Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1

Marvel - Sept. 2011

Key Issue Notes
Origin of Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
First appearance of Prowler (Aaron Davis)
First appearance of Jefferson Davis
First appearance of Rio Morales
First appearance of Conrad Markus (Marcus)

At this point, it's pretty old news of which character Donald Glover ended up playing in the new Spider-Man: Homecoming movie. There were rumors abound that he was going to play non other than Miles Morales, but it ended up being a character directly related to the young Spidey replacement.

The role that Glover ended up playing is that of Aaron Davis, also known as the Prowler. This isn't the first incarnation of the Prowler in comics. He makes his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #78. That version of the Prowler is named Hobie Brown and resided in the main Marvel Universe, or Earth-616. This version of the Prowler is in the Ultimate Universe, or Earth 1610.

When I say that Aaron Davis is directly related to Miles Morales, and I mean that quite literally. He is Miles' uncle. He is also directly responsible for Miles becoming the new Spider-Man. Let me explain how, the nutshell version of course.

Aaron Davis (left) as Prowler (right)

I should start out by saying that the Prowler is a master thief. As he was doing a heist at Norman Osborn's research facility, a genetically altered spider crawled into his backpack full of loot and goodies. As Miles was visiting his uncle one day, he is bit by said spider and gains super human, spider like abilities, which made it possible for him to take up the mantle for Peter Parker after he dies from wounds he got while fighting Norman Osborn and his Six.

Also making their first appearance in this issue is Jefferson Davis. No, not the one that was President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil war. This Jefferson Davis, along with Rio Morales, are Miles Morales' parents.

Jefferson is also Aaron Davis' brother. They have a very distant because good ol' Jeff doesn't agree with his brothers life of crime. Miles was forbidden to see his uncle, but goes behind his fathers back to see him anyway.

Jefferson Davis, and Miles and Rio Morales

If Marvel decides to add Miles Morales to it's cinematic universe, you can bet you will see these two make an appearance.

And finally, making their first appearance is Dr. Conrad Markus. You may be wondering why I spelled his name that way. All of the websites spell his name Marcus. But, in this issue, his last name is spelled with a K, so that's the version I'm going with.

Dr Conrad Markus

Anyway, Dr. Conrad Markus is a biochemist and was in charge of the program that created the genetically altered spider that crawled into the Prowlers bag and eventually bit Miles Morales. In a later issue, he would become host to the Venom Symbiote and would be responsible for the death of Rio Morales, but that's another story for another time my friends.

Well there you have it, all of the items I could find that gives this comic key issue status. Let's move on to the variants section of this post. Since this is a modern book, I'm sure there will be a few.

Variants
Some of these variants are retailer incentive covers, but I'm not sure how rare these are. The first cover on the list isn't actually a cover at all, but the polybag that the regular, first print came in.

Polybagged

Pichelli Unmasked Variant

Pichelli Retailer Incentive Sketch Variant

Pichelli Vairant

The sketch variant is by far the most difficult to come by and if you're looking for a copy, it will most definitely cost you quite a bit of moolah to get it.

Census
The CGC census for this comic is a lot lower than I expected it to be. Even though there was a print run of 87,237, only 366 have been graded. I don't know if the 87 thousand includes all of the variants, but the 366 does. Of those, 180 are the regular, first print, non variant cover. And, as I'm sure you guessed, because this is a fairly modern comic, most of these copies are graded either 9.6 NM+ (40) or 9.8 NM/M (94).

I will make a note that the Pichelli Sketch Cover only has 5 copies listed in the census. Three at a 9.8 NM/M and two at 9.2 NM-. This could be a good indication of how low the print run on this particular variant is. I'll go over some values for this cover in the next section
Values

Values for Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1
on GoCollect

Sales for this comic are a little wonky. There have been sales for 9.8 NM/M copies that have gone for over the $200 mark, and one that damn near hit the $300 mark, but those were both Buy it Now sales on eBay. If you can find a copy at auction, you'll only end up spending $50, maybe less. The last copy that sold at auction on eBay went for only $41. 9.6 NM+ copies had a similar spike, but sales are generally dropping at the $30 range.

