Amazing Spider-Man #1 - CBCS 4.0

Marvel - March 1963

Key Issue Notes
Second appearance of Spider-Man
First appearance of J. Jonah Jameson
First appearance of Chameleon

I recently decided to change the way I collect comics. Instead of trying to get the next hot comic before everyone went bonkers over it, and try to flip it for a profit, I decided to start filling some holes in my collection with comics that I actually wanted instead. I plan on holding onto these comics for the long haul.

I finally did it. I'd been waiting a long time to pull the trigger on this one, but I finally got a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1. The hardest part about this buy was convincing myself to spend that kind of money on a comic book. I've bought comics that were near $1000 before, and it was a little rough shelling out that kinda dough, but spending 5x that was a lot harder. Many times I went to right click on Buy it Now, but it was like there was an invisible force preventing my index finger from doing it. I just couldn't press the damn mouse button.

Chameleon

Then, right before I left to work one day, I was staring at the copy that I eventually ended up buying (pictured above) on eBay. It was either buy it right then, or keep talking myself out of it, so I said to myself "F#@! it", closed my eyes, and pressed Buy it Now. I quickly paid for it, ran out the door, and went to work.

I thought that I would have some buyers remorse after I finally hit the Pay Now button, but I was far more excited to own a piece of comic book history and felt no remorse at all. It seemed like it took forever to arrive, even though it only took a few days.

I ended up buying it from the My Comic Shop eBay Store. It was a little cheaper on their website than it was on eBay, but I opted to buy it from eBay for a couple of reasons. First, I couldn't pay for the comic at MyComicShop.com, because the sale price was too high and I couldn't pay for it with Paypal. The second reason, I received $100 in eBay Bucks for my purchase to put towards my next comic investment.

It should be obvious as to way I snagged this comic. It is considered a grail comic after all. But if you're wondering, the reasons that I bought it are:

• 1) It's a very early appearance of my favorite comic book character. It's Spideys second appearance.
• 2) I couldn't afford the first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, unless I bought a beat up, dirt copy that I didn't want.
• 3) It has great long term investment potential. If you look at the value history of this comic, it doesn't go down, it always goes up.
• 4) And finally, I just wanted it really, really bad. I figured I had the money for it, so why put it off any longer.

Early Spider-Man comics are never a bad investment. I have a few single digit ASM comics, that I will share with you in the future, but I'm now trying to fill in my #1-#20 collection. I've got a few of the more important keys already, but trying to fill the gaps is going to take me a little more time, and a lot more money.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

White Mountain Collection

This collection hits close to home for me, quite literally. You see, I was born and raised in the same state that these comics were discovered and spent many days of my youth hiking, camping and generally having a good time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

This large collection of around 5,000 comics was discovered in 1984. The titles span from the year 1948, all the way into the 70's. It was one of the first collections that included Silver Age comics to be recognized by the industry as a pedigree. Before this collection, pedigrees were only given to collections with nothing but Golden Age or earlier comics.

Fantastic Four #1

When it was discovered, it was considered one of the nicest Silver Age collections to date. Keeping these comics in such good condition must have been difficult to do in the hot humid summers in New England. I read that they were kept in metal boxes, and that's why the covers are so vibrant, and the pages white, but they must have also been stored in a basement which also kept them nice and cool.

The original owner must have loved science fiction. There are many complete runs of titles from publishers like EC Comics and also has many nice runs of Silver Age comics for titles like Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man.

Amazing Fantasy #15

A couple of the highlights from this collection are the Amazing Fantasy #15 and Fantastic Four #1. The FF #1 is CGC graded a Universal 9.2 NM-. There are a handful of copies that are graded the same or higher than that. This copy was on the market back in 2012, and sold for an impressive $203,150 at Heritage Auctions.

The Amazing Fantasy #15, which is a CGC graded Universal 9.4 NM, was also sold at Heritage back in 2005. That copy ended up selling for $126,500. This copy would end up being put back on the market only two years later at Comic Link, and this time it sold for $227,000. 

Journey Into
Unknown Worlds #11

Looking at the sales for these two comics, it would seem like the White Mountain Collection is a solid investment, if you're able to afford copies. There are other comics from this collection that are far more affordable and still in high grade. For example, there was an CGC 8.5 VF+ copy of Journey Into Unknown Worlds #11 that sold last year for $956, and there are some auctions on eBay that range from a few hundred dollars all the way down to under $100. So, you don't have to be a millionaire to be able to afford a book from this collection, all you have to do is click on the links below and look through the search results.

Find White Mountain copies here

eBay - ComicLink - ComicConnect - Heritage