CAPTAIN AMERICA #116

Cover shows good gloss and bright colors with sharp corners overall; slight edge wear is visible along the top and right border. There is minor spine stress with light whitening at the top and bottom spine ends but no major color breaks. A faint crease/bend is visible near the bottom right corner. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade reflects front cover only.

Captain America #116 (Marvel, August 1969) arrived at the close of the Silver Age, written by Stan Lee with art by Gene Colan and a cover by John Romita Sr. The issue falls within the run that set the stage for Captain America #117, the following month's landmark introduction of the Falcon, Marvel's first African American superhero. While #116 itself does not carry a first appearance, death, or origin, it is part of the narrative build that Marvel readers and historians point to when discussing the transition into that milestone, and it showcases the Lee-Colan-Romita creative team during a formative period for the title.

The certified population is substantial, with 332 Universal copies on census, and pricing across the mid grades is notably flat: values hover in the $36-$40 range from grade 5.0 through 7.0 before beginning a more typical climb at 8.0 and above. The real inflection point comes at the top of the census, where only 17 copies have reached 9.8 against a much larger pool in the 9.0-9.6 range, and that scarcity produces an outsized jump to four-figure territory for the finest certified copies. Demand appears driven less by any first-appearance premium and more by Silver Age Captain America run-builders and Colan/Romita art collectors rounding out this stretch of the title.

The book functions as an accessible, non-key entry point for collectors assembling a Silver Age Captain America run or focusing on the pre-Falcon issues leading into #117. Raw copies in low and mid grades trade cheaply and are readily available given the size of the certified population, making them a low-cost way to fill a run. High-grade 9.8 slabs, by contrast, command a real premium purely on census rarity, appealing to condition-sensitive registry collectors rather than those chasing key-issue significance.