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Amazing Spider-Man #124 CGC 9.8 WP: 1st appearance of the Man-Wolf!

Amazing Spider-Man #124 features the 1st appearance of the Man-Wolf!

As the front cover depicts, the Man-Wolf is actually John Jonah Jameson III, the son of J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle. He originally made his 1st appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #1, published in March of 1963, and was created by legendary writer Stan “The Man” Lee and his artistic counterpart Steve Ditko.

However, it was writer Gerry Conway who decided to turn John Jameson into the ferocious Man-Wolf in this 1973 September issue, in collaboration with John Romita Sr. providing the stunning visuals!

On the front cover, amidst a full moon triggering his powers, we see a raging Man-Wolf shattering the windows as he leaps through with his razor sharp claws ready to attack his father and Spider-Man!

In terms of color contrast, notice that the majority of Man-Wolf’s suit is yellow with green trimming; whereas J. Jonah Jameson’s suit is the same color green over a yellow shirt, which is very clever of John Romita Sr. to symbolize their father-and-son relationship! In addition, the Amazing Spider-Man title is also yellow with red trimming, which pops nicely above the light blue sky and Spider-Man’s red and blue suit! On the bottom left-hand corner, we see a light blue banner with the words presented in yellow font with red trimming that reads: “THE MARK OF THE MAN-WOLF!” What a beautiful cover!

The Man-Wolf is a very intriguing and unique character. Although his origin story takes place in the following issue—Amazing Spider-Man #125, John Jameson is an astronaut who acquired the mystical Godstone, an interdimensional ruby that eventually grafted itself into his throat after wearing it as a pendant! John Jameson had already received superhuman powers on a previous space mission that strained his mind and body, after radioactive spores invaded his space suit and hence why he had to wear a state-of-the-art, strength-restraining Jupiter suit to harness and control his enhanced power. As a result, John Jameson referred to himself as Colonel Jupiter, and you can see a beautiful John Romita Sr. depiction of him battling Spider-Man on the front cover of Amazing Spider-Man #42!

Now, after the Godstone activated under a full moon and turned John AKA Colonel Jupiter into the Man-Wolf, his strength, agility and senses increased yet again, although he was unable to speak and retain his human intelligence. Therefore, the Man-Wolf would attack anyone in his path with his bestial behavior!

Furthermore, his character gets more complex and interesting when the radioactive Godstone transports Man-Wolf to another dimension, where he becomes known as Stargod! In this realm, known as the Other Realm, John can fully transform into the Man-Wolf while retaining his speech and human intelligence; he also possesses new powers such as telepathy and energy manipulation! As Stargod, he is also highly skilled in using weaponry such as the broadsword, dagger and longbow!

With all that being said, I truly believe that high-grade copies of Amazing Spider-Man #124 are going to significantly increase in value, especially because there is a possibility that the Man-Wolf will be incorporated in an upcoming Morbius film! If this actually takes place, it would make sense because according to the comics, Morbius uses Man-Wolf as a pawn to distract Spider-Man as he searches for a cure for his vampire condition. Plus, having a vampire coupled with a werewolf is complimentary of the horror villain theme, which would make for an interesting twist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Overstreet 2020 NM- 9.2 value = $200.

According to the CGC Census Report as of Tuesday, April 13, 2021, out of a total of 801 Universal copies graded, only a mere 27 copies were graded in 9.8 with 0 copies graded higher! This represents an impressive rarity factor of only 3.4% of the total population!

This stunning copy is WORLD CLASS in every way! Published in September of 1973, it predates Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1st appearance of the Punisher) by 5 months! Due to the bordering black and brown colors on the front cover that expose the slightest of defects, high-grade copies like this gem will be difficult to acquire. Moreover, it’s also very RARE to find a PERFECTLY WRAPPED & CENTERED copy, as this beautiful specimen exhibits! In addition, the corners are razor sharp and the colors are super bright with internal MILK WHITE PAGES!

(SIDE NOTE: The scans captured multiple glares due to the inner well containing multiple ripples; it will eventually be re-encapsulated into the latest generation CGC Holder!)  (thumbsu

I won this pristine copy in Comic Link’s Focused Auction in June of 2020! I was ecstatic when I was notified as the winning bidder and I’m proud to showcase this immaculate copy in Arachnophobia!

Happy Collecting & Enjoy the Hunt!

-Professor Pecora

ASM #124 CGC 9.8 WP is featured in Professor Pecora's ASM CGC Registry Set entitled "Arachnophobia!"

Please also FOLLOW on Instagram ----> @professor_pecora

ASM #124 CGC 9.8 WP - (front).jpg

ASM #124 CGC 9.8 WP - (back).jpg

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There are so many great Romita Sr covers, this is definitely one of my very favorites. Incredible motion in the image, action and perspective. I have a few lower grade copies of this one I need to find a nicer one before it gets out of range for me. This cover is really a masterful display of John's talent :cloud9:

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Nice acquisition, Professor! I remember buying this issue at my local convenience store off a spinner rack back in 1973 ( that book being long ago discarded). I agree with you about this book appreciating in value. I just might go for a 9.4 copy myself, along with 125, the conclusion of the story. Best of luck with your bidding in the upcoming Pedigree auction!

