It is hard to miss the key Amazing Spider-man sales that take place in our hobby each and every week on eBay, FB Marketplace, or even online auction houses. They’re happening more often than not. The fact of the matter is, you probably can’t go wrong with an Amazing Spider-man issue in your collection and this article will focus on some key ASM sales that have taken place recently and should be on notice. Ladies and gentleman, please take note –
5th Edition of the State of the Comic Book Union
Let me introduce to you the 5th Edition of the State of the Comic Book Union. In case you missed the last Edition, you can catch it here. This article will focus again on hardcore facts, confirmed sales, and supporting data to illustrate where the Comic Book State of the Union is today. Consider this a temperature check, specifically on the key Amazing Spider-man issues and possibly what direction the market is going down the road; both short-term and long-term. What you decide to do with this information, buy, sell or hold, is up to you.
It is amazing to see the many sales that are happening every week on 3rd party auction sites including eBay. The following sales discussed in this article are from a few of the common selling platforms. All of the following sales I am about to discuss are all auction type listings which give a good sign of demand and interest. With major Comic Cons canceling this year, online comic book auctions have continued to thrive through this new world we find ourselves in. With a majority of collectors bunkered down at home, online auction sites continue to push sales every week with an abundance of collector interest. Let us explore these amazing sales:
1st Black Suit Costume
A must-have for many collectors who are die-hard Spidey fans. A CGC 9.8 copy with white pages newsstand popped up on eBay a couple of weeks back for a 7-day listing. It started as a $19.95 listing and quickly escalated to an $840 sale. According to GoCollect, the Fair Market Value (FMV) for this comic book in a CGC 9.8 is $825. There are close to 1,300 blue label 9.8 copies of this book so sales do come often for a collector looking for a copy. Not bad for a 30+year-old comic book!!
1st Eddie Brock 
Amazing Spider-man #298 (1988) – Probably an underrated key IMO. Couple things going for it: 1st Todd McFarlane Spider-man work and 1st appearance of Eddie Brock in a cameo. We all know what happens to Eddie Brock a couple of issues later hence the increased desirability in this comic book.
A fan-favorite character for many collectors who have seen Eddie Brock make appearances in both cartoon versions of Spider-man episodes as well as the real-life MCU Spider-man movies. A CGC 9.8 sold on eBay last month for $425. There were 2 “fixed price” sales for $385, stated here just as a comparison. GoCollect has the FMV at $325 with only two sales occurring in September 2020. At the time of this writing, there were only 4 listed on eBay for sale, all fixed-price listings. For some reason, there are not many copies listed for sale on this comic even though census numbers show 705 blue label examples of graded 9.8.
1st Appearance of Venom
Amazing Spider-man #300 (1988) – I talked about this comic book in my last State of the Union article. Now, look at it! It is achieving record new sale levels. As I stated before, I don’t think I need to say anything here. We all know what this comic book is all about. This comic book has everything going for it: 1st appearance, cool cover, great artist, and awesome story.
I normally ONLY talk about auction type sales but will make an exception here and talk about fixed price sales occurring because that is what seems to be driving this book higher. In case you didn’t read my last article, in August 2019 this was a $2,000 book. August 2018 it was ironically a bit higher at a $2,600, movie news more than likely. In my last article, I stated there was a sale on eBay for $2,900 on August 30th. The most recent sale according to GoCollect was on October 4th for $4,000 after being listed for $5,495 OBO. A day prior, on October 3rd two sales finalized for $5,200 and $4,900; both at fixed price sales. Wow! GoCollect FMV increased from my last article FROM $2,400 to now $2,900 and there seem to be no signs of slowing down. Long live Venom!
1st Appearance of Carnage
Amazing Spider-man #361 (1992) – Talk about a comic book that is just waiting to explode; again! That’s what this comic book is doing. Just another example of another key Spidey issue and a must-have for any collector. This comic book features the 1st full appearance of Carnage (Cletus Kasady). With the surprise end credit scenes from the Sony Venom movie, there is much anticipation from fans to see Carnage.
A recent auction type sale on eBay set an all-new high at $730 on October 5th. The result of that sale consequently set off a domino effect of fixed priced sales immediately occurring one and two days later; $565, $595, $550, $550. A result of sellers not realizing "real-time" sold trends and not reacting fast enough on their listings. GoCollect has the FMV at $575 so anything under that buyers are thinking they are getting a bargain but truth be told that $730 sale definitely affected the average. Nonetheless, some amazing movement here!
Conclusion
There you have it. A State of the Comic Book Union dedicated to Amazing Spider-man titles and key characters from the original 1963 series. I can go on-and-on with so many more examples of key issues in the run but I will save that for another day. Here we have just a small taste of the movers and shakers from the series. Ironically enough, most of these sales are HIGHER in FMV and trending up. Needless to say, if you find a high-grade copy of an Amazing Spider-man issue you will be paying a premium.
The days of key issues for a bargain have come and gone for ASM in recent years. There are a handful of comic book titles that are highly sought after and desirable for all genres of collectors and ASM is one of them. The bottom line, regardless of the comic book series, the hobby continues to be strong and healthy. New collectors are coming and old collectors are staying. Stay tuned for the next installment of the State of the Comic Book Union as I delve into more sales of graded keys and grail books. Until next time you comic book junkies…..
Please share your thoughts and comments you have on these major Spider-man sales. What comic books are on your want list? Did you participate in recent auctions that ended higher than expected? Or the sale price ended lower than expected and you jumped on the sale? Which 3rd party comic book sites are your favorite to participate in? Do you have any of the Spider-man issues talked about in this article, if not, which ones are you missing?
GoCollect is the #1 comic book price guide for tracking sales data of all graded comic books in real-time. Fair market values are now at your fingertips. Check out all the features at www.gocollect.com
