DOCTOR STRANGE, SORCERER SUPREME #78

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creasing or spine stress; a faint horizontal scuff mark is visible in the lower right area near the bottom edge. Spine appears tight with no color break visible. Slight edge wear may be present at the extreme corners but is not clearly visible under the protective sleeve's glare. Interior and back cover were not assessed.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #78 falls in the closing stretch of David Quinn's tenure on the title, the run that dismantled and then reassembled Stephen Strange's identity through the Salome and "Last Rites" storylines and the Vincent Stevens/Strange doppelganger conceit Quinn had introduced with artist Melvin Rubi. Cover-dated June 1995 and carrying a $1.95 cover price, the issue arrives after the reset that returned the character toward a more recognizable footing, and its supporting cast is drawn from the era's regulars, including Clea, Wong, Paradox, Victoria Montessi, and Modred. It is a connective chapter rather than a milestone: no first appearance, origin, or death anchors it, and no price guide flags it as a key.

Market behavior matches that description. Copies circulate constantly in dealer dollar boxes and in multi-issue run lots, and single sales on the open market are driven almost entirely by collectors filling gaps between the mid-70s issues and the title's end at #90. The mid-1990s print run was large enough that supply comfortably exceeds demand at every raw grade, so condition premiums are compressed and a sharp copy commands only modest separation from a well-read one. What limited upside exists sits at the certified end, where the graded population is small simply because almost nobody submits books from this stretch of the run; a high-grade slab therefore trades on scarcity of certification rather than scarcity of the comic itself.

Buyers here are run completists, Doctor Strange specialists tracking the character's 1990s reinvention, and registry collectors assembling certified sets of the series. Raw copies are best moved as part of a run rather than individually, since shipping and handling economics dominate the transaction at this level. Certified examples in top grades are episodic sellers with wide bid spreads, and a listing may sit for months before the right set-builder surfaces; patient consignment, rather than fast turnover, is the realistic strategy for the high end of this book.