My Spider-Man Collection

So I'm thinkin' again about trying to sell my collection of Amazing Spider-Man comics. I'm not sure how to go about it just yet, but I figured a good way to start would be to get 'em all photographed and catalogued (in case I wanna put'em on eBay, Craigslist, or whatever)... and while I'm at it, I might as well share my geekness with the H.O.M.

When I was an active collector, A.S.M. was one of my "monthly buys" for over ten years, and of course I would snap up any back issues I could get my hands on as well. The collection totals 193 issues, the oldest being #58 (1968) and the last one being #352 (1991). At one point I had every issue going up to 1994 or '95 but I sold a chunk of the later ones off when I got rid of the bulk of my collection in the late 90s.
Most of the issues here are from the '70s and '80s. It features a complete run of issues #239 (1983) thru #352, which includes Todd MacFarlane's entire run on ASM, as well as numerous annuals and special issues.

Pix aren't the best quality but I hope you dig lookin' at 'em anyway.

And some more...

And still more!

Impressive and that's from someone who never understood the appeal of Comics as they weren't popular over here in Ireland.

You said you sold off some of the newer issues, well would you expect some of them early ones you have to bring in a few $$$$ or do they go for much among collectors ?

Thats impressive!! I have all the McFarlane run as well. I got from somewhere around #200 until #330ish. I also have Web of Spiderman, which I think is complete and the Spiderman vs. Wolverine one off. I also have two of the first run marvel masterworks of Spidey..

Locky wrote:

Impressive and that's from someone who never understood the appeal of Comics as they weren't popular over here in Ireland.

You said you sold off some of the newer issues, well would you expect some of them early ones you have to bring in a few $$$$ or do they go for much among collectors ?

I have been out of the comic book loop for so long now (I quit collecting in the late 90s) that I honestly don't have a clue. I am fairly sure that certain issues featuring debuts/changes to the characters, or have work by certain artists that are more popular than others, etc. would be worth some coin but I have serious homework to do before I go ahead with the plan to unload'em.

exact33 wrote:

Thats impressive!! I have all the McFarlane run as well. I got from somewhere around #200 until #330ish. I also have Web of Spiderman, which I think is complete and the Spiderman vs. Wolverine one off. I also have two of the first run marvel masterworks of Spidey..

Oh yeah, when I was actively collecting, I bought anything with Spider-Man in it. I had a crapload of Web of Spider-Man, Marvel Tales, Marvel Team-Up, etc., etc. -- but when I sold off most of my collection I just hung onto the ASM run and got rid of everything else.

I used to be an avid comic collector too but going off to college and the price of comics got too high. I still enjoy reading them from time to time but I would much rather get cds now...

exact33 wrote:

I used to be an avid comic collector too but going off to college and the price of comics got too high. I still enjoy reading them from time to time but I would much rather get cds now...

Yep, same with me. I started collecting when I was about 10 (1980) and quit around 1994-95. At that time I had just bought my first new car and didn't have the $$ to piddle away on comics anymore. I sold off the bulk of my collection (around 5000 books) in bits and pieces over the next couple of years.

In addition to the Spidey collection I have another box of random "Favorites" that I've hung onto -- nothing particularly valuable, just weird stuff that I enjoy re-reading from time to time.

one title I am still looking to catch up on is the third Silver Surfer series. I have always enjoyed the Surfer! And Dethlok is my second fav...

I'm working on building a collection of Amazing Spider-Man 200-300, the best part of the run.

troublemagnet wrote:

I'm working on building a collection of Amazing Spider-Man 200-300, the best part of the run.

The McFarlane stuff is amazing although I could have done without the Craven storyline...

exact33 wrote:

troublemagnet wrote:

I'm working on building a collection of Amazing Spider-Man 200-300, the best part of the run.

The McFarlane stuff is amazing although I could have done without the Craven storyline...

Are you talking about his suicide ? Yeah that was pretty brutal. A shame,too. He was a pretty cool character.

Quote :

Are you talking about his suicide ? Yeah that was pretty brutal. A shame,too. He was a pretty cool character.

That story-arc blew my mind.

Nice collection Freddy. I have a bunch of those Amazing Spider Man comics myself, although for reasons I don't rmember now, I was a bigger fan/collector of the 'Peter Parker The Spectacular Spiderman' series. My collection of comics wasn't nearly as big though.

And like others here, I stopped collecting around the early/mid-90's when college, girls, cars, booze & weed became bigger priorities. And the comics became too expensive (foil covers gimmicks, etc) and storylines spreading over 3 or 4 titles.

exact33 wrote:

The McFarlane stuff is amazing

...so amazing that when he left the book, they replaced him with Erik Larsen, who was more or less a McFarlane style clone, although he wasn't nearly as good.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

And the comics became too expensive (foil covers gimmicks, etc) and storylines spreading over 3 or 4 titles.

Ditto. I got tired of the holograms, glow in the dark covers, multiple covers for the same comic, epic length story arcs that started in one title and spread out into a dozen others, yadda yadda yadda, really quick. After a while I realized that I was buying more comics, but enjoying them less. That's when I said "I think it's time to retire."

troublemagnet wrote:

I'm working on building a collection of Amazing Spider-Man 200-300, the best part of the run.

When I was actively collecting my goal was to complete the run from #200 to the then-present, never quite made it there though. By the time I quit I think I needed about a dozen or so more to finish it. I know I could never find #238 (first appearance of the Hobgoblin) for a decent price anywhere.

