STRANGE TALES #168

Cover shows a prominent vertical crease/wrinkle running through the upper left masthead area and additional creasing near the top left corner, with a diagonal crease crossing the 'DOCTOR' logo causing slight color break. There is noticeable spine wear with some fraying near the top and bottom spine edges, and the corners show mild rounding. The book is currently housed in a plastic sleeve which adds some glare but does not appear to hide major loss or tears. Interior and back cover were not assessed, so grade reflects front cover defects only.

Strange Tales #168 (Marvel, May 1968) closes out the dual-feature run that had paired Doctor Strange with Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD since the mid-1960s. The Nick Fury segment is drawn and largely plotted by Jim Steranko, whose pop-art, photomontage-influenced layouts on this series are widely regarded as some of the most visually inventive work published by Marvel in the Silver Age; the issue's cover, also by Steranko, carries the same graphic sensibility. The Doctor Strange half continues the Ancient One and Eternity storyline scripted by Stan Lee with art credited to the Doctor Strange creative team of the period. With this issue, Strange Tales as a title ends: the following month Nick Fury launches into his own ongoing series while the Doctor Strange feature continues under new numbering, making #168 the final chapter of a title that had run since 1951.

Demand for the book is driven primarily by Steranko completists and Silver Age Marvel collectors filling out the Strange Tales/Nick Fury run, rather than by any single first appearance. The FMV curve is characteristic of a well-collected but non-key Silver Age issue: values stay compressed and modest through the mid and high-mid grades, then rise sharply at the top of the census, reflecting a thin population of true Gem Mint copies chased by registry-focused buyers. Recent sales activity at 9.8 shows sustained strength near the current FMV, while raw and lower-graded copies trade in a narrow band that has held steady rather than spiked, consistent with a book valued for its creative pedigree and historical placement rather than speculative key-issue demand.

This is a book collected end-to-end by Steranko and Nick Fury enthusiasts, by Doctor Strange run collectors, and by generalist Silver Age Marvel buyers assembling complete Strange Tales sets. Lower and mid-grade raw copies move steadily but at modest prices as reading or run-filling copies, while top-census CGC 9.8 examples command a substantial premium and trade infrequently, reflecting both genuine scarcity at that grade and enduring appreciation for Steranko's design work. Expect the book to remain a steady, if unspectacular, performer across grades, with the 9.8 tier the primary locus of meaningful price movement.