DOCTOR STRANGE #183

Cover shows moderate wear consistent with a well-handled Silver Age book: visible spine stress lines and slight color break near the mid-spine, mild corner softness at top right, and a small crease near the lower left near the logo box. The cover gloss appears somewhat diminished with light surface wear, but colors remain bright and there are no major tears, creases, or stains visible. Interior and back cover were not assessed, and the book is in a protective sleeve which may obscure some edge detail.

Doctor Strange #183 (Marvel, November 1969) closed out the character's first solo title, which had continued the numbering from Strange Tales. The series had struggled commercially through the late 1960s despite strong creative work from Roy Thomas and Gene Colan, and its cancellation with this issue left Doctor Strange without an ongoing title until his 1974 relaunch, making #183 a notable bookend in the character's early publishing history rather than a first-appearance key.

The book's market behavior reflects a well-collected but non-key Silver Age issue: a broad certified population of 225 Universal copies across 244 total graded, steady demand through the mid grades where FMV sits in a tight band from roughly $42 to $50, and a sharp acceleration only in the highest tiers, where 9.4 copies command around $150 and census population thins dramatically above that point. Demand is driven by completists building the full Doctor Strange Volume 1 run and by interest in Colan's linework rather than any origin or first-appearance premium, which caps ceiling pricing relative to true key issues of the same era.

Collecting activity centers on run-builders and Silver Age Marvel specialists rather than speculative key-issue buyers, so the book trades in a narrow, predictable range through low and mid grades. High-grade certified copies are scarce enough that a 9.8 would represent a meaningful outlier sale, likely trading well above the documented 9.4 benchmark given how few copies exist above that grade on census.