ASTONISHING TALES #28

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a mid-grade copy: visible vertical crease/stress lines running through the upper cover and slight waviness to the paper, along with a soft corner at the lower left. Spine appears to have minor ticking but no major color breaks are visible in this photo. The book is in a protective sleeve which limits close inspection of edges; interior and back cover were not assessed.

Astonishing Tales #28 arrived in February 1975 as part of Marvel's split-book anthology format, pairing a Ka-Zar lead feature with the cult favorite Deathlok the Demolisher backup created by Rich Buckler and Doug Moench. Deathlok, the cyborg soldier Luther Manning fighting through a dystopian near-future America, had debuted a few issues earlier in the same title and quickly built a devoted readership for its grim, dystopian tone that was unusual for mainstream Marvel of the period. This issue continues that serialized storyline rather than introducing new characters, placing it squarely within a run collectors pursue as a set rather than for a single landmark moment.

Market data shows a typical long-tail Bronze Age profile: values climb gradually through the mid grades before spiking sharply at the top of the census, with 9.8 copies commanding roughly triple the price of 9.6s despite a similarly sized population. Demand is driven almost entirely by Deathlok completists and Buckler art collectors rather than by any first-appearance premium, since the character's true first appearance lies elsewhere in the same series. Sales volume at the top grades has been modest but steady, reflecting a book that trades in a narrow, specialist niche.

This is a run-filler for anthology-title and Bronze Age Marvel collectors, particularly those assembling a complete Deathlok backup story arc or a Rich Buckler art collection. Lower and mid-grade copies move as inexpensive reading or filler pieces with little competitive bidding, while pristine 9.8 slabs draw sharper interest from registry-focused buyers chasing census-topping examples, given the steep value gap once the grade climbs past 9.6.