ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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I read Spider-Man in the 1960s from the time the character was first introduced in Amazing Tales #15

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I owned a beautiful copy of this comic until 1977 when I sold it (along with a footlocker filled with comics which included a #1 Hulk and a #1 Thor) for the whopping price of $800 at the Comic-Con in Atlanta. It seemed like a good deal at the time.

It wasn't.

The Heritage Auctions website has this to say about recent sale of a near-mint condition copy of Amazing Tales #15.

Amazing Fantasy #15 Sets World Record Price in Heritage Auctions. $5.7 Million Vintage Comics Auction

Near-Mint CGC 9.4 copy of Spider-Man's first appearance, purchased for $1,200 and then kept in a safe deposit box for 35 years, sets $454,100 all-time auction record price, Feb. 18 in Dallas.

Oops . . .

Well, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that the modest stack of Marvel comics I bought in 1966 for $14.00 from Jimmy Harmon, my oldest and dearest friend since the 5th grade until his untimely death in 1980, was the one deal I made with the crafty son of a lawyer in which I bested him.

Jimmy was a great guy, but he delighted in making shrewd deals with people — even his oldest friends, like me — to obtain collectible items for his sci-fi collection.

This is Jimmy around 1964 when he and I did a stop motion 8mm movie together. YouTube has all my animation videos at the link below.




Admittedly my profit margin was $453,300 less than it could have been, but Jimmy would have been even less happy than I am if he was still alive today and knew he'd sold a collectors item worth almost a half-million dollars in a stack of other valuable comics for just $14.00 to a guy he'd gleefully duped on several occasions on minor deals I later found out about.

All that aside, when Spider-Man came out in 2002, I was plum tickled to death to see the famous web slinging wall crawler zoom through the streets of New York, making it look like more fun to swing on his webs than it is to fly like Superman!

The characters were true to comic book, the action was awesome, the FX were flawless, and Danny Elfman's score was absolutely prefect.

Needless to say, I'm a fan of Spider-Man from way back.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Alas, alas... I, too, sold collectible issues of comic books back in the day when the going price seemed like a real deal. I'm pretty sure one of them was even the issue shown above. Ah, well...

One thing I miss from the earlier depictions of S-M's attire is the webbing between the arms and torso. I think it was even retained in the first bigscreen versions of the costume. As functional as superhero capes, I suppose, but as necessary as any of the other webbing patterns that adorn the costume.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Gord Green]

Ah, such tales of woe!

I too had EVERY silverage Marvel and DC' in mint condition. Look at any list of key books and I had multiple copies of all of them.

After getting married in '69 and moving into small apartments I stored them in my parents basement. In '73 we moved out of town and I sold the lot for a few hundred dollars.

If....If I still had them they would be morth a few million easy.

Thankfully, I kept all my Goldenage (40's) books, so I still have a "bank" put away.

But.....If only!

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Wayne, I too really liked that underarm webbing look!
Steve Ditko really did a great job in visualizing Spidey!

The trend was toward lean and lithe heroes, not like the rippling musclebound characters of today.

The movie makers are at least getting Spiderman right.
(The Flash was another lean hero. TV got that right too!)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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Spider-Man started out really skinny, but by the time he was in his most famous adventure he had buffed up considerably.

Spider-Man 2 portrayed the battle with Doctor Octopus really well, including a scene inspire by these panels. I remember being so moved by this issue, and these panels in particular. :shock:size]







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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Steve is still living, but doesn't do any mainstream comics work.

His Spider-man and Doctor Strange were the iconic images of those characters. He also did The Creeper and Shade-The Changing Man for DC, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle and The Question for Charlton.

All were VERY quirky and he used really distinctive poses and backgrounds.

Loved his weird style!

[Bud Brewster]

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Loving Steve Ditko's work as I did, naturally loved the Blue Beetle right along with Ditko's over comics.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

A great trailer for a great movie. I can't believe I started this thread and then said so little about the film. I didn't even put the poster at the top!

What was I thinking?
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___________ Spider-Man Official Trailer (2002)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)