STRANGE TALES #128

This 1965 pre-direct/newsstand-split issue shows notable vertical creasing running through the lower-left cover art (visible through the protective sleeve), along with a small handwritten date notation near the top of the logo. Corners show moderate rounding/softness, and there is mild surface wear and a faint stain/discoloration near the bottom left panel. The spine area is obscured by the sleeve fold but appears to have some stress. Cover gloss is diminished with slight color fading typical of the era; interior pages and back cover were not visible for assessment.

Strange Tales #128 (Marvel, January 1965) belongs to the mid-1960s dual-feature era of the title, pairing a Human Torch and Thing team-up drawn by Jack Kirby with a Doctor Strange installment by Steve Ditko, both scripted under Stan Lee's editorial hand. The issue falls within the Baron Mordo confrontation arc that Ditko was building across consecutive issues, a storyline central to the early expansion of Doctor Strange's mystic supporting cast and visual vocabulary. While not a first appearance or origin issue, it is a representative example of the Kirby/Ditko split-book format that defined Strange Tales through the mid-1960s.

The certified market shows a pronounced split between the bulk of the population and the top of the census. With 412 Universal copies recorded and pricing flat across grades 2.0 through 6.0 (roughly $38 to $60), the book trades as a common, well-supplied Silver Age title in low and mid grade. Above 9.0 the curve steepens sharply: 9.4 sits near $875, 9.6 near $1,900, and the three known 9.8 copies command roughly $4,100, with recent sales activity confirming that level. This shape is typical of a mid-run Marvel Silver Age issue where demand is concentrated among condition-census chasers and Kirby/Ditko art collectors rather than key-issue speculators.

Collecting interest centers on completists building Strange Tales or Doctor Strange runs and on Kirby or Ditko art buyers rather than character-key investors. Lower and mid-grade copies function as accessible reading copies with little grade-to-grade price sensitivity below 7.0, while the handful of 9.6 and 9.8 slabs draw outsized premiums purely from census scarcity. Expect steady, unremarkable turnover in raw grades and occasional strong results when a top-census slab reaches auction.