CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #4

Cover shows good gloss and bright colors with sharp corners overall; there is minor edge wear along the top and right edges and slight blunting at the lower right corner. A faint diagonal crease/handling mark is visible near the top edge above the logo box. The book is in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of spine ticks and surface sheen; interior and back cover were not assessed. No major creases, tears, or color breaks are evident in this photo.

Chamber of Darkness #4 belongs to Marvel's brief but influential wave of black-and-white-adjacent horror anthologies launched at the close of the 1960s, part of the publisher's push back into suspense and supernatural material after the Comics Code loosened its restrictions on horror content. The issue is best known among collectors for its interior artwork by a young Bernie Wrightson, illustrating an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "Cool Air," one of his earliest professional assignments for Marvel before he became closely associated with DC's Swamp Thing. The issue's cover, rendered by Neal Adams, adds further creator pedigree to a book otherwise built around anthology short stories with no continuing characters.

Market demand centers on Wrightson completists and Bronze Age horror specialists rather than mainstream superhero collectors, which keeps raw mid-grade values modest even as certified high-grade copies show a pronounced premium. The jump in fair market value between 9.6 and 9.8 census copies reflects genuine scarcity at the top of the grading curve — only a handful of 9.8s have ever been certified — rather than broad collector competition across all grades. Sales activity in the low-to-mid grade tiers is thin and pricing stays close to bulk-book levels, consistent with an anthology title whose appeal is concentrated on a specific creator credit rather than characters or continuity.

This is a book that trades in two distinct markets: as inexpensive reading/filler copies for horror-anthology and Bronze Age run-builders in low-to-mid grade, and as a scarce high-grade Wrightson/Adams collectible at the 9.6-9.8 level, where census scarcity and dedicated Wrightson collectors support outsized premiums. Dealers should expect steady but unremarkable turnover in raw grades and should treat any properly certified 9.8 as a standout offering given the minimal supply at that tier.