TALES OF SUSPENSE #82

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a mid-grade Silver Age book: soft corners especially at bottom left, a vertical crease line visible near the spine, and slight color rub along the top edge. There is some minor surface wear and light waviness to the cover stock, but no major tears or missing pieces are visible. The book is housed in a protective sleeve, which obscures fine spine-stress detail; interior pages and back cover were not assessed.

Tales of Suspense #82 arrived during the celebrated "split-book" phase of Marvel's anthology line, pairing an Iron Man adventure with a Captain America backup, both scripted by Stan Lee. The Iron Man feature, illustrated by Gene Colan (credited under his "Adam Austin" pseudonym at the time), continues the ongoing conflict with the Mandarin, one of Iron Man's most enduring adversaries, while the Captain America story showcases Jack Kirby's returning influence on the character's visual mythology as the strip built toward its own headlining series. The issue reflects Marvel's mid-1960s house style at its most confident, with layered subplots and a shared-universe density that defined the era.

Market data shows a large certified population exceeding 390 CGC Universal copies, consistent with a book that was heavily read, saved, and later resubmitted rather than a scarce or short-printed issue. Pricing across the mid and high grades reflects steady collector interest without speculative spikes: values climb gradually through the 8.0-9.4 range before a sharp premium appears at the 9.6 and 9.8 tiers, where population thins considerably and completed sales become infrequent. This curve is typical of Silver Age anthology issues carried by strong secondary characters rather than a single documented first appearance.

Demand centers on Iron Man and Captain America completists, Mandarin-arc collectors, and Silver Age Marvel readers assembling the Tales of Suspense run rather than key-issue speculators. Lower and mid-grade raw copies trade as affordable reading or run-filler material, moving steadily but without urgency, while top-tier CGC 9.6 and 9.8 examples command outsized premiums driven by their rarity relative to the broader census rather than any landmark story content. As a result, the book performs best in the archive as a quality-grade play for high-end registry sets rather than as a headline key acquisition.