DOCTOR STRANGE, SORCERER SUPREME #65

Cover shows strong gloss and sharp corners with no visible creases or color breaks. Spine appears tight with no stress lines visible through the protective sleeve. Minor light reflection from the bag obscures fine detail in a couple of areas, but no significant wear, chipping, or staining is apparent on the front cover. Interior and back cover were not assessed.

Published with a May 1994 cover date and the first $1.95 cover price for the title, this installment falls in the David Quinn era of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, the stretch following Siege of Darkness in which the character had shed the Sorcerer Supreme mantle and operated simply as Strange. Quinn scripts, Melvin Rubi pencils and Fred Harper inks the interior, with cover pencils by Mark Buckingham. The story is Act II of the Strangers Among Us arc: Strange contends with a Namor placed under Salome's control while Vengeance forces a brief confrontation, and Wong, accompanied by the partially resurrected Imei, searches for the other Doctor Strange. The issue is a connective chapter rather than a debut or origin, and its interest rests on the Salome storyline and the Sub-Mariner and Vengeance guest appearances.

Market behavior matches its status as a mid-run book from the peak of 1990s print saturation. Distribution levels were high, unsold copies remain plentiful in dealer stock, and the issue is far more often traded inside runs of #62-#66 than as a single listing. Certified copies are scarce not because the book is hard to find in high grade but because submission economics rarely justify grading it, so the small number of slabs that appear behave like grading-fee arbitrage rather than reflecting genuine collector competition. Demand ticks upward only when Doctor Strange screen activity revives general interest in the character's back catalog, and even then the lift concentrates on the recognized keys elsewhere in the series.

Buyers are run collectors completing the 1988 series, readers pursuing the Quinn and Rubi stretch after the Omnibus reprints brought renewed attention to it, and Namor and Ghost Rider-adjacent completists chasing Vengeance appearances. Low-grade copies exist mainly as reading material and rarely trade individually. Mid-grade copies clear quickly but at bulk levels, since near-mint raw stock is abundant enough that condition premiums do not emerge until the top of the scale. Certified examples are best viewed as a convenience purchase for set builders assembling a slabbed run; anyone acquiring for investment should look to the arc-defining issues in the series instead.