Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 4/90 · DIRECT EDITION
UNIT ECA-019537
AVENGERS #316
Copper Age Avengers issue from the Acts of Vengeance crossover run
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | April 1990 | Copper | Direct Edition | — | AVAILABLE |
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-019537 | ~9.2 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
| ECA-021974 | ~9.2 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shown in a protective sleeve appears glossy with sharp corners and no visible creases, spine ticks, or color breaking along the spine. Edges look clean with no chipping or wear evident, and colors appear bright and unfaded. This assessment is based solely on the front cover photo; the back cover and interior pages were not examined, so a definitive high grade cannot be confirmed.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $3 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $6 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $46 |
// Archive commentary
Avengers #316 (April 1990) appeared during the Acts of Vengeance event, the line-wide crossover in which the Avengers found themselves targeted by a roster of villains swapped from their usual foes' rogues galleries. The issue falls within the John Byrne/Paul Ryan run on the title, a period defined by a lineup including Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Black Knight, and Sersi. It carries no first appearance, death, or origin of lasting significance, and its cover, while representative of the era's house style, has not entered the ranks of widely cited classic Avengers covers.
Market data reflects a common, high-print-run Copper Age direct-market book: a substantial 166-copy CGC census with the bulk of submissions clustering in the 9.4-9.8 range, and FMV that rises only modestly from grade to grade until the 9.6-9.8 tier, where scarcity of true gem copies and continued collector demand for complete Avengers runs pushes value upward. Certified sales at lower grades are essentially absent, indicating that most surviving copies were preserved in high grade from the outset rather than heavily read and resubmitted later.
This is a run-filler for Avengers series collectors and CGC registry participants chasing a complete Copper Age set rather than a standalone target for key-issue buyers. Raw copies in the low and mid ranges trade for a few dollars reflecting cover price plus modest demand, while the premium sits almost entirely in top-graded 9.8 slabs, where competition among registry collectors sustains pricing well above the rest of the grade curve.
INQUIRE_ABOUT_THIS_UNIT
Institutional buyers, auction houses, and private collectors — direct line to the archive.
