ACTION COMICS #357

Graded at 4.5 (VG+) on 2026-10-20, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front, back and interior page. Bright cover with fair gloss. Small stress ticks and a short crease near the top of the spine. Blunted corners and a small crease at the right edge. Light soiling on the back. Cream pages.

Action Comics #357 (December 1967) is a routine entry in DC's flagship Superman anthology title during the tail end of the Silver Age, a period when the Superman family of books ran regular Supergirl back-up features alongside the lead Superman story. The issue carries no recognized first appearance, origin, or landmark creative milestone; its interest for collectors rests instead on being a well-regarded, Curt Swan-illustrated chapter in a long-running, heavily collected series. Curt Swan's clean, expressive linework defined the visual identity of Superman comics for much of this era, and his cover work remains a steady draw for Silver Age Superman completists even on non-key issues.

Market data shows a typical mid-run Silver Age curve: raw and low-grade certified copies trade in the $30-$45 range through the 4.5 to 6.5 grade band, with values climbing modestly through the low-9 grades before accelerating sharply at the top of the census, where only a handful of copies exist above 9.4. This shape is characteristic of a book bought primarily for completeness of a Superman or Action Comics run rather than for standalone key-issue speculation. Demand is steady but unspectacular, concentrated among Silver Age Superman collectors and Swan art enthusiasts rather than crossover or investment-driven buyers.

This is a book that moves reliably in raw form at modest prices and finds its real premium only in top-tier certified grades, where census scarcity above 9.6 creates outsized value for the handful of pristine survivors. Mid-grade collectors and Superman run-builders represent the bulk of the market, purchasing raw copies inexpensively to fill out long boxes or bound runs. High-grade 9.6 and unrecorded 9.8 copies appeal to a narrower band of condition-census chasers and Silver Age Superman specialists willing to pay a steep premium for top-of-census status on an otherwise unassuming issue.