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off white pgs (please read bidding requirements in listing description)
2nd appearance of Spider-Man; 1st appearance of J. Jonah Jameson; 1st app. Chameleon; Steve Ditko cover & art; origin retold; Fantastic Four cover (3/63) COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 9 (CBI)


Amazing Spider-Man #1 was destined to become a pop-culture classic as Marvel rushed out Spider-Man's second appearance after his smash debut in Amazing Fantasy #15. (Marvel still added the top-selling Fantastic Four in their first crossover to bring in new readers.) This first issue has since remained a cornerstone of comic collecting — with co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko bringing in the first appearance of J. Jonah Jameson as one of the most iconic supporting characters in the history of comics. Fans also meet JJJ's astronaut son John, along with seeing The Chameleon's debut as Spidey’s first supervillain.

Of course, Amazing Spider-Man #1 has added value for establishing both Peter Parker and Spider-Man as major influences in building the Marvel Universe. This is the first issue of a title that would feature an extended cast of classic villains who'd torment heroes across all the Marvel titles. The book also provides Peter with a supporting cast of family and friends that's endured for decades, with nearly all finding big-screen fame in Marvel movie projects.
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Stunningly fresh from an original owner collection from Seattle, Washington, this copy is simply gorgeous. The owner loved his comics and took very good care of them. He bought as many as he could off the newsstand and tucked them away for safe keeping. He was especially fond of Spider-Man and had a number of very high grade issues. If you peruse the rest of the Spider-Man offerings you will find them. "I met with the original owner myself and it was exciting to see his collection. While he did not keep everything in perfect shape, even the low and mid grade books had a great look to them. I held this book in my hands before it was graded by the experts at CGC, and it was a very impressive comic to hold. The pages are beautiful, closer to white than off white and very supple. The corners are sharp, the inks are bright with impeccable colors - and most impressive was the white behind Spidey. This is the area on a Spider-Man #1 about which one should be most critical. Oftentimes the white is dirty, yellowed or smudged. Not in this case. It is a clean, crisp white. This is one of the nicest copies of Amazing Spider-Man #1 I have ever seen," stated ComicConnect.com COO, Vincent Zurzolo. With the new Amazing Spider-Man movie coming out July 3rd, and not to mention the ever-present Broadway show, Spider-Man's popularity continues to increase making this book incredibly desirable.



GPA shows a 9.2 selling for $90,000.00 in October of 2011 and another 9.2 selling for $59,750 in February of 2012. Overstreet 2011 NM- 9.2 value = $54,000.00.




We realize many of you would like to bid on this auction lot, so for this listing, ComicConnect.com offers a 6 month, interest free, time payment plan with a 20% non-refundable deposit paid by check, money order or wire transfer.



If you are a new customer planning to make a first-time purchase over $25,000, please contact us at 212.895.3999 or support@comicconnect.com so that we may approve your account for bidding. (This policy was instituted to protect consignors and bidders against bids from fraudulent accounts, and to ensure the integrity of the bidding process).


Artist Information

Steve Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being the co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man, revolutionizing the character's red and yellow design.

Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. He began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fiction, horror, and mystery. He also co-created the superhero Captain Atom in 1960.

During the summer of 1958, writer-editor Stan Lee invited Ditko back to Atlas. Ditko would go on to contribute a large number of stories, many considered classic, to Atlas/Marvel's Strange Tales and the newly launched Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, issues of which would typically open with a Kirby-drawn monster story, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, all capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflective short by Ditko and Stan Lee. The first collaboration between Ditko and Lee was 2-Gun Western #4 (May 1956), which was also Ditko's only non-fantasy story.

These Lee-Ditko short stories proved so popular that Amazing Adventures was reformatted to feature such stories exclusively beginning with issue #7 (Dec. 1961), when the comic was rechristened Amazing Adult Fantasy, a name intended to reflect its more "sophisticated" nature, as likewise the new tagline "The magazine that respects your intelligence". Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type endings." Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said, "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect."

During the 1950s, Ditko also drew for Atlas Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics. He went on to contribute much significant work to Marvel. Ditko was the artist for the first 38 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, co-creating much of the Spider-Man supporting characters and villains with Stan Lee. Beginning with issue #25, Ditko was also credited as the plotter. In 1966, after being the exclusive artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and the "Doctor Strange" feature in Strange Tales, Ditko left Marvel for a variety of reasons, including creative differences and unpaid royalties.

Ditko continued to work for Charlton and also DC Comics, including a revamp of the long-running character the Blue Beetle and creating or co-creating the Question, the Creeper, Shade the Changing Man, and Hawk and Dove. Ditko also began contributing to small independent publishers, where he created Mr. A, a hero reflecting the influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Ditko largely declined to give interviews, saying he preferred to communicate through his work.

Ditko was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994. He will be posthumously honored as a Disney Legend in 2024.