TALES TO ASTONISH #98

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a mid-grade Silver Age book: visible spine stress lines and slight color rubbing along the spine, mild surface wear at the top and bottom corners, and some minor edge wear along the right side. There appears to be a faint crease/ripple near the center-right of the cover. The book is protected in a plastic sleeve, which slightly obscures fine surface detail. Interior pages and back cover were not visible and were not assessed.

Tales to Astonish #98 arrived in December 1967 as part of the title's late-run format pairing the Sub-Mariner with the Hulk, two features that had each carried the book through much of the mid-1960s. The issue continues Marvel's ongoing Atlantean political intrigue around Namor, Lady Dorma, and the warlord Krang, while the Hulk half advances his own solo arc as the character neared the point where he would be spun off into his own title the following year. Stan Lee's editorial hand guided the scripting across both features, with veteran Marvel artists Gene Colan and Marie Severin handling the Sub-Mariner and Hulk stories respectively, giving the book a strong pedigree of era-appropriate Silver Age art even without a single standout first appearance.

Market data shows a broad, well-populated census across the mid grades, with hundreds of certified copies and steady sales activity through 8.0 and 9.0, reflecting a book that has long circulated among Silver Age Marvel completists rather than speculative buyers chasing a key. Values rise gradually through the mid grades before climbing sharply at the top of the census, where only a handful of 9.6 and 9.8 copies exist against a much deeper pool of lower grades, producing the pronounced condition-sensitive premium typical of high-grade Silver Age Marvel in today's market.

This issue trades primarily as a building block for Sub-Mariner and Hulk run collectors and for buyers assembling complete Tales to Astonish sets rather than as a standalone target book. Lower and mid-grade raw copies remain affordable entry points reflecting ample supply, while top-census CGC 9.8 examples command outsized prices driven by scarcity rather than character significance, a pattern consistent with strong-art, non-key Silver Age issues from this period.