STRANGE TALES #156

Cover shows moderate wear typical of a 1967 Silver Age book: soft, rounded corners, visible vertical creasing/waviness across the cover surface, and light surface wear along the edges. Spine appears to have some stress but no major color break visible in this view; slight sheen loss noted overall. Book is in a protective sleeve which limits full assessment of edge chipping and interior condition, and back cover was not visible for review.

Strange Tales #156 (May 1967) arrived during the title's dual-feature era, pairing a Doctor Strange adventure with a Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. story rendered in the moody, cinematic style Jim Steranko was refining just before the character graduated to his own ongoing title. The book sits within one of the most art-forward stretches of 1960s Marvel, when Steranko's photo-collage layouts and stark shadow work were pushing the visual language of the spy genre well past its contemporaries, while the Doctor Strange half continued Stan Lee's psychedelic mysticism into Dormammu's dimension-hopping conflicts.

Market data shows a well-populated census with over 260 Universal copies graded, and pricing that climbs sharply only in the top tiers: raw mid-grade copies trade for modest sums in the $20-$30 range, reflecting steady but unspectacular demand typical of a non-key mid-run issue, while values accelerate past 9.0 as Steranko-art condition scarcity takes hold. The lack of any certified 9.8 on census, against a single top-pop 9.6 example, signals genuine difficulty finding pristine survivors of a comic printed on period newsstand stock and handled as disposable entertainment.

This issue appeals primarily to Silver Age Marvel completists and Steranko-art collectors building out the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. run rather than key-issue speculators, since #156 carries no first appearance or landmark event. Expect low- and mid-grade raw copies to move steadily at low double-digit prices to readers and set-builders, with meaningful value concentrated in high-grade certified examples where condition census scarcity, not character significance, drives the premium.