Squadron Supreme #5

Name: Squadron Supreme #5
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jan 1986 · Marvel · 0.75 USD; 0.50 GBP; 1.00 CAD

📊 ~46,023 copies sold its debut month

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Turn-About”

★ 1st appearance — Foxfire★ 1st appearance — Lamprey★ 1st appearance — Ape X

About this Issue

Squadron Supreme #5 — titled 'Turnabout' and cover-dated January 1986 — is the collective first appearance of the Institute of Evil, the team's primary antagonist group assembled by the time-traveling Scarlet Centurion: Ape-X (Xina), Doctor Decibel (Anton Decibel), Foxfire (Olivia Underwood), Lamprey (Donald McGuiggin), Quagmire (Jerome Myers), and Shape (Raleigh Lund). Their debut here is not merely a villain showcase; it is the issue where Mark Gruenwald demonstrates that the Squadron's Utopia Program carries lethal consequences, as the Institute exploits the very behavior-modification technology and secret-identity data the heroes weaponized, turning the Squadron's own tools against them. The issue sharpens the series' central ethical argument — that even well-meaning authoritarian power creates vulnerabilities — and launches the chain of events that eventually culminates in the series' devastating final battle, making it an indispensable chapter in one of the most deliberate superhero deconstructions of the copper age.

writer Mark Gruenwald · artist Bob Hall · inker Sam de la Rosa · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Janice Chiang · cover Bob Hall, Bob Layton

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

Raw — NM $5.19 1 listing Raw — NM- $6 1 listing

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $1.5–$2.49 2 listings

VF/NM $1.5 VF/NM $2.49

Raw — VF ▾ $1.69–$17 8 listings

VF $1.69 VF $1.99 VF $2.99 VF $2.99 VF $4 VF · Newsstand $4 VF · Newsstand $4.98 VF $17

Raw — FN+ $1.99 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $3.8–$4 2 listings

FN $3.8 FN $4

Raw — VG+ $3 1 listing Raw — VG $1.24 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $2.25–$11 22 listings

Verified matches for Squadron Supreme #5 · eBay asking prices, seen 7 days ago

More listings for this title

NM- $7

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 1 total · seen 7 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Mark Gruenwald conceived the Squadron Supreme limited series as his opportunity to write the Justice League analogues Marvel already owned, having long been an obsessive fan of DC's team before joining Marvel in 1978. Gruenwald wrote all twelve issues while simultaneously editing titles including Captain America, and issue #5 was penciled by Bob Hall — who handled the bulk of the series before Paul Ryan took over in the later issues — with inks by Sam De La Rosa, colors by Bob Sharen, and lettering by Janice Chiang. The series ran from September 1985 through August 1986 and Gruenwald himself regarded it as his magnum opus; in a posthumous tribute, his ashes were mixed into the ink used to print the first-edition trade paperback collection of the series.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Institute of Evil as a team: Ape-X (Xina), Doctor Decibel (Anton Decibel), Foxfire (Olivia Underwood), Lamprey (Donald McGuiggin), Quagmire (Jerome Myers), and Shape (Raleigh Lund) all debut in this issue.
The story, titled 'Turnabout,' was written by Mark Gruenwald, penciled by Bob Hall, inked by Sam De La Rosa, colored by Bob Sharen, and lettered by Janice Chiang.
The Institute of Evil infiltrates Squadron Supreme headquarters after extracting the team's security codes, secret identities, and the locations of their loved ones from a captured Golden Archer using Doctor Decibel's sonic compulsion technology.
Tom Thumb reveals a secret failsafe he installed in the Behavior-Modification (B-Mod) Machine to prevent it from working on Squadron members — a plot point that turns the Institute's hostage plan against them — though he privately admits he added the safeguard only after witnessing Golden Archer misuse the device on Lady Lark.
The issue was published with three editions: a Direct Market version, a Newsstand version, and a Canadian price variant.
The issue has been reprinted twice: in the 1997 Squadron Supreme reprint series (Marvel) and in the Squadron Supreme Classic Omnibus (Marvel, August 2016); it also appears in the Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald Omnibus (2010).
The Institute of Evil members introduced here go on to be central to the entire arc of the limited series: after their capture they are behavior-modified and inducted into the Squadron (issue #6), and several later serve in Nighthawk's Redeemers, dying in the climactic battle of issue #12.
The series is set on Earth-712, Marvel's designated alternate Earth for the Squadron Supreme, and this issue's keyword list (per the Grand Comics Database) includes the 'B-Mod Machine,' 'Utopia Program,' and 'New Babylon State Penitentiary,' reflecting the real-world institutional texture Gruenwald built into the story.