THE WEST COAST AVENGERS #26

Cover shows strong gloss and vivid color with sharp, well-defined corners and no visible creases or spine stress lines. The spine appears tight with no rolling or color break, and edges look clean without chipping. A small bit of surface glare is visible from the protective sleeve, and there may be minor handling wear not fully visible under the plastic; interior and back cover were not assessed.

West Coast Avengers #26 continues the Zodiac storyline that occupied much of the title's second year, with Steve Englehart scripting and Al Milgrom penciling over Mike Machlan inks. The issue turns on the destruction of the original Zodiac cartel by the Life Model Decoy versions built in their image, after which the surviving Taurus is forced into an uneasy alliance with the Avengers, and the team confronts the LMD Zodiac in Kansas. The lineup on hand is the one most associated with the series in this period: Hawkeye and Mockingbird, Tigra, Moon Knight, Wonder Man, Hank Pym in his non-costumed Dr. Pym phase, and Iron Man. It is a functional mid-run chapter of a well-regarded Copper Age run rather than a milestone issue.

Market activity reflects that. Public graded sales data for this specific number is effectively absent, with the major tracking services carrying no recorded transactions and price-guide figures generated by interpolation rather than observed results. Raw copies trade as run filler through dealer inventories and eBay lots, where condition differences at the lower end of the scale have almost no pricing effect. The only meaningful demand driver in the series is the later cluster of issues tied to Vision and Scarlet Witch continuity and the Great Lakes Avengers debut, which drew speculative attention during the WandaVision cycle; that heat did not extend to the Zodiac chapters.

Buyers here are run collectors completing the 1985-1989 series, Moon Knight and Mockingbird character collectors, and Englehart or Milgrom followers. Copies in low and mid grades are best sold as part of a run or a themed lot, since individual shipping and handling costs approach the value of the book. Certified copies are a different proposition: census populations across this stretch of the title are small, so a top-grade slab can find a registry or condition-focused buyer at a multiple of raw value, but with few comparable sales the realized figure depends heavily on which bidders are present that week.