ADVENTURE COMICS #373

Cover shows a vertical crease/bend running through the upper right quadrant and some minor surface wear at the corners. Slight rubbing and a small ding are visible at the bottom right corner, and there's minor edge wear along the top and right border. Colors remain bright with good gloss and no major stains or fading; the book is protected in a plastic sleeve. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is based solely on this front cover image.

Adventure Comics #373 is a pivotal entry in the late-1960s Legion of Super-Heroes run, introducing the Fatal Five: Tharok, Validus, the Persuader, Mano, and the Emerald Empress, a team of villains who remain fixtures of the Legion's rogues gallery into modern continuity. The issue was written by Jim Shooter, then still a teenager contributing scripts to the Legion feature, with interior art by Curt Swan and George Klein and a cover credited to Neal Adams, whose brief run of Adventure Comics covers in this era is well regarded among Silver Age DC collectors.

The FMV curve shows a book that trades as a genuine mid-tier Silver Age key rather than a common back-issue: prices step up gradually through the mid grades before spiking sharply at the top of the census, where only a handful of 9.8 copies exist against 73 total certified copies. That disproportionate jump from near-gem to true gem is consistent with a first-appearance book whose demand is concentrated among Legion completists and high-grade DC Silver Age registry builders, rather than broad mainstream crossover demand.

The book suits Legion of Super-Heroes specialists, Silver Age DC registry collectors, and Neal Adams cover collectors. Raw copies in low and mid grades move steadily as affordable ways to own the first Fatal Five appearance, while top-census 9.8 slabs command a real premium and trade infrequently, making them the primary value driver for anyone assembling a high-grade run of this title.