FANTASTIC FOUR #246

Graded at 9.0 (VF/NM) on 2026-11-03, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. White cover bright and clean. Spine free of color-breaking ticks. Corners near sharp, with the faintest touch at the lower left. Tiny scuffs in the black price box at the upper left.

Fantastic Four #246 arrives in the middle of John Byrne's influential run as writer-artist on the title, a stretch widely credited with revitalizing the series through tighter plotting, cosmic-scale storytelling, and a return to classic Lee-Kirby dynamics filtered through Byrne's own visual sensibility. The issue continues the extended Galactus-Terrax storyline that dominated Byrne's early tenure, pitting the team against forces operating on a planetary and cosmic scale, and it showcases the clean, kinetic linework that made Byrne's FF stint a touchstone for the character's Bronze Age history.

Market data shows a book that trades as a common, high-print-run direct-market issue for the majority of its grade range, with FMVs holding in the low thirties from grade 8.5 through 9.4 before rising modestly at 9.6 and then jumping sharply at 9.8. That top-grade premium, set against a large certified census, indicates that while raw and mid-grade copies remain abundant and inexpensive, true gem-mint survivors are comparatively scarce and command outsized attention from grade-focused buyers.

This is a book bought primarily by Byrne-run completists and Fantastic Four series collectors filling out long boxes rather than key-issue speculators, since it carries no first appearance, death, or origin significance. Demand is steady but unspectacular in low and mid grades, where the issue functions as inexpensive filler, while the CGC 9.8 population draws a small but consistent premium from registry-set builders chasing top-census Byrne issues.