FANTASTIC FOUR #188

Graded at 7.5 (VF-) on 2026-11-04, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. Back cover dingy, with light toning and surface soiling. Bottom right corner lightly blunted. Thin pale strip beside the spine fold on the front. Spine clean with no color-breaking ticks.

Fantastic Four #188, cover-dated November 1977, is a mid-run Bronze Age issue written and edited by Len Wein, with pencils by a young George Pérez inked by longtime FF veteran Joe Sinnott. The story pits the team against two established antagonists, Klaw and Molecule Man, with support from Agatha Harkness, the Watcher, and a brief appearance by Impossible Man, situating the issue squarely within the book's ongoing cosmic-and-villain rotation rather than introducing any new characters or concepts.

Market data shows a book with substantial surviving population and modest demand outside of top-tier certified grades. The FMV table reflects a curve typical of well-preserved, plentiful Bronze Age newsstand issues: raw and low-to-mid grade copies trade for nominal sums, with value concentrated almost entirely in high-grade certified slabs. The jump from single-digit prices in grades below 9.0 to a meaningfully higher figure at 9.8 illustrates that collector interest here is driven by condition census chasing and Pérez's early art rather than any narrative or historical milestone.

This issue is best understood as a supporting piece within a Fantastic Four run set or a Pérez art-progression collection rather than a standalone key. Bulk and mid-grade copies move slowly and cheaply, appealing mainly to readers completing the Wein/Pérez stretch of the title, while CGC 9.8 copies attract a narrower pool of grade-conscious buyers willing to pay a real premium for top-census condition given the relatively low number of 9.8s reported.