FANTASTIC FOUR #248

Graded at 8.5 (VF+) on 2026-11-03, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. Front image miswrapped to the right, with a pale band at the spine and the masthead running off the open edge. Tiny color-breaking bend at the lower right corner. Small nicks along the top edge near the upper right. Spine free of color-breaking ticks.

Fantastic Four #248 arrived in November 1982 as part of John Byrne's celebrated run on the title, a stretch of issues widely credited with revitalizing the team's fortunes after a fallow period in the late 1970s. Byrne served as writer, penciler, and inker during this stretch, giving the book a tight visual and narrative consistency rare for a monthly superhero title of the era. While #248 itself does not carry a major first appearance or origin story, it sits within a run that collectors and historians regularly cite as a high point for the Fantastic Four as a franchise.

The certified market reflects a book that is plentiful in high grade and modestly traded: the CGC census shows a large population concentrated at 9.6 and 9.8, with FMVs in the mid-double digits even at the top grade, and softer, thinner activity below 9.0. Demand is steady rather than speculative, driven by Byrne-run completists and Fantastic Four team collectors rather than by any single character or story milestone tied to this specific issue. Recent one-year and 90-day trends show the top-grade price easing from earlier highs, consistent with a general Bronze Age superhero title rather than a recognized key.

This is a collecting-run book: buyers are typically assembling a complete Byrne Fantastic Four set or a broader Fantastic Four volume-one collection rather than chasing this single number as a standalone target. Raw copies in low and mid grade trade cheaply and are readily available, while CGC 9.8 slabs command a real but not dramatic premium reflecting the large surviving population at the top of the census. It is best positioned in a dealer inventory as a solid, affordable representative of a well-regarded Bronze Age creative run rather than as a marquee key issue.