ACTION COMICS #385

Graded at 4.0 (VG) on 2026-10-20, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front, back, spine and interior page. Black cover rubbed, with colour-breaking creases at both top corners. Small stress ticks along the lower spine. Two small brown spots on the back. Bottom corners blunted. Cream pages.

Action Comics #385 arrived in February 1970 during the run in which Supergirl, not Superman, held the cover spot on DC's flagship anthology title, with the Man of Steel's own adventures relegated to a backup feature. This arrangement, unusual for the character most closely tied to the Action Comics brand, reflected editorial experimentation as DC transitioned out of the Silver Age and into a Bronze Age sensibility for its Superman family of titles. The issue carries no first appearance, death, or origin story of lasting significance, and its creative team worked within the house style typical of the period rather than producing a widely cited landmark.

Market data for the issue is thin and concentrated at the high end of the grading scale: certified sales cluster around 9.4, where copies have traded near $190, with a steep falloff to $90 at 8.5 and $28 at 8.0. Below that range, and above it toward 9.6 and 9.8, the population exists on census but has generated little to no recorded sales activity, meaning demand is real but infrequent and driven almost entirely by census-completion buyers rather than character-driven collectors. This is consistent with a book whose appeal rests on completing a Supergirl or Bronze Age Superman-family run rather than any single defining moment.

Collecting interest in this issue is narrow: Superman-family run collectors, Supergirl specialists, and CGC census chasers account for most activity, while casual buyers show little pull toward the book absent a landmark to anchor demand. Raw copies in low and mid grades trade as inexpensive filler, often bundled into larger Bronze Age lots, while high-grade slabs command outsized premiums purely on scarcity at the top of the census rather than storyline significance. A 9.8, if one surfaces for sale, would likely draw competitive bidding from a small pool of registry-focused collectors rather than the broader Superman market.