Amazing Fantasy #15Spider-Man has collectability like no other Marvel comic save perhaps the Fantastic Four. Every student in elementary school I have ever talked to knows who Spider-Man is (I was a teacher at one time). Doctor Strange not so much, Iron Man (if they saw the movie) and Conan the Barbarian not at all. This is just anecdotal evidence for Spidey supremacy, the numbers are even stronger when you break downtrend returns and popularity. Nowhere is this more true than with the first appearance of Marvel's main man Peter Parker a.k.a. Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 created by Stan Lee (script) and Jack Kirby (pencils) in 1962. How has the King of the Silver Age held up over the last 58 years? Short-term, long-term, let's do a deep dive and see exactly how much potential Amazing Fantasy #15  has as an investment? Let there be no doubt this is a serious investment...

 

 

 

Amazing Fantasy #15Amazing Fantasy #15

Spider-Man has been the headliner for Marvel since almost the beginning. He may not have started the Silver Age for Marvel, but he has certainly presided over it. His adventures were topical, he was a teenager, as a young adult in the 60s you could relate to Spider-Man. He had the problems of most teenagers at the time. Stan Lee's collaboration with John Romita Sr. on Amazing Spider-Man eventually went on to eclipse the popularity of the Fantastic Four. Basically, Stan created a relatable superhero and it stuck. No other character in Marvel is as popular, or beloved as Spider-Man. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short-Term (1/2020 to 5/2020)

Title Grade Last Sale CGC Census Return
Amazing Fantasy #15 5.0 $26,100 3325 Total +4.7%
  4.5 $66,000   +132.4%
  3.0 $18450   +14%
  2.0 $10,800   -10.8%
         
         

Long-Term (20-Years)

Title Grade Last Sale CGC Census Return
Amazing Fantasy #15 9.4 $795,000 3325 Total +326%
  5.0 $26,100   +63%
  3.0 $18,450   +51.5%
  2.0 $10,800   +25%
         
         

Amazing Fantasy #15Key books like Amazing Fantasy #15 are the 50-ton tank of keys in the ongoing war of profit attrition. All other Bronze and many Silver Age keys are simple footsoldiers in this combat for cash. But the first appearance of Spider-Man is an A1-Abrams of powerful return trends; it has superior investment firepower, and long-term defensive staying power. The best thing about this book is there are only 3,325 in the CGC Census inventory. In the short-term, grade 4.5 sold just this month for $66,000 in May. The return was as powerful as a haymaker from the Hulk at positive +132.4%! This is a one-time anomaly for the short-term average trend returns are around positive +14%, a solid return in the short-term. Bow out all you Bronze Age keys, the Incredible Hulk #181 has nothing on Amazing Fantasy #15.

 

The long-term trend return is true "Shock and Awe" for a comic book investment. The top price paid for this book per GoCollect was $795,000 on 3/8/20! Yikes! That is not all, what is the return on that bad boy? Amazing Fantasy #15 trend returned positive +326% which is a plus $240,000 increase for grade 9.4! Truly this book is a "weapon of mass destruction" upon the competition. It is also an inspiring bit of comic book investment trivia for your buddies at the LCS. That is enough money to make anyone's Spidey-Sense tingle. To give us a little perspective even grade 0.5 goes for around $8,000. Here is a catchy little bit of trivia for your next comic book Pow-Wow (6ft distance please); per CGC Census there are only 13 in grade 9.4 and even fewer at grade 9.6 at 7 total in the world. In a word, this comic book is: rare.

Amazing Fantasy #15Conclusion

The comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 is an investment like no other. Just owning a copy is huge bragging rights in my book. But let there be no doubt, whether it is short-term gains during this crisis or long-term gains over the last 20 years; this comic, the first appearance of Spider-Man is a supremely good investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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