The Amazing Spider-Man may be a household name today, but in the early 1960s, Peter Parker was one of the newest masked superheroes in the Marvel Universe.
Created by Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, Spider-Man made his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 despite its publisher’s reservations. At the time, comic books rarely featured teenagers as superheroes, much less one who was perpetually down on his luck. But as it turned out, young readers deeply related to Peter Parker, a high school student who was determined to make the world a better place. Sales for Amazing Fantasy #15 comics proved to be one of Marvel’s most popular at the time, solidifying Spider-Man as one of the world’s most beloved superheroes for decades to come.
Like Spider-Man, Amazing Fantasy #15 has also achieved near-universal recognition, as it marks the first-ever appearance of the Amazing Spider-Man. Well-preserved copies of the issue have become highly coveted among collectors. One such copy recently sold at auction for $65,100 on eBay.
The seller, Ted Straka, specializes in trading cards, sharing that he learned to read using 1980 Topps baseball cards and has been an avid buyer and seller at trading card shows since he was 16 years old. Though he has a few comics on inventory, Straka originally sourced his copy of the Amazing Fantasy #15 from a friend.
“A friend of mine from Brooklyn bought the comic about eighteen years ago and had it graded, thinking it had potential,” Straka said. “It was an expensive item — maybe five or ten thousand dollars at the time – but nowhere near where it’s appreciated to now.”
As many collectors are increasingly viewing collectibles like comic books as long-term investments, there is no doubt that owning a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 is a venture that has reaped an impressive return. Such an iconic copy with a CGC-grade of 6.0 is rare; there have only been 37 sales of this issue at this grade since 2004.
This sale on eBay comes just in time for Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary, as Spidey fans are searching our marketplace’s unmatched inventory of rare and hard-to-find collectibles for their favorite web-slinging superhero.