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9 hours ago, BoogieWoogie said:

There are so many great Romita Sr covers, this is definitely one of my very favorites. Incredible motion in the image, action and perspective. I have a few lower grade copies of this one I need to find a nicer one before it gets out of range for me. This cover is really a masterful display of John's talent :cloud9:

I absolutely AGREE! John Romita Sr. has always been my FAVORITE Spider-Man artist within the ASM title! I eventually would like to own every John Romita, Sr. ASM issue in high-grade (9.4 WP - 9.8 WP)! I am focusing more on the major KEYS right now to knock out the most expensive issues, but after that, I will begin targeting the less expensive issues and filling up the gaps within the run!

You made some excellent points regarding John Romita capturing exceptional "motion" in the image! It's crazy! It's like a mini action scene unfolding with a single image, and that's what makes him special as an artist!

I also LOVE the follow-up cover art on ASM #125! I also own this issue in CGC 9.8 WP and I will create a separate journal entry for! :-)

-Professor Pecora

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12 hours ago, john ivic said:

Nice acquisition, Professor! I remember buying this issue at my local convenience store off a spinner rack back in 1973 ( that book being long ago discarded). I agree with you about this book appreciating in value. I just might go for a 9.4 copy myself, along with 125, the conclusion of the story. Best of luck with your bidding in the upcoming Pedigree auction!

Thanks! WOW! I wasn't even born in 1973! I am an October of 1978 baby! :-)

Yes, it's definitely appreciating! I saw a nicely wrapped and centered CGC 9.2 WP copy go for nearly $600 on eBay recently! I'd definitely try to grab a few CGC 9.4 WP copies! :-) I will be posting the follow-up issue: ASM #125 CGC 9.8 WP in a separate journal! I am actually just waiting for that book (along with 5 other ASM CGC 9.8 WP books) to be shipped by Comic Link! Then, I can scan the back cover to go along with the front cover (as I normally do).

I will be a strong bidder in the upcoming Pedigree Auction! I am looking to acquire 2 books in particular, but maybe 3-4! We'll see how crazy the bidding gets! I will be content with even winning "1" of the books in that auction on my priority list! (thumbsu

-Professor Pecora

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That's wonderful professor!

This was one of those transitional issues to the bronze age after the drug issues and 101. I mean all you have to do is look at the splash page with all those nudie mags being moved around by the newsstand guy. Pretty racy for a comic book even if the nudie artwork was sort of small discreet background stuff. What's up with that?...was porn coming of age in the early 70s lol? I don't know I was born in 1980. 

I went for a 9.6 a few years ago on an impulse. I'm glad I did. I changed it to the new cgc holder and yeah it makes a significant difference in how the artwork pops!

Edited by MGsimba77
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3 hours ago, MGsimba77 said:

That's wonderful professor!

This was one of those transitional issues to the bronze age after the drug issues and 101. I mean all you have to do is look at the splash page with all those nudie mags being moved around by the newsstand guy. Pretty racy for a comic book even if the nudie artwork was sort of small discreet background stuff. What's up with that?...was porn coming of age in the early 70s lol? I don't know I was born in 1980. 

I went for a 9.6 a few years ago on an impulse. I'm glad I did. I changed it to the new cgc holder and yeah it makes a significant difference in how the artwork pops!

Thanks man!

I'm definitely not sure about "porn coming of age in the early 70's!" lol However, based on what you shared, maybe it was! hm

That's awesome that you acquired an ASM #124 CGC 9.6 copy a few years ago; it has definitely appreciated significantly since then, so you did well!

I actually have about "10" KEY ASM CGC 9.8 WP books that need to be re-holdered from the old cases into the new holders! Both my ASM #124 and #125 are included in this group; so I cannot wait to enjoy looking at them in the clearer cases with the brighter and bolder CGC labels! I know those bright colors are going to POP to a whole new level! (thumbsu

-Professor Pecora

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On 4/15/2021 at 8:41 AM, Professor Pecora said:
On 4/14/2021 at 10:57 PM, BoogieWoogie said:

There are so many great Romita Sr covers, this is definitely one of my very favorites. Incredible motion in the image, action and perspective. I have a few lower grade copies of this one I need to find a nicer one before it gets out of range for me. This cover is really a masterful display of John's talent :cloud9:

I absolutely AGREE! John Romita Sr. has always been my FAVORITE Spider-Man artist within the ASM title! I eventually would like to own every John Romita, Sr. ASM issue .

It's probably because I drew when I was younger, but in my mind, no one else was the level of artist that Romita was.

The interior art by Gil Kane in this issue is really only made tolerable by Romita's inks.

There are some scenes in this issue where the art perspective is painful. As an example, every panel of the Romita drawn #109, in my opinion, is a work of art in itself.

I refreshed myself with a look at this book not long ago. The werewolf story amused me, but let's face it, in terms of quality writing, many of these books were amateur hour in terms of plotting. I got a kick out of the fact that JJJ introduces his roughly 30 year old son to Robbie Robertson ( like Robbie would have never met him before), and then says "he's an astronaut", like that never would have come up in their relationship before. :eyeroll:

One nice thing about CGC slabs. You only see the cover.

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