SUPERMAN #145

Cover shows notable spine wear with multiple stress lines and small ticks along the spine edge, plus a vertical crease running through the upper right corner area. Corners show blunting/rounding, particularly the top corners, and there is minor edge wear along the borders. Overall color remains bright with no major fading, but the accumulated creasing and spine stress keep this from a higher grade. Interior and back cover were not assessed from this photo.

Superman #145 (DC Comics, May 1961) presents "The Death of Superman!," an imaginary story scripted by Jerry Siegel with a cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye depicting Superman's memorial attended by Supergirl, Batman, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane. Predating the character's actual 1992 death storyline by three decades, this issue is frequently cited in price guides and Silver Age retrospectives as an early and influential use of the death-of-a-hero conceit, and the somber funeral cover remains one of the more recognizable Superman images of its era.

Market data shows a typical Silver Age demand curve: mid-grade copies (4.0-5.5) trade in a tight band around the mid-fifty-dollar mark, with comparatively thin transaction volume, while values accelerate sharply above 8.0 as the census thins toward the top. The 9.0 grade has produced multiple recent sales near $450, and though higher grades show recorded sales, published FMV data becomes sparse above 9.0, consistent with a book whose surviving high-grade population is small relative to the interest the cover and story generate among Superman specialists and Silver Age cover collectors.

This issue suits Superman and Silver Age DC collectors building runs around notable imaginary stories and pre-Crisis mythology touchstones, as well as cover collectors drawn to Swan's funeral composition. Low- and mid-grade copies are readily available and trade as affordable representative examples of the story, while high-grade certified copies are scarce and command outsized premiums; with no 9.8 yet certified, a top-graded copy would likely set a new benchmark for the issue rather than simply extend the existing sales pattern.