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Marvel Super Action #3 cover
Cover: Jack Kirby & Syd Shores

Marvel Super Action #3

Sep 1977 · Marvel · 0.30 USD
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“The Sleeper Strikes!”
About this Issue

Marvel Super Action #3 (September 1977) is the third chapter in Marvel's Bronze Age reprint vehicle for its landmark Captain America solo series, delivering Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Silver Age storytelling to a new generation of readers at a fraction of the original cover price. The issue reprints Captain America #102 (June 1968), the climactic conclusion to the first multi-part adventure of Cap's relaunched solo title — a story that pits the Sentinel of Liberty and Sharon Carter against both the Red Skull and the terrifying Fourth Sleeper, a Nazi doomsday robot capable of self-detonation. As part of the broader Marvel Super Action series, this issue also exists in a 35-cent price variant edition produced for select test markets during the summer and fall of 1977, making it a small piece of Marvel's documented experiment with incremental cover-price increases across the Bronze Age. Collectively, the series served a genuine public-service function for comics readers of the era: making Kirby's kinetic Silver Age work accessible to collectors who could not yet obtain or afford the original 1968 issues.

writer Stan Lee · artist Jack Kirby · inker Syd Shores · letterer Artie Simek · cover Jack Kirby, Syd Shores

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta
Raw (Fine) $41
CGC 9.8 · 4 in census $1,195*
CGC 9.6 · 1 in census $394*
CGC 9.4 · 3 in census $223
CGC 9.2 · 3 in census $170*
CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $138*
CGC 8.5 · 2 in census $113*
Show all 18 grades
CGC 8.0 · 3 in census $100*
CGC 7.5 · 3 in census $89*
CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $77*
CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $65*
CGC 6.0 none in existence
CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $52
CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $52*
CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $47*
CGC 4.0 none in existence
CGC 3.5 none in existence
CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $30*
CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $28*
* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade
Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The 1977 Marvel Super Action series was conceived as a standard-format, full-color reprint title that picked up where the discontinued one-shot Marvel Super Action magazine (January 1976) left off in name only — the two publications share nothing editorially beyond a title. Beginning with issue #1 (May 1977), the series systematically reprinted Captain America's 1968 solo title starting with Captain America #100, proceeding in order through the Kirby/Lee run; issue #3 reprints Captain America #102 (June 1968), itself scripted by Stan Lee with pencils by Jack Kirby and inks by Syd Shores. Marvel was running several parallel Bronze Age reprint titles at the time — including Marvel Triple Action (Avengers) and Marvel Double Feature (Tales of Suspense reprints) — reflecting a deliberate editorial strategy of monetizing its Silver Age library through affordable newsstand product. The series would eventually pivot away from Captain America and begin reprinting Avengers stories beginning with issue #14, effectively continuing where Marvel Triple Action left off.

Trivia · 8 facts

  • Reprints Captain America (1968 series) #102, titled 'The Sleeper Strikes!', originally published June 1968.
  • Script by Stan Lee; pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by Syd Shores — the same creative team as the original 1968 printing.
  • Story features Captain America and Sharon Carter (Agent 13) battling the Red Skull and the Fourth Sleeper, a self-destructing Nazi robot capable of wiping out strategic locations.
  • Nick Fury makes a cameo appearance, playing a key logistical role in Cap's mission against the Sleeper.
  • Published September 1977 by Marvel Comics; standard cover price was 30 cents for the regular edition.
  • A 35-cent price variant edition of this issue exists, produced as part of Marvel's limited test-market price experiment conducted across select U.S. cities between June and October 1977.
  • The 1977 Marvel Super Action series began with reprints of Captain America #100 (issue #1) and continued sequentially through the 1968 Kirby/Lee run before later shifting to Avengers reprints beginning with issue #14.
  • Captain America #102 (the source material) is the concluding chapter of the first multi-part storyline in Cap's newly relaunched solo title — which Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had spun out of Tales of Suspense beginning with Captain America #100 in 1968.

Full credits

writer Stan Lee
artist Jack Kirby
letterer Artie Simek
cover pencils Jack Kirby
cover inks Syd Shores

Reprints

↩ Reprints Captain America #102 (1968)

Reprinted in Captain America Omnibus #1 [Third Edition] (2024)

Variants (2)

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