Amazing Spider-Man #101

Marvel - Oct 1971

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Morbius (Dr. Michael Morbius)

There's a lot of news out there about Sony expanding it's Spider-Man universe by adding a new character into the mix. As you can tell from the Key Issue Notes above, that character is going to be Morbius: The Living Vampire.

He is the next to join Sony's Spider-verse, (or should I say Spider-less-verse) after the confirmation that Jared Leto will be playing the character on the big screen. I for one don't now how to take this news. He was, for me personally, the worst Joker to be portrayed to date. I guess I'll have to play the "wait and see" game to see if his Morbius will be any better than his Clown Prince of Crime.

How this movie is going to work without everyone's favorite webslinger being involved is beyond me. The Venom movie seemed to do alright at the box office, so maybe this movie has a chance to as well?

Ok, enough about that. Let's get into just who the hell this Morbius guy is, as it pertains to this issue. When we first meet Morbius, he is being chased down by crew members on a boat after a few mysterious deaths occur. Since he was a mystery man that was picked up by the passing boat as he was adrift at sea, he was the logical person to point the blame at, and with good cause. But, to make a short story even shorter, he winds up killing everyone on board and jumping overboard, only to be washed up on shore.

He doesn't just wash up on any shore, no sir. He just happens to wash up on the beachfront of the vacation home of one Dr, Curt Connors. You may know him by his alter ego of The Lizard.

I should go back in the story a little bit. In the last issue (Amazing Spider-Man #100), Peter Parker decides that he can't be Spider-Man and be with the woman that he loves (Gwen Stacey). He created a formula that would rid him of his powers, but when he took it, it didn't have the effect that he thought it would. This is where the infamous six armed Spider-Man story line starts.

Jump back to this issue. Since Peter can't go out in public with newly acquired arms, he decides to lay low and try to figure out a solution to his newly formed problem, or problems as the case may be. Where does good ol Pete decide to go? Curt Connors vacation home.

Needless to say, a battle ensues between our six armed webslinger and Morbius: The Living Vampire. Who wins this battle? Well, no one. Not in this issue anyway.

Overall, nothing really exciting happens in this issue, other than the fact that it holds the first appearance of a popular Spider-Man villain.

Variants

2nd print or reprint?

I don't believe that there are any true variants for this issue. In my research, I found a few European foreign editions, so I guess they can be considered variants.

There is also a "second print" copy that has a blue title with a silver background, but seeing as that it was printed in 1992, I'd consider that to be a reprint, and not a variant. I mean, it even says "Reprinting the first appearance of Morbius The Living Vampire right on the cover. CGC does label this a second print on their label but I don't know if CBCS does or not.

On the other hand, it is from the same title and is the same number, so I suppose that it could also be considered a second print, even though it was printed 21 years after the original. I'll let you decide what it should be called but I'm saying that it's a reprint.

Census
As I expected, the CGC census has quite a few copies of this comic listed, but to be honest, not as many as I had expected. With this being a well known key issue of a somewhat popular character, and the amount of copies that I can only guess that are out there, I did expect this number to be higher. At the time of this writing, there have only been 2,317 copies graded by CGC.

Most of these copies are in mid to high grade, but there are a few nice, really high grade copies floating around out there somewhere. So far, there are 63 9.6 NM+ and 31 9.8 NM/M copies out there. So, if you're looking for a nice high grade copy, there are some available.

Again, CBCS and PGX don't have a census on their sites so I'm sure the number of graded copies is higher.

Values

Values for Amazing Spider-Man #101
On Gocollect

As you may already know, with any movie announcement, demand for these key issues goes crazy. This comic isn't any different. It wasn't a bargain bin comic before the announcement, but now, sales for some grades have gotten pretty up there in value. It wasn't that long ago you could buy a midgrade 7.0 copy for less than $200. That's definitely not the case now. If you're loooking for a copy in that grade, you'll probably be shelling out over $600 for it. All grades have had a similar rise in value over that same time period.


Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Amazing Spider-Man #344

Marvel - Feb. 1991

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Cardiac
First cameo appearance of Cletus Kasady

Since I'm already on this topic, and because it's still fresh in my mind, I've decided to throw out another Carnage related key issue your way. This time I'll tell you about Amazing Spider-Man #344. 

With Michael Mando being cast in the new Spider-Man movie, and the tweet that was sent out by "Better Call Saul", there are many that believe Carnage is going to make an appearance soon. I am probably one of the few that doesn't think that Carnage will be making an appearance, but rather Cletus Kasady will. I mean, how can you jump straight to Carnage without first introducing Venom, since he is the spawn of Venom after all. 

Regardless of what they do on the big screen, let's delve into the character of Cletus Kasady a little bit. He is a homicidal maniac and serial killer. The first time that we see him in this issue, he is locked up in prison with Eddie Brock. His bright red hair, Jack Nicholson eyebrows and Joker like grin make him a pretty creepy looking guy. Actually, he reminds me a little bit of how Carrot Top looks now, without all of the curls.


When Kasady was a child, he murdered his grandmother by pushing her down a flight of stairs. He later tried to kill his own mother by tossing a hair dryer into the bathtub while she was bathing. Nice kid huh? But wait, it gets worse. Eventually, he ended up in St. Estes Home for Boys. Because of his antisocial behavior, the kids and staff at the orphanage would mentally and physically abuse him. To make a long story short, he burned down the orphanage, killing almost everyone inside.

Although this comic is more known for the first appearance of Cletus Kasady, it also holds the first appearance of another character, the antihero Cardiac.

Elias Wirtham devoted his life to medicine after the death of his brother Joshua. He later learned of a cure for the disease that could have saved his brother, but
the pharmaceutical company didn't release it because it wasn't profitable enough at that time. He subjected himself to a series of experiments that replace his heart with a beta particle reactor. The energy created from the reactor channels energy through his muscles, increasing his speed, agility and reflexes. He also had a mesh of vibranium implanted under his skin, thus creating the new hero Cardiac.

So far, there are only 658 copies of Amazing Spider-Man #344 listed in the CGC census. Don't let this low number fool you. This comic in not a low print run, hard to find, or rare. If you do an eBay search, a slew of ungraded copies will pop up. The reason for the low census numbers are simply that nobody is sending in their copies to be graded.

Values for Amazing Spider-Man #344on GoCollect

Most of these copies listed are high grade, with four of them being ultra high 9.9 Mint copies. There are no sales figures for these at sites like Heritage Auctions or Comic Connect, but I'm sure that they would be pretty pricey, 9.8 NM/M copies on the other hand are still very affordable. The last few sales on the mighty eBay were in the $120 range. There are a couple of pending sales for the same grade at Comic Link that were below $90, so if you take a little time to hunt for a copy, you can probably get a decent deal on it.

Whoever winds up showing up on the big screen in 2017, whether it's Cletus Kasady or Carnage, this comic could have a chance to see a little bit of action. I can't say that values are going to go sky high for it, but you might be able to scratch a little bit of profit out of it.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Amazing Spider-Man #361

Marvel - April 1992

Key Issue Notes
First full appearance of Carnage

The other day, I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed and came across an article that stated the AMC show "Better Call Saul" tweeted out a not too subtle hint that actor Michael Mando will be playing Carnage in Spider-Man: Homecoming. I personally don't think that is going to happen. I have a feeling that we might see Cletus Kasady in the movie, and set up the character for a future Spider-Man film.


Regardless of whether Carnage will be in the new movie, I figured we'd knock this key issue out anyway.

Psychopath and serial killer, Cletus Kasady was a prison cellmate of Eddie Brock's. As most of the people reading this know, Eddie Brock was the second host of the alien symbiote, after Peter Parker, that would become  the super villain Venom.

