When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko brought life to Spider-Man, he was far from a sure-fire hit. A teenage hero had never headlined a book before, as they were usually sidekicks. But his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 was well-received – so well-received that he was given his own title a year later. Now, the first issue of that title has set an auction house record for the highest price paid for that issue in 9.6, via Hake’s Auctions.

Featuring the first appearances of J. Jonah Jameson and The Chameleon, as well as a guest appearance by the Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man #1 is the definition of a “key issue”. This copy, graded 9.6 NM+ by the CGC, came from the John B. Goodrich Collection, where it had resided for 25 years. Recently certified, there are only two copies graded higher (CGC 9.8) according to the CGC Census, and a current total of 4,688 graded copies in existence.

The issue pulled in $520,380, nearly $200,000 more than another 9.6-graded copy that sold in November of 2022. That copy had off-white pages, while this one had white pages – a key difference, even though those pages will never be seen again.

“The result does not surprise me,” said Alex Winter, President of Hake’s Auctions. “You are talking about one of the key issues in all of comics, regardless of era. Add to it all the near impossible-to-get grade of 9.6 and that is what spurred the aggressive bidding. In the end the winning bidder now has one of the top copies in the world of one of the most important books in the Marvel Universe.”

The most recent Hake’s Auction also featured copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 (first Spider-Man), Amazing Spider-Man #2-20 (first appearances of many iconic Spidey villains), Amazing Spider-Man #50 (first Kingpin), Amazing Spider-Man #101 (first Morbius), Amazing Spider-Man #129 (first Punisher), Daredevil #1-7 (first Daredevil) and Incredible Hulk #181-182 (first Wolverine), all from the John B. Goodrich Collection.