FANTASTIC FOUR #259

Graded at 6.5 (FN+) on 2026-11-03, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front, close-up, back and interior page. Half-inch diagonal crease near the lower outer corner, with the paper broken in three spots on the back and a rippled surface on the front. Tiny color break and a tiny nick at that corner on the front. Thin pale band along the front spine edge from an off-center wrap. Small dents along the bottom of the center spread and a fine crease at its top. Tan pages.

Fantastic Four #259 arrived in October 1983 during John Byrne's celebrated run as writer-artist on the title, a period widely regarded as one of the strongest creative stretches in the franchise's history. This issue falls within Byrne's extended arc involving Terrax the Tamer, the former herald of Galactus, and continues the character-driven, high-stakes storytelling that redefined the team for a new generation of readers. It does not introduce a new character or feature a first appearance, but it stands as a representative chapter of a run that collectors and historians consistently cite as a high point for the series.

Market data shows a large certified population, with 252 of 254 graded copies falling in the Universal census, indicating this was a well-preserved, widely available direct-market book even decades later. Demand is concentrated at the top of the grading scale: the CGC 9.8 fair market value sits in the $76-$103 range depending on the averaging window, while sales at 9.2 and below drop off sharply, with fewer than 20 total transactions recorded across all sub-9.4 grades combined. This pattern is typical of a solid but non-key Bronze Age issue — value is driven almost entirely by condition census scarcity at the pinnacle grade rather than by character or story significance.

This is a book for Byrne-run completists and Fantastic Four run-builders rather than key-issue investors. Lower and mid-grade raw copies move as inexpensive additions to a longer-term collection or reading set, while CGC 9.8 examples command a real premium reflecting their relative scarcity at the top of the census. Pricing across the grade spectrum should be expected to track broader Bronze Age direct-market sentiment rather than any independent demand driver specific to this issue.