DOCTOR STRANGE #172

Cover shows strong gloss and bright inks with sharp corners overall; however there is visible waviness/mild warping across the cover surface and light surface creasing near the lower right and bottom edge, along with a soft crease line running through the lower portion of the artwork. No major tears, color breaks, or spine splits are visible, and the spine appears reasonably tight from this angle, but the book is in a protective sleeve which obscures fine edge detail. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade is based solely on this front cover photo.

Doctor Strange #172 belongs to the character's first ongoing solo title, launched when Strange Tales was retitled and its numbering carried forward beginning with issue #169. By late 1968 the series was written by Roy Thomas with art handled by Dan Adkins, continuing the psychedelic, mystically dense visual style Marvel had cultivated for the Sorcerer Supreme since the Lee/Ditko era. The issue does not carry a first appearance, origin, or death, and its cover is not among the images regularly cited in price-guide key lists; it is a representative mid-run chapter of a title that struggled commercially and was canceled after issue #183.

Market data reflects a book with a healthy certified population (258 Universal copies of 279 graded) but thin demand outside completists and Doctor Strange specialists. Values hold flat through the mid grades, with prices barely moving between 3.5 and 6.0, then climbing gradually through 7.0-9.0 before accelerating sharply at 9.4 and 9.6, where sales are comparatively frequent and buyers pay a real premium for top-of-census condition. No 9.8 has yet been certified, indicating either genuine scarcity at that grade or simply low submission volume for a title that rarely draws high-end grading attention.

This is a book for series completists and Silver Age Doctor Strange collectors building toward a full run rather than crossover or key-issue speculators. Lower and mid-grade raw copies trade as inexpensive, plentiful filler with little upward pressure. The real action is concentrated at the top of the census: 9.4 and 9.6 copies already command outsized premiums relative to the rest of the run, and a certified 9.8, when one eventually surfaces, should command a significant multiple over the current 9.6 benchmark given the total absence of higher-grade sales history.