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Author:
Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 1
Place Published:
Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Non-Pareil Publishing Group]
Date Published: March, 1963
Description:

CGC certified: VG (4.0). Off-white pages. Like all of the comics in this sale, this mag was not cleaned and pressed. A good clean & press guy can probably bump this mag at least half a grade, possibly a full grade or more. Cover: Jack Kirby pencils, Steve Ditko inks, Stan Goldberg colors, Sol Brodsky logo design, Artie Simek lettering and logo inks. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: Jon D'Agostino (as Johnny Dee), John Duffy (as John Duffi). GPAnalysis: A 4.0 sold for $12,000 in 8/22.

Teen sad sack Peter Parker, bitten by an irradiated arachnid, gains amazing abilities, including an almost bottomless capacity for guilt and psychological self-flagellation. Soon a host of malcontents, misanthropes and misfits will find themselves caught in Spidey's web of neuroticism, including his newsman nemesis, J. Jonah Jameson. JJJ debuts on the very first page of this ish, hurling verbal stink bombs at Spidey ("Freak! Public menace!"), and causing a jeering mob to shake their fists at our hapless hero like angry villagers in a pre-Code horror mag. Nevermind Doc Ock and the Green Goblin; Spidey scholar Andrew Rilstone argues that J. Jonah Jameson is actually the webhead's number one foe.

"A hero's enemy needs to be the opposite of that hero. It might be that the hero is strong but not-too-bright, so the villain is weak but brilliant.... Steve Ditko and Stan Lee came up with something better.... They left us... with the message that 'with great power there must also come great responsibility.' That is the moral core of Spider-Man; so his enemy must be the opposite of that: someone powerful but irresponsible." – Andrew Rilstone, Listen Bud: The First Great Graphic Novel in American Literature. Unpublished manuscript, p. 37.

Enjoying the Spidey Sale? Order a fully-illustrated softcover catalogue for 30 bucks. Only about 100 copies were printed and they're going fast. To reserve a copy, contact PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consign to PBA Galleries. Our comic sales average a 98% sell-through rate, our prices realized are top-of-the-market, and our research-intensive catalogues are the best in the business. Seeking Silver Age Marvel, Golden Age superheroes, and pre-Code horror. Contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.