AVENGERS #161

Cover shows strong color and gloss with sharp corners and no visible creases or tears. Spine appears tight with only faint stress lines near the top, and edges show minimal wear. A UPC barcode box is present, confirming newsstand distribution. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is based solely on the front cover image.

Avengers #161 (July 1977) continues the mid-1970s Shooter/Pérez run on the title, folding the team's recurring nemesis Ultron into a time-travel storyline that pulls in the Old West gunfighter Two-Gun Kid. The issue reflects the era's fondness for genre-crossing plots within the core superhero framework, and it stands as an example of George Pérez's increasingly assured pencils in the years before his more famous Avengers and Titans work, inked here by Pablo Marcos.

Market data shows a large certified population (334 Universal copies on census out of 378 total) with steady but modest transaction volume across the grade spectrum. Values hold flat through the mid grades before rising sharply at the top of the census, with 9.8 commanding a substantial premium over 9.6 and below — typical of a common Bronze Age team book where high-grade survivors are scarce relative to demand from CGC registry builders rather than from first-appearance or origin-driven collectors.

This issue trades primarily as a run-filler and registry piece for Avengers and Pérez completists rather than as a standalone investment target. Raw copies in low and mid grade are inexpensive and plentiful, changing hands mostly through back-issue bins and bulk lots, while the 9.8 tier draws focused competition from graded-set collectors chasing top-census copies. Expect demand to track broader Bronze Age Avengers and Pérez-run interest rather than any independent key-issue premium.