Wow!! That is impressive! I'm not sure what happened to my Spidey comics, but it was not nearly as big as that. Cool to see some of the covers of the ones I used to have.

Joe wrote:

Wow!! That is impressive! I'm not sure what happened to my Spidey comics, but it was not nearly as big as that. Cool to see some of the covers of the ones I used to have.

Thanks! And to think that this is just a small percentage of the Spidey stuff I used to have, since I used to collect every Spidey title (Web, Spectacular, Marvel Team Up, Marvel Tales, Ultimate Spider-Man, etc.) plus I'd pick up any book that he made a guest appearance in (even if it was something I normally wouldn't read)... I was all Spidey, all the time!

I just noticed you have the issue with the six-armed Spider-Man vs. Morbius,the Living Vampire (one of Spidey's cooler villains). Awesome ! What issue number is that ? 101?

007 wrote:

I just noticed you have the issue with the six-armed Spider-Man vs. Morbius,the Living Vampire (one of Spidey's cooler villains). Awesome ! What issue number is that ? 101?

You mean the next-to-last comic in the last pic? I forget the exact issue # off the top of my head, but either way that's unfortunately not an original, it's a "Marvel Masterworks" reprint. I think at the time Morbius was making a bit of a comeback in his own series, so Marvel reprinted a bunch of his old Spidey stories in that format.

I haven't looked at it in ages but if memory serves, those "Masterworks" reprints even included the vintage ads, letters page, "Bullpen Bulletins" update, etc., that were in the original issues. They were pretty cool little time capsules (and also a cheap way to read some classic stories without having to lay out big $$ for an original back issue).

The comic next to it (Spidey Vs. Clone Spidey) is also a "Masterworks" reprint, with a slightly different cover format. I guess they changed up the front cover designs over time.

I remember them doing the Masterwork series (I had Amazing Fantasy #15-Spidey's first appearance that way). They have that silver frame around the original cover. The one with Morbius doesn't look like it has that but maybe that one was done differently. I don't know,either way that would be a cool issue to have.

Looking at your collection makes me sad that I sold mine off. I had a pretty nice collection of them too (also including Web of,Spectacular,Marvel Team-Up). I miss them but they were just collecting dust and taking up space in the basement. Plus I got a decent amount of coin for them so I can't complain too much.

007 wrote:

I remember them doing the Masterwork series (I have Amazing Fantasy #15-Spidey's first appearance that way). They have that silver frame around the original cover. The one with Morbius doesn't look like it has that but maybe that one was done differently.

Hmm, maybe it's not a "Masterworks" issue then. I do know it's a reprint. I've seen copies of the original issue and the background wasn't in silver ink like the one I have. I do remember picking it up off the new release rack at the comic shop right next to the first issue of the then-new "Morbius" series. Maybe Marvel figured most kids wouldn't know who Morbius was (since he hadn't appeared much since the 70s) so they reprinted that particular Spider-Man ish as a refresher course for them.

Shoot, now you got me all curious. I'm gonna have to un-bag that one when I get home and take a look at it.

007 wrote:

I miss them but they were just collecting dust and taking up space in the basement.

Ditto. These Spidey books have been sitting in a box on the top shelf of my closet ever since I moved into my house in 1999 and I rarely, if ever, look at 'em anymore.

Quote :

Plus I got a decent amount of coin for them so I can't complain too much.

Once I do a bit of homework on the various conditions/values/etc. of what I have, I'm hoping to do the same.

I thought the masterworks were the hardbound book re-prints? Thats what my two volumes are..

Made an appointment yesterday to take the Spidey books to a comic book dealer next week and unload'em. It'll be a shame to see'em go and I know that most likely I'm going to get reamed on 'em but they're just taking up space in my closet ... and besides, I need the $$ and I don't have the time, the patience or the attention span to try selling them piece by piece of my own.

Nice Spider-man collection. I have a few of those. I bought around 180 comics at a yard sale once for $40. Everything was just about in mint condition. I figured I would sell them since I really wasn't interested in comics anymore. I tried numerous times on ebay and no one bought anything so I wouldn't even bother with ebay. Maybe try taking them to a store or best bet just do craigslist. I ended up just giving some friends a bunch of them, but I still have quite a few left plus the ones that I owned before that.

I pretty much have given up trying to sell them. I keep thinking maybe I will start to read them again but it hasn't happened.

Have comics been coming back at all? With all these movies coming out I would think so but I don't see any new stores opening up. I remember at one point there were comic stores everywhere. Then they just started to close left and right.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Have comics been coming back at all? With all these movies coming out I would think so but I don't see any new stores opening up. I remember at one point there were comic stores everywhere. Then they just started to close left and right.

I've been out of the loop a long time but I would imagine that the same thing that has happened to newspapers, magazines, etc. also happened to the comics publishers -- i.e., their readers migrated to the Internet.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

Have comics been coming back at all? With all these movies coming out I would think so but I don't see any new stores opening up. I remember at one point there were comic stores everywhere. Then they just started to close left and right.

I've been out of the loop a long time but I would imagine that the same thing that has happened to newspapers, magazines, etc. also happened to the comics publishers -- i.e., their readers migrated to the Internet.

A comic book shop just opened up in my area about 6 months ago. Quite frankly, I was shocked. I figured people still read 'em, but just ordered them on-line, much like music shops. I'm counting down the days till they close up.

I went in once just to look around, but I haven't bought a comic in years. I was amazed at all the statues and stuff on display. Moreso the prices of said items. Who's paying $500 for a Thor figurine?