Approximate
Condition Profile
MARVEL COMICS · 10/86 · DIRECT EDITION
UNIT ECA-005337
CAPTAIN AMERICA #322
Mark Gruenwald-era Captain America, direct edition, October 1986
// Unit specification
| Publisher | Cover date | Era | Variant | Key attribute | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics | October 1986 | Copper | Direct Edition | — | AVAILABLE |
// Copies in archive
| Unit | Grade | Variant | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECA-005337 | ~9.0 | Direct Edition | AVAILABLE |
// Run position
// Condition analysis
Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or color breaks; spine appears tight with no stress lines evident in this view. There is a faint diagonal line/scuff across the mid-section of the cover that may be a press line or light surface scratch, and slight glare from the protective sleeve obscures fine surface detail. No writing, stains, or edge chipping visible. Interior and back cover were not assessed.
// Valuation — market reference
| Bracket | Grade | Est. market value | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW_RAW | 0.5 – 1.5 | $2 | |
| MID_RAW | 4.0 – 6.0 | $5 | |
| HIGH_CERT | 9.8 SLAB | $110 |
// Archive commentary
Captain America #322 arrived during Mark Gruenwald's long tenure as writer on the title, with Paul Neary providing art in a period defined by street-level espionage plotting and the Captain's ongoing entanglements with the Serpent Society and other Marvel underworld threats of the mid-1980s. The issue is a representative chapter of a stable, well-regarded creative run rather than a book built around a singular event; it contains no first appearance, death, or origin story that price guides or collectors have flagged as historically pivotal.
Market data reflects a book with modest but persistent collector interest, driven almost entirely by completists of the Captain America run and CGC census-chasers rather than by character-first-appearance demand. Certified sales are sparse across all grades, and pricing climbs sharply only at the very top of the census, where a handful of high-grade copies command outsized premiums typical of common 1980s direct-market comics with low surviving high-grade populations. The absence of any recorded 9.9 or 10 sale underscores how thin the ceiling data really is.
This is a book for Bronze/Copper Age Captain America run collectors assembling the Gruenwald/Neary stretch rather than a speculative or key-issue play. Raw copies in low and mid grade trade near cover price and are readily available; the real value differentiation happens only at the CGC 9.6-9.8 tier, where scarcity of pristine surviving copies, not narrative significance, sets the price.
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