AVENGERS #152

Cover shows strong gloss and bright color with sharp corners; minor wear visible at top and bottom right corners with slight blunting. A faint vertical crease line may be present near the spine but no major color break is evident. Edges appear mostly clean with no significant chipping; the book is in a protective sleeve which limits full inspection of surface sheen. Interior and back cover were not assessed.

Avengers #152 arrived during Gerry Conway's mid-1970s run on the title, with John Buscema on pencils and a cover credited to the unusual combination of Jack Kirby, Dan Adkins, and Irving Watanabe. The issue features the team's Beast-era lineup — Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Hank Pym — against Black Talon and the voodoo-derived threat of the serpent god Set, by way of the deity Damballah. It is a representative entry in the long Avengers run rather than a landmark chapter, with no first appearance, death, or origin story attached to its contents.

Market data reflects a book that trades as a mid-run Bronze Age Avengers issue rather than a speculative key. Certified population is substantial, with roughly 198 Universal copies recorded across the grading spectrum, and sales activity is heaviest in the near-mint tiers, where 9.4 through 9.8 account for a large share of recorded transactions. Pricing climbs steeply only at the top of the census — the jump from mid-grade values in the $20-$50 range to $475 at 9.8 reflects the usual Bronze Age curve, where well-preserved, high-grade newsstand copies become disproportionately scarce relative to demand from census-chasing collectors.

This is a book bought by Avengers run-builders and Bronze Age completists filling out the Conway/Buscema stretch rather than character-first speculators. Raw copies in low and mid grade move steadily but modestly as part of larger lot or run purchases, while the real price action is concentrated in top-census 9.8 slabs, where limited high-grade survivorship among newsstand copies supports a meaningful premium over the rest of the grade curve.