ACTION COMICS #660

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or spine stress. There is a small area of surface discoloration/adhesive residue near 'LUTHOR!' text that slightly affects the cover surface. Book is bagged, making full edge and corner inspection difficult through the plastic. Interior and back cover were not assessed.

Cover-dated December 1990, Action Comics #660 carries Roger Stern's script "Certain Death," penciled by Bob McLeod with inks by Brett Breeding over a Kerry Gammill and Breeding cover. It closes out the long-running plot thread in which Luthor, dying of kryptonite-induced cancer contracted from his own ring, engineers an exit: an experimental LexCorp jet, a mountainside, a charred body and a broken prosthetic hand for Superman to find. The death was staged, and within months the character returned as the younger, red-haired "Lex Luthor II," a status quo that defined the Superman titles through the Death and Return of Superman era. As a piece of construction the issue is unusually tight for a Copper Age Superman book, and it marks the point at which the post-Crisis Byrne-era Luthor as corporate titan formally ends.

Market behavior here is that of a well-known story beat in an abundantly printed run rather than a scarce collectible. Print runs on the Superman titles in 1990 were large, distribution was heavily direct-market, and the book was widely bought and saved, so supply in high grade is deep and raw copies trade as single-dollar merchandise, frequently absorbed into bulk run lots rather than sold individually. Demand is driven almost entirely by Luthor completists and readers assembling the pre-Death of Superman continuity, not by speculation. Certified copies are scarce only because almost no one submits the issue; the resulting thin census supports a modest premium for a top-grade slab, though that premium reflects grading expense and convenience more than underlying rarity.

Buyers divide cleanly. Run collectors and Superman readers take raw copies at bulk or near-bulk levels, where condition matters less than completeness, and dealers are generally better served moving this issue inside a 1990-1991 Action Comics run than pricing it alone. Registry and set builders working the Luthor storyline account for most certified interest, and at the top of the grade scale the book is best understood as a low-cost adjunct to Superman #50 and the Luthor II issues that follow. Upside is limited absent renewed screen attention to Luthor's corporate incarnation; downside is equally limited, since the floor is already at reading-copy level.