Amazing Spider-Man #129 features the first appearance of the Punisher! This huge key is well known by collectors but you may not know about its foreign editions. Here’s your complete collecting guide – does anyone out there own them all?
Jon Bernthal is back! Set to reprise the role of Frank Castle, The Punisher, along with Charlie Cox as Daredevil in Marvel Studios’ new series Daredevil: Born Again.
Bernthal co-starred with Cox as fellow Marvel heroes on season two of Netflix’s Daredevil series in 2016. Bernthal’s character would get its own Netflix TV series titled The Punisher, which lasted two seasons. With the creation of Disney+, these Marvel shows were cancelled and the future of the actors playing their characters was left in the air.
In 2021, Cox’s Daredevil made a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, giving hope for Bernthal’s Punisher. Their prayers have been answered as a fourth season of Daredevil, set to release in early 2024, has confirmed Bernthal is back as the Punisher!
This news has sent the well-established comic Amazing Spider-Man #129 to the top of the trending lists. For foreign comic collectors, this is a staple set to chase. One of GoCollect’s first articles on foreign comics (though he calls them international variants) by Patrick Bain highlights an Amazing Spider-Man #129 set. Even CGC, the top comic grading company, uses this book to illustrate the diversity of foreign comics, but even they don’t have them all listed. So here is the completionist collector’s guide to the Amazing Spider-Man #129 cover set.
True first
The first use of the cover and technically the first appearance of Punisher, which predates Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1974) is found in Comic Reader #100 (1973).
American
1) Where it all started, the first print form 1974, 2) Marvel Tales #106 (1979) – there is a direct and newsstand version, 3) Marvel Milestone Edition (1992), 4) Wizard Ace Edition (2002),
5) Lion’s Gate Reprint (2004), 6) Marvel’s Legends Reprint (2004), 7) Essential Punisher #1 (2004), 8) Hasbro Action Figure Reprint (2006),
9) Essential #1 (2006), 10) True Believers: Marvel Knights (2018), 11) the recently released facsimile (2023), 12) a blank facsimile set to release later this year.
13) Df Spiderman Punisher Commissioned Haeser Sgn Homage (2023) – this is actually a mix of 4 blank covers by Ken Haeser!
United Kingdom
1) Super Spider-Man #178 (1976) published by Marvel UK , 2) The Mighty World of Marvel #17 (2004) published by Panini UK, and 3) Punisher Strikes Back (2010) published by Panini UK
Canada
1) L’Étonnant Spider–Man #31 (1974) published by Editions Héritage.
France
1) Spider-Man L’invincible – This is a sticker book, not a comic, but heym it has the cover! (1978) published by Artima, 2) Spider-man Les incontournables #7 (2007) published by Panini France, 3) Spider-Man Classic #9 (2014) published by Panini France, and 4)) The Punisher L’Intégrale (2021) published by Panini France.
Italy
Yugoslavia
1) Eks almanah #260 (1981) published by Dečje novine.
Brazil
1) O Homem-Aranha #63 (1974) published by EBAL, 2) Homem Aranha #22 (1979) published by RGE, 3) A Teia do Aranha #25 (1991) published by Abril,
4), HOMEM-ARANHA Grandes Desafios #5 (2007) published by Panini Brazil, and 5) Coleção Histórica Paladinos Marvel 4 (2017) published by Panini Brazil.
Mexico
1) El Sorprendente Hombre Araña #9 (1974) published by Editorial OEPISA, 2) El Asombroso Hombre Araña #125 (1982) published by Novedades, and 3) Marvel Clásico Amazing Spider-Man #129 (2008) published by Marvel Mexico.
Colombia
1) El Asombroso Hombre-Araña #34 (1978) published by Editora Cinco.
Netherlands
1) De wonderbaarlijke Spinneman #3 (1975) published by Classics/Williams.
Greece
1) Σπάιντερ Μαν #18 (1978) published by Kabanas Hellas and 2) Σπάιντερ Μαν #291 (1986) published by Kabanas Hellas.
German
1) Die Spinne #130 (1979) published by BSV – Williams, 2) The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (2000) published by Panini Deutschland, and 3) The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (2004) published by Panini Deutschland.
Sweden
1) Spindelmannen #12 (1979) published by Atlantic Förlags AB.
Norway
1) Edderkoppen #12 (1979) published by Atlantic Forlag.
Spain
1) Spider-Man #68 (1982) published by Editorial Bruguera, 2) Spiderman de John Romita #55 (2003) published by Planeta DeAgostini, and 3) title unknown – similar to the France book (2007) published Panini Spain.
Danish
1) Da Edderkoppen mødte Punisher (1993) published by Semic Interpresse.
Hungary
1) Peter Parker Pōkember #3 (2021) published by Kingpin.
Russia
1) УДИВИТЕЛЬНЫМ ЧЕЛОВЕК-ПАК #129 (2019) published by Comme il Faut Ltd.
Finland
1) Spider-Man HÄMÄRÄKKIMIES (1994) published by Semic Interpresse.
India
(Date and publisher unknown)
Turkey
1) Amazing Spider-Man #129 (2022) published by Marmara Çizgi.
Australia
1) Poster – Avengers #13 (1975) published by Newton Comics
Homages
There are a ton of homages so I’ll limit it to containing Punisher himself a Spider-Man title. And, yes, there are foreign editions of these if you want to get super crazy!
1) What If #58 (1994), 2) Marvel Tales #209 (1988), 3) Comics Values Monthly #60 (1991), 4) Punisher Meets Archie #1 (1994), 5) Spider-Man vs The Punisher (2000),
6) Wizard The Guide To Comics #115 (2001), 7) Punisher Dark Reign A/B/C (2009), 8) Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates #3 (2011)
9) Despicable Deadpool #287 Lenticular Variant – December (2017), 10) Amazing Spider-Man (#789) Dimasi Shattered Exclusive #17 (2017), 11) The Punisher #13 Mary Jane Watson Variant (August 2017), 12) Punisher #1 Clayton Crain Variant C and B (2018)
13) Punisher #218 Leneil Yu Variant (2018)
Conclusion
That’s the set! Did I miss any and are you up for the challenge? Special thank you to Greg, Tony, Franz, Mario, and Matthew for helping me with the information on some of the rarer books.
Happy hunting! If you want to see what your set could look like check out these collections below:
Greg (@comics_i_gathered on Instagram)
And if you’re into more than just comics in your set check out Tony (@foreigncomicsetcollector on Instagram)
*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.
1 comment
Fantastic! Thank you