Price history & market evidence
PriceCharting guide history
Dated guide estimates for this edition, separate from completed sales.
2 dated observations. Last recorded 2026-11-01. Source record #2388902
Price observations belong to this edition. Guide estimates, catalog references and completed sales are separate kinds of evidence.
| Grade | Amount | Evidence | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | $252.50 | PANEL_PROFITS · grade_4_0_valueguide | 1953-07-01 |
| RAW | $206.08 | PANEL_PROFITS · ungraded_valueguide | 1953-07-01 |
Reading this edition’s market
Compare the same cover, printing and grade before setting a bid. A raw guide or a higher-grade price does not establish a slab’s value. Include selling fees, shipping and the depth of completed-sale evidence when assessing an exit price.
The table includes 2 guide observations and 0 catalog references. These are reference values, not guaranteed sale proceeds.
Graded population
CGC records 37 graded copies for Strange Tales #20 (1953). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.
The Man Who Couldn't Be Punished
In 1990 prisons have been done away with as wasteful by the machines that run things. Instead, criminals are subject to a process which ages them one year for every second they endure it. When a crime boss gang sees his thirty year old thugs aged to seventy, he comes up with a way to foil the process. In order to halt his crime spree, the machines eventually behead him and make him into one of their own.
| StoryTitle2 = He Swallowed It Up! | Writer2_1 = N/A | Penciler2_1 = Gene Colan | Inker2_1 = Gene Colan | Colorist2_1 = N/A | Letterer2_1 = Joe Letterese | Editor2_1 = Stan Lee
| Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Marlo **Supporting Characters:** * Marlo's Associate **Antagonists:** * Chandler **Other Characters:** * Numerous unnamed show patrons **Races and Species:** * Humans) **Realities:** * Earth-616 **Locations:** * Earth
| Synopsis2 = Two sword swallowers duel for the title of King of the Sword Swallowers. One attempts to poison the sword of the other, but the intended victim thwarts his ploy by swallowing the sword with its scabbard on. He defeats the poisoner by setting up a powerful magnetic field that shrinks and draws the hapless performer into the sword.
| ReprintOf3 = Space Squadron Vol 1 1 | ReprintOfStory3 = 4 | StoryTitle3 = The Invaders!
| StoryTitle4 = Wilbur! | Writer4_1 = N/A | Penciler4_1 = Sid Greene | Inker4_1 = Sid Greene | Colorist4_1 = N/A | Letterer4_1 = N/A | Editor4_1 = Stan Lee
| Appearing4 = **Featured Characters:** * Tony Trent_(Earth-616)) **Supporting Characters:** * Phineas' Lawyer * Wayne (Tony Trent's Cousin) **Antagonists:** * Wilbur (Lion) **Other Characters:** * Phineas (Tony Trent's Uncle) Portrait **Races and Species:** * Humans) * Lions **Realities:** * Earth-616 **Locations:** * Earth ** North America *** United States of America ** Africa
| Synopsis4 = When a lawyer tells a man his rich relative has left some money to Wilber whom he brought back from Africa, the man heads into the dark downstairs with a knife intending to do away with Wilber and collect the full inheritance. Unfortunately for him, Wilber turns out to be a rather hungry lion.
| StoryTitle5 = Keep Your Eye On Junior | Writer5_1 = N/A | Penciler5_1 = Ed Moline | Inker5_1 = Sheldon Moldoff | Colorist5_1 = N/A | Letterer5_1 = N/A | Editor5_1 = Stan Lee
| Appearing5 = **Featured Characters:** * Ms. Simpson **Supporting Characters:** * Mrs. Arnold **Antagonists:** * Junior Arnold **Other Characters:** * Mr. Arnold * Unnamed Maid * Two unnamed newspaper employees **Races and Species:** * Humans) **Realities:** * Earth-616 **Locations:** * Earth ** North America *** United States of America ** China
| Synopsis5 = A governess is given responsibility over an unruly child who attempts to damage a construct in the attic which contains tiny people. She takes a hatchet away from him, but he threatens to tell his mother. The governess asks the maid to bring the kid a glass of water which he tosses on the construct, drowning thousands of Chinese.
| StoryTitle6 = The World I Lost | Writer6_1 = N/A | Penciler6_1 = John Forte | Inker6_1 = John Forte | Colorist6_1 = N/A | Letterer6_1 = N/A | Editor6_1 = Stan Lee
| Appearing6 = **Featured Characters:** * Adam Tyler) **Supporting Characters:** * Martha **Antagonists:** * Mutated Humans ** Numerous unnamed mutated humans **Other Characters:** * Adam) * Eve) **Races and Species:** * Humans) * Rhinoceroses * Elephants * Lions **Realities:** * Earth-616 * Earth-53759 **Locations:** * Prime Marvel Universe ** United States of America *** New York) **** New York City * Earth-53759 (Year 2053) ** North America *** United States of America **** New York) ***** New York City ****** Manhattan ******* Broadway ******* Times Square ** Africa **Items:** * Adam Tyler's Time Machine
| Synopsis6 = This unusual two-part story is concluded next issue. In the set up, an atomic scientist who dreads nuclear war resolves to build a time machine in order to visit the year 2053 and determine if the worst takes place. When he arrives he finds that New York City has become a jungle and the remaining humans are deformed by atomic radiation. He attempts to escape from them back to his time machine, but upon arriving, finds that other deformed humans have smashed it.
| Solicit = Two sword swallowers agree to a duel, the present meets a time traveler, and a future of machines is introduced in the pages of these shocking stories!
| Notes = ===Continuity Notes=== * The story for "The World I Lost" is continued in Strange Tales Vol 1 21 as "The Man From Tomorrow".
| Trivia = | Recommended = | Links =
Creative credits
Writers: N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A
Interior art: Fred Kida, Gene Colan, Sid Greene, Ed Moline, John Forte
Color: N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A
Source records & attribution
Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.
GCD: 10665
PANEL PROFITS: 2388902