AVENGERS #156

Cover shows strong gloss and bright, unfaded colors with sharp corners and no visible creases or color breaks. There is minor edge wear along the top and right border and slight waviness/pressure lines near the spine, consistent with light handling. No stains, tears, or writing are visible; the book is in a protective sleeve which creates some glare. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed.

Avengers #156 arrives mid-way through Jim Shooter's tenure as the title's writer, teaming the Avengers with Prince Namor against a formidable alliance of Doctor Doom and the undersea warlord Attuma. Sal Buscema handles interior art with Pablo Marcos inking, while Jack Kirby, then working in a cover-artist capacity for Marvel, supplies the striking wraparound-style cover imagery that anchors the issue's identity. The book carries no first appearance, death, or origin story, and its significance rests chiefly on its Kirby cover and its place within a well-regarded stretch of Shooter's Avengers run rather than any landmark event.

Market data shows a typical Bronze Age demand curve for a non-key issue: values remain modest and flat through the mid grades, with FMVs bunched in the high-$30s to mid-$40s range from grade 7.0 through 9.0, before climbing more steeply at 9.4 and above. The jump to $130 at 9.6 and $400 at 9.8 reflects the usual scarcity premium collectors pay for top-census copies rather than any independent key-issue demand. Sales volume across the grade spread is thin but steady, consistent with a book that circulates among run-builders and Kirby-cover collectors rather than speculative buyers.

This issue is best understood as a solid but unspectacular addition to a complete Avengers or Kirby-cover collection. Lower and mid-grade raw copies trade cheaply and are readily available given the healthy census size, making the book an easy, low-cost pickup for readers assembling the Shooter-era run. Only in near-pristine 9.6-9.8 condition does the book command meaningful money, driven by census scarcity at the top end rather than storyline importance, and that tier will appeal mainly to census-registry completists and Kirby cover specialists rather than general key-issue investors.