FANTASTIC FOUR #268

Graded at 5.5 (FN-) on 2026-11-04, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. About a dozen color-breaking ticks along the spine, the longest near a quarter inch. Two dull gray-green patches in the dark art at the lower right of the front, each about an inch across. Small color-breaking crease at the front's lower right corner. Short curved crease at the back's top spine corner, with a small break at the spine edge just below it. Slim cream line along the front's top and right edges.

Fantastic Four #268 (July 1984) arrived during John Byrne's celebrated run as writer, penciler, and inker, and stands as a self-contained "Interlude" issue retelling the team's earliest days through Sue Storm's perspective. Rather than advancing the ongoing Skrull and Fantastic Four subplots of the surrounding arc, Byrne used the issue to revisit the team's 1961 origin with contemporary art and characterization, tying directly into the franchise's approaching 25th anniversary. It is a widely read example of Byrne's meticulous continuity work on the title rather than a first appearance or origin of a new character.