is where it all started.

I made it my goal to find all the premiere first issues of Pre-Hero turned Hero comic books from the Atlas/Marvel days.

If you are unfamiliar, the title "Tales of Suspense" introduced the world to Iron Man and re-introduced a solo Captain America. "Journey into Mystery" introduced us to Thor. "Tales to Astonish" introduced us to Ant-Man, and revived Namor and Hulk. "Strange Tales" gave us solo Torch, Nick Fury, and introduced Dr. Strange.

I thought I had all the anthology turned hero books covered, except of course the one the big guy was introduced in....Spider-Man! So I faithfully followed Overstreet's directions from "Amazing Fantasy" to see "Amazing Adult Fantasy", and then finally to see "Amazing Adventures."

Yes sir. In order to complete my goal, I had to find a copy of the Pre-Hero premiere issue the 'ol wall crawler debuted in. The oft-maligned 1961 Ditko/Kirby drive-in monster title "Amazing Adventures."

Technically it's not a Pre-Hero issue. The debut of Dr. Droom (who?) in this issue is considered the first new silver age superhero attempted by Marvel/Atlas. I also thought since the troubled "Amazing Adventures" title went through three title/format changes to end as Amazing Fantasy, did it even matter?

Luckily Amazing Adventures #1 is the least hard to find of the Atlas anthology issues, so I faithfully trolled the internet until I found one that looked to be in great condition.

When I got it in the mail, it was a stunner. I looked at the CGC census and thought it might have a chance to crack one of the top spots if I got it graded. I took the book to Susan Cicconi of therestorationlab.com and we both agreed it had a chance at 9.0. She cleaned it up beautifully and sent it in to CGC.

Finding any Atlas issue in the "highest graded" category is pretty difficult. Cheap paper and rarity are contributing factors. But when the smoke had cleared, CGC agreed with us, and it has joined the other 3 copies to grade at 9.0.

None of the other 9.0's have sold publicly for the past 8 years, so it's difficult to get a handle on how much it's worth. But to me it is fulfilling to have one of the highest graded copies of an amazing book that started the path to an amazing superhero.

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