DOCTOR STRANGE, SORCERER SUPREME #26

Cover shows sharp corners and strong gloss with vibrant magenta and red inks showing no visible fading. Spine appears tight with no visible stress lines or ticks in this photo, though the book is in a plastic sleeve which slightly obscures fine surface detail and glare is present in a few areas. No creases, tears, or color breaks are visible on the front cover. Interior pages and back cover were not assessed, so the grade reflects front cover appearance only.

Cover-dated February 1991, this installment of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme falls in the stretch of the run scripted by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Dann Thomas, with pencils and cover art by Chris Marrinan, inks by Mark McKenna, and additional art from Geof Isherwood. The story keeps Strange's regular supporting cast in play, with Clea and the minotaur apprentice Rintrah on hand and the shape-stealing Possessors as the antagonists, while Arishem the Judge, Conan, Mephista, Noble Kale, and the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider register as brief or visionary appearances rather than substantive guest turns. Colors are credited to George Roussos and Nel Yomtov, with lettering by Jean Simek Izzo. The issue predates the Midnight Sons reorganization that would give this title a commercial lift a year and a half later, and it carries no first appearance or origin.

Market behavior follows the pattern of the entire mid-run: high print figures, wide survivorship, and no speculative catalyst. Graded activity across neighboring issue numbers is sparse and driven mostly by registry-minded run collectors, with certified high-grade results clustering in a narrow band that reflects the cost of grading more than any scarcity premium. Raw copies move in dollar boxes and in bulk run lots, and the newsstand printing does not command the premium seen on later Marvel newsstand issues from the mid and late 1990s, when that distribution channel had contracted sharply. Character cameos listed in indexes occasionally attract search traffic, but they have not translated into measurable price movement for this number.

The buyer for this book is the completist assembling the sixty-issue Lofficier and Thomas era, or a Doctor Strange reader filling gaps ahead of the Infinity Gauntlet crossover issues. Low-grade copies function purely as reading stock and trade at or near their original cover price; mid-grade copies clear quickly in run lots but rarely justify individual listing. Certified copies are worth pursuing only when the slab can be acquired near grading cost, since resale depends on finding one of the small number of collectors chasing the full run in uniform high grade. Dealers are generally better served offering this issue as part of a consecutive run than as a standalone.