There is a step on this ladder where the price falls by two thirds for two tenths of a grade, and knowing which side of it your copy sits on is worth more than everything else on this page. Strange Tales 135 value hinges on 9.2.
It is the first appearance of Nick Fury as an agent of SHIELD, and of SHIELD itself, from August 1965.
A wartime character restarted as a spy
Nick Fury had already been running for two years in Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos as a Second World War character. This issue restarts him in the present day as a spy, and invents the organization he has led ever since.
So a listing describing this as the first Nick Fury is wrong; it is the first modern Fury and the first SHIELD. The distinction matters less financially than it does on some books, because the wartime title is inexpensive and this issue is the one collectors want.
It is also a split book. Doctor Strange has the back half, which means it attracts two sets of buyers, and that is part of why it has such a deep sales record for a mid-run issue.
Printing check: 12 cents, August 1965, no bar code. Reprints of the SHIELD story appear in collections that state their edition inside.
The cliff between 9.2 and 9.0
Nothing on this issue has reached CGC’s auction reporting, so no price below carries a link. Heritage and eBay make up the record.
| Grade | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.8 | $20,400 | Heritage Auctions, November 2020 |
| CGC 9.8 | $17,328 | Heritage Auctions, July 2012 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,540 | Heritage Auctions, March 2026 |
| CGC 9.4 | $4,080 | Heritage Auctions, July 2023 |
| CGC 9.4 | $3,120 | Heritage Auctions, February 2022 |
| CGC 9.2 | $3,000 | Heritage Auctions, November 2021 |
| CGC 9.2 | $2,640 | Heritage Auctions, August 2022 |
| CGC 9.2 | $1,800 | Heritage Auctions, August 2023 |
| CGC 9.0 | $910 | eBay, May 2023 |
| CGC 9.0 | $870 | Heritage Auctions, October 2024 |
| CGC 9.0 | $787 | eBay, May 2026 |
Look at the last two grades on that list. The 9.2 has sold at $3,000, $2,640 and $1,800 across 2021 to 2023. The 9.0 immediately beneath it has sold at $910, $870 and $787 across 2023 to 2026.
Even taking the weakest 9.2 result and the strongest 9.0, the gap is more than double for two tenths of a grade. Taking the strongest 9.2 against the most recent 9.0 it is nearly four times.
Above that step the book climbs steeply and steadily: a 9.4 at $4,080, a 9.6 at $8,540 in March 2026, a 9.8 at $20,400. Each grade is roughly double the one below it, which is a normal shape for a scarce high grade.
Below the step it flattens out almost immediately, and that is where nearly every copy in existence sits. The practical consequence is that this is a book worth grading only if you genuinely believe it will hit 9.2.
As with everything on this site, those figures come through CGC’s reporting of other companies’ auctions and Heritage’s own published results. GoCollect and PriceCharting track Strange Tales #135 independently, and if their numbers disagree with mine it is worth finding out which of us is wrong.
Strange Tales #135 value, grade by grade
260 sales tracked back to 2003; here are the three freshest in every grade.
| Grade | Sold for | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.8 | $20,400 | Heritage Auctions, November 19, 2020 |
| CGC 9.8 | $13,200 | Heritage Auctions, August 1, 2019 |
| CGC 9.8 | $17,328 | Heritage Auctions, July 26, 2012 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,540 | Heritage Auctions, March 16, 2026 |
| CGC 9.6 | $4,780 | Heritage Auctions, February 20, 2014 |
| CGC 9.6 | $8,365 | Heritage Auctions, May 5, 2011 |
| CGC 9.4 | $2,640 | Heritage Auctions, August 31, 2023 |
| CGC 9.4 | $4,080 | Heritage Auctions, July 17, 2023 |
| CGC 9.4 | $3,120 | Heritage Auctions, February 7, 2022 |
| CGC 9.2 | $1,800 | Heritage Auctions, August 31, 2023 |
| CGC 9.2 | $2,640 | Heritage Auctions, August 18, 2022 |
| CGC 9.2 | $2,877 | eBay, April 29, 2022 |
| CGC 9.0 | $787 | eBay, May 25, 2026 |
| CGC 9.0 | $825 | eBay, April 24, 2026 |
| CGC 9.0 | $749 | eBay, January 13, 2026 |
| CGC 8.5 | $612 | eBay, June 19, 2026 |
| CGC 8.5 | $407 | eBay, December 29, 2025 |
| CGC 8.5 | $577 | eBay, November 15, 2025 |
| CGC 8.0 | $329 | eBay, March 15, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $380 | eBay, March 6, 2026 |