I'm not sure why these spikes are happening. They all happened before there was any kind of confirmation of the character appearing in the Spider-Man flick. Perhaps they were speculators that had a heads up on everyone else, or maybe they just wanted a copy in their collections, no matter what the cost. Who knows.

Anyway, I couldn't find any sales data for the Pichelli Sketch Cover. The only thing I could find was a copy for sale over at Midtown Comics website. That bad boy is listed at $1,445.43. Buying that sucker will definitely make you wallet a lot lighter. If you want to but it, or simply check it out, click this link here.

The introduction of Aaron Davis in the MCU definitely opens up the door for Miles Morales to show up in a movie in the future. If that happens, or how long it is before it does, remains to be seen. But if it is someday confirmed that Morales will be making his way to the big screen, you can be that this comic, and especially Ultimate Fallout #4, the first appearance of Mile Morales, will see a huge boost in demand. UF #4 is already up there in terms of value, but you can still snag this one for a bargain.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Amazing Fantasy #15

Marvel - Aug, 1962

Key Issue Notes
First appearance and origin of Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
First appearance of Uncle Ben and Aunt May
First appearance of Flash Thompson
First appearance of Liz Allen
First appearance of The Burglar

When it comes to holy grail comic books, Amazing Fantasy #15 is definitely one to put on the list. The long list of first appearances in this issue sets up the world of Peter Parker. Spider-Man was created by the legendary Stan Lee and sports a cover by, the also legendary, Jack Kirby. This iconic cover is often copied, also known as a "cover swipe" in industry terms, by other artists including Todd McFarlane. I've included a few of the cover swipes at the bottom of the page if you're still a little confused about them.

By now, everyone knows the origin of how Peter Parker came to be the Amazing Spider-Man. Thanks to the movie franchises starring Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, people that don't know much, or anything, about this comic, know about Spidey's origin. So I'm not going to get too in depth about the bite from a radioactive spider that gave Peter his super powers.


Let's talk a little about the other first appearances in this beast of a comic. We'll start with Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Benjamin and May Reilly Parker took in Peter and raised him after his parents were killed. Who his parents are or how they were killed is never mentioned in this issue.  Sadly, Peter Parker loses his uncle toward the end of this issue. He is shot and killed by the Burglar.

The Burglar is not a big part of the Marvel Universe, but he is a big part of Peter Parker's life. As I already mentioned, he is the one that shot and killed Uncle Ben. Earlier in the issue, Peter, dressed as Spider-Man, lets the Burglar get away as a security guard was chasing him. At this point in his life, Peter was only looking out for one person, himself. He blames himself for the death of his uncle and it's because of his death that he becomes the crime fighting, criminal fearing, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that we all know today.

Peter was the "bookworm" in high school, and like all bookworms, he had a bully. This bully's name is Flash Thompson. He would tease, taunt, and physically abuse Peter at school on a daily basis. And finally, Liz Allen was Flash Thompson's girlfriend, who Peter had a bit of a crush on for a while, but of course, she would make fun of him too.

Let's get to some graded copies of Amazing Fantasy #15. Looking at the CGC census, there are quite a few copies of it that have been graded, 2,480 to be exact. There are two Universal and three Restored highest graded 9.6 copies, however, most of the copies in the census are mid to low grade. Of the 2,840 copies, 2,102 are in 6.0 condition or lower and many are restored copies.

Values of Amazing Fantasy #15
on GoCollect

Because so many of the copies in the market are a lower grade, that means the very few high grade copies are selling for lots and lots of money. At ComicConnect in 2011, a highest grade 9.6 copy sold for an astounding 1.1 million dollars, making it one of the most valuable comic books in the world. Even the lower grades of Amazing Fantasy #15 are pretty up there in price. Looking at the sales data from GoCollect, a 1.8 Good- copy sold for $7,800 in Feb. and a 1.5 Fair/Good CBCS graded copy sold for $5,500 on April 12, both of this year on eBay. That is mind boggling, but, it is the first appearance of one of Marvels most popular superheroes and this is a very sought out comic book that's on a lot of people's want list. I know it's on mine.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Amazing Fantasy #15 and Cover Swipes