than scarcity. High-grade certified copies, by contrast, trade infrequently and command outsized premiums relative to the book's modest profile, driven less by demand pressure than by the simple rarity of well-preserved Silver Age paper surviving in top condition.