| CGC 8.0 | $400 | eBay, February 14, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $330 | eBay, June 25, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $250 | eBay, April 20, 2026 |
| CGC 7.5 | $300 | eBay, August 11, 2025 |
| CGC 7.0 | $295 | eBay, December 31, 2025 |
| CGC 7.0 | $200 | eBay, December 13, 2025 |
| CGC 7.0 | $216 | Heritage Auctions, April 30, 2025 |
| CGC 6.5 | $225 | eBay, June 16, 2026 |
| CGC 6.5 | $279 | eBay, June 12, 2026 |
| CGC 6.5 | $220 | eBay, May 3, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $340 | eBay, August 4, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $189 | eBay, February 15, 2026 |
| CGC 6.0 | $175 | eBay, February 8, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $114 | eBay, May 28, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $139 | eBay, April 22, 2026 |
| CGC 5.5 | $150 | eBay, April 14, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $150 | eBay, August 4, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $150 | eBay, May 27, 2026 |
| CGC 5.0 | $106 | eBay, April 27, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $77 | eBay, June 18, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $126 | eBay, March 29, 2026 |
| CGC 4.5 | $115 | eBay, January 4, 2026 |
| CGC 4.0 | $135 | eBay, July 7, 2026 |
| CGC 4.0 | $100 | eBay, December 21, 2025 |
| CGC 4.0 | $150 | eBay, November 10, 2025 |
| CGC 3.5 | $150 | eBay, July 12, 2026 |
| CGC 3.5 | $98 | eBay, November 29, 2025 |
| CGC 3.5 | $80 | eBay, August 23, 2025 |
| CGC 3.0 | $85 | eBay, April 18, 2026 |
| CGC 3.0 | $80 | eBay, January 10, 2026 |
| CGC 3.0 | $75 | eBay, December 29, 2025 |
| CGC 2.5 | $127 | eBay, July 12, 2026 |
| CGC 2.5 | $60 | eBay, November 9, 2024 |
| CGC 2.5 | $65 | eBay, December 29, 2023 |
| CGC 2.0 | $110 | eBay, May 10, 2023 |
| CGC 2.0 | $214 | eBay, May 27, 2022 |
| Raw | $50 | eBay, August 13, 2026 |
| Raw | $34 | eBay, August 10, 2026 |
| Raw | $45 | eBay, August 3, 2026 |
Every row above is a documented sale, verifiable in Heritage’s public Strange Tales issue index and in CGC’s published auction reporting. Twenty-one of them sit at 7.5 alone, a lane that trades for a fraction of the grades above it.
Where the vast majority of copies live
This is where the book turns into a starter key rather than an investment. Sixty-one readable copies traded over the past eighteen months and the numbers are small.
From May to August 2026: a 6.0 brought $340, three 6.5 copies brought $279, $225 and $220, two 5.0 copies brought $150 each, a 5.5 brought $114, a 4.0 brought $135, a 3.5 brought $150 and a 4.5 brought $77.
Almost everything below 6.5 is a two-figure or low three-figure comic. A first appearance of SHIELD for under two hundred dollars is a real thing, and it is what most owners of this book actually have.
The two 5.0 sales at exactly $150 apiece are the tightest pair here. The 4.5 at $77 is the outlier and I would treat it as one, not as evidence that the grade is worth that.
Selling a Strange Tales #135
- Twelve cents, August 1965. Reprints of the SHIELD story name their edition inside.
- Do not call it the first Nick Fury. The character starts in his own wartime title two years earlier.
- Grade only if you expect 9.2 or better. Below that step the fee will not come back.
- Mention Doctor Strange. The back half of this issue reaches a second set of buyers entirely.
Photographs first, and the thing I will assess before anything else is whether your copy has a chance at 9.2. On this comic that one question settles most of the answer.
First SHIELD?
Collections that reprint the SHIELD story name their edition inside, so the shot I need is the indicia: twelve cents, August 1965, no bar code. That page rules a reprint in or out. Text it to me.
I read every request myself.
Send photographs and I will place your copy in its grade lane against the same recent sales you can read above. Where you take it next is your call, and the options for selling in Southern California are worth knowing either way.
Related
- Strange Tales #110. The first Doctor Strange, in the same title, twenty-five issues earlier.
- The 100 most valuable Silver Age comics. And what each one really sold for.
- How grading actually works. And why one step on this ladder is worth so much more than the others.
Cover images on this page are shown small, for identification, with the publisher credited in the caption. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, contact me and it comes down.