The alien symbiote finds Eddie in prison, and bonds with him, once again becoming Venom. In his escape, a part of the alien symbiote is left behind and eventually bonds itself with Kasady, thus creating the Spawn of Venom, known to all as Carnage.

So, as I've stated in the key issue notes, this is the first full appearance of Carnage. In the previous issue, Amazing Spider-Man #360, Carnage makes himself known to the world in a one page cameo, but I'll get to that issue at a later date.

There is a second printing of this issue out there. It is easily distinguishable from the first printing from its silver background. I've included a picture of it for reference. It's said that the second print had a much lower print run and is far more rare that the first print. I don't have any numbers for either printing, so it's just a matter of taking others word for it. However, there are currently only 231 copies of the second printing listed on the CGC census.

Like a lot of comics printed in the early 90's, there are a lot of copies of this comic on the market, and you'll have no problem finding one. As we look at the census information for the first printing, there are 5,032 copies listed. If you count in CBCS and PGX graded copies, I'm sure the number is much much higher. Anyway, most of the copies taht are on the CGC census are in a very nice high grade. Two thirds of the comics are between 9.6 NM+ and 9.9 M. 

Click to enlarge

So, with so many copies out there, what has that done for sales? Most grades have seen a small rise in value over the last year or so. 9.8 NM/M copies are nearing the $300 mark over the last couple of weeks, while 9.6 NM+ copies have started to consistently drop for over the $100 mark. There are a couple of weird sales for 9.8's that went for $1,000 each. I guess there's some "double cover" issues that made their way into stores. Those two sales are skewing the averages for 9.8's on GoCollect, but it seems like it didn't skew it too much.

Values for Amazing Spider-Man #361
on GoCollect

Lower grades have seen a little rise or stayed fairly even. They could be good investments, but for the most investment potential, the higher grades are the way to go, especially since prices for these comics aren't through the roof. I'm not sure if they ever really will be with the potential amount of copies that are out there, but I've seen stranger things happen.

This isn't the first time there were rumors circulating that Carnage would make an appearance on the big screen. Before the fiasco that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made its way to theaters, Sony Pictures announced that they had a Venom / Carnage movie in the works. That announcement gave this comic a nice little boost in demand and value. I have a feeling that as this rumor spreads, and more people find out about it, we could see another one of those jumps in demand.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 - CGC 9.6

Marvel - Dec 1984

Key Issue Notes
Origin of Spider-Man Black Symbiote Suit

I'm a big time Spider-Man fan and was especially drawn to his black costume. The black costume is one of the biggest reasons I started collecting comics in the first place. It wasn't Peter Parker wearing the suit at that time, but Venom when I first saw a version of it. Originally I was confused about this comic. I thought it had the first appearance of Spidey's black suit. It wasn't until later on I learned that the first appearance was in Amazing Spider-Man #252, but that's a story for a different post. Regardless, I think that every fan of Spider-Man and of his black suit should have this comic in their collection.

As I got older, and had more funds, I sought this book out. It was time to add it to my collection. I ended up finding a nice raw copy on eBay for only $15. It had been sitting in one of my short boxes for a few years until my friend and fellow comic aficionado told me about comic book grading, specifically CGC. CBCS didn't exist at this point. Needless to say, I sent this sucker in. CGC had a booth set up at the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose. I filled out the form and handed my comic over to them along with my hard earned money. It was a long wait, about 3 months, but I finally got it back and as you can see from the picture above, it came back at a 9.6. Yes, I was very happy. Not bad for a gamble on eBay. Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 was the first graded book in my collection and my first time dealing with CGC or any other grading company.

I'll get more into the key issue status and origin of the black suit a little later in the Graded Keys section. This post is just a brief story on how and why this particular comic made it's way into my collection. Stay tuned for more Tales from the Vault.

Updated 1/03/2018

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect