FANTASTIC FOUR #274

Graded at 7.0 (FN/VF) on 2026-11-04, from new photos taken out of the sleeve: front and back. Front art wraps around the spine and widens toward the foot, with the cover signature landing on the back. Short crease from the spine at the foot of the barcode box. Fine hairline crease about 1/2 inch long on the back near the spine. Small tick in the corner box logo at the fold. Corners lightly blunted.

Fantastic Four #274 (January 1985) arrives during John Byrne's celebrated run as writer, penciler, and cover artist on the title, at a point when the series was working through the fallout of Reed Richards' unilateral defeat of Doctor Doom several years earlier in the story. This installment is part of the multi-issue arc in which Reed is brought before the World Court to answer for that act, a storyline that reshaped the team's internal dynamics and helped cement Sue Storm's evolution into the more assertive Invisible Woman and She-Hulk's tenure as a full-time member covering for Reed's absence from the field. While not a first appearance or origin issue, it is representative of the character-driven, high-craft plotting that defines Byrne's tenure as one of the most consistently praised runs in the title's history.

Market data reflects a well-populated but modestly traded Copper Age direct-market book: certified population sits at 186 Universal copies, concentrated heavily at the 9.6-9.8 tier, with 49 recorded sales at 9.8 anchoring the high-grade figure. Demand is driven primarily by Byrne-run completists and Fantastic Four series collectors rather than key-issue speculation, and pricing across the certified population falls off sharply below near-mint, consistent with a common, easily found back-issue rather than a scarce or heavily contested book. There is no meaningful sales activity recorded below the 8.0-8.5 range, underscoring that lower-grade copies see little collector interest.

This issue suits collectors assembling a complete run of Byrne's Fantastic Four or building out the