Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 3/74
UNIT ECA-009397
CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #28
Bronze Age Marvel anthology issue from the Thongor sword-and-sorcery run
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | March 1974 | Bronze | — | — | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and vivid color with sharp corners and no visible creases or tears. There is minor edge wear along the top and right border and slight bindery-related waviness typical of the era, with no significant spine stress lines visible. The book is protected in a plastic sleeve which limits full assessment of surface sheen; interior pages and back cover were not examined.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $3 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $8 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $100 |
// Archive commentary
Creatures on the Loose #28 arrived from Marvel in March 1974 as part of the title's mid-run stretch adapting Lin Carter's Thongor of Lemuria into comics form, sandwiched between the book's earlier monster-anthology years and its later transformation into a Man-Wolf solo vehicle beginning a couple of issues later. The series itself is a minor but notable corner of Marvel's Bronze Age output, valued by collectors more for its place in the larger Creatures on the Loose run and its connection to the sword-and-sorcery boom that followed Conan the Barbarian's success than for any landmark event within issue #28 specifically.
Market data reflects a book with a small but real collector base rather than broad demand: certified population remains modest across all grades, with only a handful of copies graded at each tier and sales activity concentrated at the top of the census. Pricing rises sharply and non-linearly toward 9.8, consistent with a lightly-collected back-issue where high-grade survivors are scarce and command a real premium, while lower grades trade for token sums reflecting minimal raw-market competition.
This is a title for Bronze Age Marvel run-builders, sword-and-sorcery genre collectors, and completists tracking the Thongor adaptations or the pre-Man-Wolf issues of Creatures on the Loose. Raw copies move cheaply and infrequently outside of bulk lots or dollar bins, while CGC 9.8 examples occupy a small, thinly-traded top tier where a single strong sale can move the benchmark price meaningfully; this is not a book bought on speculation but one acquired to complete a run or a themed sword-and-sorcery collection.
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-009397 | ~8.5 | — | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-010215 | ~8.0 | — | AVAILABLE |
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